Talented British singer-songwriter Taura’s debut EP, Lucky Girls, cannot be easily pigeonholed, drawing on old-school soul sounds and adorning them with airy, melodic vocals.

After developing her craft writing and producing in London, the newly emerging Taura, released her impressive debut project earlier this year. From production to cover art design, Lucky Girls is an entirely independent invention, and showcases Taura’s depth of talent, illustrating why she’s turning so many heads in the music industry.

Lucky Girls is a genre-blending collection, bringing together R&B melodies, and soft piano jazz to form a fresh and authentic new sound. Making up the EP includes new track ‘Strangers’ with three other playlist-topping singles released last year, the pop-influenced ‘Good Summer’; romantic jazz-ballad ‘Lucky Girls’ and the nu-soul sounding ‘Adore You’.

A more stripped-back style of production means that Taura’s lyrical ability is left to stand for itself, and it does so finely. Through her powerful relatability, presenting unapologetic personal truths and raw feelings of “vulnerability,” Taura has been able to create an impressive and original debut release; one that highlights her name as one to look out for in the coming months and years. KWAVA caught up with Taura a month into lockdown to find out a little more about her and her EP.

How does it feel to finally have Lucky Girls out in the world?

I had been building up to the day of releasing music for a very long time, and at points it felt like it would never happen- so the day that the Lucky Girls EP came out felt like a very big moment. The EP was almost entirely self-made- from the writing, recording, and production to designing the cover art. This was a huge achievement for me, but it also made releasing it independently, as my first step into the music industry very scary- I had literally no-one else to blame but myself if it didn’t go as planned! The EP really embodies the emotions and, at times, vulnerability I felt during the time period it was written in. I put my everything into the process, so I feel incredibly proud of how it’s done so far.

What is your creative process like when it comes to making your music?

As I’m working on new music, my process is developing and changing slightly. I’m co-writing a lot more with other producers and musicians, so the creative process tends to differ from person to person. However, as we are currently stuck in isolation, I am back to my old ways of working alone! If I have a sudden inspiration for a beat or specific melody or lyric in mind, I will always start there, but I often sit down to write without any exact concept in mind. When this happens, I tend to start by creating a chord sequence, normally on guitar. Once I have this, I just record about 20 minutes of improvising melodies on my phone over the chords, then fish through, select my favourites and move on from there.

Who would some of your dream collaborators be and why?

Banks is the first person to come to mind. I think that the way she writes lyrics and story-tells within her music is so inspirational- I’d love to get in a room with her and understand her process of writing. Another dream collaborator would be the producer D’Mile. He’s produced some of my favourite music from Victoria Monet to Lucky Daye, and his take on contemporary R&B is just so skilful- working with him would be the ultimate dream. I’d also love to work with H.E.R. I love how effortlessly cool her writing style is, and the way her lyrics just flow so well with the melodies, she’s awesome.

How did you first get started within music?

I was always singing in every choir available to me from a young age, because I was obsessed with the harmonies and hearing four or more melodies coming together, I just thought it was so clever. When I then got a guitar for Christmas at the age of about 13, I was singing and playing in my room non-stop. I think it must’ve actually been pretty annoying as my guitar skills were not in great shape! Once I’d started writing my own music, I began playing gigs around Birmingham in places like the Yardbird Jazz Café and The Sun on The Hill. I remember feeling so cool when I was like 15/16 and they asked for my ID, and I said ‘oh I’m playing a show here tonight’- I bet I seemed about 10. I sort of fell in love with the feeling of performing my own music and hearing people’s reactions towards it at those bars and pubs, so I guess that’s kind of where it all started!

The video for title track 'Lucky Girls' came out last month. Would you talk us through it?

The video is heavily stylised with a kind of fantasy aesthetic running all the way through. Filmmaker Moon, who directed and produced the video came up with the concept of the seven deadly sins, routing from ‘lucky number 7’ after playing around with the word ‘lucky’ and its associations. From here, we came up with 7 sin-themed scenes, all stylised with colour associated with each deadly sin, and a stroke of bad luck running through each one. For example, in Sloth, I am lazing about with a black cat and in Lust, I am in the bath holding an open umbrella. We shot the video in almost double time, so that when it was slowed to real time the footage had a real ethereal quality to it, which really suited the song. Editor Zac Fox also created some amazing visuals throughout, which really brought the aesthetic alive. I’m so proud of the final result and I can’t wait for people to see it!

What else can we expect from Taura in 2020?

So far there has been a lot of moving parts for 2020 because of the Coronavirus, but I’ve taken the opportunity of being locked inside to write and produce as much as possible! We already had some great music finished that I had co-written with other artists before the lockdown, and I’m actually really excited about the recent stuff I’ve been writing alone too. So, I will definitely be releasing new music in the near future, and hopefully the live opportunities that unfortunately couldn’t go ahead will be rescheduled for later on this year!

Lucky Girls is out now on all platforms, and the video for the title track can be found below.

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