Fiaa Hamilton had taken a number of steps towards making a career for herself in music, but it was a moment of chance that helped make it a reality. Out for the night near her home in
West Sussex, she spotted
Rag‘n’Bone Man at a bar but was too shy to introduce herself. No matter: her friend did the honours and talked up
Fiaa’s talents as a songwriter that he should collaborate. He liked what he heard, leading to the pair meeting up for a session together. The result was
‘One Day’, which was released during lockdown to benefit a selection of children’s charities.
That was the impetus for Fiaa to be able to focus on her own artist career – a journey that now takes its first step with the release of her debut single ‘Love War’. It’s the first song to preview her debut EP which follows later this year, a collection in which each track represents a moment in her life like a chapter in a book. Listen HERE.
‘Love War’ sees Fiaa Hamilton debut as a fully formed artist. Set to dramatic, full-intensity electro-tinged pop her voice possesses a finesse that instantly feels like an old favourite. Describing herself as The Storyteller, ‘Love War’ explores her truth in a tale of wanting to break free of a relationship… only to be compelled to jump straight back in just as it seems to be over, creating a triangle of confusion.
Fiaa says, “Love War is about my best friend who went through heartbreak, his boyfriend was back and forth with him and because he’s the kindest soul ever he would forgive him. I think when we don’t have belief in ourselves and self-worth we allow people to take advantage of us, so I wrote him this song to see if it would help him leave him and it did! He walked out that door and there was no more “like before”…… music can do powerful things”.
Co-written and co-produced by Fiaa, Jordan Cosmo and Gio Malone, ‘Love War’ kickstarts a frenetic 2024 for Fiaa. She has been embraced by the TikTok community, where she is performing live twice each day and has launched her TikTok LIVE series ‘The Rise Show’. She was also recently invited to play the TikTok LIVE pop-up festival in King’s Cross. But her virtual following is replicated in person too, with her next headline show being at the Notting Hill Arts Club on May 24th – tickets are available HERE. Her previous shows have taken her across most of London’s key rising talent venues, and she also played at Tottenham Hotspur to help showcase JBL Professional audio technology.
While we’ve hinted that Rag‘n’Bone Man was the start of Fiaa’s story, we need to go back to her childhood to appreciate the wider picture. Her early years were plagued by a troubled home life in which assault and addiction became the norm before she became a carer for her mother and was eventually placed in foster care. That offered a new start, and finding kinship with her new school’s music geeks she achieved the grades required to study music at college. She excelled at an apprenticeship creating music projects for children in care and then studied a songwriting course at The Academy of Contemporary Music. From there her hustle took her into a promising girl band and a televised talent contest as she searched for her breakthrough moment.
That arrived when she connected with Rag‘n’Bone Man. She was subsequently awarded a scholarship to The Institute of Music Performance, where she met Jihea Oh, a touring bassist for everything from Ellie Goulding to Labrinth. Together they wrote a catalogue of songs and worked on sessions in Los Angeles and Nashville before Jihea had to focus on her live commitments. But buoyed by support at TikTok, Fiaa threw herself headfirst into a solo career, her confidence now glowing with the release of ‘Love War’. Expect further tracks to follow ahead of her debut EP.
