There’s a similar aesthetic running through certain shows on Netflix right now. Between Sex Education, Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The End of the F**king World, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what decade the cast is living in until they whip out a phone or a laptop.
They're dressed like it's the late 80s and their houses could be from the 70s. It's said that this is intentional – so that the shows possess a timeless quality – and this is the aesthetic that Maisie Peters has nailed in the video for her new single Stay Young.
Written by Peters and Sam "RØMANS" Romans, who has helped pen songs for Little Mix, Lewis Capaldi, Tom Walker and Demi Lovato, Stay Young is a freeze frame in time that pines for simpler days that seemed to go on forever. And as she asks her friends to "call me from the bathroom when you're low, we'll stay young until we wanna be old", it's as clear as day that Peters has the makings to be the ultimate VBF.
Raised in West Sussex, the 18-year-old has been writing songs since she was nine years of age and since signing to Atlantic Records, she retains a youthful charm in her songwriting. Stay Young is about that brand new start of becoming an adult, the one you get once you finish your school exams. “I had just finished A Levels and was finally getting to make music my job, living in London and going to studios every day. It was so exciting and felt like the beginning of something amazing but also was really lonely, as all my friends were at home going out together – as 18-year-olds do – and getting ready for university,” she says.
Bittersweet feelings
“It’s basically an ode to being young and growing up and the excitement and bittersweet feelings of loss that come with it, as well as being a sort of promise song to all my friends that I’m never that far away, no matter how many miles!”
Dressed Too Nice for a Jacket, her brilliantly-titled debut EP that was released last year, carries songs that fixate on the specific joys and qualms that are part and parcel with being a young adult. Much like Norwegian singer Sigrid or Scottish singer Nina Nesbitt, Peters can take a small moment and turn it into a story. A master in delicacy and gravitas, her folk-pop tunes feel like a shared memory and, just like that Netflix aesthetic supposedly evokes, they feel timeless. In My Head details the front we put on to let everyone know we're okay after a break-up, Enough for You is a funny little heartbreaker of a song about a woman who's in love with her driving instructor and You to You is the upbeat yet vengeful clapback to getting dumped.
A fan of Bruce Springsteen, Abba, Lily Allen, Frank Ocean and Taylor Swift, Peters has honed the knack of observing the silly quirks we practise when faced with love – and, eventually, heartbreak – and she preserves them in song. Whether you want songs that reflect what you're experiencing right now in life or if you want a throwback to those never-ending days of summer, Peters is a singer to keep an eye on.
Maisie Peters plays Dublin's The Button Factory on May 7th as part of Eastbound. Eastbound is a six-night event that's taking place in music venues across Dublin between May 7th and 12th, with new and breaking artists filling the line-up. Tickets for Peters's gig are €13 and they're available to buy from ticketmaster.ie
