Breakthrough artist with a storytelling soul, Twinnie, is here with open arms on his four-track pop-country EP Welcome to the club. You may have known her in the theatre, occasionally on the big screen, or in television series like Hollyoaks and Wife. But, the music was the thing that always came back to her because “it’s always been with me,” she tells American Songwriter.
Specifically, what drew Twinnie to music was that she “never [was] one of those people who didn’t know what I wanted to do. From the age of nine months, I was singing a little,” she explains. “And you know my mother always wanted to entertain. I think I discovered very early [that] it was kind of an expression for me. It has always been like this.
With the music so naturally in her, Twinnie felt the desire to share it with the world. And, like her mother, who always wanted to entertain, the British-born singer shares her new EP and travels with hospitality.
Musically speaking, at the heart of this EP are its roots. Growing up in the UK, Twinnie acquired an eclectic taste in music, as many different artists inspired her family. Her mother was a huge Dolly Parton and Reba fan and her father loved Bob Dylan, Gilbert O’Sullivan and Queen. Compared to her parents, Twinnie was influenced by the Spice Girls, Shania Twain, and even Tupac. With a nod to the Spice Girl mantra of “girl power,” Twinnie expresses that she’s “always drawn to really strong women.” Taking the empowerment of young women one step further, she steers us towards empowerment for all in her new EP welcome to the club.
By welcoming you to the club, Twinnie strives to create a community of inclusivity, self-love, trust and acceptance for all in their new record, wanting everyone to feel like they are all VIPs. There is no place for hate. “Nobody Needs an Invitation” for this shindig of an album.
“It really costs nothing to be nice to people,” she says. “We are so different and social media makes us feel connected. But we are not. At the bottom of it all, we are more alike than we are different. That’s what I want people to take away from this.
Twinnie’s way off the beaten path is radical sympathy and compassion, emphasizing that it’s okay to care and celebrate your quirks and differences. His lyricism expresses the same sentiment in the album’s title track.
And the world makes you feel / Like you’re lost and don’t belong, you’re not the only one / And if you look in the mirror / And you feel like a failure / Well there’s a secret I can tell you / Welcome to the club, everyone is here / Have a drink, let your worries fade awayshe sings.
Another song off the record, “One Heart”, highlights the universality that Twinnie preaches. Calling this song the “catalyst” of the EP, the song shares a common experience that everyone has had: grief. From grief, Twinnie understands that “out of the pain, trauma, and suffering that everyone goes through, a beautiful thing can be born.”
welcome to the club is “the celebration of coming together and [to] celebrate the pieces of yourself that you think are a bit broken,” she explains. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Twinnie wants us to turn our pain into celebration through conscious growth, therapy, recognition and sympathy.
In conjunction with the individual tracks, the music videos form a collective short film. Her role as a storyteller plays a large part in her past. “Being on stage from four years old and watching Hollywood musicals, they could sing, dance and act”,
In conjunction with the individual tracks, the music videos form a collective short film. Her role as a storyteller plays a large part in her past. “Being on stage from age four and watching Hollywood musicals, they could sing, dance and perform,” she says. She was drawn to them and the way they created worlds. Twinnie considers herself a world builder when it comes to music. She draws a lot of influence from lyricism and how she can combine her music with other media, like music videos, to create a complete narrative. And, this story is to make us all feel welcome.
Twinnie’s EP welcome to the club is out now. You can see his performances in and around the Nashville area at CMA Fest this weekend, Nashville’s Pride Festival and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee.
Photo by Fraser Taylor/BBR
