Freya Ridings battled dyslexia to write music

Up-and-coming singersongwriter Freya Ridings won fans last summer with her UK music chart debut, Lost Without You, a soulful ballad which peaked at No. 9. Currently on a tour that has in a month taken her to Paris, Amsterdam and the US, the 24-year-old Briton spoke of her musical journey, struggle with dyslexia and performance rituals. Excerpts:

When did you realise that you wanted to be a musician?

I was hugely dyslexic so reading music was a real struggle for me (at school). All my music teachers... gave up on me ... I basically had to write my own songs ... There was an open mic night when I was about 11 years old and I went and I played the songs that I’d written in my bedroom and it was the first night where I felt like I was myself at school.

Do you write all your own music?

That’s actually the thing that I’m most proud of, as someone who grew up thinking that I couldn’t even write things down, to the idea of having written an album and a show people want to come and see.

What would you say are some of the themes of your music?

The universal theme of this (upcoming) album, specifically because it was written over such a long period of time, is actually loneliness. I feel like growing up I was so isolated this was the only time I could kind of be myself. I would just go to the pianos at lunchtime and tell the stories you would tell to a friend, to the piano.

Do you have any tour rituals?

I find an apple before singing really, really helps ... It’s like there’s something in the pectin in the apple that helps get rid of vocal clicks.

Do you have any dream collaborations?

Taylor Swift, Florence from Florence and the Machine ... and Adele ... I think she’s an incredible woman and I’d love to do more duets with incredible women.

Singersongwriter Freya Ridings feels having an apple before singing helps her