My Music Episode 672 - Liya Shapiro

In this episode of My Music, Graham Coath talks to East London artist Liya Shapiro about songwriting, sadness, performance, and why some songs arrive before you have had time to understand them.The conversation begins with Liya’s latest single, Another Woman, a powerful track about the strange emotional sting of seeing someone from the past move on, even when you thought you had already let go.From there, Graham and Liya explore unrequited love, resentment, forgiveness, mental health, performance, and the uncomfortable parts of being human that often become the raw material for songs.Liya speaks openly about living with bipolar disorder and how darker emotional states often feed her lyric writing, while music itself gives those feelings shape and beauty. They also discuss the influence of artists such as Lana Del Rey, Cigarettes After Sex, The Cure, Björk, and Liya’s move towards more experimental, layered, chamber-rock sounds.There is also a fascinating thread about performance. Liya explains how stepping on stage allows her to inhabit a more powerful version of herself, almost like a character, while still carrying the vulnerability and self-criticism that come with being an artist.This is a conversation about music that does not try to be easy background noise. It is about songs that ask you to listen properly, sit with discomfort, and find the beauty in the darker corners.