ELIZA is an artist with a rich pop heritage. Formerly a frothy and upbeat capital P Pop star as Eliza Doolittle back in the pre-streaming pop era of 2010, she has since embarked on an even more creatively fulfilling career as ELIZA.
Now, she’s making seductive and groove-based alternative R&B music which highlights her songwriting skills and a creative passion that has blossomed since leaving the major label system. With two albums of refined and immaculately crafted music released in the last 7 years, ELIZA is returning with a new single that offers another subtle reinvention of her sound as she continues to forge her own path.
Despite the vastly different space she’s working in now, ELIZA isn’t immune to just a little bit of nostalgia. “I’ve been looking back on things a lot recently as it’s been 15 years since the Eliza Doolittle project,” she explains. “It was my youth and then my evolution, really. I was becoming more in touch with who I am. In the beginning, it was part of me for sure. It was youthful and playful, and I was quite influenced by things around me. Now I’ve gone much further within myself, and I’m following my own intuition more.”
“It’s a song about letting go of any fear and diving into the love you’ve found”
That intuition has led her to a sound that is perfectly realised in tune with her passions and musical inspirations. The exuberance of youth is replaced with the wisdom of someone who has experienced life in the pop machine and now knows exactly what they want. “I’m very particular about sonics. I want things to sound beautiful,” she smiles.
‘Anyone Else’, the lead single from ELIZA’s new album, coming early next year, is definitely something beautiful. Progressing her sound in another striking direction, it introduces an alt-rock flavour to her soulful sound with a chugging, grungy guitar pulse that allows ELIZA’s fluid and mellifluous vocal to glide effortlessly over the top with a freedom and space to it that offers a supremely satisfying contrast.
“It’s a love song,” she beams, discussing the lyrical theme. “It’s about my boyfriend of 9 years now. He’s into rockier music. That was maybe what partly inspired the sound and the lyrics. It’s a song about letting go of any fear and diving into the love you’ve found. It’s a song full of liberty and freedom. It felt different to anything I’ve done before. I’m always looking for something that excites me, and this song really excites me.”
“My writing partner Fin and I were listening to Smashing Pumpkins, which you can hear in the record,” she continues. “Also a bit of Prince. I’m always listening to Prince. I’m always hoping he’s channelled through that music somewhere. He’s in everyone’s music. There’s no way that he can’t be.”
The sense of freedom evoked by ‘Anyone Else’ could be equally applied to the evolution of ELIZA’s career since her chart-topping days when she left her major label deal in the mid-2010s. “When I left my label and management, I was afraid to do it, but something was telling me I had to do it,” she reflects. “There was something sparking there. The deal I was in was quite a traditional deal. I was giving away 80% of my masters. I thought it might be a good idea to get out of this.
“I was afraid to leave the machine of the majors and that team working for you. There was a lot of pressure, though. That pressure didn’t work for my creativity. I felt too much pressure to have hits and succeed in a shallow way rather than experiment. I got to experiment and instantly felt a weight off me. I felt euphoria. For two years, I felt like I was walking on a cloud and writing music and figuring out who I was. I was having a lot of fun. I didn’t get to do uni at the same age as most of my friends, so I was experiencing that and partying more. It was a good time, and I’m thankful I got to do that. I’m trying to continue that energy now and make sure I don’t fall back into the place I was before.”
“I’m so grateful for my journey, and where I am now is so beautiful”
The music industry landscape is ever-changing, and in 2025, more pop stars than ever before are being trusted to follow their own vision, but still, the lingering cloud of commercial pressure that hung over Eliza looms in the background. “I would have liked to have had more communication with the team at the label,” says ELIZA as she assesses what might be different for the pop artists breaking through now.
“That was something I didn’t have. My management was protecting me and saying no one will ever speak to you with truth to your face. Actually being given the chance to be in on those conversations and lead my own career would have been amazing. I’m not going to dwell on it, though. I’m so grateful for my journey, and where I am now is so beautiful that I wouldn’t change it because I’ve learned from it. I’m really happy for the artists now who get to experience a more educated system. I’m sure there are still issues because creativity and business don’t really mix. For some people, it really works, but I wonder how much creativity can thrive even more if it wasn’t all about the business.”
Someone who had no issue with their boundless creativity thriving is one of ELIZA’s biggest influences. D’Angelo’s death earlier this year at the age of 51 has had a profound effect on ELIZA and the millions of people inspired by the legacy of a visionary artist who leaves behind a flawless discography of three perfect records, including ELIZA’s all-time favourite album, ‘Voodoo’. She gets a bit emotional as she wells up thinking about him.
“I’ve been putting off accepting it,” she admits. “I haven’t listened to his music yet because I can’t face it since he’s passed. I know that I need to sit down and really acknowledge what’s happened and really listen to him and think about how deep he’s hit me. I need to make space for that moment. I’m really grateful for him. He lives in every bit of music I make. He’s everything to me.”
For an artist in the space that ELIZA is working in, D’Angelo’s influence is everywhere. “It was amazing seeing people’s tributes online. He might be the most loved artist of my generation,” she says lovingly. “A prince or a David Bowie felt like different generations, but D’Angelo felt like our generation. It really hit us. It’s totally heartbreaking. Selfishly, I was like, but what about the music?! We need more music. I realised that he gave enough. So much more than enough. Those three albums are incredible. They are the greatest pieces of music in my opinion.”
“I just want to turn London into a wild, wild place”
In some ways, it feels like ELIZA’s post-major label pop career feels like the solo career of a pop singer. Indeed, she characterises it herself that way. “It feels like it’s another band or something,” she laughs. “A band that I’ve left and now I’m in a new band with a new thing going on.” That new thing continues to morph and evolve as she moves on to her third full-length as ELIZA. The album finds her engaging with her feelings and desires on an even deeper level.
“The overall feel and theme of the album is the oppression of the city and wanting to connect with nature,” she explains. “I’m still in North London. I love it because all my friends and family are there, and I don’t want to leave my tribe, but I do crave nature a lot. I just want to turn London into a wild, wild place.” Wild thoughts and ambition drive ELIZA right now. “I’ve got some projects coming alongside the album,” she teases excitingly. “It’s a keep an eye out situation.”
In terms of pop star reinventions, the enduring career of ELIZA shows that a second act is always possible if you have the vision and desire to see it through. “I’m really grateful for anyone to be involved from any part of the journey,” she says. 2026 promises to be an exciting year, either for people with nostalgia for the past, appreciating ELIZA all over again, or for people newly discovering an artist with a fresh sense of wisdom and clarity on who they are as an artist.
ELIZA’s single ‘Anyone Else’ is out now.
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