Each month, we invite a local artist to lay down a stripped-back live session in Greeny’s rehearsal space. One take. No do-overs. This month features singer-songwriter Milly Pye. You can watch Milly’s session over on the Exposed Instagram channel (@expmagsheff).
For Milly Pye – Joe’s latest invite into the Red Light rehearsal room – the session offered her the chance to do what she loves most: collaborating, experimenting and seeing her songs take on a new life. “It was a good chance to kind of showcase songs that haven’t been released yet,” she tells us. “A chance to see what people think of it… and it was great to hear it in a live setting. It kind of gave it a different light.”
Thrown into the room with Joe, as ever on drums, and two musicians she’d never met before (Ed Cosens and Phillipe Clegg), Milly thrived. “It’s like, my favourite thing,” she grins. “Just jamming and having that creative freedom. I loved it.”
The session gave her a fresh perspective on her track. “Hearing people’s interpretations can inspire me as an artist to play around with it more. It made me think – wait, we could add more layers, different guitar parts, and change things up.”
After a whirlwind start to her music career – she was signed to a major label at just 16 – Milly is now based in Nottingham and travels regularly to Sheffield, where she’s just completed her first year at WaterBear Music College. It’s a decision that marked a turning point.
“It’s not a very me thing to do,” she laughs. “I’m very ADHD… never really had much direction. I’d been in and out of jobs before signing up – I even became a tattoo artist at one point because I thought, ‘well, I’m creative, let’s try this’.”
But the pull back towards music was relentless. “My whole life revolves around it. I thought, why not do it with people who genuinely want to collaborate?”
It’s a decision that’s clearly paying off. Since starting the course, Milly’s released three singles, including the emotionally raw Hate To Love You, and is gearing up to release an EP. She’s formed a band with fellow students and is preparing to take her live set to a new level. “I’ve wanted to be with a band for a while. It just allows more freedom on stage – rather than just me and my guitar, which can feel quite vulnerable.”
Milly’s been writing since she was eight. “My mum said I sang before I could talk,” she recalls. “She took me on a walk one day and I just started singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ word for word – and she was like, ‘you’ve never even spoken before!’”
That instinctive connection to music led to those major label deals as a teenager, and stints with multiple independents. But by the age of 21, she found herself alone in the industry, unsure of her direction and dealing with the emotional fallout.
“From 21 to about 27, I was very depressed,” she says openly. “I’d gone from this world where there were 100 people around me, constantly talking about what shoes I should wear, what I should sound like… to working in bars, scrubbing toilets. It was like being on a rollercoaster that stops at the top and drops. My life had only ever been music, and I just couldn’t get my head around it.”
Despite the personal low, she kept writing – and continues to write one or two songs a day. “It keeps me sane,” she says. “I have so many things going on in my head, and just sitting with my guitar feels really cathartic.” Her writing style is instinctive – lyrics flow without being forced. “It just comes out. Then I listen back and think, ‘was that in my subconscious this whole time?’”
Now 28, Milly has reclaimed her identity as an artist – on her own terms. “I know who I am now. That’s the most exciting part. I don’t go into writing thinking, ‘I want to sound like this’. It just feels natural. Before, there were people telling me how to dress, how to sound – and I just said yes because I was a child. But not anymore.”
When it comes to labels, she’s cautious. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with a major label now – I’m still easily swayed sometimes,” she admits. “But I’d be open to an independent label if it felt like a collaboration.”
There’s also been a personal shift in understanding herself, prompted by an ongoing ADHD diagnosis.
It’s taken me six years to get an assessment,” she says. “Now I know so much of my past makes sense. I’m not lazy or incapable – I literally just have this thing in my head.” She’s even written about it in Ferrari, a single released earlier this year. “I don’t think it’s a superpower. It’s horrible sometimes. But understanding it has reframed everything for me.”
Milly identifies as bisexual and speaks about how her sexuality occasionally informs her music. “I’ve got a song called Cowgirls Cry – it’s a bit campy and fun, not so serious. A celebration of my sexuality, really. It’s not always at the forefront, but it’s there in the lyrics and the freedom of expression in my performance. I think I’m due another gay anthem!”
With a wide range of influences – from country music to alternative hip hop – Milly’s sound resists easy definition. “I’m obsessed with the Brockhampton universe, like Matt Champion, Dijon and Dominic Fike. That might surprise people, but it influences the way I write – especially the flow of melodies.”
In the modern music landscape, self-promotion on social media is essential, but Milly admits it’s tough. “I try to post once a day, but some days, especially Sundays, I just want to chill. Instead, I’m filming myself doing random shit with my song in the background. I have a love/hate relationship with it. People’s attention spans are so short now. I’m constantly thinking, ‘should I stand on a roof? Should I do a cartwheel? Should I stand on my head?’”
Yet through all of it – the highs, the lows, the searching and rediscovery – Milly Pye is resolutely herself. “I spent years being sad about it all, when really I should have just kept doing it anyway,” she says. “That’s my message now: just do it anyway. Even if no one tells you it’s right – go for it.”
You can watch Milly’s Red Light Session now on the Exposed Instagram channel (@expmagsheff). Give it a spin – it’s raw, heartfelt and unmistakably her.
