Cherryade
Alex and Ella have been gaining fans and respect with a series of releases. Now they are about to hold their debut gig in the city.
WHO
Never heard of Cherryade? That’s about to change. Duo Alex and Ella have already been packing a musical punch over the last year but 2017 sees them really step up a division. This act is fun, cheeky, savvy, and caustic. They can hit you with barbed and loaded lyrics before you even realise, all delivered with a smile on their face. Bouncy, tuneful, tricky pop. And we’ve loved every energy-filled track sent to us by the duo here at BBC Introducing in Norfolk. So how did it all start? Some things are just down to fortune. Ella moved to Norfolk with her family when she entered high school, where she met Norwich born Alex. The two hit it off as friends and musicians and have been together ever since. “We hated school and always wanted to run away,” said Ella. Not surprisingly that’s what they did, both of them going to study and live in London. And that’s where the concept of Cherryade took hold and is now beginning to take off.
WHAT
“We’ve been best friends for such a long time and write everything together,” said Ella. “Usually Alex will produce a rough track for us to write over, and then we’ll text each other ideas for melodies and lyrics throughout the day, and then once we think we’ve got something we’ll sit down and pull it altogether.”
And it seems we’re not the only ones beginning to notice there’s something special about Cherryade. “If I’m honest,” said Alex, “we’re both quite competitive, and we saw a lot of people doing well and thought we could do that too. We took a risk and emailed a mix engineer called Neil Comber who’d worked with some of our favourite artists like M.I.A. and Charli XCX. He loved the demos and it all happened from there. We’ve had so much online support from sites we love like NYLON, CLASH and DIY Magazine, and then radio support from BBC Introducing, Radio 1, 6Music – so it could be going a lot worse!”
And there’s more. “We were featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday,” said Ella, “which was really cool, and on a few Apple Music playlists and iTunes’ new artist spotlight, like on the main page of iTunes. I don’t think we ever expected that, especially so early on.” “Fractured Fairytales was just used on a US TV show as well, which was amazing and also really funny,” said Alex. “There was some girl grinding around a pole and ripping her top off whilst it was playing in the background. More recently we’ve had a few publishers sending us tracks to write over and we’ve written a few top lines for dance tracks as well, which has been really fun.”
LIVE
Yes, well. This is the thin section. It’s been a long time coming – but this month Norwich are to witness their first gig alongside Mega Emotion and headliners Tibetan Night Terrors at Norwich Arts Centre. “I think it’s been more about timing than anything else,” said Ella. “We’ve been working loads on new music, and then directing our own video, and now it just feels like the right time.” “We’re happy with the music, we’re happy with the visuals, and now we want to pull it altogether and put on a good show,” added Alex. We can’t wait!
FUTURE
Aside from their gig there is more music on the way too. “We’ve got a new single coming out shortly,” said Alex, “and we’ve got another two big tracks we’re finishing up now which we’re really excited about.” “Yeah we’ve written some songs recently with Ant Whiting who produced our favourite tracks on the first M.I.A. album,” said Ella, “and he’s worked loads with John Newman and Rizzle Kicks. Those songs are still very us, but it just feels like a big step up. We feel confident now. I think that’s the main thing.”
See Cherryade at Norwich Arts Centre on Friday 14th April.
