Meeting with a Mental Health Musician: Izzy Staden
Back in November, I had the opportunity to interview Izzy Staden is an up-and-coming British singer/songwriter based in London. She agreed to talk to Humankind about her music, Zoom therapy and her dog Tilly.
About Izzy Staden
Singer-songwriter Izzy Staden made her comeback with ‘You Don’t Lie Well’ on July 31st. Since her debut earlier this year, the multi-talented pop artist has built a dedicated, engaged audience on TikTok with over 16k followers and 900K likes. Her huge social media presence spreads further than just TikTok, with an audience on YouTube and Instagram. Izzy’s honesty and reliability has drawn thousands of young people to her socials, where her following grows stronger with every release.
Using her social media presence as a platform to maintain a conversation on mental health, Izzy frequently finds solace in song writing and is not afraid to address and share her personal aperture. Her socials provide a safe environment for other young people who struggle/have struggled with mental health to come together and lift each other up.
Speaking more about her latest release, 'You Don't Lie Well', Izzy explained: "The song is inspired by my involvement with a comedian who was incredibly emotionally abusive. He has recently been outed by several women, including myself, about his persistent behavior that was incredibly inappropriate. He would send unsolicited sexual messages, pressure me for revealing photos, ignore me for weeks at a time, pushed all emotional and sexual boundaries I ever had. I was considerably younger than him and had tried to kill myself a few months prior to his advances but this did not stop him. He lied to me, saying he was not involved with anyone else, while being involved with dozens of other women. He was also incredibly self-pitying, and this song is about how his lies and manipulation are really quite awful and I will no longer fall for them."
Izzy’s powerful lyrics are wrapped together with her unique vintage-pop sound. Be sure to check out ‘You Don’t Lie Well’ on SoundCloud.
Prefer to listen to the interview? Click here
Rosie: Hey Izzy, it’s really nice to meet you! This is obviously not in person, which is really odd, but how about you introduce yourself and talk a little bit about your music and the single that you’ve brought out recently?
Izzy: So, my music is very poppy and upbeat and it’s mostly about personal situations that have happened in my life. My most recent song, its quite a sweet song, a happy song, it was nice to bring out something a bit happier, most of my music is a bit angry.
Rosie: How are you finding the situation around corona at the moment; writing or even recording? What’s that like?
Izzy: it’s definitely different, I get a lot of my inspiration for song writing from meeting people and talking to people and the interactions I have. And not having that has challenged me but it’s been good, I’ve got around it. I’ve been messaging my friends and asking them about their worst relationship stories, stuff like that
Rosie: Has the fact that you’re not able to go out and meet people has influenced what you’ve been writing or working on at the moment?
Izzy: Yeah, definitely, I think my writing has changed slight and has had to adjust. I still occasionally see people though ahah
Rosie: Ah so it’s definitely had an impact, yeah, it’s all quite odd isn’t it. Obviously, you’re quite active on social media, and that’s obviously a way to establish some form of contact or intimacy when we’re all not allowed to meet people in the street. Have you noticed you’ve been using social media more or has it had an impact on how you’re reaching people?
Izzy: So, I get a lot of messages, everyday I’ll get around 30 messages from people I’ve never met, which is amazing and it’s really nice. If I feel really lonely, which is very easy during this time, I can talk to them online or if I post a story, I’ll get responses to it, which is not the same as an in-person interaction. I also have contact to a lot more people which is also quite nice.
Rosie: And how then do you find social media as a platform for presenting your music? Would you say its useful to you and how you want to reach your audience?
Izzy: I think definitely, its a big part of it. if you’re just releasing music and doing nothing else, its more closed-off, but someone could go onto my Instagram and see me going about my day talking about nothing, they can get better idea for who I am, which helps build a better connection
Rosie: Yeah sure! So, as I mentioned before, the reason we’re doing this interview is because Humankind Zine strives to be more open the arts and mental health and how they can go hand in hand, and we’ve just talked about social media, and I wanted to know if you think that social media has impacted how you perhaps present your mental health at all? From my own experience, social media can sometimes be quite overwhelming, and I know that it can have an impact. How has this experience been for you, releasing your music and reaching people, but on the other hand how you feel yourself?
Izzy: Hmm I think it’s really interesting, I am quite open about it, and its not always easy to talk about it, especially when you’re going through a hard patch. I’m not a completely open book either, I don’t show every tiny thing that happens, as I think that can leave you a bit too vulnerable. If you talk about something that’s really personal to you and someone comes in and send a horrible comment it wont help, but generally I'm really open about it. But what that does do is that a lot of people will come to me with their own issues. And a lot of the time, that’s fine, I like talking to people, I like helping people but sometimes, some of the stuff that gets brought to me is very difficult, it can be hard to manage that interaction and know what to do in that situation.
Rosie: And how do you then deal with the fact that so many people come to you? It must be quite a compliment in a way, that people come to you and feel that they want to speak to you but how do you then deal with this personally? Especially with being a public figure?
Izzy: So, luckily for me, ha ‘luckily’, I was in a lot of psychiatric hospitals when I was younger, and I got really used to dealing with other mentally ill people, or people going through a really difficult time and I sort of got given the tools of how to talk to people. My mother is also a therapist aha, so I think I have some tools that help. Obviously, I'm very aware that I can’t fix anything that anyone sends to me. Nothing that can be sent over a message can really fix anything, but I think its really about feeling like you’re listened to and validating them. I always encourage them to try and talk to someone in their life. That’s really important, there’s only so much I can gather from being distant.
Rosie: And would you say that your music and the fact that you’ve got such a good platform and people come to you, has then helped you with your own struggle with mental health?
Izzy: yeah, I think in many ways it has. I particularly struggle with loneliness, that a really big issue for me and so getting messages from people and having lots of little interactions with people does help. But at the same time, especially with releasing music, there’s lots of unknowns, there’s lots of anxieties, which also creates a lot of problems in some ways.
Rosie: Have you always been musical? Have you always thought that you’d want to be a singer or songwriter?
Izzy: When I was really little, so when I was about 5, I started playing the piano and then I started playing the saxophone at age 9, which is when I really got into music and I loved it. But actually, for years, I thought I was going to be a conductor, like classical music. But eventually I found, I think it as actually during my GCSE’s, when we did song writing, and I found it so interesting and fascinating and really really creative, much more so than playing an instrument for myself. After that I had this constant desire to just do song writing. And then I actually went on to study it
Rosie: Oh, wow so you studied it?
Izzy: Yeah, I just finished my degree.
Rosie: Where did you study?
Izzy: I studied at BIMM London, it’s part of the University of Sussex, so that’s who my degree is from. Its very confusing
Rosie: What made you go down the pop route with your music?
Izzy: So, my two favorite genres of music are Pop and Bossa nova. I just thought, although I really like Bossa nova, and I spent a lot of my degree writing that sort of music, I think pop music, for me, is more expressive, and its much more helpful my mental health. I get a lot out of doing it and I also just think, there’s a bit more of a market for it, so it’s a bit easier to get into.
Rosie: Have you done any collaborations with other artists recently?
Izzy: Right now, I’m working on a few things behind the scenes, co-writing with different people, and seeing what happens with it.
Rosie: Exciting!
Izzy: Early next year I think, I’m releasing some music with a relatively well-known house DJ, so hopefully that goes well too.
Rosie: Oh, that sounds exciting, good luck with that! So, I’ve noticed in a lot of your songs you’re very authentic and true to how you’re feeling, and your inspirations for the songs are your own experiences, have you got perhaps any tips, for staying authentic in art, particularly with music, and expressing yourself.
Izzy: So, I think it’s really difficult not to compare yourself to other artists, but I think that is where you start going down the trap of being inauthentic. If I started to think, Oh Ariana Grande is so great, I want to write songs like her, then I would just be a second-rate Ariana Grande. I think its difficult, do what you think is right, but keep in mind who you’re appealing to.
Rosie: And have you got any tips for people starting out, trying to write music or getting their foot in the door, producing things and putting themselves out there?
Izzy: I would say, what I definitely didn’t do enough of when I was first starting out, was just listen to that other people are doing. Especially when it comes to song structure and form and arrangements; listen to it! Also, its horrendous when you first show your music to someone or sing in front of someone, and its so scary, but as soon as you’ve done it, you’ve done it. I remember the first time I showed anyone my music, it was my brother, and he was literally like: “this is bad, this is bad, you should change this, so it was awful” aha but I’d prepared for that though. There’s also loads of stuff online, popular song writers giving talks and stuff like that.
Rosie: And do you still feel nervous when you’re releasing new stuff or are you a veteran now in regard to putting stuff out there?
Izzy: if it’s a song, I don’t love, then I’ll be a bit urgh, or don’t know how people are going to feel, but because all the music I release, I’m like, I love this song, if no one else likes it, that’s fine. I like it and that’s that, you have to almost treat it like that sometimes.
Rosie: Are you constantly writing new stuff? Are you working on an album at all?
Izzy: So, I have loads of songs recorded, and I think in February or March I’ll release an EP. A lot of my finishing projects, so my dissertation, was around whether its better to release albums or singles, and there’s lots of benefits to both.
Rosie: and how do you find it each time you release a single? Are you particularly emotional about it? Or is more a labour of love?
Izzy: Yeah, by the time I release it, I just want it gone! Other people can deal with it now ahah
Rosie: So, a little bit onto to Humankind Zine; we’re trying to encapsulate what it means to be human or the human experience. We’ve already talked about being authentic, but in regard to your music, this is perhaps a bit of a cheesy question, but how would you describe your human experience, is there anything you would pinpoint down to say, ‘this is what makes me human’?
Izzy: I think I’m very self-reflective a lot of the time, I’m very aware of how I react to things or situations and how I'm feeling internally, and I think that helps keep me in touch with the world. Because I think sometimes you can move very quickly and not really think about what’s going on, I need a lot of time to just sit and think about what’s going on and how I feel about things.
Rosie: And with releasing music, the music you produce or even music in general, do you think it can have lasting impact on the audience you present it to?
Izzy: I think any piece of music can and I think music is very powerful, it used in lots of therapies. For example, when I was really young, I was in a house fire while I was on holiday. We constantly played this one song, I think It was called Bongo Bongo, it was a really weird French song, so strange, but anytime I hear that song now, even though its one of my favorite songs and I love it and think it’s a great song, anytime I hear that song it takes me back to that really difficult experience. Music can have a really powerful impact.
Rosie: Do you listen to your own music? Do you use it to get out your own emotions and then almost lay it to one side? or do you then reflect on your own music and relate it certain times that you’ve gone through?
Izzy: Absolutely, actually a lot of feelings I have reoccur. I’ll write about someone who’s really irritated me, or a relationship that’s gone really bad, and then when another relationship inevitably goes a bit wrong or a bit bad, I can listen to the song again and it’s the exact same feeling!
Rosie: Ah that’s so nice! I also briefly just wanted to talk about your dog, because I looked on your Instagram and your dog’s amazing.
Izzy: *presents Tilly*
Rosie: Ah!! Has Tilly been helping you with this whole corona situation and keeping busy?
Izzy: Yeah, well I just live with Tilly, so she is my source of interaction and I spoon her every night when I go to bed aha, she’s so great.
Rosie: Is there anything you wanted to add about the music you’re working on now and the singles you’ve already released, so people can get an overview of what you’re all about.
Izzy: I’ve been releasing a lot of very conversational-type music, a lot of people describe it as Lily Allen-esque, very wordy and I’ve been doing a lot of that, but recently I’ve transitioned. The stuff I’m recording now is a bit more dance-y, and a bit more house-y, which has been a really fun change because its very mood lifting, even if its about a horrible subject, you still feel great afterwards, so I’ve been doing a lot of that. I have a song coming out in November, I think its November 20th, which I’m very excited about as its very upbeat and dance-y. You’d think that House or dance music, wouldn’t be the best and everyone’s at home, but its actually on the increase.
Rosie: Oh really?
Izzy: Yeah, I was really surprised. I have some songs coming out in January with a House label and their saying it’s a great time to be releasing house music. I would not have guessed that ahah. I wonder how popular Christmas music this year will be, because I don’t know if people will be feeling quite as Christmassy
Rosie: I could go the opposite way and people really get into it!
Izzy: Yeah, that’s true, to feel it! I’ve also been writing some Christmas songs, I like to do that around Christmas, and there’s one that’s about Christmas and corona virus, which I think I might record and put-on YouTube. I’ve always wanted to release a Christmas song, but I find them very difficult to get right a lot of the time.
Rosie: Yeah, I was wondering about this, because have we almost surpassed the need for more of them, because what more is there to write about? But then again ‘Christmas and Corona’ is pretty good!
Izzy: It’s a really niche market aha, with hopefully a very small window of time that it will apply to!
Rosie: Before when you were talking about your work, you described it as wordy, have you ever tired spoken word or poetry?
Izzy: So, for my GCSE English literature or English language, I can’t remember which one, I wrote a poem and I felt so complimented because my teacher accused me of plagiarizing or getting someone else to write it, because it was so good! She made me explain what every word meant. But when I was really little I would song write and it was awful, like the worst thing you could ever imagine, but when I was more a teenager I got into poetry.I think poetry is really interesting and I think these correlations between poetry and song writing is very interesting. With song writing, you’re trying to keep it interesting and with the theme of the song and there’s more repletion but there’s such a huge cross over, and neither of them have any set rules which I think is really really nice.
Rosie: and has any poetry of literature inspired your lyrics?
Izzy: I think in general; poetry has always had quite a big impact on how I write songs because its very creative. There’s lots and lots of symbolism typically in poetry and that’s very powerful. I have tried to include it in my music, but I think generally my music is more emotion driven and more literal than a lot of the poetry. Poetry can be very metaphorical, and I don’t think I have the discipline not be literal like “I hate you and this is why” ahah
Rosie: Is there anything else you wanted to mention regarding your music and how you’re feeling at the moment and your mental health, especially regarding corona?
Izzy: Yeah, actually something I’ve been doing recently is an online zoom group therapy for mentalisation. I have Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and people with EUPD, can often be very very sensitive to other people’s emotional changes, understanding why their emotions change that way, they can often misinterpret. For example, if someone gets sad, I will really quickly pick up on that, but id think its because they hate me or they’re sad because they think I’m an awful person, or something like that. Doing therapy can bring up a lot of weird stuff, but that’s also been very interesting for my song writing, and a lot of what comes up in the group I process through song writing. I’ve written a lot about experiences I have had in group therapy in the past. They can be really difficult. But its funny actually, the NHS doesn’t want to buy the full zoom package, so every 40 minutes we have to hang up and call back aha its very strange doing it over Zoom.
Rosie: Yeah, I was just going to ask about that, how have you adjusted to that switch and therapy being completely online now?
Izzy: Its interesting, there’s issue with confidentiality; you don’t know who’s standing next to them or if someone else is in the house, and people may not feel comfortable with other people in the house. It is difficult, because you’re not in person, its really hard to pick up on someone’s atmosphere or vibe. If someone’s feeling really bad at a certain time and they might need extra support from services, but it very hard to give that at the moment. But it is interesting as well because you also see people in their home environments, so there’s benefits and negatives to it. I still find it very useful, but I think it would be very difficult for a lot of people.
Rosie: Do you personally find it almost more comforting because you’re in your home environment as opposed to going somewhere and talking to someone?
Izzy: I think I do in some ways, but there’s also the aspect that if you talk about something really difficult, if you’re in a different place, you sort of have that journey home to decompress, but if you talk about something really difficult and you hang up, you’re just in your house by yourself. I think I personally prefer it in a lot of ways, but its also difficult for a lot of people.
Rosie: Have you got any tips for people starting to do Zoom therapy? How they could prepare?
Izzy: I always plan to do something afterwards. They recommend that we go and call someone afterward and talk about something, but I don’t think that would be too useful for me; if I’m not in the right place, I don’t really want to talk to people. I generally try to do something I know that I’d want to do. At the moment I have this diamond painting, you get tiny little diamonds, and you stick it and its like paint by numbers, its amazing, its of my dog. I spend hours doing that. It’s a mindless activity. Or I watch a horror film. I find horror films really good for when you’re feeling sad because they kind of snap me out of whatever emotional state I’m in. Or videos of people doing parkour on building tops, it freaks me out so much that it takes me out of whatever emotion I was feeling.
Rosie: Thanks for talking to me! And good luck with all your upcoming music releases!
Thank you to Izzy for chatting with me! If you'd like to check out her socials, here are her links: