Name: Courtney Hadwin
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: British
Current release: Courtney Hadwin's new single "You Only Love Me When I Lie" is out now.
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If you enjoyed this Courtney Hadwin interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram, tiktok, and Facebook.



When did you first consciously start getting interested in singing? What was your first performance as a singer on stage or in the studio and what was the experience like?

I first started taking an interest in music when I was about 9. I was just a normal kid that kind of got into music with musical theatre - as that’s really all 9 year old kids who liked music were “capable of.”

As I got older and thanks to having YouTube as a platform where I could explore the world of music, I found many musicians that proved to me music was more than just lyrics. It was passion and emotion and meaning.

My first performance on a stage was probably at about 10 year old at a little singing competition. It was just a little bit of fun where I sang “Cannonball” by Damien Rice and I loved it. I loved the feeling of standing up on the stage and showing I was more than just a baby who asked her mammy and daddy for singing lessons.

If you're also playing other instruments, how does the expressive potential of these compare to your own voice?

I don’t play a load of music through instruments, I definitely wouldn’t class myself a Carlos Santana.

As much as I would love to have the focus to sit there and be an amazing guitarist I’m just too fidgety. I'm always feeling the need to get up and do something else.

I play a little guitar and a little piano, enough to get a melody going or a lyric going for an idea in a song.

What were some of the main challenges in your development as a singer/vocalist? Which practices, exercises, or teachers were most helpful in reaching your goals – were there also “harmful” ones?

I’ve always loved singing. However, I've been told that the style and type of singing which I love can be very harmful if you're not singing the right way and with the right techniques. So I do vocal exercises every day no matter what!

I had a vocal coach from the age of 11 to about 17 and I took all that knowledge and use it every day to make sure every thing is still working immaculately.

As I’ve got older I have learnt a lot more about my voice. It's turned into a personal relationship with my vocal chords and I'll know what upsets them and what makes them happy. Certain things like a vocal pipe, vocal zones, honey, pineapple juice and frequently going for runs are all things that I do and use daily.

People seem to think it’s just as easy as blasting out a tune. And in a way, it is - but it takes ALOT of work behind the scenes.

What are the things you hear in a voice when listening to a vocalist? What moves you in the voices of other singers?

I would say when I listen to a vocalist, the thing that makes me pay attention is some kind of unique identity. Having your own “thing” that nobody else is doing always grabs me.

I also love soul. If I can feel what the artist is feeling that just gives me goosebumps.

We have a speaking voice and a singing voice. Do these feel like they are natural extensions of each other, ends on a spectrum or different in kind?

I would say for me, they are completely different. I hate my talking voice so much and I hate my accent and can’t imagine singing that way haha.

For me, when I start singing, I feel like something else comes out of me - someone or something that I can’t really express through my every day life of communication.

How do you see the relationship between harmony, rhythm and melody? Do you feel that honing your sense of rhythm and groove has an effect on your singing skills?  

Melody is the main attention of the song, what you hum when you think of a song. Melody gives the soul which is my favourite. Whereas, when I think of harmony and rhythm, they kind of work together, creating the texture. It’s like a big mixing bowl.

To me, harmony, melody, and rhythm all seem to interconnect whenever we talk about how a composition actually feels. Obviously, the melody is the attraction, but it stands on the rhythm and is supported by the harmony. Change any of the three and the piece of art that has been created may seem entirely different.

I feel like being able to feel a groove is a big part of being a musician being able to feel every single instrument that gets played.

What are the potentials and limits of your voice? How much of your vocal performance can and do you want to control?

Obviously having control over what you are doing is very important, making sure you are the boss over what is happening vocally. But, I do always love to give that tiny bit of access where melodies can change last minute and that little bit of a leeway for the music to take over the body, creating emotion and feeling to come through vocally.

We don’t always think about what we are gonna say when we talk, and I always think about that with melodies, if I’m singing a song and I start to get in the groove where I’m lost in the music, I just let that come through vocally and people connect with that.

Performance is a completely different story. I have absolutely no control over anything when it comes to that. I've always been the kind of musician that just can’t control my body when I sing. My body feels the music and it just takes over and does its own thing and I can’t help it!

I'd love to know more about the vocal performances for your latest release, please, and the qualities of your voice that you wanted to bring to the fore.

I’d say “You Only Love Me When I Lie” is a bluesy, classic-meets-modern torch ballad with a desperately scorching vocal that invokes the greats from Janis Joplin to Amy Winehouse.

I wanted vocally, with emotion and lyrics, to speak exactly what I was feeling when I wrote this song: Pure desperation and anger.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I feel when writing songs there definitely needs to be some kind of connection between text and vocals. It needs to sound very natural, like I’m just spitting it out and just recalling an already created piece of art.

Sometimes this can get very agitating and is not as easy as it all just falling into place. But when it does, it’s all definitely worth it. It's like a baby has just been born into the world, a very proud moment of something I have gone through that has been created, something I can look back to and let other people connect to.

I love singing covers, I love being able to close my eyes and just put myself into somebody else’s shoes and feel what they are feeling.



I love being able to put my own spin on something I didn’t create and make it unique to me.

Strain is a particularly serious issue for many vocalists. How do you take care of your voice? Are the recipes or techniques to get a damaged voice back in shape?

Yes! The vocals chords have to be treated like a baby and I feel everyone’s are different.

My vocal cords have certain things that help them strengthen and certain things to create a weakened sound. Recently, I’ve found that if I drink pineapple juice before I sing, it creates so much more projection.

Whereas, when it comes to protection for the vocals, doing your exercises every day is essential. I also take vocal zones which are vocals sweets that protect the chords. Water, honey, ginger, and lemon are also all drinks that react amazing for me.

How has technology, such as autotune or effect processing, impacted singing? Has it been a concrete influence on your own approach?

I think one of the reasons today’s music doesn’t sit right with me is because of things like autotune.

I think a lot of singers these days count on over sexualising more than vocal talent and it annoys me so much. Music is about the sound and the feeling and how others feel around them.

Who cares if you go out of tune or out of key once in a while - you're just finding yourself in the melodies!