Fittingly, Freddie Lewis has chosen Sunday to release the video to his latest single.
The track, Sundays, sees the smooth-edged soul-influenced singer processing the painful void left by a break up.
It’s the latest in his line of ‘vivid, touching and relatable’ indie-pop.
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“It’s about figuring out how to fill up my own life in the wake of a significant relationship ending,” says Lewis, a songwriting graduate from BIMM Bristol.
“I’d figured out all the fun things, the late nights and dancing and trips, but in the quiet time there was this space I couldn’t seem to fill. Sundays were the hardest, because they’d always been the highlight of my week.
“I realised that all the other things were easier because they were a distraction, and sitting at home alone was when the change really set in.”
“Sonically, I wanted the song to reflect this, so I set out to make it sound like a Sunday,” he goes on, explaining how the song’s theme is woven into its sound, its imagery and even the recording process itself.
“It’s lazy and warm, then the bridge bursts into this flurry of distraction, indulgence and emotion, before returning back, bare and vulnerable, to the real feeling.”
The video features burlesque performer CiCi Noir as, Lewis says, a metaphor for the song’s themes:
“Cici acts as a personification of a break up, or of change in general, where in order to move through it, I have to embrace the unknown.
“At first I resist, and ignore, and try to keep things as they were. But it becomes clear I’m being asked to do something else… so we have a boogie. At the end I’m singing to her, I’ve let her in, I’m sitting with the change, and she is sitting with me.”
Lewis is excited to embark on a headline tour in the autumn, with a hometown show featuring drag and burlesque as well as live music on October 4
And, in the very act of creating it, the song solved its own problem.
“Funnily enough, all the sessions we had on the track, right up until the day we recorded final vocals, were on a Sunday,” he reflects.
“So… I filled my empty Sundays with this song, and with friends, and with my own ambitions and creativity and all that good stuff.”
Lewis launched his music career in the summer of 2021 with the heartfelt single Growing Pains, which utilised his signature spoken word vocal style to chart his personal journey with identity in an honest and intimate manner.
Since then his music, which is influenced by Arlo Parks, Olivia Dean and Omar Apollo, has received support from Radio One and BBC6 Music as well as winning hearts in Bristol and among the queer community.
“I’ve been really lucky that since my debut single Growing Pains came out I’ve had the support of my community,” says Lewis, whose live shows are known for being upbeat and joyful as well as honestly expressive.
“I’m on a bit of a mission and have got lots of music in the pipeline. I hope that even more people will come to shows and dance with us.
“I’m most excited for my first headline tour later this year. I’m doing it as queer cabaret! Cici Noir is performing live with us at the Old Market Assembly, along with Try Me and Dominique Fleek.
“It’s funded by PRS Open Fund {for Music Creators}, which I was awarded earlier this year and has sort of changed the game for me. Anyone reading this should buy a ticket right now because it’ll be an amazing show!!”
The ‘Freddie Lewis Cabaret Tour’ will combine queer cabaret with drag, burlesque and live music. Find out more and buy tickets for the Bristol show at the Old Market Assembly on October 4 here: www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/old-market-assembly/fri-4-oct-freddie-lewis-cabaret-tour-110385#e110385
All photos: Freddie Lewis
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