Lucy Spraggan: ‘We’re going to have to take the positives’

At home “in the middle of nowhere” during the coronavirus lockdown, Lucy Spraggan has been doing her best to keep busy.

“I’ve been writing songs and doing Skype sessions with other writers, which has actually been really nice,” says the singer-songwriter, who was born and raised in the Peak District.

It is, however, different for her management, booking agent and record label, she appreciates. “For the rest of the team if the shows stop it’s not as though they don’t have anything to do, it’s just they don’t have much prospects going on. There’s a lot of people on social media reaching out and encouraging each other but it’s a very strange time.”

This month the 28-year-old had been due to tour Australia, but the shows have now been cancelled. “I count myself lucky that my next record isn’t due to come out until late 2020,” she says. “We’re going to have to take the positives because a lot of people are having to cancel their shows and a lot of musicians are supporting families. It’s a tough one.”

Eight years on from making a splash by performing her own songs while competing in The X Factor, Spraggan is now a well-established performer. Her 2019 album Today Was a Good Day was her fifth consecutive top 30 hit.

When the lockdown is finally lifted, Spraggan anticipates that live shows are going to be different. “People are going to want to get out there, doing what they love,” she says. “It’s going to feel emotional to have people back together again. I think live music is going to be at the forefront of that, and the arts industry in general.

“There’s a song on the last record called The End of the World, it’s pretty pertinent. There are some things that stand out in that song that didn’t before to me when I wrote it. It’s about holding on to the people you love and enjoying the time you’ve got with them. Now, more than ever, that’s a really important thing to do.”

In recent years Spraggan has developed a following in the US and has toured with American musician and LGBT activist Melissa Etheridge. “She’s a real mentor to me and gives me a lot of advice,” she says. “She’s a really cool person to be around. She’s really been round the circuit for a very long time. There’s even been some technical stuff that she tells me about – staying hydrated and warming up properly and not eating certain things. She said ‘this is the same advice I gave to Pink and Adele’. It made me laugh that she put me in the same category.”

Originally from Buxton, Spraggan wrote her first song aged 10 and by 11 years old she was performing at open mic nights. She played her first concert when she was 12. “I’ve always been a massive show-off,” she jokes. “Anything that I get attention from, I’m straight up there.”

She believes she learnt a lot from playing in pubs and clubs. “I’m really privileged to have the career and the lifestyle that I do,” she says. “It really jumps into your mind now that I can play tiny shows. Europe’s a little bit bigger now but when I go to America I start from scratch. Sometimes I go there alone and just do what I did in the UK but in a new territory. That’s quite a good thing to actually have in your arsenal.”

By the time Spraggan auditioned for The X Factor in 2012 – while working as a salesperson for a photographic company in Sheffield – she already had a strong musical identity, and an album’s worth of songs under her belt. Since the show she has built a following through constant gigging. “My first ever national playlist for a single happened last year with Lucky Stars. Before that I’d had no commercial radio whatsoever. It’s been about getting front of people and playing shows and festivals and perseverance. And I really would not have anything if it wasn’t for those people that come to my shows.”

Following The X Factor, Spraggan recorded an album for the major label Columbia but has preferred to follow an independent route ever since.

It is, she says, “much of a muchness...” She acknowledges that saying no and stamping your feet is not a good idea, but “but if you say no and explain ‘this is how I’d really like to do this and this is what I believe in and this is what I do’, normally people understand and want to be party to that. And really taking on advice from people who’ve been in the industry for 20-plus years is not always a bad thing to do, so I have a good balance of that.”

In July Spraggan is due to play at the Y Not Festival in the Peak District and Tramlines in Sheffield. She still feels close to her roots in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. “Both Buxton and Sheffield are like home towns,” she says. “I played Y Not and Tramlines before I was on The X Factor, so I’ve got a lot of respect for those festivals, they hold nice memories for me.”

Y Not Festival, Buxton is due to run July 24-26; Tramlines, Sheffield, July 31-August 2.

ynotfestival.com

tramlines.org.uk