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Ben Barnes took to his social media today to share the exciting news of an exclusive concert! Last year Barnes made his debut at the famous music venue, Troubadour. He played a selection of songs from his EP, Songs For You . This newly announced show will be his triumphant return to the venue next week. This once-in-a-lifetime show will take place on Monday, January 29. Tickets for the exclusive show can be found here . If you want to attend, I recommend you act quickly, because this show will sell out!

After the success of his first EP, Songs For You , Barnes has been working on a full album. In his announcement video, Barnes hinted that the actual album will not be released for quite some time. This concert will give fans their first taste of the new songs he has created. He has been hard at work with some dear friends, alongside some talented musicians from Maroon 5, to make this upcoming album. Barnes also hinted at an amazingly talented opening act for the show that will remain a secret.

If you would like to learn more about Ben Barnes’ music, ticket information, acting, and merchandise, you can visit his links here . Our review for Songs For You, can be found here . Make sure to follow Nerds & Beyond for any new information.

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Shadow And Bone ’s Ben Barnes on his debut EP, boy band past, and the musical he’d like to star in

Ben Barnes is best known for playing an imperiled prince in the Chronicles Of Narnia , a soldier turned underworld leader in Marvel’s The Punisher , a louche businesman in Westworld , and the nigh-invincible general at the center of Netflix’s gorgeous fantasy drama Shadow And Bone .

With the release of his first EP, Songs For You , only days away, you might say he’s stepping into a new role, that of singer-songwriter. But Barnes has been immersed in music for more than half his life: As a teen, he performed in Frank Sinatra tribute concerts and Stevie Wonder soul nights before joining the National Youth Music Theatre. He grew up playing the drums, which landed him a gig in a West End musical adaptation of Bugsy Malone .

Barnes says when he realized he “couldn’t really be [a] Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles,” he knew he still wanted to be involved in music somehow. The actor began to take on roles in movies that explored different musical genres, performing everything from the “postmodern, New Romantics/Bowie stuff” of Killing Bono to the Cole Porter-era jazz of Easy Virtue to bluegrass of Jackie & Ryan . There was also a very brief stint in a U.K. boy band that, if nothing else, taught Barnes the importance of figuring out what he really wants to say with his own music.

And Songs For You (whose title is inspired by Leon Russell’s “A Song For You,” though the Donny Hathaway cover is the actor’s favorite) is as expansive in its sentiments as its sound. Working with producers John Alagia and Jesse Siebenberg, Barnes makes a confident debut with this buoyant ’70s throwback that’s brimming with strings and brass and soaring vocals. The earnestness of songs like “11:11" and “The End” belies the polished production—though it’s an EP, Songs For You is no half-measure. Barnes looks ready to join modern-day crooners like Michael Bublé.

The wait has been worth it for Barnes, who never strayed far from his musical roots. The A.V. Club spoke with the actor, who’s been filming an H.P. Lovecraft-inspired episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities , about reaching new heights of creativity during a pandemic, what he learned about authenticity from being in a boy band, and the movie musical he’d star in.

The A.V. Club: During the pandemic, a lot of people have taken up a new skill or hobby. But you’re starting a new career. How did it feel to embark on such a journey at such a time?

Ben Barnes: I think during the pandemic there was a lot of identity crises and people kind of just thinking about coming out of all of this, having a bit more freedom again and the ability to hug people and sit in front of the people that we care about. “What do we want to talk about?” “Who do I want to be going forward after this?” Especially in times of crisis, when all of our mortalities are kind of brought closer to us, it makes you question what you want to do going forward. What do you want to prioritize?

I’ve always loved music. I’ve wanted to create something of my own and share it for more than 20 years. I’ve thought about what I’d want to sound like and what it is I’d want to say, given that opportunity, and realized that I can make that opportunity for myself at this point. In my teens, I would do Sinatra tribute concerts and Stevie Wonder soul nights. Later, I played different characters who sang in films, but all the while never wondering, “What do I sound like? What do I say? And what do I say when I find out?”

As an actor, one of the best compliments you can get is, “I didn’t recognize you in there at all. I didn’t feel any of you in this.” But as a songwriter, singer, or musician, you want the opposite reaction. You want, “Oh, I feel you in this. I can feel what you’re feeling. It makes me feel something about my life or whatever, because there’s a purity or directness to it that is just kind of real and raw.” That’s what I wanted. It’s done now, and that’s a relief.

AVC: You started in musical theater, and have also been in several movies where music was key: Easy Virtue , Jackie & Ryan , Killing Bono . But now that the live-action movie musical is back in a big way, is there one you’d like to be in?

BB: They’ve done a lot of them already that were some of my favorites, like Les Miz and Into The Woods . I know they already made a Jesus Christ Superstar [movie] in the ’70s, but I think the music in that is pretty epic and there’s maybe a slightly more modern take on that somewhere. That would be cool. I’m sure there are lots that I’m not thinking of, but that’s one that I know hasn’t been done in a long time, at least.

AVC: The music video for “11:11" features Evan Rachel Wood, and was shot by Lee Toland Krieger, one of the directors from Shadow And Bone . Was it important to you to work with people you know for your first music video?

BB: Yeah. One of the first interviews I did [about the album] was sort of saying, “Are you worried about being this actor-slash-musician?” “Are people going to think, ‘stick in your lane?’” But I thought it would be cool to link what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years to what I’m doing now. That, for me, was getting co-stars from shows to be in the videos and trying to have a bit of a narrative and bit of acting and storytelling from that point of view.

I’ve got a connection with Lee, who directed the pilot for Shadow And Bone —there’s trust there. An old friend of mine directed the second video that I’m going to put out, because I wanted to put out more than one even though it’s just an EP. I just thought, “Well, I’m enjoying it and it’s fun and I think people will respond to storytelling in that way.” There’s a co-star of a different show that I did who’s going to be in that one with me. I wanted to link what I’ve been doing with what I’m trying to do now.

AVC: There’s something refreshing about that approach—you’re not shying away from your status as an actor in a bid to more “real” or “authentic.”

BB: I think it was more of a concerted effort not to try and pretend to be cooler than I am, actually. [Laughs.] I like that Hollywood glam of that first video. As you say, that is sort of where I’ve come from, and the story I wanted to tell lent itself to doing that. The second video is a bit grimier, but again, it’s not trying to be edgy or cool. The thing that was most important to me was trying to express sentiment through music. That’s what I’ve always loved about every song I’ve ever loved, is that it speaks to me in some way and it’s expressing a feeling, and I know whoever’s singing it has felt whatever feeling that is.

So it’s an attempt to do that. Did I kind of want to put on a tux and stuff? Yeah. But also I’d been sitting at home in my sweatpants for a year and a half like everyone else. So it felt good to set it up that way. Somebody said something about, “Oh, look, it’s a singing James Bond.” But I was like, “Yeah, exactly.” I would rather come across like that than trying to be like, “No, don’t think of me as that.” But also, I’m 40 and I am who I am. This is authentically me. I think people, no matter what age they are, no matter where they’re from or whatever, connect with things that feel honest. This is honest.

AVC: In 2004, you were in a boy band, Hyrise. These groups come in waves, but back then, they were being assembled in real time . Were you able to find a way to express yourself as part of that group? Or was it more a matter of “Let’s just try this?”

BB: Yeah. I think the reason that I have a slight hesitancy and still a little bit feel a bit of embarrassment around that thing is that it was a couple of weeks in my life and I enjoyed doing it and there were great guys in it. I sort of did it as a favor for a management person that I was doing some jazz recording with. And they were like, “We’ve had someone drop out, will you come and do it?” And I was like, “Yeah, why not?” But I think the thing that I do feel a bit embarrassed about is that it never quite felt authentic. It never quite felt like what I was trying to do. But I wanted to be involved with making music so much and I wanted the opportunity.

Even though it was a few weeks, I was like, “Well, maybe I can be like Justin Timberlake.” And he’s gone on to do such incredible stuff that I’d still love to be like Justin Timberlake in so many ways because he’s mega. His 2020 album is, as far as I’m concerned, old soul pop as well.

When you’re an actor coming up, they say, “Take any job, play any character, work on anything, because you build momentum and you do it.” And there’s a truth to it, because otherwise, how do you get started? I felt the same way about the music. But there are young people, like Harry Styles or whoever, putting music out that immediately captures something. It is possible to be authentic even when you’re young. I think that I didn’t have the boldness to sort of say, “I want to make this.” Or I didn’t know what I wanted to make or say or sound like.

It was inauthentic, in a way, to do it, but I wanted to be involved. And not everything we do in life is for the same sets of reasons and has that pure intent. I think that being young is for experimenting and trying things and seeing how they work out. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t done that, I think. Butterfly effects and all that. You just got to own up to it then.

AVC: We’ve all worked a job we didn’t feel passionately about.

BB: Right. Still, I accept that it’s funny to see me wearing my sweatband halfway up my arm and the chain that some stylist gave me. [Laughs.] I’ve got a very silly haircut, and a stupid little goatee here. I accept how ridiculous it all was. But it was all trying to be like someone else, and that was the problem with it.

AVC: I did read that at some point, you decided to only make the shows or movies that you would want to watch, which seems like a very healthy attitude to take. How do you feel that’s informed your work since?

BB: It’s allowed me to just sit with who I am as a person and feel confident that whatever I offer is going to be interesting enough, because I know how passionate and committed I am to everything I ever do and try. So just to have a bit of faith in that. Yeah, telling stories that you feel that you would watch and connect to again, it’s a bit like making music that you like and can be proud of. It’s all the same kind of thing.

The boy band thing and doing impressions of other people and whatever, that was in my early acting career as well. I just wanted to do jobs and tell stories and maybe some of them I wanted to be in the movie, rather than a story that I felt connected to in some way. This allowed me to let go of those strings that pull you towards wanting to come across a certain way. We all have those hang-ups. One of the cures for that is to do something which feels completely you, then you can feel good about having done that.

AVC: Now you have an EP, Songs For You , that does represent who you are. But there’s actually a theme of duality, of the sense that we are and feel a lot of things at once. Can you talk about what you were trying to explore?

BB: As people, we’re made up of all our memories and all our relationships and all of our ways we connect with people in the world in the moment. That’s who we are. I think my music is every song I’ve ever listened to, whether that is kind of old school big band jazz or Billie Eilish—that raw kind of new thing, or sort of new school soul, like Daniel Caesar.

Whether it’s the musicals or the kind of like Ben Platt feel—whatever I’ve listened to is in there somewhere. I think whatever’s sitting on the top of each song is going to be what people sort of categorize it as, but there’s me in there. All the stuff that I love is in there somewhere, even if it doesn’t quite sound like that on the surface. So whatever it ends up sounding like, it’s kind of like when you’re making food and you’re not exactly following a recipe, you’re just putting in ingredients that you like, and hope it tastes good to someone in the end.

AVC: Which of these tracks have you lived with the longest?

BB: There’s a song called “Rise Up.” My dad would always stand up at Christmas dinner and read a poem he wrote which would express some of the things we’d celebrated in the year, or maybe some of the things that were hard about the year for my family or whatever. And it would always make me kind of giggle and a bit teary and a bit nostalgic. And I always loved that. I started stealing it and doing it on people’s birthdays or in a time of struggle—just four lines. I don’t know, but there would be something about trying to make it rhyme that would make me really think about what I’m trying to say to that person.

That song started life as a little boring poem for someone who was feeling down, then it became about me as well and boring myself and all of these things. Eventually, I had another look at it and thought, “Well, if I put some chords, I can make it into a little sort of hymnal thing.” It sat in a notebook for so long, then this whole pandemic thing made me build it up into something else. I got this incredible musician, Oliver Krauss, to write and play strings on it, so it sounds like there’s an orchestra—very rich and full of feeling.

AVC: When it’s safe to do so, do you plan to tour?

BB: It’s come up. I haven’t ever done it. I would love to maybe play a smaller thing first to test the water. Because as you said, the one thing that comes along with being known for acting and stuff is that—I’m sure I could go and play some small bar somewhere, but the expectation is different from that a bit. I’d want to do it like I do everything. I’d want to do it for full out, and make it something I can be proud of.

Obviously, I have a day job, as it were, as well, so going back to Shadow And Bone and TV shows and stuff. It’s something that I hope to figure out. It would be a crying shame to do all this and not perform it in front of people and see what that feels like. Even just for me selfishly, it would be a shame to not know what that feels like, to sing a song for people. So I’ll figure it out.

AVC: You have this EP coming out on the heels of this big Netflix show, and a lot more projects in the works. How are you handling the higher profile? And what does it feel like to have this kind of success after being in the business as long as you have been?

BB: Honestly, I love being busy and having a focus and collaborating on storytelling. The high profile thing has always been a bit secondary to me. But it does feel good that people are paying attention to what you’re spending your time and your energy on. I love it when people come up and say, “I watched this and I loved it” or “I heard your song.”

I remember being on a train in New York when Westworld came out. I had gone to see a Jets game and I heard people talking about Westworld . It was a bunch of drunk dudes just being like, “Violent delights have violent ends, man.” It’s exciting to know that your stuff is in the world. So having people sing your lyrics at you is not something I’ve ever experienced, but just seeing people do covers of the song within hours of it coming out, that was new for me. Coming up with the concept for the music videos, and then actually watching the director set up the shots exactly as it was in my mind, was an adventure for me. That was a new, exciting feeling of, “This shot of Evan Rachel Wood in this chair is exactly what was in my head.” I didn’t know what that would feel like. It was kind of overwhelming in a good way.

Ben Barnes Releases Debut EP 'Songs For You'

The EP is accompanied by a new music video for "Rise Up".

Today is the day Shadow and Bone/The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian/The Punisher/Westworld actor Ben Barnes has been waiting 20 years for. His highly anticipated debut EP, Songs For You, is out now on all digital outlets via Label Logic, as distributed by Ingrooves.

Also out today is the stirring and emotional video for "Rise Up," which was directed by Georgia King and features his The Punisher co-star Floriana Lima.

Last month, Barnes introduced his first song to the world with his soulful first single "11:11." As People declared, "You may know Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia, or perhaps as General Kirigan in Netflix's Shadow and Bone. But chances are, you don't know him as a crooning piano man singing blue-eyed soul - at least, not yet. In that case, allow Barnes to reintroduce himself." While The A.V. Club praised, "Working with producers John Alagia and Jesse Siebenberg, Barnes makes a confident debut with this buoyant '70s throwback that's brimming with strings and brass and soaring vocals."

About the EP and the song from which the title is based, In Style proclaimed, "The song's timeless intimacy calls to mind the kind of vulnerability Joni Mitchell talked about when she talked about writing her seminal Blue album, that she felt like 'a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes,' susceptible to being torn away. The vulnerability Barnes displays on Songs For You is similarly defenseless, an unhesitant ripping open." And as Medium.com phrased quite poetically, "The five songs on Songs For You, his debut EP, prevent some events from becoming blurred memories of twenty years ago. Those who have played a role in them, now decorate rhythmic poems, emanate the warmth of a Sunday morning and collect stars at nightfall."

Listen to the new EP here:

"Rise Up" Music Video:

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Ben Barnes (I)

IMDbPro Starmeter Top 5,000 276

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• 1 win & 6 nominations

• Prince Caspian

• Ghost of Christmas Present

• Stephen Wyley

• General Kirigan
• 16 episodes

• William Thurber

• Brad Majors

• Benjamin Greene

• Billy Russo
• 25 episodes

• 11 episodes
• performer: "Super Heroes"

• performer: "Georgia Crawl", "Last Kind Words Blues", "Dance All Night With A Bottle In Your Hand", "Sitting On Top Of The World", "Pick Poor Robin Clean", "Southbound", "900 Miles", "Down On Penny's Farm", "Birds Fly", "As The Road Goes"

• performer: "La Marseillaise"

• performer: "Do Anything You Wanna Do", "Some Kind Of Lovin", "Cry Baby", "Where We Want To Be", "Kicking Off Again", "Sleepwalking", "Better Way", "On My Own", "Love Never Dies", "Play Dead"

• performer: "When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going"

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• 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
• August 20 , 1981
• London, England, UK
• Parents Patricia Barnes (Becker)
• Relatives Jack Barnes (Sibling)
• Other works Played Dakin "The History Boys" by Alan Bennett - UK tour (2006-7).
• 2 Interviews
• 1 Magazine Cover Photo

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• Trivia Tried to purchase the picture of himself used in Dorian Gray (to give to his mother), but the painting was not available for sale and is now in a museum.
• Quotes I got involved [in "Caspian"] very late, very late, literally a couple of weeks before they had to start shooting. I think they were desperate, at this point. 'Whoever walks in the door next, THAT'S the guy.' And it was me. (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, May 13, 2008)
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Live Show: Jan 29th At The Troubadour

Ben will perform NEW music from his upcoming album at an exclusive show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on January 29th . GA and VIP tickets are on sale now !

For more information (or to buy tickets), head over to the Troubadour website .

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‘Scrooge’ Podcast Out November 16

Ben is the voice of Ghost of Christmas Present in the upcoming ‘Scrooge: A Christmas Carol’ podcast by Hope Media Group and Compassion International. The special 4-part series releases Thursday, Nov 16th, and will be available on ScroogePodcast.com .

This 4 episode adaptation of Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens brings the characters we all know and love to life unlike ever before through a star-studded dramatic audio adaptation in podcast form. Ebenezer Scrooge, a self-obsessed miserable miser of all things un-merry and un-bright, is everything Christmas isnt. After he is visited by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, Scrooge transforms into a new man and embodies all the best parts of Christmas. Through this journey of transformation, listeners will encounter themes of joy, mercy, hope, and more. This new re-telling of the holiday classic will entertain, inspire, and remind you that even the hardest of hearts can find redemption.

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‘The Critic’ Premiere At TIFF 2023

Ben joined his co-stars Gemma Arterton and Alfred Enoch (as well as director Anand Tucker and screenwriter Patrick Marber) on the red carpet today at the world premiere of ‘The Critic’ at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival. Photos have been added to the gallery.

Gallery Links: 099 x Events > 2023 > Toronto Film Festival – ‘The Critic’ Premiere 012 x Events > 2023 > Toronto Film Festival – ‘The Critic’ Premiere – After Party 006 x Photoshoots > ‘The Critic’ Portraits – Toronto Film Festival

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‘The Critic’ To Premiere At TIFF 2023

‘The Critic’ will premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival next month. The film, based on Anthony Quinns classic novel Curtain Call , is set in the theatre world in 1934 London and follows two adversaries (Gemma Arterton and Ian McKellen) who are forced to take desperate measures to save their careers. Tickets are on sale now.

TIFF Screening Schedule – Sept 11, 2023 – 12:00 pm – Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre ( Buy Tickets ) – Sept 13, 2023 – 4:00 pm – Scotiabank Theatre Toronto ( Buy Tickets ) – Sept 16, 2023 – 3:00 pm – Scotiabank Theatre Toronto ( Buy Tickets )

For the complete 2023 Toronto Film Festival screening schedule, click here .

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Ben Barnes on His 20-Year Journey to Releasing His EP ‘Songs for You’ and Why He Wanted to do Music Videos

He also talks about 'Shadow and Bone' Season 2 and doing an episode of Guillermo del Toro’s horror anthology series 'Cabinet of Curiosities.'

From Shadow and Bone and Westworld to The Punisher and The Chronicles of Narnia , along with a variety of independents and TV shows woven throughout, Ben Barnes is an actor whose characters are always layered on multiple levels and never fully just one thing. Now, as a singer/songwriter, he’s also carrying that same vibe over to his music, most specifically the collection of songs that make up the EP Songs for You .

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, Barnes talked about his more than 20-year journey to releasing such a personal collection of songs, the creative and artistic fulfillment he gets from music, his musical inspirations, how he knew when he had the right collection of songs put together, why he wanted to do music videos, and his hope of doing some live shows. He also talked about where things are at with Season 2 of Shadow and Bone and what he’s most excited about in that regard, as well as his experience doing an episode of Guillermo del Toro ’s horror anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities .

Collider: How long had you been thinking about this music, these songs and this album, before finally deciding to actually take this journey and see it through?

BEN BARNES: I think the answer to that is somewhere between two years and 22 years. Twenty-two years ago, I had my first foray into music and music recording, and I signed to Simon Fuller, who was the managed who came up with Spice Girls. We were doing a jazz/big band project together, which never came to fruition, and I did a few pop band projects and did some recording with some other producers, but it just never really got any wind under its wings. I got quite quickly disillusioned with it. Meanwhile, the acting side of things was brewing and peaking my curiosity and I got excited about some of the storytelling.

Through the course of my career, you can see that I was navigating back, whenever I could, to projects that had something to do with music, but it was always impersonations of people. I was always doing impressions. Even at school, I would do these Sinatra tribute concerts and Stevie Wonder soul nights, and all of these things that weren’t really me, but just things that I loved. It just took this amount of time to find the confidence that my own songs can stand up in the canon of all music ever released and that I knew what I wanted it to sound like. Sometimes it takes some of us a bit longer than others to get to that place, especially when I’m so used to people seeing me in a certain light. Honestly, it just got to a point where I was talking to the 80-year-old version of myself thinking, “If I don’t do this now, I’ll forever regret not having done it.” That should far outweigh any other argument there is for not doing it.

It’s easy to find yourself put into a box in Hollywood. Especially when you’re good at a particular kind of character or people see you a particular way, they want to keep casting you as that because it’s reliably successful. It’s up to the actor or the filmmaker to get people to see them in some different way or convince them that they can do something they haven’t seen them do before. How do you deal with that, as an actor, and does feeling like people see you as an actor then get in your head when you’re trying to work on music?

BARNES: I think there’s probably always that slight initial judgment from people. They want to own that little piece of you and they see you in a certain way. They see you as a certain character that they love from a story, or whatever it might be. But for me, I love to try new things and try a different way. To be honest, it’s just a different way of storytelling. Having spent 20 years being edited and directed and written for, it became important for me to do something completely from me, completely raw and authentically me. I have no regrets about it because it’s actually made it easier. I feel like it’s helped people understand me more readily already. It’s definitely proven to myself what it is that I sound like and what it is that I have to say for myself.

What are the biggest differences for you with music, when it comes to creative and artistic fulfillment? Is it as simple as when you’re acting, you’re playing a character, and when you’re doing music, it’s coming from you personally, or is it not that clearly defined?

BARNES: I think I’m always trying to find ways to syringe in and find foundation in the characters that I play with pieces of myself. This is just a purer, more raw way of just expressing myself. Music is just so evocative. When you’re acting, you have the way you move your body, and your facility with your voice and how you make that sound, and your interpretation of the words. I don’t need to interpret these words because I wrote them and I know what they felt like. I know what it felt like to feel them and meet them, and then write them down, and then find music and chords that go along with it.

I’ve always found music that the quickest emotional access, in terms of storytelling. I know how other people’s music makes me feel, in an instant. I was just excited to share what that feels like for me and just so curious as to what people’s reactions would be like. I’m so curious what people’s favorite songs are, what they connect with, what it is in their own life, what line of what song makes them feel something about their own situation. When we talk about music, we talk about sharing it, and that’s what I wanted to do with it. I don’t want to just put it out into the world or force it down people’s throats or sell it. I wanna share it.

RELATED: Ben Barnes Releases '11:11' Music Video Featuring 'Westworld' Co-Star Evan Rachel Wood

I love music. Music has always been a part of my life. For me, I can judge my life before I heard Pearl Jam, and after I found their music. Was there a musician or a band or somebody who did that for you, who made you fall in love with music in a way that like just made you totally re-evaluate how you looked at and heard and thought of music?

BARNES: There’s a few, but one that’s jumping to mind now is the band Queen. My dad listened to a lot of the great rock bands when I was growing up. Music was always playing in the house. There was always something about the rawness of Freddie Mercury’s voice and the idiosyncrasy of the songs. It seemed impossible that the lyrics and the music ever existed one without the other. Maybe a lot of that is nostalgia for me and remembering how I felt when I heard that stuff for the first time. I know we all have bands like that. And then, I loved ‘70s and Motown and soul, and all that stuff. One of my music teachers introduced me to Donny Hathaway in my early teens, and his voice has always been one that was just able to cut right through to the heart, no matter what he’s singing about. That’s the purity and rawness I was talking about. I would love it to sound somewhere in between the two of them, but they were definitely huge influences. They were definitely musical awakenings, those two. By the way, there are hundreds of others, but those are the first two that jumped into my head.

I love songwriters who are also real storytellers that take you on a journey.

BARNES: I love that too, but I also have always been drawn to vocalists. Even when I was really young, it was Etta James, Whitney Houston, Michael McDonald, Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, and those people who, as soon as you hear their voices, you know they’re so musical with extraordinary sounds that no one else was making, and you can immediately tell who they are. I don’t necessarily think I have any of that about me, but it is definitely what I respond to when I listen to music.

Songwriting always seems like a very elusive thing to me. It’s hard to explain how somebody comes up with those words and that music, and it just somehow works together. It feels like it would also be hard to describe how you put a collection of songs together. When you were putting this collection of songs together, how did you know that they felt right? How did you know when you were done and should walk away from it?

BARNES: It’s a good question. The first part of it was little phrases that chimed with me, that then became a bit of a loving crossword puzzle. I really enjoyed the process of having things fit and looking at the structure of how most songs are presented and seeing how closely I need to fit to that and does it convey the different perspectives of what I want to talk about. Finding music is much more painstaking for me because I just sit at the piano and move my fingers.

I don’t know anything about music, really, in terms of keys or chords or structures. I just plunk away until something sounds like the feeling that I had when I was writing the words, or the feeling that I then wrote the words about. It definitely ends up being quite organic and truthful, but is not necessarily quick. And then, just thematically, I’ve always loved albums, which feel like they go together, and this felt like a collection of songs that all were about hope and empathy and trying to see things from more than one side. They were all about living a little bit in the gray areas.

Some of the songs are positive and have a vibe to them, but then they have a melancholy undertone, and some of them are more soulful and sensitive. They have that feeling of pathos to them, but then there’s a hopeful undercurrent. It’s more than one thing at a time. I often say that about acting, with a line. If you’re asking someone a question in a scene, when you ask someone an important question in real life, you usually are hopeful for one answer rather than another, or are fearing a certain kind of answer, but there’s always more than one thing at a time that’s going on. It’s important to share with each other that things are not always black and white.

Does making music videos feel like a marriage of the two sides of you, between the acting and the music? Does it feel like this intersection of where those two things meet?

BARNES: Yes, absolutely. That’s exactly why I wanted to do it and that’s exactly why I did more than one music video, even though it was more costly and I had to call more favors. I put so much more blood, sweat and tears into it to getting it done. I did want to involve people I’d worked with before. I wanted to give people an opportunity to pitch ideas. In the case of the 11:11 video, I just had a very specific story in my head that Lee Krieger, who was the director on the Shadow and Bone pilot, helped me make a reality. Instead of coming from left field and being like, “I’m an actor and I’m doing music too,” it was more like, “This is all storytelling, and this is a way to link the two together. It’s the tunnel between the two.” A lot of this is wanting to feel understood and wanting to feel connected to people who feel like they can see it too. Music is one thing, and then the visual is another. Some people are more visual than they are oral, and they can see at least one of the threads of storytelling that’s going through your head when you’re feeling this music. That’s interesting.

There are music videos that can definitely make an impression. I love the music video for “Losing My Religion” as much as I love the song.

BARNES: I definitely didn’t wanna just do something that was abstract. I didn’t wanna do something that was just a performance. I didn’t wanna do something that was inaccessible. I wanted to tell a story that, even if it’s not the story of the song, connected to the song. What I do is storytelling, and I wanted it to make it feel more accessible, not just to have something to look at while you’re listening to it. It was the specific kind of video that I’m interested in.

Fans of Shadow and Bone are highly anticipating and anxiously awaiting the second season of that show. Where are you at in the production of Season 2? Have you started filming any of it yet, or is that something happening imminently soon?

BARNES: We haven’t started and I don’t know exactly when we’re going to. I’m hopeful it will be soon because I’m waiting with as much anticipation as those fans who you were talking about because I’m one of them. I’m excited to see what they do with it, and I’m excited to see when we can get going.

RELATED: Ben Barnes Is Releasing a Debut EP and It's Sure to Be Swoonworthy

Shawn Levy has said that all of the scripts have been written. Have you read them all? Do you want to read them all? Do you not like to get that far ahead of yourself?

BARNES: I would very happily gobble them up today, if they arrived on my doorstep, but nothing has been shared with me yet. The spies at Netflix are keeping them safe. I’m excited. I wish I had secrets to spill . . . But I always find that it appeals to me to be able to look at the arc of the season, and to be able to balance things and judge things, and know how much to fall back and how much to give. I prefer it that way. There’s also something exciting about working on something like Westworld , for example, where you had no clue where it was going, so you just had to go balls to the wall and just don’t leave anything in the tank because you don’t know what it is next week. You might be shot.

When you’re telling a story in such a expansive world as Shadow and Bone , there’s a lot of story to tell and a lot of characters to explore. Have you had any conversations about how many seasons the show could go? Do you have any idea what they’re thinking about that?

BARNES: I don’t know. I know that Eric [Heisserer], our showrunner, is very keen to get to the Six of Crows stories. I know he loves a heist and he loves those characters, and he read that first. I know that much. So, he’s keen to get on with that. I’m excited to see how they could sew it all up. I’m not envious of that task. I think they did an amazing job in the first season, of having a prequel for Six of Crows interlink with the Shadow and Bone stories. I’m beyond curious to see how they do it going forward. So long as I get to say the juiciest lines that I’ve written on my list, I’ll be happy.

It’s such a fun show. The first season was great, but I love where all of the characters were left because it just feels like there’s so much to dig into.

BARNES: Yeah, almost every character has had the rug pulled out from underneath them, but is facing forward, knowing what they want to do now. I think that’s an interesting moment to leave things at.

When a project comes your way and you know that it’s a horror anthology series ( Cabinet of Curiosities ) from Guillermo del Toro, do you even need to know any more before saying yes, or was that enough?

BARNES: No, you don’t need to know anything. I just said yes, which I never, ever do. And also, I always said to my team – my manager and everything that I’ve had for 20 years – that I would never do a horror because I don’t watch them and I don’t like feeling creeped out. I love psychological thrillers and being scared, but I don’t like feeling creeped out. It’s not something that I actively seek out, but if it’s Guillermo del Toro, you know he’s gonna do something else with it as well. You know there’s gonna be a humanity to it. You know there’s gonna be something to it, which has something else to say for itself. He’s been very hands-on with the creative process and choosing all of the stories and choosing the cast and designing some of the features of it. So, I just said yes, and it turned out to be a really interesting character and they were very collaborative. There were certain themes that I wanted to pull out of this particular story that I was doing, which I can’t say what it is yet. I think it’s something that I’ll be really proud of.

We do know that it is based on a short story by HP Lovecraft. How does that influence the tone and vibe?

BARNES: That was the thing that I didn’t think I could say, but you do know that. I will say that what we made is very different from the short story. It’s much more expanded than this particular short story is. This short story is about one tiny element of what we’ve made, so it’s kind of an original, fresh-feeling thing. The main thread of the story is taken from the short story, and the two main characters, but it felt like we were making something new and fresh, even though it was set over different time periods. I’m excited about it. I’m just hesitant because I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say and what I’m not.

How was the experience of working with someone like Crispin Glover, who’s an actor that is unpredictable?

BARNES: Yeah, totally unpredictable. That’s one of the great things about working with him. He likes to do takes in different ways and scenes in different ways, and he loves doing it. He’s excited about the character he’s crafting and it’s so fun to watch him do that. He likes to talk about it and download what we’re trying to do with any particular scene, and make each scene the most full version of itself. He’s a good collaborator, in that way. I think it’s important, in a genre like that, to have people who are gonna be a bit unpredictable, but still have a verve for making it exciting, and he has all those things.

RELATED: 'Shadow and Bone' Season 2: Cast, Story & Everything We Know So Far

I love the work that Guillermo del Toro does. He feels like a big kid, in the sense of his imagination and all of the creatures and characters that he comes up with, and yet he can still be very terrifying, at the same time. I love that combination.

BARNES: Yeah, and this story definitely has all of those things. It feels very period Guillermo del Toro.

Since it took 20 years or more to get to this point with your music, are you thinking about working on new music anytime soon? Is it something you always do? Are you always playing around with that kind of thing?

BARNES: I’m always sitting at the piano and playing songs that I love, or trying to, at least, and just enjoying doing it. And I’m always writing down lyrics and phrases and little things, often for people’s birthdays. If they’re feeling a bit down, I’ll write them a short little poem of some kind, just because I like thoughtfulness and I like that kind of communication, which is a bit more thoughtful. I’m always doing stuff with words. The actual sitting down to finish the songs is something I need a bit more space for. That tends not to happen, if I’m working on a show or a film. I’ve caught the bug. I definitely wanna do more. Whether that involves doing some more covers or some different genres, or whatever, then that’d be great. I’d love to perform the songs, at some point, for people. I’d love to do some shows. I don’t know how or when or what, but it’s nice to be able to write a list of ambitions.

Is it hard to even think about doing live performances, between your acting projects and just in general with COVID? How could you even work something like that out?

BARNES: I need more support in my life, I’m realizing, if I want to do more than one thing. But maybe I’ll get that and maybe we can find a way.

When you are figuring out the process of writing a song and working on getting your thoughts out that way, has it ever made you think about writing a script? Does one even translate to the other?

BARNES: I have written a couple of scripts in my life, particularly with people. I’ve not felt confident enough with any of them. The effort to get something from a script onto the screen is inordinate, and the same with a song, to get it from something I can play [on the piano] just for my own ears to something that is available on a vinyl or a CD and a full thing with a video [is a whole other thing]. It took the last year and a half, completely, to do that because you want it to be what you set out for it to be, and I definitely do the same with a film or a show. So, I continue to dabble with writing scenes and scripts, but there are moments where it’s felt more important than something that I wanted to do. Maybe I want to direct. And then, you’re like, “But actually, if I have time that’s outside of acting, I wanna be doing music with it.” You’ve only got limited hours in the day. But at some point, I would like to have tried everything. I would like to make a film, at some point, that was out of my head, or myself with a writing partner. I love that process. I have so much experience with breaking down other people’s scripts that it’s stood me in very good stead. We’ll have to see if it’s ever something that comes to fruition.

Is there an artist whose music that you listen to, but you would never want to touch covering any of their songs because you’d be afraid that it just wouldn’t work with how you sound?

BARNES: I would have a go of it. I know there are artists that perform in genres that I don’t. I’m not afraid of it. You can’t sing a Stevie Wonder song and sound like Stevie Wonder, but I’ve heard some great covers of that stuff. Life is too short to be envious of those kinds of people and their voices and their soul and their phrasing, or whatever it might be. But I do sometimes listen to artists that just cut right through to the soul, or the joy of something, or the pain or something, and I get stuck in time, in a moment, and that’s something sacred. I listen to an Irish artist, called Foy Vance, a lot at the moment, who I think is magical in that way. But yeah, that happens to me, all the time, listening to music.

Now that this album is done, how do you feel most creatively fulfilled by this experience? After 20 years of thinking about it, does it live up to what you hoped?

BARNES: It doesn’t sound like I thought it was going to sound. I thought it would sound more like the people I love it. I thought it would sound more Ray Charles. But of course, I’m not Ray Charles. It sounds more me. It’s just that you doesn’t necessarily know what that is. Dropping those expectations of wanting it to sound like anything else was a big part of this for me. People close to me saying the music sounds like I am, as a person, was a big part of it. Seeing people’s smiling faces, dancing to something you made, is an incredible, bountiful experience. Just being able to go onto Spotify or Apple music and click on a song that’s mine and it plays is magical to me. And it will never be deleted. It’s there now. No matter how old and doddery I get, you can still press play on it. There are very few things in life that are that tangible.

Songs For You is out now on all digital outlets via Label Logic, as distributed by Ingrooves.

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Ben Barnes, actor and singer-songwriter, has announced a performance at Islington’s Assembly Hall this Autumn.

Best known for his acting roles as Logan Delos in Westworld, Billy Russo in the in The Punisher and Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia, Ben in October 2021, realised his 20-year dream of releasing music, in the format of a 5 song EP, Songs for You.

Based on his own life experiences, the EP is a soulful and introspective journey, which the title of, was inspired legendary American singer-songwriter Leon Russell’s 1970 track, A Song for You.

Since the release of Songs for You, Ben has taken to the stage at some historic venues such as the Troubadour in LA, NYC’s Bowery Ballroom and for his live debut Ben performed at the Hotel Café, LA, which has previously welcomed artists such as Adele, John Mayer, Chris Martin, Billie Eilish and more.

A lifelong musical fanatic, Ben began writing songs and working with producers and musicians at the age of just 19, however due to acting commitments never was able to release material.

**VIP 1 Meet & Greet Package**

1. One (1) GA ticket to the show

2. One (1) selfie picture with Ben

3. Group Listening Session (unreleased music demos)

4. Early Entry to the venue

5. *Please arrive one (1) hour prior to scheduled door times

**VIP 2 Early Entry Package**

2. Early Entry to the venue (’Skip the Line’)

3. (1) SIGNED “Songs for you” CD

4. *Please arrive thirty (30) minutes prior to scheduled door times

By purchasing a ticket to this event you are agreeing to adhere to Islington Assembly Hall’s terms and conditions: https://islingtonassemblyhall.co.uk/customer-terms-conditions-2022/

See approximate stage timings below:

7pm Doors 7.50pm Support 8.50pm Ben Barnes 11pm Curfew

All tickets to shows at Islington Assembly Hall are subject to a Venue Levy of £1 + VAT. As a Grade II listed building, this levy will be reinvested into Islington Assembly Hall and its services, meaning the customer experience can continue to be enhanced.

Accessible and carer ticketing information: https://support.dice.fm/article/179-accessibilty-tickets-for-islington-assembly-hall

Presented by Senbla.

This is a 16+ event. You may be asked to prove your age and if you’re unable to show valid ID, you may be refused entry. Valid ID includes passports, driving licences, 16+ Zip Oyster photocards and CitizenCards. Photocopies will not be accepted.

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Ben Barnes Talks 'Personal Nature' of His Debut EP, Premieres Video for First Single '11:11'

Ben Barnes' debut EP Songs for You hits shelves on Oct. 15

You may know Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia , or perhaps as General Kirigan in Netflix's Shadow and Bone . But chances are, you don't know him as a crooning piano man singing blue-eyed soul — at least, not yet.

In that case, allow Barnes to reintroduce himself.

The actor, 40, is gearing up to release his debut EP Songs for You on Oct. 15, and is premiering its first single, "11:11," exclusively with PEOPLE, alongside a music video featuring his Westworld co-star Evan Rachel Wood .

"Making this video for '11:11' has been one of the most satisfying creative experiences of my life," Barnes says. "Seeing my idea come to life on the monitors on the day of shooting, with Evan dancing in the aisles, was a proud moment for me. The last piece of the first artistic endeavor entirely from inside me."

Though Barnes' deep dive into music may seem like a departure for the actor, it won't come as a surprise to his nearly 2 million Instagram followers, who've watched as he's used the platform more and more to share various song covers, including a rendition of the Friends theme song.

"As you get older, your priorities start to shift, and what's important to you starts to shift," he says. "And music has always been, since I was very young, something that I loved... The 80-year-old me is never going to regret making some music and sharing it. How can that ever be wrong?"

Barnes has incorporated music into his career over the years, contributing songs to movie soundtracks and working on his skills following an ill-fated, two-week stint in the British boy band Hyrise at 19.

Ahead of his 40th birthday, Barnes bought himself a baby grand piano, and though he'd only been playing for a few years — he's a percussionist by trade who moonlit as a jazz drummer at 15 —finally felt comfortable sharing his words with the world.

"I think it was something about the intimacy of it, and the personal nature of releasing songs that you've written that are about you and your life and your connections with people that just felt a bit overwhelming," he says. "And honestly, I think sometimes when you're a bit younger, you're either very bold or you're a bit like me and you feel like, 'What if people don't connect with what I have to say or what if I don't have anything to say at all?' And people just think you're sort of a blank piece of paper. But I think as you get older, you realize how many of the things that you go through are exactly the same things that other people go through."

Barnes, who studied English literature in college, says that for as long as he can remember, he's kept little notebooks, jotting down poems, words and ideas as they come to him.

Eventually, those tinkerings came to feel more lyrical than poetic, and he began the more "painstaking" process of adding melodies.

With the resulting songs, Barnes says he found a way to express himself through a means different than acting, where for years he's played parts and read words written for him by other people.

"Music always felt like it was something that was just for me because I had the acting side of my career and I pretended to be these people," he says. "I loved doing it, but it was for other people… As a songwriter, you don't have to ask any questions at all. You just have to feel something and express it"

The EP's title is named in part because each song has to do with experiences he's had with particular people, and partly because it's a nod to Donny Hathaway's version of "A Song for You," which Barnes considers "one of the greatest recordings ever."

For a long time, he says, he wrestled with the fear of wanting to make those experiences so public, as releasing music that he's written exposes vulnerabilities in a way he's taken care to avoid over the years.

"I've always been very private in interviews and stuff, [but] that's not how I am with my friends and my family," he says. "I'm a massive sharer, and a huge empath, and someone who wants to understand everyone's version of experiencing everything all the time. And so it just felt like a little bit more time to share something of my experiences."

"I just reached a place doing this where I felt good about doing it. And so I would just rather own that feeling and put it out and see if anyone digs it," he adds. "I'm comfortable enough in my own skin and in who I am at this point."

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Ben Barnes: Easy Virtue

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Ben Barnes Is Finally Ready to Talk About Himself

By Emily Tannenbaum

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Ten years ago Ben Barnes never would have participated in Glamour 's new column Tell Me Something I Don't Know . Now he's throwing caution to the wind. 

A lot has changed for the 41-year-old actor over the course of nearly two decades in Hollywood. Starring as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise in 2008, Barnes was quickly poised to be the next great British heartthrob along the lines of Twilight -era Robert Pattinson —or, as Barnes would describe it, “the young protagonist in the fantasy thing.” From there came Dorian Grey, Killing Bono, Westworld, Marvel's The Punisher, and the list goes on. 

However, as any “young protagonist in the fantasy thing” would probably tell you, that level of exposure leaves you feeling, well, exposed. “I used to care so hard about every single little piece of criticism,” Barnes tells me over Zoom from his airy kitchen in Los Angeles. “I didn't like doing interviews and I was quite cautious, even with my acting choices.”

Cautious is not the word I'd use to describe the man speaking with me with an easy smile and a refreshing mix of playful banter and genuine openness. And though Barnes is clearly grateful to his legion of die-hard fans and millions of Instagram followers, this hard-earned confidence did not come from fandom popularity alone. 

“For 20 years I've been playing these characters that everyone else has kind of written and it's their agenda,” Barnes says. Then, around 2017, his mother was battling cancer while he was supposed to be filming the second season of HBO's Westworld . Despite playing the hit sci-fi series' resident “tilted-hat douchebag with big dick energy,” he was able to take time off to be with his family and take stock of his goals. “I became a bit braver with my work and began to chase my old-school dream that I had as a teenager,” he says. Like many teenage boys, the London-born actor always wanted to be in a band. In October 2021 he finally released his first album at 40 years old, an EP titled Songs for You.

That same year Barnes became the face of yet another “fantasy thing” but not as the roguish young hero. As General Kirigan (a.k.a. The Darkling) in Shadow and Bone —the Netflix series based on Leigh Bardugo's popular Grishaverse novels—he gaslighted his way into viewers' hearts with a toxic combination of manipulation and charm. By season two the surprise villain is openly embracing what Barnes calls his “vengeance era.” 

When I ask Barnes to title this latest chapter in his life, he tosses the ball back to me. “You'll know more snappy Taylor Swift references than I will,” he jokes. He may be right about that, but as he opens up about making bolder choices and creating his own album from scratch, the answer comes to him more naturally than he expected. “I feel free,” Barnes says with a weighted breath of relief. “It took me a while to get here, but the really nice upshot of doing it at 40 is that people sort of say, ‘Oh, I love watching you [try something new] because it made me feel like I can too.’”

He adds, “It's sort of like a freedom era.” 

Just by agreeing to this interview, Ben Barnes proved his own point. While he's spent plenty of interviews discussing his famous characters and his deeply personal album, he opened up to Glamour about someone he rarely talks about: himself. From his love language and best date ever to his fantasy series pet peeve and the role that got away, here's a bunch of stuff you don't know about Ben Barnes. 

Glamour: Tell me something I don’t know about working on Shadow and Bone.

Ben Barnes: The thing that nobody knows is that I'm the professor. I'm like the headmaster of this school because it frustrates me so much when the names of places and character names and things that are using made-up languages or new languages or borrowed elements from Slavic languages, like ours does—it has all of those things in it—and I can't bear it when I watch TV shows and it's inconsistent how people are saying things. It drives me absolutely insane when I see that, so I have this text thread with Eric Heisserer, who's our showrunner and writer, and Leigh Bardugo, who's the author of the novels. Before each season we go through each word that is a weird word or a strange kind of pronunciation or something, and Leigh tells us how it's said in her world. Then I do this obnoxiously long 15-minute voice note, which has me repeating the word like a Calm app, which then gets sent to every cast member. 

[ Ben does an impression of his very calming professor voice. ] “Nichevo’ya [nee-sheh-voya]. Nichevo'ya.” I do it almost funny like that, and we had some messages going round in our cast group chat that were commenting on—I’m like the dad on set, so they send me messages like, “I was having trouble sleeping, but then I was listening to Ben's voice note and I nodded right off.” That's the kind of stuff that Freddy Carter will say.

By Elizabeth Logan

By Kathleen Walsh

By Nuala Phillips

Do you ever correct people while on set?  

Once you’re on set there’s a script supervisor and all that stuff. But if somebody comes in who’s like a day player or somebody who comes in for one scene, they’ll say something—instead of Inferni [in-fer-nee], they’ll say [in-fer-nai]—and I’ll kind of be behind them just twitching silently to myself and hoping somebody else comes in to direct it. [ Laughs. ]

Ben Barnes in Shadow and Bone season two

Tell me about a role you wanted but didn’t get.

The one that still sticks with me is an old one, but it was my first, like, it was the old-school system where they used to just audition, audition, audition, audition you and just test you and test you and test you. I auditioned, I think, 8 or 10 times for this movie. I hadn't really done anything, but I just wanted it so badly. And they flew me to New York for the final chemistry reads and stuff. It was for Across the Universe , the Beatles movie by director Julie Taymor. 

But it kind of came full circle because then I got to meet Evan Rachel Wood when we did Westworld and then she starred in my music video . We talked a few times about how badly I wanted to do that movie because it was this trippy, wonderful magical realism thing, and I was such a big Beatles fan growing up. I know I wasn't cool and band-y enough and grungy enough. I think Jim Sturgess, who played that part, was actually in a band. He was just cool, and I was not, really. I was so thirsty for it, and he was just like, “Whatever.” Obviously, that's what they were after, but I still would have loved to have done that movie. 

I remember my first LA trip was when that movie was coming out and the posters were everywhere, and it was like little stabs every time.

If it makes you feel any better, Andrew Garfield said he lost the role of Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia to you and was eventually told he wasn’t “ handsome enough .”

I remember him saying that…. How much is he really regretting it? How many times has he been nominated for an Oscar now? I think he’s fine. 

He’s a really sweet man and we have the same birthday, he and I. I’ve seen him in plays, and I’ve always been a big fan of his. But it was very sweet of him to say it the way he did. 

Yes, he called you “handsome” and “brilliant” and said you did a “beautiful job.”

He was very gracious about it, and he’s a very gracious human being. I think we're quite similar in quite a lot of ways, actually. Sometimes I see him giving interviews and I'm like, Wow, I could have said this exact same thing. I'd like to play brothers with him or something. That would be cool.

I’d like to see it.

Yeah, I mean, I remember doing the final round of auditions for that in LA, and I don't remember him being there. But he probably had like a private, proper actor audition. [ Laughs. ] We were these guys trying to wangle their way into Hollywood.

Ben Barnes in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Tell me about your best date ever.

It was very late in life because we don’t really have them in England, so I’d never been to a drive-in movie. I always thought from watching movies like Grease that it would be great. You get food in the car and watch a movie, but you're private. Somebody organized curated this date for me; we went to a drive-in to see When Harry Met Sally… , which is my absolute favorite movie, and we had pizza in the car and it was just magical. I loved the thoughtfulness because often the man is expected to curate the date. Obviously, those times have been entirely tornadoes in the best possible way recently. 

Tell me something you need in a relationship.

I need a lot of affection. I need to be, like, holding socks on the sofa. I need skin-to-skin at bedtime. I need physical connection, physical touch.

What’s your sign?

I’m a Leo. All those Instagram videos when the lion will come and nuzzle the lioness and then plump down next to them…that’s me. 

Tell me something I don’t know about your guilty pleasure.

I live my life on a variable rewards-based system. Like, if I go to the gym or finish reading that script or take that meeting I don't really want to take—whatever my obligations are for the day—I'll allow myself to watch some switch-off-brain trashy TV and won't feel guilty about watching, like, five episodes.

My current one is this British series called The Traitors , which is a reality show that's basically a game of mafia, but it's played over a number of weeks. These people will go and stay in a house and every night secret traitors will come and “murder” people. They'll come to breakfast the next morning and someone won't be there and the rest of them are trying to figure out who the traitors are. I found myself watching a really disgusting amount of episodes in one evening the other night. 

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Tell me something I don’t know about writing your album Songs for You .

My dad does this thing at Christmas where he always writes a poem and reads it at Christmas dinner. It's like a review of the year, and it's usually really funny and sometimes sad and it's always really touching. I sort of adopted that from him in that I sometimes, for people's birthdays or if they're going through something rough, I'll write them a little six-line poem or something.

More than one of the songs on that EP, particularly the song “Rise Up,” started that way. A friend of mine was having a depressed, sort of swirly time during the pandemic, and I wrote this little six-line poem, and then I was like, Oh, this is a little bit hymn-like, and then, Oh, this could have choruses, and then suddenly I've got baseball caps and sweatshirts that say “Rise Up” on them. Life is very weird.

I like those songs about the gray areas of life where your emotional reactions don't necessarily have to be what the textbook reactions to those things are. You can choose to be hopeful or loving even if this situation doesn't dictate it. I think most of my things are about that. But I think the “unknown thing” is that a lot of them started off as little poems for specific people.

That’s so nice. I want someone to write me a poem—

I’ll write you a poem!

Now I fully expect one.

Season two of Shadow & Bone hits Netflix on March 16 . Emily Tannenbaum is an entertainment editor, critic, and screenwriter living in Los Angeles .  Follow her on Twitter @ectannenbaum .  

By Jessica Radloff

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