New beginnings are exhilarating. And when it’s the genesis of what promises to be a prolific musical career, it’s a true thrill. Today Debbie, the latest signee second only to Stormzy, on the UK cultural landmark that is music label 0207 Def Jam, embarks on such a beginning with the release of her debut single, Is This Real Love?
Debbie’s journey to Is This Real Love? has been all but conventional. It’s stunning to think she was not allowed to listen to any music that wasn’t gospel until she turned 16. The daughter of a reverend, she spent much of her childhood in church. But again, listening to her music, you’ll be stunned to learn she did not ever publicly sing at church herself. But she loved to sing and honed her ears on the rich melodies and harmonies of gospel. “I used to think everybody could sing because I just grew up with it.”
In her late teens, she started breaking the rules and secretly listened to contemporary music. She eventually started creating her own music in music tech classes. It’s here she first sang in public. Songwriting became her outlet and she stuck with it through a Business & Finance degree, writing to beats she found online. “I like to question my own thought process and I like to question other people’s thought process”, she laughs. She would also perform at open mic nights and was introduced to 0207 Def Jam on one of these nights.
Did you see what I done, came with my best friend, left with a husband…
Cathartic and introspective songwriting are beautifully on display in Is This Real Love? The song takes on the ever-present, almost existencial question, ‘what is love?’. Opening with a tongue-in-cheek nod to J Hus, “Did you see what I done, came with my best friend, left with a husband”, the song gorgeously brings together the best of contemporary R&B with nods to the roots of R&B melodies creating a sound that is familiar yet refreshing.
Guided along with Debbie’s crisp yet lush vocal tone, we’re excited to be premiering this one. Delve into this infectiously simple, yet rich R&B ballad above and get to know the mystery that is Debbie below.
Who is Debbie?
In all honesty, I’m not sure I know who I am yet. I learn something new about myself everyday. I’m just someone who is figuring it out.
I’ve spent some years being vulnerable and writing about my truth, and it’s been an escape from reality. I hope when listeners take the music in, it can be an escape for them too, or at least be something positive.
On the inspiration for Is This Real Love?…
I was confused and a little heated about how much the definition of love is fantasised. One night I was researching what the definition of love was, whether it was enough to sustain a relationship. I started looking at these different philosophers and how they thought about love… they talked about how, to have a stable relationship isn’t even just about love, there’s so many other components to it.
I realised love in all its complexity is just a feeling, however in a romantic relationship it takes more than love to sustain something healthy. It takes patience, self awareness, compromise and a lot more. And I didn’t like how society and social media frames love with ‘couple goal’ captions and ‘happily ever afters’. It all just felt misleading.
… something new is about to begin.
On the lessons of the pandemic and how they’ve influenced her music…
Creating music in the pandemic was freeing. I could write whatever gibberish I felt like without any pressure or any other opinion from someone in the room.
I honestly learn a new lesson everyday, some more valuable than others but they all still teach me something… the most prominent one is nothing lasts forever, but that just means something new is about to begin.
What’s next for Debbie?
A debut project that is hopefully a new experience; something you have never heard before. Some of the songs I create, it’s like the obvious [stuff] but people don’t talk about it? I just think there are so many things in life that people don’t pay attention to, that can make your life so much better, either just by acknowledging or realising something that you do that might be not the right way of thinking or not a positive way to think. And then I also just want them to get lost in it, to replicate that feeling that I get when I’m creating it.
Listen to Is This Real Love? by Debbie and follow her on Instagram.
