“Wicker Woman for me was a return, a reclaiming and trying to embody the empowered feminine that I saw around me growing up from my mother and my grandmothers. I saw fiercely independent, beautiful, fiery, funny, strong women, and I think for me I felt in myself — especially over the last sort of few years — a kind of weakening and a people-pleasing that was really frustrating to me. And especially with making music, you can’t really come from that mindset,” Freya Ridings tells me the inspiring and very personal story behind her latest, magnificent song Wicker Woman — a hymn to reclaiming the original feminine force, written by Freya and recorded with Jennifer Decilveo at Beach Tree Sound Studio in LA.
And I truly feel this wonderful song, which I’ve honestly had on repeat more times than I can count, turned up loud every single time — and I feel her words in the interview too. The weakening. The people-pleasing. That strange sense of losing your access to yourself, until suddenly you regain awareness again: there is so much inner strength that was always there, and still is. And that sometimes can even be awakened by some song lyrics that you hear: “I’ve found the fire that I’ve always needed — I’m a wicker woman with a lighter in my chest,” Freya sings with her beautiful and strong voice, reminding us of our strength and giving a stunning preview of her new album coming in 2026.
Behind this powerful track, Freya shares the particularly touching detail that her mum, her dad, and her brother helped her finish the song — and she also speaks about the big realisation of the past few years, saying that “the thing I think I’ve learned or realised with the past few years working on this new album is that I am like ‘enough’.”
photography by Bartek Szmigulski
“Wicker Woman is a raw feminist rupture, blood bone and roots torn from the ground and set alight in a fire that can’t be ignored. It’s a shameless euphoric celebration of reclaiming the original feminine force. A return to the core of our being an ode to the forgotten women and goddesses who came before us” That’s such a powerful quote from your new song Wicker Woman – how would you describe this original feminine force, that core that you’re talking about? What is the essence of our being to you?
Wow. Firstly, thank you so much. I really appreciate all the kind words. Wicker Woman for me was a return, a reclaiming, and trying to embody the empowered feminine that I saw around me growing up from my mother and my grandmothers. I saw fiercely independent, beautiful, fiery, funny, strong women, and I think for me I felt in myself, especially over the last sort of few years, a kind of weakening and a people-pleasing that was really frustrating to me — and especially with making music, you can’t really come from that mindset. So I think what the essence of our being is to me — I think it’s true empowered feminine energy, and I think it’s a reclaiming of the anger of anyone who tried to take that away from you in any kind of subtle way. I think it’s a real sort of line in the sand for me personally, and I’m excited to have it out in the world.
I’m just listening to the track right now – wow what a hymn! I love the strength that radiates. I’d love to know was this song born out of a sudden rush of emotional inspiration or did you already have the idea and theme in mind before you started writing? Can you tell us a bit more about your personal connection with these themes?
So I started writing Wicker Woman about three, maybe three and a half years ago now and like I normally am I was sat at the piano in actually it was my parents´ living room still because I was back staying with them for a while back then and I was just sort of shut my eyes and I do a kind of stream of consciousness and it almost feels like it was written more like a folk song because it was written from that place and I felt sort of taken over especially writing the chorus, the chorus in the idea of like doing a female version of like a wicker man and what a woman kind of sent to the edge would look like and feel like for me was the moment where the chorus came out. And then I took that idea into a writing session about six months after I initially written it and we kind of fleshed out the rest of the verses but actually it wasn’t finished until right before we recorded it this summer in June, I was sat around my parents kitchen table and I was saying how much this song meant to me and I was struggling with some of the verse lyrics and my mom and my dad and my brother actually helped me finish the song so it is really close to my heart now because you know my whole family helped me finish it and it did feel like a labour of love at the end, but it comes from a very kind of core part of who I am and I think the personal connection to these themes is. I was exhausted and I wanted to reclaim some of that power so I felt like Wicker Woman was the right song to do that
“So the thing I think I’ve learned or realised with the past few years working on this new album is that I am like “enough”.
Wicker Woman is the single from your upcoming album set to be released in 2026. I recently read a beautiful interview from your last album in 2023 where you talked a lot about courage about trusting your gut and saying no when something doesn’t feel right and how that brought the right people into your life which ultimately changed so much for you and your music. Has there been another thing you’ve learned or realised in the past few years while working on this new album that opened up new perspectives for you?
That is such a brilliant question and I really appreciate being able to dive into that a bit deeper. I think every album that you create as an artist you do learn a lot about yourself and especially as you’re growing as a person, simultaneously as a songwriter, it’s fascinating to explore maybe sides of yourself that you once knew when you were younger but you feel like you’ve lost as you got older. So the thing I think I’ve learned or realised with the past few years working on this new album is that I am like “enough” – I think that’s the biggest part is kind of like it’s really easy to want to change and warp yourself into different people to please people and I think ironically the most true to myself I’ve ever been has been the most highly rewarded, but it is sometimes, it’s embarrassing and it’s scary to sit with that stillness when everyone else is moving around you and you just have to kind of sit strong in the unknown and it’s, it’s actually really hard to do but I feel like if you do bet on your authentic self and that little voice in the back of your head I think it always pays off in the long run.
Your last album was mostly written in London and much of it produced in a tiny shed you built in the garden of your now husband’s family home, despite the difficult global circumstances at the time. That period also gave you a certain creative freedom – you could work on your second album without pressure. Wicker Woman on the other hand was recorded in LA. How was working on this upcoming album different? How did being in LA influence your creative process? Were you able to hold onto that same sense of freedom and lightness?
That is a brilliant question cause I feel very strongly now that I’ve worked in LA and London over the years and I think I understand that they are sister cities in a lot of ways and so creative and beautiful kind of like yin and yang, sun and moon – it’s like you kind of need both to balance yourself. I always write my lyrical ideas mostly they start in London. But the calibre and the creative flare of the producers in LA, I just find awe inspiring, and for me personally I found it really hard to work from that shed and I was really missing having those incredible producers in the room especially sonically I think song wise I felt quite the same level of confidence in my abilities to songwrite but when it comes to producing that’s an area I know I’m still learning so I think for me to have such incredible producers such as Jenn Decilveo who’s worked with like Hozier and a lot of of my heroes to be in the studio with her such a strong incredible female producer to bring this song alive, It felt like this rebellious homecoming and I just it was honestly such a joy to do and I really missed being in the studio with real musicians playing real instruments it was it was so incredible.
“LA and London are like sister cities in a lot of ways and so creative and beautiful kind of like yin and yang, sun and moon – it’s like you kind of need both to balance yourself.”
You said about the video for this track – Shooting the official music video for this song was a full body experience of power pain and euphoric freedom. Can you tell us more about that? What were the moments of power, pain and freedom for you during the shoot?
So shooting the Wicker Woman music video was kind of a whirlwind of emotions for me if I’m honest. It’s been quite a few years now since I’ve shot an official music video and I felt a lot of fear and anxiety especially in the cab on the way there, I was quite scared to to put my heart out there again. I think physically like performing a song especially in such extreme conditions like I was levitated on a wooden platform kind of like you know contorted into really painful positions and there was ice cold rain falling on me in a wind machine and it was like leaf blower like going up my nose so for me personally I wasn’t feeling the best in myself that day but the way the crew and the way that the movement coach Angelica really like cheered me on and and kept pushing me to like try harder and go deeper and find that raw expression. I found that very euphoric and liberating to do something that I’ve been, I’ve been scared of for a long time kind of going to that place and for me at the end of the day I just felt so light and so happy and free but it is, you know it’s a thing that I used to be quite scared of doing music videos and this one I really felt like it was very raw and primal and I’m really really proud of it.
And to wrap things up a few more personal questions. I also read that you love vision boards and that you once wrote some wild stuff on yours. Can you share some of the things you wrote back then and if any of it actually came true?
I’m a huge advocate for vision boards, manifesting, and life coaching. My mum’s friend was training as a life coach about 10 years ago and I was struggling at the time on the London open mic music scene and I was thinking about giving up. I was finding it so difficult and she really sort of sat with me and we visualised and we vision-boarded what my dream life would look like if I could imagine it and it was, you know, touring the West Coast of America. It was playing the Royal Albert Hall it was getting to record my album and play in beautiful churches and venues around London like travel the world and I think for me at the time that felt so far away from my current reality of you know, living in a very small bedroom in my parents house in London I was very blown away with how quickly and magnetically my whole world changed from that experience so, I feel very passionately about journalling writing down your goals and your dreams or just even imagining what the best case scenario could be is sometimes a really scary brave thing to do. So yeah, quite a few bits came true like I was on late night with James Corden and like you know releasing my album having my songs go like triple platinum – there were so many pinch me moments from that era of manifesting, that I’m still in awe that it actually came true.
“I write with a pen and pad and paper, and that’s it, that’s how I write my songs.”
I read that your favourite music comes from the 70s – what fascinates you about that era?
So for me the 70s, it’s my mum and dad’s favourite era of music as well and I think growing up I absorbed a lot of that love for that decade of music and it does include early 80s as well but for me there’s something about the music from the 70s. I feel like is the pinnacle of the singer songwriter: Carole King, Elton John James Taylor, these were the records that were played in my house growing up almost consistently and for me it was more about capturing them as a person and I think you know they were in the studio and they had to capture a moment. It was real musicians playing live and most of them only had a notepad and pen and a guitar or a piano to write with. I think the limitations of that decade actually created some of the most exquisite art I think I don’t know if the world will ever see and for me I still find it so inspiring to listen to any records from that decade. Just from the quality of songwriting because there was nowhere else to hide you know there were no like super shining sonics. There were just the best musicians you could find in the best words and melodies you could come up with and I think I really resonate with that to this day. I write with a pen and pad and paper, and that’s it, that’s how I write my songs.
What did you want to be as a child?
As a child I dreamt of being a jewelry designer or a blacksmith, that was a really strange dream I had growing up because I love jewelry. I loved like I did a jewelry class when I was little and like even seeing the way the metal melted and you can make all these beautiful gemstones. I was just in awe of everything sparkly, so that’s what I wanted to be when I was little.
“I think finding joy in the little things for me is the most grounding and like anchoring emotion I can find.”
When you’re not working what does a perfect day off look like for you?
So when I’m not working a perfect day off looks like for me getting up going to a hot yoga or Pilates class with my friends at their local studio. It definitely involves making a Matcha. Matcha is my favourite drink on the planet. I bring ceremonial grade kit wherever I go, and then it would be hanging out with family I would go round maybe bake something with my mum and see my dad my brother and hang out with my local family and friends. I think for me like family and community is everything and having family within walking distance is just a dream, so yeah, and then my perfect day would probably end like if we all went to a concert or to see a really good film just doing something fun together maybe play board games actually – I love board games.
The most important thing in life is?
Joy. I think finding joy in the little things for me is the most grounding and like anchoring emotion I can find, especially when things are overwhelming finding that sense of like consciously enjoying the moment or whatever you’re actually doing, cause it’s gonna be gone so quickly anyway I think it really grounds me and I think I’m very grateful for everything I’ve consciously enjoyed in my life and I look back and I’m very grateful I got to experience it.
Thank you so much for your time, dear Freya.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your support!
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