If poetry is economy of expression, welcome our new chancellor Sophie May. Her first single, With the Band, tells a savage tale of teenage romance brilliantly, with scalpel-sharp lines such as: “Waking up in T-shirts from the band/ Oh, I let him put his cigarette out on my hand” with disorientating dispassion. The 23-year-old Londoner’s melodic, muscular folk pop is powered by lyrics that are unsettling, witty and grippingly real, like pages ripped from a diary.
May learned piano and poetry writing at school despite her dyslexia, then taught herself guitar while working in a pub, and began writing songs to play at open mic nights. Uploading snippets of songs to TikTok during lockdown changed the game. Her sparkling talent (and the app’s all-powerful algorithm) quickly brought a Billie Eilish endorsement and more than 200,000 followers.
