Great Britain has always been a remarkable resource for unearthing and creating some of the world’s greatest and most adored musical acts.
From The Beatles to Ed Sheeran, and then onto the likes of Dua Lipa in the last 12 months, there’s just an uncanny consistency that has seemingly been permanently ingrained into our nation’s musical roots.
And amongst the latest batch of English singer-songwriters is one of the country’s brightest up and coming artists, Esther Turner.
Anybody who has ever seen or heard of Esther will know what a phenomenal talent she is. But she is far, far more than just the archetypal girl with a guitar we’ve become so accustomed to in some forms of pop music.
Open-minded approach
One of her biggest lyrical motives is her association with the LGBT community, and her immensely proud identification as a lesbian.
Esther said that she hopes her position in music and her open-minded approach to her sexuality can inspire many more to follow in her footsteps and embrace who they are.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic how much more open armed society is to gay people,” she said. “It really should never have been such a big issue in the first place.
“I’ve never been one to go out and flaunt my sexuality, as I really don’t view it as a big deal. But if anybody ever asks me about it, I’m always 100% honest with them – I’ll proudly tell people I’m gay if asked.
“I’ve actually had a few people message me before about how much I’ve helped them cope with coming out and dealing with their sexuality. And that is just so fulfilling for me, because even though I may not have done anything directly to them, it makes me so happy that I can still have such a positive effect on someone’s life.
“I remember one girl coming up to me and telling me how much she was struggling to come out, and that she was going through a really hard time. And I didn’t know it, but she said I’d helped her through some really dark times.”
Coming out
The 22-year-old went on to recall her own ‘coming out’ story.
“I think I always knew from a young age that I was different,” she explained. “I remember having crushes on female teachers back in primary school and everything.
“It was to the point that I remember sitting down on my bed with my teddy bear and my cat, and asking them ‘am I weird?’.
“It was back in those days at primary school where people had a boyfriend or girlfriend, but they’d break up after a day or something because somebody looked at another girl or boy.
“I mean I even had a couple of boyfriends back in those days. But I just always knew I was different.”
Gay marriage
Esther also recently celebrated getting married to her partner of four years, and touched upon her very unique experience with gay marriage.
“My partner’s dad actually got diagnosed with terminal cancer and was only given three months to live,” Esther said. “She wanted him to know that we were going to be together forever, and we both really wanted him to be there.
“So then we only had two months to plan the entire wedding, but everybody was so helpful with everything. And thankfully he was able to make it in the end.
“The photographer actually asked us ‘did you ever look at my page and any point and wonder if I actually do gay weddings?’ and it had never actually crossed my mind, but it had crossed for my partner.
“She’d never actually photographed a lesbian wedding before, but she was so great in terms of working with our dresses and stuff. She specifically wanted this in her portfolio so everybody knew that she will do business with anyone.
“A few of my friends have actually been asked to do a wedding, but have then had their bookings cancelled when clients have found out that they’ve photographed gay weddings before.”
Lyrical inspiration
A considerable portion of Esther’s lyrical inspiration comes from her life and experience as a member of the LGBT community.
She went into detail about her bizarre, yet brilliant music video for her track Swayin, and how she and her producer came up with the idea of the black and gold body paint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LXD00V4QEk
“So we actually did some research on the concept of rough diamonds,” she said. “So me being painted black signified a rough diamond, and the dancer being painted gold signified someone who could help me become that gem.
“The song is actually about my partner and the way she inspires me.
“Like one time when I was very sick and didn’t want to sing or eat, she simply took me to an all you can eat buffet and got me up at a party to sing a few songs. So as the song goes, she really did help me on my way.
“And the bit in the video where she transfers her gold paint onto me and I transfer my black paint on her is pretty much the notion that we’re two different people but we’re helping each other change within ourselves.”
Esther’s inspiration to the LGBT community is already widespread – and she admits she’s pleased to see greater equality.
“I see kids all the time now like ‘yeah, I’m gay’, and I really wish it could’ve been that easy for me coming out back in the day, but it’s so, so great that they can do that with such ease now – and long may it continue.”