"I'm more confident in myself as a woman and what I want to say as an artist" Elles Bailey on her new album, artistic growth and reclaiming her story

She’s an award-winning voice in British blues and Americana, known for her raw honesty and powerhouse vocals. Elles Bailey returns with her new album Can’t Take My Story Away, a deeply personal record about resilience, identity, and owning your truth.

Photogroupie caught up with Elles to talk about the new album

Photogroupie: You’ve been getting a lot of exposure in the press recently. Does it seem a bit unreal?

Elles Bailey: It’s one of those things that as an artist you spend your whole life, dreaming of. Especially getting the kind of radio support that I've had and real mainstream support that I've never had before. I've been doing this a long time and I'm very much just trying to live in the moment and enjoy every moment. I get excited when Scott Mills shouts about me on Radio 2 and I'm like, “what is happening?” It's very surreal.

Like I said, I’ve done this a long time. I guess I've always done this in spite of the industry, not because of the industry. I called my record label Outlaw Music. I felt like I was an outsider.

Photogroupie: A bit of a rebel.

Elles Bailey: Yeah, and do you know what? I embraced that. I never expect anything from the industry, but when it comes, oh my gosh, it does feel pretty amazing.

Photogroupie: You’ve worked on this album for over three years and some of the inspiration goes back ten years. So that's a very different approach, to how you've done things before? Is that stuff that you've had and just been meaning to put out there?

Elles Bailey: Oh yeah, definitely that. So the only other time that I've done this with the record is with my debut album, ‘Wildfire’; because you can take as long as you want to have a debut album. But once the debut's out there, everyone's like, “what's next?” And so I ended up doing ‘Road I CalI Home’ quite quickly. I had a bit more time between ‘Road I Call Home’ and ‘Shining in the Half Light’ because of something that happened in 2020, which we all know about. So that gave me a bit more time. But very much ‘Road I Call Home’, ‘Shining in the Half Light and ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’ were snapshots in time. And then because I always write so many songs for an album, it's usually around forty.

I just started working on ‘Can't Take My Story Away’, actually recording it, before I started doing ‘Beneath the Neon Glow.’ But it took so long to get my band and producer Dan Weller back in the studio at the same time in and around our crazy touring schedules.

I always knew ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’ would be my fourth album, so whatever I did with Luke would be something else. Actually before I recorded ‘Neon Glow' I recorded eight songs with Luke and some of them date all the way back to 2017, which is ‘Starling’.

‘Starling’ for me was gonna be the closing track on ‘Road I Call Home’. ‘Starling’ is about a grief that happened 17 years ago. And then I wrote ‘Light in the Distance’ which was such a current grief and about someone who'd really supported me as an artist, and so I really wanted to honour them. That ended up closing ‘Road I Call Home’. So ‘Starling’ has just sat there as this song that I always knew would find a place, but it wasn't right on ‘Shining in the Half Light’ and it didn't go on ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’, because I'd already recorded it for whatever this project would be, which has ended up being ‘Can't Take My Story Away.'

Photogroupie: You’ve got a completely different sound on this album, dipping into soul, Stax, Motown. You’ve got different musicians and a different producer too, so the album is quite different from what people might be expecting.

Elles Bailey: What’s interesting is I feel like maybe people would have expected something more along the lines of ‘Let it Burn’ from 'Beneath the Neon Glow’ and sort of exploring that kind of pop approach. Although this album, has definitely got a mainstream feel to it, we've really gone for such a natural, organic, sounding production over it.   

You know, it is basically what you heard in the room. That's really the Luke Potashnik production style.

Photogroupie: Very old school

Elles Bailey: Yeah, it's old school, it's honest, it's authentic. We've really celebrated that in this record. We’ve recorded live in a room with the band, which is how I make all of my albums. In the end it does come down to the production style of the producer and Luke has just really dialled into that old school feel.

Photogroupie: It’s also got that kind of Vegas type polish to it.

Elles Bailey: I’m glad it has because I do lean towards the more polished sound. What's quite interesting is Luke loves the mistakes. Luke loves it when something goes wrong and keeps in the mistakes I'm like, “you know, we do have a computer, I could just cut that bit out and I could sing it again.” He's like, “no, that's the best bit on the album!”

Photogroupie: It makes it even more authentic doesn't it, where it's not been redone exactly to where it’s perfect?

Elles Bailey: Yeah, because you know, that's why all these old records are so great and so iconic and they're not perfect. You don't listen to them listening for perfection and you listen to them because they just sound amazing.

Photogroupie: Of course the musicians add to that completely different feel too don’t they?

Elles Bailey: Yeah, it definitely does. I mean, and each musician in that room Luke hand picked them. He hand picked them for the what they bring to a recording and he wanted their colour that they bring. It was really exciting working with them.

I've worked with lots of different musicians throughout my recording career. I made my first two albums in Nashville. My middle, like ‘Shining’ and  ‘Neon Glow’ was made with my live band here in the UK then this one has been with a different band again.

Photogroupie: You say you write forty songs for an album. Do you get flows of creativity?

Elles Bailey: I wouldn't say it's periods or like flows of creativity. It's periods of like, “Elles, you need to sit down and write some music.” So in 2023, I wrote so many songs because I was in the process of starting, ‘Can't Take My Story Away.’ So I was actually writing for two albums, and doing ‘Beneath the Neon Glow. And then in 2024, I wrote like three songs. In 2025, I wrote loads of songs in like January, February, March, and then since then, I've maybe written two or three. It does it comes in periods of like, “you’ve gotta do this, just knuckle down and start writing.”

Photogroupie: Is there anything in particular that inspires you? You seem to have ongoing themes in your writing such as regeneration.

Elles Bailey: The phoenix in the ashes thing, yeah I think over my last couple of albums, I feel like I've grown as a human, and as a mum. I've really done some deep soul searching. In 2023 I was really down whilst trying to sail on some incredible career high. So it was a bizarre time for me because on the outside, it looks like everything's going well and on the inside, I was like “I just don't even know what's wrong right now.”

I went through like crippling imposter syndrome as well. Then I come out the other side. So I feel like I've come out as a different human. I feel like I'm more empowered, I'm stronger, I'm more confident in myself, "I'm more confident in myself as a woman and what I want to say as an artist. It's been on a journey of learning to love who I am and I feel like that's a really important part of life's journey.

I think you can hear that throughout both records. Even though the two albums sound quite different, to me, from a songwriting perspective, they feel like a journey together, because they were worked on at the same time.

Photogroupie: And you do say in one of your lyrics that “you've got to learn to love yourself”.

Elles Bailey: Yeah, well that's on ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’. You do. You do. And it's when you like learn to love yourself, I think you truly understand what it means to love another and to love someone else and to stand in someone else's shoes and have empathy. The world needs more empathy.

Photogroupie: That feeling of imposter syndrome, that insecurity, it does come from somewhere and then you have to get over that, don't you? Does that drive you to work harder?

Elles Bailey: Yeah, definitely. I think that’s what sort of made me spiral in 2023 was that I lost my voice. It was really hard to try and get it back. And basically I was touring ‘Shining in the Half Light’ and starting to record on my day off with Luke, when we recorded ‘Dandelions’ and ‘Blessed’ and I just felt like my voice was raggy, I was in so much pain. I was losing it constantly after having like four weeks of not really having a voice at all. And I just tried to keep the wheels turning on the tour because, you know, you can't cancel tour dates because it's so expensive. So it was a very strange time.

It just made me think “right, Elles, you've lost your voice, you've gotta do whatever you can to bring that voice back and to make it better and to make it stronger.” And I really pushed myself, I really pushed myself when I was recording this.

Luke really pushed me, especially in the early recording. I really pushed myself when I was recording ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’. Actually, when it came back to put in the latter vocals on ‘Take a Step Back’ my voice felt really comfortable because I'd really worked it hard and I pushed my range and I feel comfortable with that now, but it took time. It took a lot of time.

Photogroupie: It’s the worst nightmare for a singer, isn't it, to lose your voice? Did you have professional help to make sure you didn't strain it or just do that on your own?

Elles Bailey: I just did it by myself because I've had lots of professional help over the years. I've had voice therapy as well, so I just used what I knew and just really worked hard.

But I also put on a Facebook story, back in February 2023 to thank all my fans because it had been a really tricky weekend. I thanked them for being there and helping me get through that last gig. Loads of singers reached out to me with loads of tips and tricks and Laura Evans said “Elles, download the Vocal Coach App because it will transform your life and transform your discipline.” So I’ve basically just been doing that for the last few years.

Photogroupie: Well, you've had a couple of years of sadness and joy, and of course the track ‘Better Days’ was recorded as a tribute to Matt Long.

Elles Bailey: It's a real privilege to sing that song. Fiona and Paul (Matt’s parents) reached out to me and lots of artists to record a tribute album to Matt, raising funds for the hospital that cared for him before he passed away.

Immediately I was like, yes, I do. And I Fiona said I've got two songs, and one of them was ‘Better Days’. I was like “oh my gosh, I know I can do something with this.”

We recorded it really quickly with the Cincelli Brothers back in January 2025. So the world hasn’t heard it yet. I thought the album would come out quite quickly. So I turned around to Fiona and Paul and I just said, look, I'd love to do my own version. So I've done the version with the Cinelli’s but that version won't work on the album that I want to make. I'd love to be able to record this as part of my album, and they said yes.

So I've got these two versions, one which you've heard, which is the Luke Potashnick, ‘Can't Take My Story Away’ version, and then this other version with the Cinelli’s, which is so exciting as well. They're two beautiful versions, and both, I think really hold their own space.

But what's been amazing about this song is because on the 2025 ‘Neon Glow’ tour The Cinelli’s were opening for me, we were able to perform it live straight away. And then over the course of the whole year, I've asked different musicians who were all friends with Matt to come and sing this song with me live, so Grace from When Rivers Meet, Alice Armstrong, I had Donna and Lindsay from Brave Rival in Germany. And you had Catfish T shirts in the crowd, it was amazing.

I was friends with Matt, we knew each other from the scene, sort of colleagues and like climbing up the ladder together. I didn't know the Matt that Alice knew. I knew musical Matt and I have never been shaken by someone's passing like it was with Matt’s. It’s stayed with me ever since.

I just had this deep desire to live in the moment to really enjoy what I'm doing, because you never know when you're not going to be able to do that. I've celebrated getting older and thinking, my gosh, what privilege it is to get older. I can't really get my head around the fact that he's not here anymore, so I guess this is my way of bringing a little piece of Matt on stage every night to celebrate him.

Photogroupie: There’s a bit of conflict in ‘Growing Roots’, where you’re always on the road, but you want to be home with the family too. I think every musician has that feeling don’t they?

Elles Bailey: Yeah, definitely. I remember I did an interview with Blues Matters magazine, I think, back in 2015, 2016, so long before Jasper was born, and they said, what do you want? You know, where do you see yourself in five, ten years?

And I said, I want to be able to do what I love, be on the road touring, but also balance that with having a family at home. And so it's quite funny looking back at that and thinking, actually, you know, that's what I'm doing. I have an amazing family unit around me that is so supportive. We have grandparents’ that are so helpful, and they say it takes a village.

So ‘Growing Roots’ is not about falling in love, it's about that choice of choosing to love someone every day, through thick and thin. And grow roots with someone, not just grow lust with someone.

Photogroupie: You’re so busy all the time. How do you fit it all in?

Elles Bailey: I think I've always had a really strong work ethic as well, so I always love to work. I think maybe there's something in our family like we always have to be busy, which isn't necessarily the best idea to have all the time. I'm the one actually who puts their feet up the most and I'm like, actually, I've worked really hard, I’m gonna allow myself some time off. But all the rest of my family are just always working.

Photogroupie: What about ‘Take a Step Back’ where did that come from?

Elles Bailey: Well it’s not autobiographical. I think that ‘Neon Glow’ was an album about love, ‘Can’t Take My Story Away’ is an album about relationships. There’s a lot of negative relationships that you can have throughout your life and people who try and write your story for you and actually you're like, hang on a second, this is my story: You know, you don't get to write this.

Then there's also, stepping away from toxic relationships and learning to take a step back.

Also the times you can't take a step back and how do you do it. We all have different relationships, but as I’ve got older, I’ve learned to celebrate the good relationships and to walk away from the bad ones.

Photogroupie: How did working closely with Luke help your confidence as an artist?

Elles Bailey: Oh, yeah, I've learned so much from Luke and this album is so much a collaboration between the two of us. It’s the first time that I've written with a producer as well. Often I've just taken a song to a producer and then they've built the track around those initial songwriting ideas. Luke and I have basically written a lot of the songs and then we had songs that I had unfinished. Luke was like “I want to hear everything” and so I sent him everything: all the demos, all the unfinished songs. We finished them or we rewrote them and so we've really worked from the ground up. It's been songwriting all the way through to the final mixes.

I learned so much. I built confidence as well. Luke is just so passionate about songcraft and sound and that shows on this record.

Photogroupie: Have you got any plans to work with The Temperance Movement?

Elles Bailey: Oh my gosh, if they want me to work with them, I’m there. Phil Campbell sings on ‘Blessed’. And I remember I was out on tour with Kitty, Daisy and Lewis back in April of 2023 in Germany and Luke messaged me like, oh, yeah, I just got Phil to sing some backing vocals on ‘Blessed.’ and I was just, pinch me. What has just happened? One of my favourite vocalists is on one of my songs, what is going on!

Photogroupie: If listeners would take one thing from the album, what message would that be?

Well, I think just for general listeners, I would say I really hope that you find joy when you listen to the album. Even though there is some of the darker sides of my story in this record, I get a sense of joy when I listen to it. I feel like a little bit of light has been threaded through each track and I really hope the listener feels that.

Photogroupie: What advice would you give for emerging artists?

Elles Bailey: For emerging artists, just keep doing it. It's a wild industry. You've gotta work really hard, but if you work really hard and you love what you do and you celebrate where you are and where you wanna be and you just enjoy the journey, then that makes it all worthwhile.

Photogroupie: Last time we spoke, you said you were a runner, what’s on your running playlist at the moment?

Elles Bailey: This is so funny because since we last spoke, my son now knows that there is Spotify on my phone. So he often dictates what he listens to. He'll hear songs at nursery school and from his cousins, so there's been lots of interesting songs that get added into my algorithm. And so when I do run using my running mix, which is currently K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Let’s have a read of what’s on my running mix. It's going to be so embarrassing. It has nothing to do with me, it has everything to do with Jasper. Actually some of it has to do with me - ‘Opalite’ Taylor Swift -  and I run in a Taylor Swift hoodie! ‘Can't Stop the Feeling’, Justin Timberlake, ‘Stargazing’, Miles Smith, ‘Mystical Magical’ Benson Boone, ‘Believer’ Imagine Dragons: That's one of Jasper's favorite songs.

I did have to delete, the Paw Patrol theme tune that would occasionally pop into this. And then there's like Raye, ‘Where is My Husband!’ - absolute tune! So actually, my running mix is all like pure pop. But that's totally to do with Jasper. ‘SOB’ Nathaniel Ratcliffe, that's very cool. My favourite one is ‘APT.’ Bruno Mars and Rosé, who is a K - Pop artist. Jasper came home like singing it and I was like, what are you singing? He was like “okay, Google, put APT on Spotify.” And I was like, “what the heck are you listening to?”

Well, what's interesting is I just got him a Spice Girl's Yoto card and you put in this card to his little music player and the first song is ‘I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.” And I was like, I bet my mum said exactly the same thing when I came home, asking to listen to ‘Wannabe’ as he came home, asking to listen to ‘APT’. We’re living our Spice Girls era at the moment, and our Beatles era.

He's got the whole Beatles collection on Yoto card, so that's amazing. This morning, I was listening to, “love, love me do” coming out of this bedroom. It's so exciting listening to the Beatles as if I never listened to them before. It's wild. You're listening to them through the ears of a four year old who's never heard of them. When I gave them to him, he was like, “is this a Spice Boys mummy?” I was like, “nope, this is the Beatles.”

Photogroupie: You always seem to be looking forward to your new project. Are you ready to working on the next Elles Bailey era?

Elles Bailey: As in what comes after ‘Can't Take My Story Away?’ So what's funny is when I was asked this question with ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’ and I had a lot of “Elles, this is your best album, like how the hell are you gonna follow it up?” And in my head, I was like, “songs I recorded already.” But this time around I have no freaking clue. I got nothing. Who knows what the next era is, but I'm hoping that I get to celebrate this one for quite a while.

https://www.ellesbailey.com/

Photos by Rob Blackham