Warning: Spoilers abound!
It’s never Birdy’s intention to make people cry. If you’re a hopeless romantic, chances are you’ve shed a tear or two while hearing the 26-year-old English singer-songwriter’s haunting melodies. With a wistful tone that takes listeners on a journey through sorrow and yearning, it’s fitting that her voice has scored pivotal scenes in The Fault in Our Stars, The Vampire Diaries, The Edge of Seventeen and even a Giorgio Armani perfume commercial. Whether she’s backed by a simple piano instrumental or a thunderous EDM mix, Birdy, with four albums under her belt, knows how to make longing feel good.
In the Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, she teams up with the film’s composer, Stuart Earl, as a co-primary artist on the EP. Birdy’s track “Quietly Yours” settles into the movie’s final sequences, including when Anne Elliot (Dakota Johnson) chases after Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis) to declare her love. “There was a time when I let you go, allowed myself to be swayed and pulled,” Birdy sings. The musician talked with Tudum about her inspiration behind the cinematic song, as well as her favorite Beyoncé breakup anthems.
You released your album Young Heart last year and said that its sound was inspired by your travels to LA, Nashville and India. For “Quietly Yours,” did you travel anywhere for inspiration?
It was actually over Christmas when I first saw the film. I had COVID, which was so annoying that I couldn't go anywhere and couldn’t join in with any of the Christmas things that were going on. I was just here in this bedroom and I was feeling kind of sorry for myself. In a way, it was actually quite good because there’s this quiet stillness at the end of the film when [Anne and Frederick] are together on the cliff top. I felt quite similar to that because I could just hear everyone downstairs opening presents, doing all the Christmas stuff while I was just in my room.
Is that how you got the title of the track?
Yeah, I think so. Also, Anne as a character and her longing. The whole way through the story, she’s very selfless and she never tells anyone this desperateness she has.
What similarities do you share with Anne’s character?
I was very familiar with the story, so I was mostly inspired by it. I’ve definitely gone through heartbreak, and I know that feeling of pining for someone, how difficult that is to live with and to not be able to do anything about it.
The song was actually originally called “Spring” because that was the first word that I sang when I was singing ideas. It’s like that new hope that [Anne] has when she sees [Wentworth] again — that feeling that spring has come.
Stuart Earl, the composer for Persuasion, spoke so highly of you on the experience of creating this song. What was it like working with him?
He’s so incredibly talented. I really love film music, and I’d love to do that one day, so it was really cool because I got to go to his studio and work on the wedding scene at the end. It’s instrumental and there’s a mixture between score and song, so we were just playing around with it together. It was just amazing to see him work and how he’s so fast at just writing things in.
Your music has been featured in so many other films, from The Fault in Our Stars to The Edge of Seventeen. When you approach these projects, do you write specifically from your perspective or do you have to separate your own experience from that of the characters?
I think it mixes without me realizing. I was 7 when I started writing, and I always loved writing songs about my family. I remember singing at my aunt’s wedding and I’d write a song for her and her life. I always really enjoyed fitting lyrics and music to someone or to a story. I think a lot of that comes from my dad. He’s a really good storyteller, and then my mom’s a concert pianist, so I’ve grown up with a lot of classical music. I love film music, and I just think I’m just a mixture of the two of them.
When you sit down and write, do you ever have the intention of making people cry?
No. Since I was little, my songs were always really sad. My parents used to listen to this up under the stairs when I started writing. They were like, “What’s wrong with her? Why is she so sad? What is it?”
But I think that comes from classical music, listening to my mom play when I was younger and just absorbing that. She’d play a lot of Chopin and Mozart, and they’re always quite sad pieces, and they just really moved me. It kind of stuck with me — that feeling.
Who have you been listening to as of late who’s had an influence on you?
A lot of Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens. There’s some old stuff I’ve been listening to — a lot of Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, old Madonna and Portishead as well.
If an ex came crawling back to you, and you were in Anne’s position, what would you do?
Once I’ve made my mind up, it’s quite difficult for me to change it. Maybe if there was some doubt, I think it would be different, but I think it’s good to move forward and not look back.
Let’s say someone is going through a breakup like Anne. What songs by you or someone else would you recommend they listen to?
On my last record, there’s a song called “Evergreen,” which is about a memory of being in love. I also really loved listening to [Beyoncé’s] Lemonade when I was feeling heartbroken. That was a really good record because it was so empowering. I love “Hold Up” and “Pray You Catch Me.”
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
