It's Not Over for Debbie [Interview]

It’s a particularly gloomy day in London when I sat down to chat with Debbie. Unsurprisingly, it’s rained every single day since New Years Day and this seasonal slump is settling in a little too comfortably. Luckily, Debbie has a way of lighting up any room she enters. She brings warmth with her, a nostalgic kind that cuts through the cold, and with her new single, ‘The Rain Isn’t Over’, this glow feels more needed than ever. ‘The Rain Isn’t Over’ symbolises hope and respite, like maybe we’ll have a beautiful, hot summer to make up for right now after all.  

A quiet gem in the UK music scene (and a criminally underrated one at that), Debbie has always created space for her listeners to land softly. Her music feels like a safe haven where fans seeking a breather can have somewhere to lean in and feel understood. Establishing a core fanbase in the process who relate to her aches and heartfelt croons, she has since been released from her label and her new single marks the beginning of her independent journey whilst she works out the journey for herself. Representing resilience, this single will slowly work towards her very first full length project. Debbie wishes that this body of work will be something that all can flock to in their times of need where they need an extra push of hope or grounding.

Credit: NWSPK

NW: I feel like this conversation should have happened a long time ago but I feel like this has come at a really pivotal time in your career. With this new single marking a new era for yourself, ‘The Rain Isn’t Over’ has been out for some time now and it's your first release since being independent. How are you feeling?

D: I feel good. I feel really good. I think it’s so nice to go through a process like this and let it do what it’s supposed to do without overcomplicating it. I think life can get really busy and noisy sometimes, and you think "Wait, what am I doing again?" It’s great to do something, plan something and for it to be received well.

How do you think things are going to change for you?

Well, I think being independent will allow me to tap into myself more. I think sometimes, label environments can feel like too many cooks in the kitchen, and you get decision fatigue. I guess there’s a fear of failure… and no one wants to ‘fail’, no one wants to have something not exceed their expectations and then nothing moves. I think creativity is all about falling and failing and coming back up and learning. That’s the whole process. It’s going to allow me to be a lot more consistent and in tune with my craft so I’m excited.

"The Rain Isn't Over" feels gentle, it's very sombre, it's unshowy. One of the really amazing things about your music is that it’s calming and comes from a pure, meaningful place deep in the soul. When creating the track, how did you decide not what to do to it when it came to production or harmonies so that the emotion could stay at the centre?

I think it's just about not overcomplicating it and making sure that when I went back into the studio- and that’s the thing about posting demos on TikTok as well, I didn’t want to change it. I always find that a track feels good if you can play it without all the bells and whistles. It was about being stripped back and not doing too much.  

And with the track, I believe that you wrote the track and left it for a while and then came back to it. Was there anything you discovered about yourself during this time? What made you want to go back and finish this off and release it as your new single?

After my label decided to part ways, I wasn’t in the best way. I was trying to see the lights again. I had all my friends supporting me, which was good. And Hannah, the producer on this track reached out randomly. I had loads of artists that reached out which was quite nice, but Hannah said, "Let's get in the studio together" and I was like, "Okay, cool." I went not really expecting anything, but I thought it'd be important to keep in touch with my creativity, the whole reason I do this. We spent most of the time just talking because we hadn’t seen each other since we wrote that song which was about six years ago. We were catching up, praying as we’re both quite spiritual, and we made a song but it wasn’t that good. It was just alright and she was about to save it into her ‘Debbie’ folder and I was like, "Oh, what songs do you have there?" And I was looking at the date, and one of the dates was maybe a couple of days before my mum's funeral and I thought, "What was I doing in studio a couple of days before my mum's funeral? I need to play that track." She played it, and it was ‘The Rain Isn't Over’. I just kept listening to it again and again and then I decided to share it with no expectations. I’ve always believed that we all have gifts, everyone has a gift and you know what it is deep down, something that you’re naturally good at and I think that it’s our responsibility to share it. Whenever I share anything on TikTok, I just think that if it can help me, then it can help someone else.  

Can you expand on the title?

The idea is hope. There’s a resolution. It could be raining or you could be going through it, but we can smile through the rain, we can dance in the rain. That’s what the message is.

Obviously parting ways with your label, maybe going through a more independent phase right now, it's kind of like clouds with silver linings, isn't it? Things that have happened in your life as well such as this being written at a time that was very emotional for yourself as well so a lot of people are going be able to relate to that in their own special way which I think is really nice.

Going back to the demos that you mentioned that you posted during your creative challenge, why start it?

There was a mixture of reasons. I had the idea in my head, and it just popped up. I’m really spiritual so I felt like my

spirit said that I should do this. Also, I was watching that guy who does Diary of a CEO, what’s his name?

Steven Bartlett?

Yeah! I was watching his YouTube series called Behind the Scenes and he said if you dedicate 90 days to anything, you’re going to see results. And I thought “Interesting… What if I applied this idea to what’s been on my heart for a while to this challenge thing?” And the first track I posted was ‘The Rain Isn't Over’, so it worked out pretty well.

There's symbolism here. Especially as a spiritual person as well, I feel like that’s what makes it more special, and the fact this was the first song you went back to and one of the first tracks you shared a demo of. What did you learn about yourself showing up every day for yourself in that process or during this process as it’s still ongoing?

It’s cliché but stick to the plan not the feelings. I need to apply that to the gym [laughs] and then also, stop being a perfectionist. Just put it out. There’s so many times I didn’t have a video I liked or I was feeling insecure because, I don’t know, my eyebrow looked weird or something. And I thought, “you know what, you’ve got to show up for yourself.” And I made me let go of me being the front and centre and make it about the music. So what if my eyebrow looks weird or I don’t feel good about myself. The aim is to be able to touch people with the music. I need to stop making it so much about how I look and more about how I'm making people feel. That was a nice thing to let go of. Well, I'm still letting go of it. I'm learning.

Touching on that as well, do you think your confidence might have been improved as well? Not nit-picking these tiny details or what you look like in a video of a demo that you're posting?

Definitely. Confidence in myself as an artist, myself as a woman and trusting my intuition. I didn’t have anyone saying, “you should do this” or “you should do that”, and I grew up in a very cultural respect-your-elders home. I’m used to looking at older people saying, "What do I do?" And then just being able to have that space where "This is what you're doing. This is the plan," yeah, it definitely built my confidence.

Credit: NWSPK

With all the support you’ve been getting by doing the demos, now that the track is out and people are sitting with it, rediscovering you or even discovering you for the first time, has there been any meaningful message that has stuck with you during this process?

There’s been loads. I’m starting to understand the power of the music I create a little bit more and the responsibility that I have. The messages that I get, it'll be voice notes or messages, it will just be people saying how they were going through this, and listening to this song is the thing that's getting them through the days. I've had people talk to me about their depression spirals that they're in and this is the light they’re holding onto. That to me is insane. Obviously I know that music can do that because I, myself, has have experienced how music can really help heal. But to be creating it and putting it out, it’s been amazing to have people reach out and say that about the music.

So, this is a single from your debut album A Minor Tear. I think it would also be interesting to talk about the fact that this is your debut album! I’m sure when you we’re signed you assumed you would be releasing this with them.  

With the album title, it didn’t start off as having that meaning. I just made it because I thought it was a cool play on words. A Minor Tear because you have A Minor the chord and then I think as time passed and as life was doing it’s thing, I started to see a deeper meaning to what this could be and a philosophy. I wanted to focus on creating a community around this philosophy that no matter is what happening in life, no matter what life is throwing at you, it’s going to pass. That’s definite. It always passes and it’s just A Minor Tear. It will pass. That’s the mantra I’ve been screaming for a while.

I made a logo, I’ve had little community meetups and have private pages and mailing lists so it’s really cool to see it flourishing and coming to life. When it comes to the album and not being with a label… well, I originally wanted it to be an EP but the I realised I have too much music to do an EP and I need to put out a body of work. I think it’s a blessing in disguise to do this independently and not with a label because it forces you to be creative and braver to not rely on the backing of a label. Because that’s what I’ve been doing subconsciously. I thought, "Yeah, I'm in charge. I'm in the driver's seat." No, I was really sitting back and kind of just allowing people to just do it. It's forcing me to get way more creative, to think outside of the box, and it's a challenge that I'm enjoying and it's working. So I'm just going to keep the pace and keep going.

From 2021, when you had your debut single, “Is This Real Love?” and now in 2026 with “The Rain Isn't Over”, there is a clear emotional thread and the delivery now feels unguarded. You’re more sure of yourself and you’re taking more creative control of your situation, your life and the music. Moving forward, what do you want this album to represent? What are you hoping for with the release of this?

You know what? I'm winging it. I've got a plan, I definitely have a plan. But the plan is unfolding as I unfold. I have some collaborations in mind, I’m not going to say who yet as it’s in the pipework. My hopes for this album are that it can reach a new level in my career.  But not just because of numbers, but in terms of how it connects to people and how it resonates. I really want it to be a body of work that people, artists, creatives can come to in times where they need hope or where they need that grounding. For me, that Lauryn Hill album- I'll go back and it serves a really big purpose in my life, and I hope to create something like that for people. I also want to do some touring. I’d love to go to South Africa because I know I’ve got quite a big fan base there and I’d love to do some more shows in Germany. Just touring, connecting, community building and just keep going.