Photo: Press
“I’ve had a lot of people cry! It’s weird. I felt guilty and went up to them to ask them to stop. But they were like, “No, no, no, I’m just really moved by it!” says Frances whilst recalling the impact of her live performances.
The 22-year-old singer-songwriter - who was raised in Newbury to accountant parents - is a Brits critics’ choice nominee and in the BBC Sound of 2016 longlist. She has a stark, beauty to her voice that makes us not the least bit surprised to hear she’s had such an incredible response to her live shows.
“I think I get this reaction because my songs are very honest and directly about what’s going on in my life," admits Frances.
The conviction with which she delivers these heartfelt words is out of the ordinary: “Sometimes I’m nervous but there are times when you can get really into a performance and just think about the words you’re singing and deeply connect with the songs.”
It’s this live prowess that has propelled her into becoming one of the most talked about young singers in the industry - and tipped to be huge next year. It’s a remarkable feat considering it’s only six months since she released her debut EP.
Apart from the nominations, another impressive move she’s made is touring with James Bay, as the cowboy hat-wielding singer personally asked for her to tour 3-4,000 capacity venues across America with him.
“It’s such a nice way to be asked, he heard my song 'Grow’ when it came out and asked his team if he could have me on tour," she recalls. "It’s amazing and he’s literally the nicest guy in the world. The US crowd are very much into his music too, they sing every word to every song on the album."
Frances is yet to release her debut album, so it’s only a matter of time before she will be able to claim the same thing as James Bay with her songs, but she's still connecting with audiences over there.
“Mine and James’ music isn't a million miles apart so people really liked it and people would buy the EP from me whilst I was stood in the crowd watching James,” says Frances.
Meanwhile, it was whilst on this tour in November with Bay that Frances discovered she was nominated in the influential Brits critics' choice.
“I was in Chicago with my manager and we knew we were put forward and kept checking emails but because of the time difference didn’t work out exactly when it would come through. We went off to see Spectre - which is amazing by the way! - and when we came out we checked our emails again and at first there was nothing there. But eventually it came through, and we kind of had a little dance around,” she smiles.
The life-changing impact that this nomination will have doesn’t appear to phase her at all. She offers her coping mechanisms as advice to young people in similar situations: "I think you need to make sure you’ve got a very secure home life. I think involving your loved ones is essential. You need to keep them up to speed because I think family can feel like you're miles aways because they don't really know what you’re doing. You have to take the time to explain it and make sure everyones OK."
Her home life has always been secure, and the musical influences in her house helped mould her: "I got on so well with my parents I never had the urge to rebel. We really got on. I thought my parents were quite cool and I listened to what they were playing such as Carole King and Radiohead’s OK Computer."
She was not easily distracted from her educated taste: “I never really had a phase. I had a couple of years where i was super into My Chemical Romance but that’s because a group I was friends with at school were, I wasn’t really. I was like, oh I should be. If I look back I didn’t actually like them."
Frances continues: “But 'No Surprises' by Radiohead gets me every time."
Sticking to her guns and admiring the finer music in the world has really payed off in terms of the exquisite sound she’s come out with on the piano and in her singing.
However, her music isn't entirely raw and stripped back, her voice lends itself well to styles that weren't in her house as a child. She co-wrote ‘Borrowed Time’ with Disclosure’s Howard Lawrence. There's also deep house remixes of ‘Let It Out’ made by Kaasi, and ‘Grow’ by Oceaan, that are among the cuts best we've heard on her Soundcloud - her voice is a producers dream, so diverse, and hauntingly beautiful.
Currently, Frances is knuckling down in Rack Studios in St John's Wood, London, until mid January with Steve Fitzmaurice, who she describes as “an amazing studio engineer”. He already worked on the Grow EP and her more recent Let It Out EP. From evidence of what they've worked on together so far, the results of the album will be spellbinding but we’ll have to wait until the summer to hear the finished product.
Until then we can hear a preview of what’s going to be on the album by heading to the London's Union Chapel on 18 February - for tickets and information, visit here.
