00:06Hi, I'm Rhiann Daly from NME and I'm backstage at Reading with Maisie Peters.
00:10Hello.
00:10Hi, how are you doing, Maisie?
00:11I'm so good, how are you?
00:12I'm great, thank you.
00:13You're back at Reading, it's the first time in five years.
00:16Yes.
00:16The last time you were here, you were on the BBC introducing stage for a surprise set.
00:19How does it feel to be back and on the main stage this time?
00:22Very cool.
00:24I mean, it feels like yesterday and it feels like a million years ago,
00:28but that was such a special performance, that was the day my first album came out.
00:32So to be back here on my third album feels very full circle
00:37and also very cool to be on the main stage.
00:39I mean, such an honour and there are so many cool artists on today,
00:43Ray, Jade, Slater, so I'm in great company and I'm honoured to be there.
00:47Yeah, definitely.
00:48You are here in support of your third album, Florescence.
00:51I think that album kind of finds you in a lot more kind of grounded space,
00:54feels a lot less chaotic maybe in the subject matter than the previous two albums.
00:58How does that kind of reflect the headspace that you were in when you were writing,
01:01the period of your life that you are in right now?
01:03I mean, it's very representative of that time.
01:07I think those three albums, especially the second and the third,
01:11I wrote very intentionally.
01:13I really wanted to document a chronicle,
01:15sort of my exact life in the year and a half that I wrote each album.
01:18And with Florescence, I was in a much more grounded place.
01:24And I think sonically, lyrically, you can really hear that in the album.
01:28I was falling in love and I was at home for the first time in like four years
01:32because I'd been touring and travelling.
01:33And I think, yeah, I kind of couldn't have made the album
01:36without first feeling that sense of like calm and stability.
01:42And as a result, I think the music really reflects that.
01:45Yeah. This is the first album as well where you've had featured artists on it.
01:49Why did this feel like the right time to bring other people into your world?
01:52I think because like lots of artists,
01:54I think you want your debut to be sort of purely you.
01:58And then Goodwitch, it was just made in such a speed
02:04that I don't really remember much else apart from just racing
02:07to get mixes finished and sort of deliver it.
02:12So I guess with Florescence, this was the first time where I had more time.
02:15And when you have more time, I guess there's more room for,
02:22yeah, thinking about different ideas.
02:24And actually, I mean, with both of those songs,
02:27they came from writing sessions with Julia and with Marcus.
02:30And that was something I could do again with more time.
02:32I sort of got to experiment and be in rooms with people
02:35that normally I wouldn't get to be in rooms with
02:36because, you know, schedules and timelines and all that.
02:38So, yeah, both of those songs just came from writing days with both of them.
02:42And they're both like heroes of mine and so talented and so sweet.
02:47And yeah, it was so cool.
02:48Marcus and I did a fair bit.
02:50And Julia and I just did that one day.
02:53But I love both the songs.
02:54And it's, yeah, it's cool.
02:55It's so cool to have your heroes on an album.
02:57Yeah, exactly.
02:57I was going to ask you about Julia specifically.
02:59What do you find so inspiring about her as a songwriter and as a musician?
03:03Oh, my God.
03:03I mean, I could speak for days and I do to her when she's there.
03:06I say, Julia, listen to me.
03:07You're the goat.
03:09But, I mean, she's one of one, you know.
03:12She is probably one of the most formative songwriters of our time.
03:16The way that she wrote, it was so conversational, so lyrical.
03:19And I do think that that as a style was sort of in many ways.
03:23Like she kicked that off in like 2010s and it's really continued.
03:27So, yeah, she's a legend.
03:29And I also, even separately to that, just grew up on her music and loved her and went
03:34to her show with my sister.
03:35She was supportive of Niall Horan.
03:36And I went to the Niall Horan show to watch Julia Michaels.
03:39Sorry, Niall Horan.
03:40I watched the show too.
03:41But, yeah, she's just always been so important to me.
03:44And the way that I make music, I would not make it without having listened to and known
03:48Julia.
03:48So, getting to write together was like a dream come true.
03:52And then when the song was good, it was even better.
03:54And then we wrote the song for me and then she texted and was like, I love this song.
03:58Like, if you'd ever want me to be on it, I would love to be on it.
04:00And I said, Julia, hold that thought, get on the booth.
04:04And, yeah, so cool.
04:06All works out.
04:07As your sound has evolved, your live show also has.
04:10I went to see you at Earth in Hackney last year, maybe.
04:13Obviously, very different vibe from like the Goodwitch shows.
04:17How would you describe a Maisie Peters show in 2026 compared to what it used to be like?
04:21Oh, that's a good question.
04:22I mean, this show you'll see today at Reading and Leeds, we sort of constructed the set list
04:29to be a little bit of a mega mix is what I'm calling it.
04:32There's some old, there's some new, there's some fluorescents, there's some stuff from you
04:37signed up for this.
04:38I really wanted, I think with festivals especially, you know, you're not just playing to your crowd.
04:44And I really want to create an experience for people where kind of there's something for
04:52everyone in a sense.
04:53And I always want there to sort of primarily be some sort of a joyful intention with it
04:58and to make music and have moments where people smile when they sing.
05:02That's like sort of become more and more the purpose of a lot of it.
05:07But so, yeah, with this, with this show, you'll see there's a little bit of everything.
05:10But with those fluorescent shows, I guess that was, I mean, much like the album was sort
05:15of grounded and really rooted in the storytelling.
05:17And I really wanted that to, to come across and to have this sort of, yeah, a little bit
05:22sort of folkier, country-esque feeling to it.
05:27Yeah.
05:27You got to take the live show to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville earlier this year.
05:31What was it like playing such a historic venue?
05:33So cool.
05:34So cool.
05:34I'm a huge country music fan and I've watched so many YouTube videos of people playing at
05:41the Opry.
05:42There's a video of Caitlin Smith singing Tacoma, I think it's called.
05:44And I watched that on repeat.
05:47So to get to be on the stage and like jump in the circle was just so cool.
05:51And the band are amazing.
05:52They're at the house band and they learn all my songs.
05:54I just step up there and soundcheck and, you know, there's backing vocals and someone's
05:59playing instruments that I've not even heard of.
06:02I wouldn't know the first thing.
06:03I wouldn't know how to hold it up, right?
06:05And yeah, it's such an honor.
06:06It's so crazy to turn up to a show and soundcheck and all the musicians have learned your song
06:11without you being there is so cool.
06:15And I love, yeah, I mean, I love Nashville.
06:18Such a beautiful way to sort of, that album release to sort of have that within there.
06:23Because I made the album in Nashville.
06:26And yeah, I think if you told me at the beginning of going to Nashville and making the album
06:29that I'd be playing You Then Me Now at the Opry, I would have been gagged.
06:34And that's the word I'll choose.
06:35Yeah.
06:36Another thing I think you might be gagged about is the O2 headline next year.
06:39Also gagged about that for sure.
06:41That's a big gag.
06:42Is that kind of a bucket list thing for you?
06:43Yes.
06:44Yes, it is.
06:44I mean, the only reason I hesitated was because I don't even know if when I was making a bucket
06:48list at 16, I would have even thought to put that on there.
06:50That feels like too crazy for the bucket list.
06:53But yeah, I mean, I don't, right now I think about it only every so often for my own mental
07:01health.
07:01But I'm sort of getting into creative and plans for that show.
07:06And yeah, it's going to be so crazy.
07:07But I literally, I can't actually fathom it.
07:09So you'll have to ask me again in three to four months when I actually have to start fathoming
07:14it.
07:14Don't worry.
07:15It'll be amazing.
07:17I'll be fathoming soon.
07:18Can you tease anything that you're thinking about yet for the show?
07:21Is it too soon to be talking about this?
07:25I'll probably be on horseback.
07:27Oh, okay.
07:29There'll probably be like a lot of horses, real horses.
07:33Okay.
07:33That sounds like reason alone for everyone to go to that show then.
07:36For sure.
07:36We might just take out the stage and just do the horses.
07:40Incredible.
07:40Well, I can't wait to see that.
07:42And then the horse is going to ascend.
07:44Just like the Ariana show.
07:46Perfect.
07:46I'm going to go, my regards from his bedroom.
07:49And then we're going to ascend into the sky.
07:50I'm going to be front row for that.
07:51Yeah.
07:52Amazing.
07:54Well, good luck with that.
07:54Good luck with your show today.
07:56And that leads tomorrow.
07:56Thank you so much, Maisie.
07:57Thank you so much.
07:58Great.
