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Lianne La Havas  

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Lianne La Havas is a singer and songwriter hailing from London, England who was born on the 23rd of August 1989. With her Mercury award nominated debut album “Is Your Love Big Enough?” she has become one of the most talked about songwriters of her generation.

Born Lianne Barnes in London to a Greek father and a Jamaican mother who separated when she was very young, Lianne La Havas spent the majority of her childhood all over the place. Most of her childhood was spent with her grandparents before she hit her teenage years and moved between her mother and father’s places in Tooting and Streatham. Music was one of the very few constants in her life, with her mother playing her the likes of Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott while her multi-instrumentalist father taught her the basics of the piano. By the time she was eleven, she was writing her own songs on the instrument and soon enough, music was all that she wanted to do with her life.

By the time she was 18 her father was teaching her the basics of guitar, and while she was studying at sixth form she struck up a friendship with fellow singer-songwriter called Adam Rose. He introduced her to the up and coming singer Paloma Faith and the musicians that would later help her record her first demos. Soon after she recorded them, she dropped out of college to pursue music full time, and joined Faith on one of her first headlining tours of the U.K singing backing vocals for her. By the time she finished the tour her demos had circulated and by 2010, she had signed a development deal with Warner Bros. Records.

Wisely, she spent two years honing her songwriting skills before debuting in October 2011 with her debut E.P “Lost And Found”. The E.P was enough to secure her a slot on Later… With Jools Holland, where her fellow guest on the show Bon Iver took such a liking to her sound that he had her open for him on his December 2011 tour of the United States. Her debut album came out in April 2012 and was a critical and commercial success, peaking at number four on the album chart and was certified Silver before the year was out. Since then, La Havas has worked with everyone from Alt-J to Prince and performed an acclaimed set at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival. T

Lianne La Havas has packed in an entire career’s worth of success in her first album campaign, but there is no chance she’s peaked early. The sky’s the limit for this young talent and she comes highly recommended.

Live reviews

“I’m in love,” she said. “I’m in love with you, Chicago!” As Lianne La Havas declared her love for the crowd at Lincoln Hall, that love was reciprocated right back to her. Her adoring fans joined her in every chorus, verse and bridge of the songs from her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough? and that experience was one that I will never forget.

Lianne La Havas has the voice of an angel. Anyone who has listened to her record can attest to that, but one doesn’t really understand what that means until seeing her live. I saw Lianne and her charming band one chilly night in April at a small, quaint venue called Lincoln Hall; Jamie N. Commons (who was an awesome performer) and his band warmed up the stage by opening for them, and I was tense with excitement as my sister and I waited for the lady of the hour to appear.

I have been an avid fan of Lianne for the past few years, not just for her voice and her music, but for her style as well – she’s one of my fashion icons. In every picture I’d seen of her she always looked so effortlessly perfect, dressed head-to-toe in something that was so unique and trendy. I knew that she wouldn’t disappoint. She came out wearing an African-looking printed dress that was belted with a silver belt with big bold words that said, WHEN DOVES CRY (I had recently seen an interview in which she told the story of her being introduced to Prince…) and she wore wedged heels that were at least six or seven inches tall. In short, she looked amazing.

Throughout the night, Lianne played every track from her album. Her voice sounded like audible gold. Lianne sings with a raw richness that hits you right in your gut. And if you feel that way while listening to her songs through your earbuds, just imagine having that magic float through your ears while she stands five feet away from you. Her guitar-playing was superb, and she and her band had amazing chemistry. They played through all the songs on her album, and they even did a few covers. Everyone around me seemed to be under the same spell that I was and we all stood enraptured as we sang along to her songs. When it came time for her title track to be performed, she asked for our help: we stomped and clapped to the beat, as she told us to, and all of our movements and voices and sounds melded together to create a glorious melody.

We were all sad when the show was over, but our heartache didn’t last long – we were told that Lianne was going to stick around and meet some of her fans! So my sister and I rushed to get in line. But before we did, I looked over by the bar and saw Lianne’s band milling about, so I mustered up the courage to walk up to them and talk to them. They were literally the sweetest (one of them planted a scruffy kiss on my cheek) and we talked and laughed for a good bit before they had to go.

When my sister and I finally got to meet Lianne, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. She was stunning – that was to be expected – but I didn’t expect her to look even more amazing in person than she did in pictures. Forgetting everything I had rehearsed in my head before, I opened my mouth and blurted, “YOU’RE SO HOT!” I don’t know what my sister was doing but I can imagine she was mortified. But Lianne seemed to think it was amusing (or else she was used to this) and she laughed. She then told us that she loved our outfits. My sister and I had been wearing clothes with African patterns and she told us she liked our style and I almost had a heart attack. I don’t remember much of what happened next after that (I have a picture to prove I didn’t dream this up) but I remember leaving Lincoln Hall and running through the street with my sister, totally fangirl-ing out and not caring who saw. It was a great night – not even a parking ticket could dampen our spirits. Lianne La Havas and Co. gave us a memorable experience that I won’t ever forget.

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I saw Lianne La Havas at the Baltimore Soundstage and she was amazing! She sounded as great as she does on her albums. If you like soulful music performed by artists who write their own music, you'll love her. She actually tells a story with her music. A story you want to hear, a story that reminds you of the best, worst, happiest, most painful times in your life.

My favorite song was probably "Age". It was light and fun and the crowd sang along with her.

In terms of stage presence, she interacted so well with the audience. She had a drink on stage and one of the fans in the crowd asked her what she was drinking and she gave him a sip of her drink lol. AND AFTER THE SHOW was over, SHE CAME OUT TO THE BAR and took pictures with her fans. I got a picture with her AND she kissed me on the cheek! It was awesome lol. She's incredibly humble and appreciative of her fans. This is why, unless the staff kicks you out, you should stay after every concert. Most artists do an encore performance or they come out to the standing area and interact with the fans. This is one of the many reasons that I prefer smaller venues. I'll definitely go to see her again.

Such a beautiful voice and vibrant energy. She performed almost all the songs I've heard from her albums. Her talent has been honed so well you feel as if you are sitting at home listening to her album in your headphones. She held the high notes and her runs were flawless all this while dancing. The band were each talented and held their own; complimenting Lianne's strong voice. The back up singer added just the right touch and even some entertainment while she took the sticks to play the cymbals for a quick moment. I have not been to a show in a while and was a little nervous about standing for long periods but with the energy from their performance I couldn't stop bouncing and dancing; even my husband started dancing when we weren't swaying together. I think we enjoyed the show the most due to the energy from the stage. It's refreshing to see artist truly enjoy what they are doing on stage.

Thank you for a great experience!

What can I say? This is the second time that I have been to see Lianne and she didn't disappoint. With the amazing acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall together with her amazing voice, made an altogether memorable gig.

She pared it back this time on a number of her songs and it was just and her trusty guitar which allowed her to showcase her voice to the full.

She invited her old school choir to sing on some of her songs and her old music teacher conducted which was a great touch.

All in all, a fantastic gig and I wouldn't hesitate to stump up the cash to see her again.

Fabulous, it’s so good to see her back.

It took a little while for her to connect with her audience again, but boy when she did she blew us away. Lianne has never sounded better and has never engaged better with her fans. It was so obvious that everyone adores her.

It was great to hear the new material, though it was of course the old favourites that went down the best.

A very long, and mostly solo, encore was finished off perfectly with I Say a Little Prayer.

This was a thrilling and emotional evening that will live long in the memory.

I saw lovely Lianne La Havas for free on a beautiful summer night in Central Park, NYC a few years ago. It was MAGIC. As has been said, she is as brilliant a voice live as she is on her albums. I wish she would tour more often here in America. My son, independent of me, loves her. I'd love to be able to treat him to a live concert! Magnificent!

Amazing performance opening for Coldplay in Lima. When I found out she was gonna open for my favorite band I checked out some of her music and liked it but she killed it in the stage last night. People who didn't even knew her before she showed up were cheering for her by the end of the show. Hope she comes back for a solo tour.

She was stunning! Her amazing voice and attitude were the best part of the waiting for Coldplay. So energetic and confident that made me love her since the first song!

I definitely felt in love of her music, and I totally hope to see her performing by herself (:

I just wanted it to be longer her stay at the scenario.

What a présence! Lianne, I only knew your previous album ... but last night you beat all my expectations ... your real-live voice, your natural looks & movements, your sweet & non-complex contact with the crowd, the power in the music, the enthusiasm & quality of your band ... thanks for making this so enjoyable!!

The concert was absolutely wonderful. I had to wait for an hour between performances while standing, but it's ok because it was worth the wait. Lianne La Havas blew my mind with her soulful heavenly voice. I definitely enjoyed her opener Keenan O'meara. All I can say is WOW! THANK YOU FOR COMING TO DETROIT!!!! <3

Posters (64)

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Pohoda Festival

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Lianne La Havas tour dates and tickets 2024-2025 near you

Want to see Lianne La Havas in concert? Find information on all of Lianne La Havas’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

Lianne La Havas is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 3 concerts across 2 countries in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

Next 3 concerts:

• Lisbon, Portugal
• Porto, Portugal
• Barcelona, Spain

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• London (48)
• New York (NYC) (16)
• Los Angeles (LA) (16)
• Amsterdam (13)

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• Coldplay (35)
• Keenan O'Meara (26)
• Leon Bridges (24)
• Jamie N Commons (23)
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Tiny Desk Playlists

Tiny desk playlist: zazie beetz and david rysdahl's favorite tiny desk concerts.

December 3, 2021 • Actors Zazie Beetz and David Rysdahl pick their favorite Tiny Desk concerts, and the ones that made them first fall in love with the series.

Lianne La Havas Hollie Fernando/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Lianne la havas' latest album is all hers.

January 4, 2021 • La Havas stepped into the producer's role for her new self-titled album. Hear the U.K. pop star perform four songs for World Cafe.

Lianne La Havas On World Cafe

Linda Diaz, winner of the 2020 Tiny Desk Contest, performed one of NPR Music's favorite Tiny Desk (home) concerts of the year. Kara Frame, Tsering Bista/NPR hide caption

Best Music Of 2020

Tiny desk staffers pick their favorite tiny desk (home) concerts.

December 29, 2020 • The minds behind NPR Music's Tiny Desk present their favorite home concerts of 2020, from Buscabulla to Billie Eilish.

The 100 Best Songs Of 2020 (Nos. 40-21)

December 3, 2020 • Think of these 100 songs (Nos. 40-21 here) as a silver linings playlist for the worst year of our collective lives.

The 50 Best Albums Of 2020 (Nos. 20-11)

December 2, 2020 • Our guide to the greatest albums (Nos. 20-11) that emerged from a year's worth of cacophony.

Lianne La Havas says her new, self-titled album is her at her purest and most authentic. Hollie Fernando/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Play It Forward

Play it forward: lianne la havas stretches to new heights.

August 25, 2020 • NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas about reaching new vocal heights on her new, self-titled album and the artist she is grateful for: Nick Hakim.

Jorja Smith's cover of the song "Rose Rouge" is featured in July's edition of Heavy Rotation. Rashidi Noah/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Heavy Rotation: 10 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing

August 1, 2020 • This month, NPR member stations bring you a mix of the most popular songs playing on their airwaves, featuring music from Jorja Smith, Taylor Swift, Fontaines D.C. and more.

Blu & Exile. Their new project, Miles: From An Interlude Called Life, is on our shortlist of the best albums out on July 17. Zack Mack/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

All Songs Considered

New music friday: the top 8 albums out on july 17.

July 17, 2020 • The week's best new albums include old-school hip-hop from Blu & Exile, a transformative record from singer Lianne La Havas, the existential rock of Protomartyr, pop singer Ellie Goulding and more.

Lianne La Havas. Hollie Fernando/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Lianne La Havas Will Join NPR Music's Listening Party For 'Lianne La Havas'

July 15, 2020 • Friday at 2 p.m. ET, NPR Music will host an online listening party for Lianne La Havas' new album, featuring a conversation with the London singer-songwriter herself.

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Watch Lianne La Havas Play A Tiny Desk From Home

May 5, 2020 • Lianne La Havas plays a Tiny Desk from her cozy London space. Her set includes two songs from her upcoming, self-titled album.

Raveena performs during a Tiny Desk concert, on Oct. 8, 2019. Catie Dull/NPR hide caption

Raveena's 5 Favorite Tiny Desk Concerts

April 21, 2020 • We asked Raveena, who stopped by the Tiny Desk in 2019 after the release of her standout debut, Lucid , to handpick her favorite performances.

Young Nudy's "Blue Cheese Salad" is a smooth, slimey addition to his steadfast sleeper hits. Julian Burgueno/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Heat Check: Being Productive With The Pressure

March 3, 2020 • With angsty, urgent new tracks from Young Nudy, Kenny Mason, Diana Gordon and more, Heat Check will help you bulldoze pas procrastination.

Lianne La Havas selected her five favorite Tiny Desk concerts. Jun Tsuboike/NPR hide caption

Lianne La Havas' 5 Favorite Tiny Desk Concerts

October 1, 2019 • Her own Tiny Desk concert has been viewed nearly 13 million times. But the U.K. soul star has some favorites of her own to share.

Clockwise from left: Aniba Hotep, Brian McKnight, Isaiah Sharkey, Shoshana Bean. Courtesy of the artists hide caption

Music Interviews

4 musicians pay their gratitude forward on thanksgiving.

November 22, 2018 • All Things Considered 's Thanksgiving music chat returns, as Ari Shapiro speaks with artists Shoshana Bean, Brian McKnight, Isaiah Sharkey and Aniba Hotep about musicians they're thankful for.

Lianne La Havas. Rich McKie/WXPN hide caption

October 14, 2015 • The U.K. singer's new album, Blood , reflects on family and identity. Hear La Havas perform "Green And Gold" and other new songs.

Tiny Desk Concert with Lianne La Havas Jun Tsuboike/NPR hide caption

Lianne La Havas: Tiny Desk Concert

October 2, 2015 • The singer is soulful yet playful, raw and vulnerable in a commanding kind of way. Watch La Havas perform three of her songs live in the NPR Music offices.

Lianne La Havas' second album, Blood , expands on the cool, nuanced tone of her debut, while adding a shot of intensity. Jean Paul Pietrus/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

A Rush Of 'Blood': Lianne La Havas Turns Up The Volume

August 6, 2015 • With her first album, the British singer-songwriter gained fans and famous friends. Her second record, Blood , is infused with more intensity.

Clockwise from upper left: Wilco, Lianne La Havas, Palehound, Night Beds Courtesy of the artists hide caption

New Music From Wilco, Night Beds, Lianne La Havas, More

July 21, 2015 • All Songs Considered celebrates the return of co-host Robin Hilton and bids farewell to Katie Presley with a mix of great new music.

Lianne La Havas. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

January 7, 2013 • The up-and-coming British soul singer performs songs from her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?

Japandroids' music celebrates the joy of a life lived loudly. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Best Music Of 2012

Stephen thompson's top 10 albums of 2012.

December 12, 2012 • It was a tremendous year for upbeat music that reflected on aging and ennui in wise, wonderful ways.

The singer-songwriter released her debut studio album, Is Your Love Big Enough , this summer. Ravi Dhar/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Lianne La Havas: 'The Golden Girl Of British Music'

November 5, 2012 • The 23-year-old singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has been compared to Adele, swept critics after her TV debut. One said her voice seemed to make time stand still.

Lianne La Havas performs at WFUV's studios in New York City. WFUV hide caption

Favorite Sessions

Lianne la havas: the voice of what's to come.

October 27, 2012 • The rising British pop star is virtually impossible to resist in this performance at WFUV's studios in New York City. Watch La Havas perform the title song to her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough ?

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Lianne La Havas: 'It's hard to fit in when you have two heritages'

The London soul sensation, about to release her first album in five years, talks about identity, her friendship with Prince and her political awakening

L ianne La Havas arrives on her bike, a sturdy looking affair with a wicker front basket. It’s a June morning in Brockwell Park, south London, and the sun is out and the flowers are bright and the world is delicious. There are six of us here, all women; this is the first time, post-corona crisis , that any of us have been involved in an interview and photo shoot where everyone is outside their own house. A new beginning… And also an end, for in just a few days, the beaches will be packed, the park as full as a festival, parties will get rowdy and be broken up by police, and lockdown will be done. For now, though, we’re in a dreamy, singular moment.

Up the hill to do the photos in a walled garden. La Havas parks her bike and sits on a bench to apply her makeup. She spends some time on her eyebrows, holds earrings up to see if they suit. A designer friend sent her some clothes to wear, but they were all a bit too hot and stiff, so she’s in a cotton dress that ties at the waist and airs her midriff. She’s calm but friendly. Centred. If you told me she was a yoga teacher, I wouldn’t be surprised.

A dad moseys over with his toddler and says he saw La Havas play her recent gig at the Barbican, and how brilliant he thought it was. “That never really happens,” she says to me after he goes. “No one ever recognises me.”

She’s sort of famous, La Havas : plenty of people won’t have heard of her; she hasn’t had a this-is-who-I-am smash hit. But within music, she’s seen as the real deal. Her first album, Is Your Love Big Enough? , went to No 4 in 2012 and was nominated for the Mercury prize. Her second, Blood , written in Jamaica (her mum is Jamaican, her dad, Greek) came out in 2015 and went to No 2. Big stars noticed her from the start. Stevie Wonder called her after going to see her play live and sang “Is Your Love Big Enough” on to her answer machine. After her debut appearance on BBC’s Later… , Bon Iver asked her to support them on tour, and after that, she supported Alicia Keys and Coldplay. Now, Erykah Badu responds to all her Instagram messages. Most notably, Prince became her friend after he saw her songs on the internet; in 2014, he decided to host a press conference and play live in La Havas’s actual house! (She made him tea. He took it with honey, no milk.)

But she also attracted less positive attention, in 2016, when she was 25, for a tweet she put out about the Brits. There was a hashtag, BritsSoWhite , objecting to the lack of nominations that year for artists of colour, and La Havas, with her mixed racial heritage, didn’t really agree with it. She tweeted: “Do not include me with this horrible horrible hashtag”, and then, when people questioned this, replied that she thought the hashtag was “racist and unfounded”. This caused a huge upset, and La Havas apologised and retreated.

Four-and-a-half years later – a couple of weeks ago – she issued a lengthy statement on Twitter and Instagram supporting the resurgent Black Lives Matter movement: “For those who had doubts about what side I’m on, no need to doubt, and for those who always knew… BLACK LIVES MATTER.” (“You love to see the growth” was one response.) She also mentioned that she’s reading Afua Hirsch’s book Brit(ish) . When we talk about this, she says: “I was crying within the first few pages, and I’ve never cried at a book.” (Actually, I notice that she talks about crying quite a lot. One of her new songs is called Please Don’t Make Me Cry. La Havas might seem calm, but she’s brimful of emotion.)

La Havas is 30 now, and her third album, while not exactly world-weary, is not innocent. It’s called Lianne La Havas , and has more of a live feel than her previous two LPs. Her guitar is light and picky, tropicalia-style summery. The subject matter is, mostly, love (falling in it, falling out of it, finding love for yourself). Among the 10 tracks is an interesting cover of Radiohead’s Weird Fishes, which she’s been playing live; and one that, unusually for her, came all in a rush, in two days, Seven Times. (“That song just sounds like me, like what I want to sound like, and I love the chords and the sass and the attitude of it. It’s my favourite.”) Overall, it’s a gorgeous summer listen, a warm-night-with-the-windows-open mood with songs that tuck themselves inside you like almost-remembered dreams.

When she writes, whether on guitar by herself, or with others, using piano, the songs she keeps are those that don’t come too easily. “It’s like there’s something about a song that I can’t remember,” she says. “And I really want to remember, so I want to hear it more… You could write a song and you know the logical chords to go to, but it’s the ones where you think: ‘Oh, what was that thing I just did?’ Those are the ones I’m looking for.”

The album has taken her some time to make. The first release from the album, Bittersweet, was actually started in 2014, at the end of writing Blood (it’s a cool assessment of a previous relationship); and the second, Paper Thin , was begun in 2016. It was sparked by a FaceTime conversation she had with a different boyfriend (then new, now ex).

“It was a difficult conversation and I was just falling in love,” she says. “At the beginning, you definitely want to do it, but you’re getting to know the other person a bit more and then you see what gives them pain for the first time. And that basically happened on FaceTime. There are certain types of people that tend to keep their pain to themselves and try to defuse it with something else, like humour.”

We’re sitting under a tree on the grass, two metres apart. La Havas has her legs crossed. She pulls at grass stalks. She wants to talk and as she does, it becomes clear that, actually, this album has been hard-won. “I really wanted to have the whole album done by 2017,” she says, and her record company were keen for this, too. But life got in the way. She kept going to Los Angeles, to be with her new boyfriend; she had to finish off touring with Coldplay; then Prince died, as did her great grandmother and her granny, both of whom she’d lived with when she was growing up. When it got to 2017, she was still travelling, still promoting Blood . She ended up “getting really stressed because I had given myself deadlines for things that shouldn’t have deadlines”.

There was another factor, too. Her boyfriend, the LA FaceTime one, was also in the music business, and she found that, after a while, they were competing with each other. But neither of them would admit it, “and it was just really toxic”. This unspoken competitiveness made her feel “really shit about myself, like thinking: ‘I can’t play, I’m not good enough, my voice isn’t good enough, I’m not good-looking enough.’ It was really hard.”

This seems so bananas to me – La Havas is very talented, and ridiculously beautiful – that I tell her if she ever feels like this again, she should just call me up and I’ll tell her the truth. But your relationships are so intense in your 20s, so all-consuming and identity-forming, and La Havas is the type who likes to share a home with whoever she’s with. She’d genuinely thought that, by 28, she’d be having a baby. But it was not to be. She and her boyfriend burned each other out. “It just went completely, unpredictably, all-over-the-place bad, and I was really shocked and blamed myself… and I’m not going to say I wasn’t partly to blame, but I just think you never know what you’re going to get.” Once the relationship was done, she moved back to south London, where she’d grown up.

It was here that she found the time and space to make Lianne La Havas . She hooked up with old friends, “super local” ones, who’d she’d known years ago when they were at the Brit School, and she was doing A-levels. They were hanging out, and after a while her friends would say: ‘So what are you working on?’ And La Havas would “play them something, at two in the morning, and I’d look at their reaction, and I’d be like: ‘OK, I feel like that’s a good one.’ They did my A&R! This album was made by me and my friends.”

But let’s go back a bit, to the time when things weren’t going so well. To 2016, her disaster year. To #BritsSoWhite. What happened?

“I said that the hashtag was racist, basically,” she says. “I didn’t know about the concept of reverse racism. I didn’t know that was a thing. And I didn’t know that there was a school of thought that you can’t be racist if you are black.”

She’d been asked if she was upset because she hadn’t been included in the 2016 Brits nominations. But she hadn’t been upset, really, because, she’d reasoned, she hadn’t sold as many records as other artists. “I didn’t know what I was saying. I didn’t know what was bad or what was good. I wasn’t looking at it like: ‘Oh they’ve not nominated enough black people.’ But I was ripped a new one.”

“It was one of the worst things that’s ever happened in my life,” she continues. “I had no idea, number one, that so many people were listening to anything I had to say. I just didn’t think I was important. And also that so many people assumed what I would think, because of my race. I thought that I was saying something that included people and that was nicer to say. I wanted to be inclusive of everyone. But because I said something different to the general majority, I experienced so much hate from that majority.

“Now, it’s like: ‘Oh, I see. I absolutely understand.’ But at the time, I was just trying to be nice. People were acting like I agreed with racism. But shouldn’t it be obvious that racism is horrendous and totally pointless and the worst thing ever? I was surprised that people didn’t understand.”

La Havas was also feeling, as a woman of mixed heritage, that she wanted to acknowledge both of her parents.

“It felt personal,” she says. “I get called black – which is true, I am black – but also, that’s not acknowledging my dad. And I take that really personally, because I can’t be this without my dad. I’d be something completely different. So, I guess it triggered me. Like: ‘Well, no. I am what I am. Which is mixed.’ It can be confusing for people who have two heritages, or two distinct ones that are very different from one another. It’s hard to feel like you fit in…

“I remember another tweet where I said I’d come home from somewhere. I said: ‘I’m back and I’m proud.’ And someone said: ‘You mean black .’ And I was like: ‘I’m mixed.’ And then they were like: ‘Lol.’ I thought: ‘Why are you laughing? I am mixed.’ I just always maintained that my experience would never be the exact same as my mother’s at this age. That’s all I was saying. I was just, like: ‘It’s not going to be exactly the same for me because I have a white dad.’”

Anyhow, she knows she got it wrong, and was badly burnt by the experience. “It was a dark period.” She deleted Twitter and Instagram from her phone and decided to educate herself. “In the last four years, I’ve learned so much about myself, and my blackness, and about racism and colourism and so many things,” she says. And much of this initially came from her LA boyfriend, who is black. He saw the whole Twitter storm blow up and was very understanding.

“He was very kind,” she says. “He was like: ‘Oh, Li. It’s fine. You messed up, you didn’t know, you’re British.’ Because he’s from America. And then he just showed me loads and loads of documentaries and films.”

They watched documentaries about the killing of Rodney King , lots of Spike Lee movies and films by other African American directors, “loads of just funny black movies, but also serious ones about real life in Los Angeles, Compton, where people of colour generally live. And then of course, he told me a lot about the police.”

La Havas says that living in the US was the first time she ever felt really black – everyone there labelled her as such – and she found that living an everyday life could be fraught with difficulty because of this. She gives me an example. One time, she, her boyfriend and his brother were all in an Uber. The driver was also black.

“I was trying to hug and kiss my boyfriend at the time,” she says. “And his brother was like: ‘You better stop, because we are four black people in a car…’ If you’re black and there’s more than one of you, and you’re behaving in any way that might be seen as rowdy, then you’re drawing attention to yourselves and you’re more likely to be pulled over.”

There were a couple of times that she and her boyfriend had an argument in the street. And he would calm things down immediately “because he was like: ‘If you and me are arguing really loud, the police are going to come and shoot me’. It’s real. It’s totally real. It’s so traumatic and stressful.”

She looks around us at the park. “We take this for granted,” she says. “We just walk around in the park. We’re fine, mostly, here. It’s really different in America. And I totally understand, and I’ve lived it now and I’m grateful for what he taught me because it’s not easy. And accepting my own blackness… I remember the first time I went with him to church together, and it was an all-black church. And I started crying because it reminded me of my family and being at a wedding or a function with all my Jamaican family. It was just, like: ‘Oh, shit. Yes, I’m black.’”

In the UK, as La Havas was growing up, things were different. Less defined, less acknowledged. She grew up as Lianne Barnes (La Havas is a version of her dad’s surname) and her mum, a postal worker, and dad, a bus driver, split up when she was two. Her mum was working early shifts and La Havas went to live round the corner with her mum’s parents in Balham. She went to the local primary, then to Norbury Manor, a girl’s secondary school. She was happy enough, not particularly popular or unpopular.

At school, her group of friends “was a bit of a mixture. There were Indian girls, Jamaicans, Africans, white girls. We had a crew that was not quite anything. I was the only mixed one, interestingly. Also, they acknowledged me as mixed. And my mum was like: ‘You’re mixed.’ My mum is a dark-skinned black woman, so she was like: ‘You’re mixed because your dad is white.’ I was like: ‘OK, cool. Fact.’”

She did have a bit of trouble with her hair, she says: “It was a big old problem in my life.” Her mum’s family, being Jamaican, always wanted to straighten it; her dad had no idea how to look after it. Without siblings, La Havas herself didn’t know either, until she met another mixed-race girl, who explained what techniques and products to use. “And then I found YouTube,” she says. “God bless YouTube.”

She also learned guitar from YouTube, when she was 18. Before then, at seven, her dad bought her a keyboard and she started singing to herself and enjoying it. But it was a private joy, not for others. At 13, she sang in public and started acknowledging music as a force in her life. She had posters of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Eminem on her bedroom wall. She loved Jill Scott, India Arie. When she was 18, her dad introduced her to the guitar. He was a musician himself – his instrument was the accordion – and his brother was a classical guitarist. Her “cool jazz” friends from the Brit School showed her some chords. La Havas found the guitar opened up a new way for her to write songs.

Soon after, she started putting tunes up on Myspace and was quickly signed to Warners. And everything seemed to happen, one opportunity after another, and she would just say yes and try to enjoy herself. (Interestingly, she says she wasn’t treated as a black act by her record label. She worked with white people; the black label execs only worked on R&B or grime or UK rap. So when the #BritsSoWhite storm happened, there was nobody at her label she could turn to, no person of colour who could have taken her to one side and educated her or given advice.)

Anyway, she had a mad time in her 20s. Which is how she met Prince. He’d got in touch with her, she’d been to Paisley Park, and when he was in London they’d hung out at a private members’ club and he’d come back to her house for an after party. “I think he liked that I just spoke to him normally,” she says. After that they would email each other, “like pen pals”, talking about music. “He’d give me pep talks, ‘Just do what you’re doing. Don’t need to do that trendy shit.’ He didn’t swear, he’d just show me videos of Esperanza Spalding and Bill Withers. And then I’d talk about Joni Mitchell. He smelt amazing, not masculine or feminine, like the most beautiful scented candles that don’t give you a headache.”

When he died , she was on the tube to see her great-grandmother, who was dying herself. She came off the tube and had loads of missed calls. “I was like: ‘What’s going on? Prince must be coming to London.’ And then I heard and I was totally… I couldn’t make sense of it. Totally in shock. I didn’t understand, because I had spoken to him. It was recent. He was young and it was not right…” She tells me later: “I hope he didn’t see what I said on Twitter.”

These days, La Havas lives in a home where she has three guitars on the wall, though she only uses two. She’s living with a new boyfriend, who is calm and nice and doesn’t mind animals. Which is lucky, as a kitten is arriving soon: there are a couple of potential kitty names, one of which is Marge, after Marge Simpson. During lockdown, she and her boyfriend have been watching Grand Designs and MasterChef , though their home cooking has become less enthusiastic and now they’re back to Deliveroo. They watched This Is England , which neither of them had seen before, and after that they burned through all three of the spin-off TV series.

They’ve been on a few Black Lives Matter marches . They joined the one in early June, walked to Parliament Square. They listened to the female speakers, and, yes, La Havas started crying.

“Thousands of Londoners from every race were there,” she says, “We went to the Home Office and we sat in silence for a good 20 minutes, really peaceful. All wearing masks. I was with friends. And it was really… It felt important. It felt really historic. It mattered and I was like, ‘This is a real thing. Something might actually change.’” An end to something. A beginning. Out we go, into a bright, new world.

Lianne La Havas is out on 17 July on Nonesuch. La Havas plays a live show streaming worldwide from London’s Roundhouse, 15 July . Tickets can be booked here – all proceeds to Black Lives Matter-related orgainsations.

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The Rebirth Of Lianne La Havas

Lianne La Havas is born again.

On “Bittersweet,” the first single, and song, from her most recent, eponymous album, La Havas laments a lost lost, most importantly the renewal she felt after the exchange was over. The song’s album is the 31-year-old singer’s most forthcoming to date, as she reminisces on the ups and downs of a relationship. Her work feels like a nod to adept Black women before her, like Billie Holiday, Mary J. Blige and other artists who were unafraid to tackle the depth of romance. Her direct influences include her late mentor Prince and Brandy, but her sound is all her own.

La Havas was born in the late 1980s London to a Greek father and a Jamaican mother. She took in both of their musical interests early on, priming herself for her future as an artist with a wide array of inspirations. Her biracial background has informed her life, but she identifies as a Black woman and has spent the past several years educating herself about the Black experience.

The singer/songwriter fell in love with interpreting music during her grade school years and began writing songs shortly after. Upon learning to play the guitar in her late teens, La Havas begin to shape her own presence while providing backing vocals for fellow artists. After landing a record deal with Warner Records in 2010, La Havas further cultivated her craft and established herself as a force in neo soul with the 2012 release of Is Your Love Big Enough? She was immediately celebrated for her aptitude as an artist and her willingness to turn away from popular music. Her focus has always been on feeling while building a distinctive catalog.

In 2015, La Havas followed up with critically-favored album Blood and afterwards took a lengthy break to focus on simply living. It was during this break that she engaged in the romantic relationship that inspired her most recent collection of songs. In the wake of the release, she is renewed and feeling more capable—as an artist and as a woman—than ever.

We sat down for a conversation with the singer about her decision to take a 5-year hiatus, self-discovery and why Black women must remain hopeful.

Read our conversation below.

You’ve talked about waiting on inspiration for the album and that you have to do some living between Blood and Lianne La Havas . We live in such a microwaveable, instant content type of world, so did you deal with any anxiety about taking a break?

Yeah, because I didn’t really feel like I was taking a break. I just was trying to make more music and I guess maybe the anxiety of making more music and feeling like I had to made it take longer. I’ve found that putting pressure on myself is not very conducive to my productivity.

I understand that. Where do you think that pressure comes from?

Oh, well probably my label, but when I asked them to, you know, kind of leave me alone for a while, I certainly felt less pressure and I was able to feel a bit more free when I was writing and exploring.

I also read that you felt like the project was kind of a collaborative effort between you and your friends. You went back home and reconnected with old peers. What was it like bonding with people that I’m sure you hadn’t seen in a while and also working on the biggest project of your career?

I just did what I felt. It was very, I hate this word, but it was very organic and it felt very natural to, you know, approach [people] that I already know and love to help me on my quest or, you know, my, my ultimate expression.

I thought, well, it’s probably better if I work with people that know me, if I’m going to be making such a personal album. It just felt not like work, honestly, it felt like just having lots of fun and being creative and exploring with no pressure, absolute trust, and my loved ones that I made the record with. They absolutely believed in me as well.

I think that made it even more special, for them to help me. And it seemed to feel like a mutual exchange of energies. It never really felt like hard work to do that.

“It’s not so difficult to kind of talk about those actual emotions, but regarding getting the courage, I just, I needed to heal.”

Speaking of how personal the record is, you’re pretty open about every aspect of a relationship—the good and the bad. How do you find the courage to not only talk about these things but open yourself up to love again after things don’t necessarily go as planned?

I mean, I feel like most people listening will be able to relate. So I’m happy to talk about certain things, you know, to deal with my mindset, I guess at the time, because I feel like it’s stuff that I was going through that I didn’t realize. I wasn’t alone. I had to look to other people’s music as well to kind of like, not feel alone in these feelings. And I was just a slice of stuff that seems to be discussing exactly the way I felt.

It’s not so difficult to kind of talk about those actual emotions, but regarding getting the courage, I just, I needed to heal. I was kind of burned by my experience. I, somewhere along the way of making the album, I think there was like a healing quality to actually making these songs that just made me feel more confident again, happier and rely on myself as well. Instead of relying on someone else to make me feel better. I was doing the work on myself whilst making this record. So I feel like the strength came from making this.

I also want to talk about like the actual songs. “Read My Mind” specifically is brimming with such gorgeous, colorful harmonies. It has a classic, almost gospel type feel to it. So can you walk me through the recording process?

I was recording with my friend Gio and it was kind of the thing we just did at the end of the day. We had been working on a few ideas, but I wanted to put it down. I didn’t really know what I was going to do with the melody or anything. I just asked him if I could record a bunch of parts I was hearing in my head. I thought, “Oh, let me just put these things down and then hopefully later on, I can work on it and make it into a full song.”

But I was listening to it and I just was so moved by it. I remember my mindset at the time—I was in an interesting transitional period. And so the song kind of represented my mindset without any clear lyrics. So even though I did go back and try to make it into a full song with lyrics and production in the end, it had to remain as in this form because that’s how I was feeling at the time.

“I was listening to tons of Brandy when I was working.”

I’m also intrigued by “Seven Times.” It has this very pure, early 2000s R&B, like Brandy type feel to it—from the chords to the lyrical content. Then it has that strong, Brazilian influence, too. I’d love to hear about your early experiences with R&B.

That one’s my favorite that was on the album. I think if there’s a production, then a whole song that I’m like most proud of, I think it’s that one. I think it has everything that I love about music. I love Brazilian music, but of course I love R&B and I think it’s the first time I was able to truly fuse those two loves together. And I was listening to tons of Brandy when I was working.

Also lots of Toni Braxton and basically anything by Rodney Jerkins. Oh my goodness. So many Darkchild productions. That’s kind of what I grew up on. When I was, I guess, 11, 12, like discovering music on my own, that was the stuff I was gravitating towards. Also loads of Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliott , Timberland and Justin Timberlake.

I feel like during the process, when I was making this album, I was listening to music that I really loved and the stuff that I listened to when I was growing up. My ex would just always play loads of music and it would be like, he never asked me what I wanted to listen to. It would always be like, “I’m going to play this.”

It wasn’t bad though. Like I discovered so much great music. But it was always in a way that was very kind of, it came across quite snobby, like he didn’t trust my taste, you know? So when I wanted to listen to what I wouldn’t say, it was contained and I felt self-conscious about the things that I liked. After that all ended, I was like, “You know what, I’m just going to listen to everything I love.”

Another track that I want to talk about is “Please Don’t Make Me Cry,” because at the very end, the notes and just the yearning in your voice is so strong and distinct. I think when it comes to records like that, you can feel the emotion behind what the person is saying. I definitely wanted to know about the makings of that song.

I’m loving talking to you about it, because you’re picking up on so many things that I was actually thinking when I was making it and like, the kind of subtle things that I didn’t know if I was getting them across enough, you know, but you were able to pick up.

I wrote ” Please Don’t Make Me Cry” with the great Nick Hakim. We were in New York City in his studio and we were making lots of stuff with different ideas. And that day, we just had done enough stuff together to sort of have that trust and have that, you know, understanding. So he was just playing some sounds that we were kind of feeling out. The track basically was built within a couple of hours. I went back and was trying to find a melody and it wasn’t coming immediately. So we took a step back.

And it’s usually when I go for a bathroom break. You can still hear the music in your head that you’ve just been working on, but you’re alone. And then there’s also like an echo in the bathroom. So you get amazing reverb. So I was trying to figure out what this melody was, it was the chorus melody. So I put that down.

I was kind of exhausted with just feeling sad all the time.

It wasn’t until a couple of months later, when I’d gotten through my situation, and realized what the verses should be. And then, I wrote it as if it’s like a guide book on how to not make me cry. So I got the concept like later on after I was reflecting on what happened.

I learned so much about myself in that relationship. I learned what my triggers are, the things that I could improve on and the things that I know I don’t like. Afterwards, I had some time to actually focus on me. So the concept of the song came after. I figured some things out basically.

I was listening also to a lot of ’60s music , which has a lot of quite very dark content.

Yeah, like The Crystals .

Yeah. They were often speaking about dark things. But the music was fluttering, fast and sweet. So I had that kind of thing in my mind, you know, that kind of juxtaposing a very sad subject matter, but with sweet sounding music and it seemed to fit.

It’s beautiful record. I feel like the whole project tells a story about beginnings and endings, especially like the first track being repeated at the end. What pushed you to tell such a straightforward story?

I just wanted to be honest. I’ve always wanted that in my music. I’ve always felt weird about, you know, making things up just for the sake of writing a song. I could never really do that and be able to stand by it, you know?

So my intention was always to first and foremost make something I like. Make something that I just really enjoy—the kind of music I want to listen t— is the first thing I wanted to do. Then it gradually transpired that, you know, it just had to be from my point of view, whatever it was that was going on at the time. The main focus at that time was my love [life,] like what was happening regarding that and what it was doing to me.

It made me feel a lot better actually writing songs about it. It gave me another focus. Do some work and channel everything that was happening.

It sounds like this album is about trusting yourself, because even though you went through all this harshness and muck, you talk about healing yourself through it all. I definitely want to know what your life is like now that you’ve kind of done the internal work necessary to build that trust with yourself.

As you can imagine, my life is very different. I feel like people treat me differently now that they can see that I can stand by everything I’m saying and all the decisions I’m making. People who work closely with me, people who have seen the journey throughout making this album, which is now what four or five years worth [of songs.] I feel like they can tell the way I conduct myself now. And also I think that does come with just maturity. I’m getting a bit older, wiser and learning more about myself. I don’t know if I would have learned much about myself without that relationship to kind of take me into gear. You know, like I was pretty content really before it all happened. I was taken by surprise, you know?

I realized I know nothing. And I have to start from the bottom and work my way up and learn about myself. Now I’m better at recognizing when there’s something wrong and recognizing where that might be coming from and what I’m triggered by. I’m more aware of things in general. I like it.

What are you most looking forward to now that you’ve completed this album?

I’m particularly looking forward to going back on tour when we’re all allowed to do that again. I’m looking forward to making some new goals. because I feel like this one was a big one for me. I really, really wanted to make an album that truly represented who I am, musically and emotionally. So I feel like I’ve done that. I’m happy about how that went.

I will say I’m looking forward to what happens next. What other music can I make? What other things can I say? And what are the artistic avenues I can go down? I’m excited for the future and shaping my own destiny.

That’s a very brave outlook, especially what’s going on in regards to unrest and COVID-19 . I think optimism is such a gift right now.

It’s important as Black women. Not to sound preachy, but I think it’s important to be visibly doing your thing, you know, and to show others. Sort of lead by example. It’s important to do your thing really loudly.

Listen to Lianne La Havas below.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Current language: en

Lianne La Havas

Lianne La Havas  

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• 18 July 2024 Thursday 20:30 h Concert Hall Buy

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• Guitar BCN 2024

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