Next Wave #1188: Cordelia

“I still have a bit of a disconnect. I’m quite private, and I don’t really overshare much but then I do in songs, which ultimately doesn’t make sense,” Cordelia laughs as we talk over a Zoom call squeezed into her stacked schedule. “I still don’t clock that people are listening to what I’m saying and making a judgement about me as a person from these experiences I’m sharing. I think it’s because I quite like doing it, so I’m like ‘oh well! It’s best if I don’t think about it.’”

But for Cordelia, whose early songwriting career began with performances at the local pub before transitioning into the world of musical theatre, the last year has made it increasingly difficult to pretend no one is listening. Since the release of her debut EP, ‘Caramel’, in October, and the subsequent virality surrounding her track, ‘Little Life’, Cordelia’s voice has featured in almost a million TikTok clips and launched a myriad of memes and imitations. 

“That was a strange experience for me because it had so many waves,” she reflects. “There was the initial wave that was the sound going viral in a very sincere way – soundtracking wholesome life moments of various people. Then it was played so many times that it went viral in a meme-y way, which was just a laugh to watch. I think as soon as a song goes viral, because it has such a tiny piece of it, it feels kind of separate from me. I felt I was sitting back watching this all unfold and being like ‘what the fuck!’” she laughs. 

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The comforting, gentle songwriting of ‘Little Life’ captured the hearts of a generation, celebrating the beauty of prosaic moments, inspiring a flurry of videos that explore the minutiae of everyday life. But it’s a number that only scratches the surface of Cordelia’s songwriting capabilities, as hinted in the EP’s follow-up track, ‘I Just Killed A Spider’. There’s a darkness and complexity to her wordplay that presents a musician with plenty left to say.

For Cordelia, she doesn’t see the success of ‘Little Life’ as a hindrance, in fact it has launched her into a world of artistic freedom. “It felt quite freeing because I’ve had success with this song that feels quite wholesome and ‘traditionally singer-songwritery’. The next song is just me spitting out blood in a music video, which feels like quite a fun thing to be able to do.” 

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