- Words Notion Staff
- Photography Laura Allard-Fleischl
- Hair Kieron Lavine
- Makeup Charli Avery using MAC cosments
- Makeup Assistant Katie Judge
An introduction to Lady Luck.
Somewhere between the Camden glam of Amy Winehouse and the genre-blending sounds of Colombian bombshell Kali Uchis, you’ll find Delilah Holliday. Specialising in chic lo-fi soul, self-possessed Holliday serves a kind of gritty North London realness via her ‘gives no fucks’ vocal delivery. The art school graduate is putting her studies to good use with her Kenneth Anger flavoured aesthetic – whether she’s riding a camel through the deser in the video for debut single “Babylon” or belly dancing her way through the visual for “Snake Eyes” with a python coiled around her neck. The self-confessed feminist is also one third of garage punk trio, Skinny Girl Diet, alongside her sister Urusal (who directs Holliday’s solo vids). When she’s not making a rebellious racket with SGD, you’ll find Holliday riding solo, writing and self-producing her own releases, like her diamond in the rough debut mixtape, Lady Luck Vol. 1.
Who is Delilah Holliday?
She is a girl who wants to sing and help people and heal them with her music.
Would the world be a better place if we had a matriarchy?
Definitely! There wouldn’t be any wars.
What does ‘girl power’ mean to you?
Girl power means unity and that all the stuff we were told to believe at birth is meaning-less about jealous and barbies and gender roles, it’s all stupid.
What does feminism mean to you?
Being intersectional and believing all women can be included in feminism and unity really, with all human beings.
What’s the Delilah Holliday manifesto?
Be the best you can be. Be the person of your dreams.
Is there more pressure making music solo?
I’ve had my sister and my cousin depend on [in Skinny Girl Diet]. When it’s just you, everything is stripped away, but it’s also really fun because you can zone out and work by yourself and I’m quite a loner, so that suits me.
"Snake Eyes" by Delilah Holliday
Do you believe in luck?
Definitely yeah. I found a black widow spider in some grapes when I was a kind, and it didn’t bite me, so that’s lucky. I’ve had so many weird experiences in my life that are just creepy. I can’t not believe in luck with some of them. I got hit by a car on my 17th birthday, and I survived it, so that’s lucky.
How would you describe your aesthetic?
Glamorous, urban and punk.
Is style something you’re born with or can you learn it?
You can learn it, I think it’s the environment.
What’s the music industry’s biggest problem?
Not including enough diversity and people from different backgrounds, across all genres. There’s a hierarchy right now that needs to be abolished.
What’s your process?
I’ll have a thought in my head, probably one that doesn’t make any sense, write it down in my songbook and then I’ll form a song from that.
What’s next?
My next mixtape is coming out, probably next year. Skinny Girl Diet stuff is coming out, loads of music.
