Part 1

Name: Yoshika Colwell
Nationality: British
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current Release: Yoshika Colwell's debut album On The Wing is out July 25h 2025 via Blue Flowers.
Things I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: Reading, being in nature, cooking and animals. Being in nature makes me feel calm like nothing else.

If you enjoyed this Yoshika Colwell interview and would like to know more about her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and tiktok.



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 think I was the kind of child that was always singing, before I knew ‘how to sing’ or even had any notion of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ singing, which I think enabled me to develop a very intuitive, joy led relationship with my voice.

I often hear of people who were told they couldn’t sing by some authority figure when they were children, and then never felt comfortable to sing throughout their lives because of that, which makes me extremely sad as I think singing is a right of expression for everybody and that there are a myriad of beautiful and differing ways to express yourself with your voice that may not fit the mould of technical ability.

Anyway I was fortunate not to experience that and I had the time and space to get to know my singing voice and how I wanted to express myself without fear of not ‘getting it right’.

The earliest memory I have of performing in public I was about twelve and part of a dance and music Saturday school for a while. I performed a solo song (I actually can’t remember what it was now!) and just before I went on stage I convinced myself in a nervous panic that I couldn’t remember the lyrics. I went out there with a blank brain, terrified. The music started and I kind of just cleared my brain and somehow the first line came back to me almost as I was singing it.

I still find now that if I try to analyse something too much, or to remember something, I will almost definitely not be able to do it, but if I lean in and let it happen my subconscious leads the way much more effectively.  I seem to operate much better on an intuitive level than a technical one!

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

I find that my voice is my primary instrument.

I have no real formal training musically at all, but I can intuitively use my voice and understand what works and doesn’t, which is a process that’s been honed over the last twenty years. My dad remembers me correcting my tuning when overhearing me singing as a thirteen year old, and the quite striking difference before I did that and after.

I feel that I am much more limited when trying to express myself on the guitar, which is my main instrument, as I do not understand the theory behind it. My favourite way to play guitar is to put it into an alternate tuning, where I can explore shapes and sounds and get lost in the tuning without being bogged down in chords.

Makes it harder when you’re playing with other people though!

Singing is an integral part of all cultures, and traditions. Which of these do you draw from – and why?

I’m not really sure if I can pinpoint a specific culture or tradition that I draw from as a vocalist.

The music I was exposed to as a child probably had the biggest impact on me. I grew up listening to a lot of Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Jeff Buckley, so I’m sure a lot of that music influenced my sinigng as I was always singing along.

I did sing hymns at school but I don’t feel these in my singing psyche really, though I’m sure they had some kind of impact somewhere deep down. I do love singing in groups, or listening to people sing in groups, it regularly brings me immediately to tears.  

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?

For me breath control was always an issue, I would not breathe and then gasp for air at the end of a line, which I still have to consciously think about sometimes. I think getting in control of, and understanding your breathing is extremely helpful for smooth delivery and also just helpful for your general well being!

Meditation is something not directly related that I think has a pretty profound effect on voice via breath, though I do not practice it anywhere near enough!

One of my best friends is an actor and told me about a great exercise for reviving a tired voice, which consists of blowing through a straw into a glass of water, trying to keep the bubbles at a consistent level, and then adding in humming. It is something to do with getting the ‘false vocal chords’ out of the way and allowing the true ones to make the sound.

I can’t remember the exact technicalities but it really does work if you’re voice is worn out.

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

I am moved more than anything by hearing genuine emotion in someone’s voice. Some of my favourite singers are not technically brilliant or even good singers, but I enjoy the imperfections and understated deliveries. I think you can do almost anything technique (or lack of) wise as long as you are being genuine.

The same goes for the other way around. I can hear a technically brilliant vocal performance and be unmoved if I don’t believe the singer is really feeling it. More and more I am enjoying and drawn towards softness in singers, listening out for the wavers and cracks and wobbles which I suppose indicate the emotion, rather than big impressive vocal delivery.

How would you describe the physical sensation of singing? [Where do you feel the voice, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or tension etc …]

When I’m feeling grounded and calm singing, it almost ceases to feel physical, the absence of feeling can feel extremely freeing, like I’m more close to allowing the sound to leave my body and flow out into space.

As I become a calmer and more confident performer over time, I am experiencing this more often, a kind of weightlessness which really helps with the overall feeling and delivery.

When I’m feeling stressed or anxious it’s a different matter, probably not helped by forgetting to breathe and a tension in my chest, constricting sound!

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 feel that they are different in kind, though I can’t say I’m exactly sure why. I think it’s a psychological thing, that when I am singing I am in a totally different emotional space to when I am speaking.

I often feel quite uncertain of my speaking voice, or of the things I am saying, whereas when I am singing I feel a quiet sureness that is quite distinct from when I’m speaking.

I also feel my speaking voice and singing voice are really quite sonically different, and that my speaking voice is strangely more subject to change.

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?  

Definitely. I really enjoy playing around with rhythm when I am at home singing on my own, and find that when I am improvising or just in a good mood singing in the shower, the rhythms that I sing are very different from the things I write or end up in my songs.

There’s something extremely satisfying about existing in a purely improvisational space, outside of instrumentation, I suppose, which allows me to really engage with rhythmic playfulness and exploration. I think that this is probably because of my lack of technical skills on an instrument, when I am just me and my voice I can go anywhere.

I would love to play the drums or bass because I do feel very drawn to the rhythms that underpin everything, I have a lot of admiration for the rhythm section.  

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

I think that my voice has a lot of potential and richness lower down in my register, as a firm alto I feel very happy sitting down there and relaxing, which maybe is arguably a little lazy!

Having said that I can also sing extremely low, which can be fun too. I think I’m scared of singing high, where I might I lose control, and I don’t particularly like the idea of losing pitch or tone or emotion, but sometimes I convince myself to get out of my comfort zone and I’m pleasantly surprised.

I think that I have a tendency to lean on, or into vibrato as a way to extend notes without having to breathe properly, which is something that I’m increasingly conscious of as a technical coping mechanism which I’m trying to lean on less as I think it can get tiring on the ear!