I've been writing since I was 11. But I don't write with a pen, I just sing at the piano with one eye shut like a pirate.
Freya Ridings
Me and my mom were just watching the charts like, 'Why isn't it stopping?' And now I've got a platinum disc in my bedroom.
I'm on a group chat with my dad which he named 'Dearest Daughter'. It's so sweet because I don't think he really understands that a group chat normally has more than two people but I love chatting with him in it anyway.
I never went out to make the music that people would like. I mean, I tried, because every teenager tries to do that. But in my heart, I'd always come from gigs where I played upbeat guitar covers and I'd start writing sad songs on the piano.
I remember, a couple of years ago I was playing my first headline show, and it was to 100 people in St Pancras Old Church in London; and me and my mum were like, 'We don't know 100 people, how are we going to sell these tickets?'
I was quite a different child, I felt isolated. In time, that level of being with yourself crystallises who you are, and you can see what other people are without being blinded by what they want from you.
Going to school, sort of not realising that caring about things was going to make me stand out and make me weird, and I think also being a redhead and being tall, bigger than the other kids... Anything that makes you different at school makes you a target.
There's no expectations at all. Every single person that turns up to a show, you really appreciate them. Every single radio interview you do - everything.
At the age of 11 I did my first open mic show, and it was one of those lightning-bolt moments where I suddenly found what I wanted to do.
I find an apple before singing really, really helps... It's like there's something in the pectin in the apple that helps get rid of vocal clicks.
Songwriting really anchored me.
When I first started, I'd play to a few people. My mum would invite everyone she knew and the venue was filled.
Every time I do something new, it makes me a bit stronger. Playing huge shows, being invited to play with Nile Rodgers after the Brits - all are mindblowing and I have a great team around me who are empowering. It makes all the difference.
I followed my gut and my subconscious told me the kind of music I wanted to create. But it wasn't easy.
I remember in 2016 when I got signed to my record label Good Soldier, which is a very small indie label. They took a big risk on me because ballads were the furthest thing from cool at the time.
That's the best thing about being with an indie label, it feels like a family. If it's a major label, they put so much pressure on every single.
I heard that your subconscious is on the right side. I always shut my right eye when I play, or both eyes. I feel like you go to a deeper place in your subconscious, and you tell the stories that are more deeply within you.
Growing up, I promised myself that if I was every lucky enough to have a hit and also a hit that I had written myself, I would never get tired of performing it. I would always be grateful for that.
There was an open mic night when I was about 11 years old and I went and I played the songs that I'd written in my bedroom and it was the first night where I felt like I was myself at school.
When I first started writing songs, I was almost quite embarrassed that I couldn't read music and I still to this day don't really know what chords I'm playing, I don't know the name of them.
You know the way you tell your life story to a friend? I just told mine to a piano.
So when you're sat there and you're looking at a platinum disc on your wall, for a song you wrote on your own, it's like this is getting crazy, man. It's all crazy.
I was brought up in a bohemian household where my dad plays guitar and my mom plays piano just because they love it.
All of my music teachers gave up on me one by one because I couldn't read music.
I'm obsessed with American talk shows.
At school I was really heavily dyslexic, so I really struggled academically with reading and writing.
All my songs are based on personal experience, and 'Lost Without You' came out fully born.
I was in a choir at school and we were part of the BBC Proms back in around 2002.
I love the acoustic sets. Growing up, me and my dad would always watch those because we loved seeing the songs stripped back.
I'm obsessed with Beyonce. She's just effervescent, I love her.
Selfies are one of those things I generally take but never post. It's more to remember the moment or what I'm doing.
Being signed to a major label was never an option because I knew having the time to find out who you are without pressure from other people is so important.
The thing with 'Lost Without You' is that for a long time I didn't feel like I could share it with people. When it came to releasing it, it was a cliff-diving moment.
I realised, however, that you can't sing when you're playing the violin - or at least I can't - and as that aspect of performing is important to me I shifted to the piano.
Sometimes, when we're on tour, I'll find an empty room or a corner and I'll just sing. It heals something in me, be it some kind of isolation or loneliness. It's really quite beautiful that singing can do that.
I wasn't cool at all when I was younger; no one wanted anything from me.
Inspiring girls to write their stories and play their own instruments is something I'm passionate about, as it's not championed.
I do get star-struck, especially if they're icons like Florence Welch. I met her briefly at a studio and I did not act cool.
I really want to do a cover of Joan Armatrading.
I think, definitely, I was hugely influenced by - obviously like Adele and Florence the Machine. They were my complete idols growing up. But also, there were a lot of influences from my dad, like singer-songwriters of the '70s like Carole King and James Taylor.
