Eliza Shaddad

Sounds Like: Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen, Sheryl Crow

This month we had the incredible pleasure of speaking to Sudanese-Scottish artist Eliza Shaddad and it was an absolute dream. Eliza recently released her stunning new album ‘The Woman You Want’; an album about figuring yourself out and trying to be a better person.

As always, huge thanks to our Nakisha Kiely for this superb illustration.

Hey Eliza! How are you doing today?

Hiiii! I’m good thanks:) Feeling relaxed for the first time in what feels like months haha now that the album’s out and our livestream launch is complete:)

Please briefly describe your sound to our lovely readers:

I like to refer to it as ‘ethereal grunge’ because of all the 90s influences and dynamic shifts, it’s kind of dreamy and rocky – but it’s got strong roots in storytelling folk too.

How have you been coping with these continuously mad times? Where were you based during lockdown?

I feel really lucky to have moved down to Cornwall a few months before everything really kicked off and it’s been a beautiful and fairly calm place to ride it out from. I’ve still found it madly up and down but I kind of buried myself in making music and am glad to have found a way through doing that.

You recently released your stunning new album ’The Woman You Want’ – can you tell us a bit about the story behind the release?

It’s a document of the last 18 months really – and all those ups and downs I mentioned. I’d recently gotten married, moved to Cornwall, and was working completely independently in music for the first time in years and I funnelled all of that into the songs. Because of the restrictions I ended up recording it pretty much entirely from home with my husband producer BJ Jackson which was intense! But amazing, and I’m really proud we saw it through from home.

Do you have a favourite song from the album?

Haha it changes every week, but at the minute I think ‘Tired of Trying’ is my fave:)

We’ve been pretty obsessed with you since the release of your debut album ‘Future‘ and we’re so chuffed with how far you’ve come since then! How do you think your sound has progressed since the early days?

Ahh thank you:) Well I think with the first album I was really keen to make a kind of unified grunge statement – I’d moved from a folks sphere into the rock sphere and I really wanted to double down on that sound, but I’ve just felt freer and freer to do exactly what takes my fancy as time moves on and I think this record reflects that – It’s a bit of everything – with nothing off limits, so it has big dark moments but also softer folk and electronic moments as I explore where I want to go next.

You’ve recorded some amazing covers in your time such as All Saints’ ‘Pure Shores’ and more recently Nina Simone’s ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ – do you have any other go-to covers up your sleeve?

Well I’ve set up a Patreon page where I’m sharing covers in progress which is proving a really good sounding board. I love learning other people’s songs but I’m a bit wary of putting any more out because annoyingly on Spotify they’re often the first things that come up for people to hear and I’d like folks to start with the originals:)

And to add to that, what would be your karaoke song of choice?

I’m a sucker for a big karaoke ballad.. Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding out for a Hero’ is often the one I’ll lose my voice to.

Haha amazing. What’s your songwriting process like?

It’s quite changeable but my baseline fallback process is to start with a riff that gives me some feels, and some lyrics that fit the mood – and then weaving a story together from something I’ve experienced.

Who would you say are your biggest influences?

I listened to a lot of incredible female singer song-writers when I was growing up thanks to my sister – people like Tori Amos, Jewel, Fiona Apple – and then fell in love with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and I think they all come out in the music at times.

What advice would you give artists starting out in the music industry?

Waaa there’s so much to learn it’s hard to know where to start. But I guess I’d say start with the music – experiment and try different things and believe in yourself and when you know what it is you want to make then stick to your guns.

You’re going on tour in November! We can’t wait to see you. What do you miss the most about performing live?

Ah I think just the catharsis of sharing emotions with a whole room and feeling everyone kind of breathe deeply afterwards.

Are there any emerging local artists you’d recommend?

I’ve been enjoying the likes of Webmoms, Sam Sweeney and Nick Kingswell recently – all super local and awesome!

What are your plans for the rest of 2021?

Well I’m trying to enjoy the minimal summer weather when it comes and then starting to get ready for our November tour? Bits of writing of course too, and starting to make plans for 2022!

Any final pearls of wisdom?

I hope you’re all out there doing ok!

Thanks so much Eliza! We love you xxx


Find Eliza Shaddad Online
Spotify | Twitter | Instagram


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