Tertia May
Introducing the amazing Tertia May. How did all of this start? Where did Tertia May come from?
I definitely think a big part of it was growing up in a household where my parents allowed me to be very creative. My mum and my dad are both creative people, even down to how the house looks.
We had a big record player, from like probably the 60s, where you press a number and a letter and a record folds out. That for me was my earliest memory of music, being able to press those buttons when I was really small. I would memorise what song I liked - all different types of music from Aretha Franklin to the Sex Pistols. Just being around that and hearing old music at a young age was definitely an influence on how I was perceiving and enjoying music.
People always ask me ‘Why Soul music?’ and I think my voice and what I like ties in together. I think my voice is naturally very soulful, even if I sing like pop music or an acoustic song, my voice just naturally sounds in that soulful bracket. And that ties in, because I really love Soul, I love listening to big soulful artists - Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Erykah Badu, Etta James.. All those people who carry such thick voices, I was always stunned by it.
I think it all just comes hand in hand - when you’re around that all the time, and you’re exposed to creativity all the time, I think you just fall into that kind of place you experience.
Amazing. And was there a moment, day, or time where you had the realisation that music is what you wanted to pursue?
I don’t think I ever had a day, but I was definitely running up to that moment where I had to think seriously about my life. I think when you’re young, all of these after school singing, dancing, acting classes are just fun, you don’t think about your career at 10/11.
People would ask in class what is it that you want to do and I would always reply with Singer, but you never really think about it properly. And then as I started secondary school, I was like ‘school is wack, who wants to be at school this is so shit’ - and all I wanted to be doing was socialising, masking music, or acting.
And then you would have these Career days during GCSEs, and they never had music as an option. I then started talking to my parents about it - telling them I wanted to do music. And so I went to college, did another music thing there, and then after college I went straight into it. I thought ‘ I don’t know how I am going to do it but I am going to do it.’
Sick. And from the artists I speak to, there’s an element where you just have to do it. Like just release those songs, or just make those beats in your bedroom. Sometimes it’s just about getting out there.
Of course. I think so many people are afraid of what the first step is, but you just need to do it. I didn’t really know anyone when I first started doing music. So I just went onto Soundcloud and messaged every producer that I came across that I relatively liked. I was just trying to get my foot in the door. And I came across Subculture Sage, which is my producer Subculture, the ones I’ve been making music with for the last 5 years. And he just replied saying he would love to work with me.
Wow. It’s literally the power of sliding into peoples DMs, because what’s the worst that can happen.
Exactly. If someone ignores you, so what? Who cares? There’s so much bigger fish to fry.. No one should care that you get ignored because it’s nothing personal. It’s just wrong time, wrong place or whatever. I was always taught from my Dad that perseverance is much more credible than talent, because you could have all the talent in the world but if you do not push yourself, you are not going anywhere.
There are people that I will see in the music industry and think that they have no talent, but they’ve made it because they’ve probably knocked on a few doors and been persistent. So I did have to email a lot of people a lot of times, and some of them wouldn’t reply to me, but obviously Subculture did, which was great.
What do you think of the London Soul music scene at the moment? Do you think there is one?
There is definitely one, and I feel so excited that the soul scene is still not fully heard. For me, when I started getting into Soul music about 5 or 6 years ago - because before I was singing on Tech / House - I was trying to find a hub, and I found this open mic night, Charlie Wright’s on Old Street. It was basically just Soul musicians that would get up and jam with each other. No one knew any songs, it wasn’t rehearsed, I would get up and take the microphone, guitar or whatever, and I found that music scene through there. As I started going to more of those nights, I then started to go to Unit 31, a collective that started from Charlie Wright’s; they had an open mic night every Friday, and it was like every sick Jazz, Soul musician, rapper or singer, came down and hopped on. It was like the sickest thing I’d ever seen.
Suddenly I realised I was in this sick scene of Soul musicians, that was not chart music but still underground, and it was lit. This is still a small community of artists, and it’s only just growing. There were so many underrated artists at these events. People were just on a vibe, so many people would want to chat and work with you, I made so many connections through this place, and I would always encourage people to come down, I think the London Soul scene is just sick. You have all those collectives that just churn out Soul records and look after some amazing musicians. I think it’s got so much on the other scenes. And London Soul and Jazz is so different to American Soul and Jazz.
Amazing, And so, looking forward, what are some of your goals for the future?
So my biggest goal is to headline Glastonbury. That was my first ever goal. I remember in my Physics class in Year 7 or 8 and - I will never forget this - I told my class and teacher that I wanted to be as big as Michael Jackson and to headline Glastonbury, and everyone in the class, including the teacher, laughed at me. Even my teacher said to me: ‘that’s a big dream I don’t think you’ll be able to do that’ and I said ‘watch me…’ There are some days where I think that it is a big dream, but why not dream big?
Another one of mine is to just tour around the world, and there are also some people I want to work with. I don’t know if you know about this producer called Inflo - he is so lit! There is Josh Crocker. I also really want to work with Shy FX, because I love drum and bass and I think we could make a really sick soulful drum and bass song, so Shy FX hit me up mate! There’s also Fred Again, I love his stuff. And then obviously the big ones, I’d love to work with Stormzy.
Super interesting. I love how you speak about these artists so tangibly. So who are you listening to right now? What artists do you have on rotation?
So I made a Gospel Spotify playlist I’ve been listening to a lot. I’ve been listening to the Silhouettes Project a lot. Then I listen to a lot of House and Techno, I love listening to that stuff, like Larry Heard, Computer Data. It’s funny because looking at my playlist now I don’t listen to a lot of soul, it’s all just so different. Jill Scott, I can’t stop listening to her.
It’s very different. I love to listen to a lot of different music, because even if I listen to a rock tune, I’m still drawing inspiration.
And do you have any advice for other young singers or creatives? Or maybe people specifically in the Soul scene that perhaps don’t know where to turn to.
I think, always reach out to people who you think have a little bit more experience than you. Whether that’s emailing someone you don’t know, or sliding into someone's DMs, say an artist you may admire, you never know whether they will reply or not.
I would also suggest finding an open mic night community, especially in the Soul scene, there will be a lot. Finding that community and going regularly, and meeting people and making friends. That will really help you become more confident and you’ll learn a lot about music.
Another thing I would say is to not worry about how to do the first couple steps of your career, just do them. Even if you make mistakes and feel like you’re not doing exactly what you want to do, you’ll get there. Just try and have that confidence.
Yes, determination and perseverance. I feel like that’s been a theme of this interview. So finally, are we going to hear new music from you soon?
Yes! It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been finding my feet again and working out how I’m going to go about it and who I’m going to work with.It will be soon. I had a track that came out with Jake Isaac earlier this year. I’ve actually got a song coming out with Folamour on his album which is out now, can be heard here. I’m working with some very exciting people, but I can’t say yet, because it’s not 100%.
I have never done a proper tour yet, ever, but I think I might have a tour in January 2022 and I will be doing some festivals towards the end of summer, as long as they go ahead.
An album is not going to happen yet until I know exactly what I’m doing and who I’m going to be signed to. But an album will come, and when it does, it will be sick.
Interview by Jojo Jones