As she prepares to close her three-part EP series, the London-born, LA-based singer-songwriter talks letting go, protecting her peace and finding her way back to the little girl at the piano.

There’s a particular kind of bravery in leaving a song alone. For Delilah Montagu, a self-confessed perfectionist who can lose hours to the smallest detail, it has become the defining lesson of her latest work. Every track on her new EP, “The Bird, The Sky, and All the Reasons Why”, was written in a single day. When she and producer Phil Simmonds went back to re-record a lead vocal or change a lyric, they found themselves returning to the original every time. Whatever they had caught in those first few hours simply couldn’t be made twice.

Arriving next month, the EP completes a three-part journey that began with ‘The Bird’ and continued with “The Sky”. Together, the projects explore growing up, womanhood and freedom, all set against her move from London to LA and the obstacles she met along the way. Looking back across all three, Montagu says she can hear many different versions of herself, a fitting reflection for music that captures moments in time rather than following a polished plan.

First comes “Be A Friend”, the latest single from the project. On the surface, it’s about what it means to show up for the people around you. Underneath, it’s about learning to offer yourself that same kindness. “It’s something I’m still figuring out,” she admits, and that honesty runs through everything she shares here.

Many listeners first met Montagu’s voice through her GRAMMY-winning collaborations with Fred again.. and with Black Coffee and David Guetta. Her solo work offers something more intimate: a songwriter using music to understand her own life as she lives it. That process is closely tied to her spirituality, which she describes less as one particular practice than as a way of staying connected to herself and the world around her. “Sometimes I’ll write something and only realise afterwards what I was actually trying to say,” she says.

LA may be where she has done much of her growing up, but Montagu remains a Londoner at heart, something that’s easy to forget. It’s there in her sense of humour, in her urge to walk the city and ride the tube whenever she returns, and in her partnership with Simmonds, a fellow Londoner whose gift is reminding her why they started writing something in the first place.

Now, as the trilogy draws to a close, Montagu is making peace with some difficult truths: that you can love people deeply and still disappoint them, that not every painful feeling needs fixing right away, and that a song can be finished before it is perfect. Above all, she is reconnecting with the child who simply wanted to sit at a piano and write about how she felt.

Ahead of the EP’s release, she talks about LA, London, letting go and all the reasons why.

Listen to “Be A Friend”…

Congratulations on “Be A Friend”, which arrives just ahead of “The Bird, The Sky, and All the Reasons Why” next month. As this three-part journey comes to a close, how does it feel to finally be sharing this new music, and what does “Be A Friend” mean to you at this moment in your life?

It’s quite surreal, actually! I think when I was making this music, I was so wrapped up in the process that I didn’t  stop to realise what I was creating. Looking back at these three projects, I can hear so many different versions of myself, and I love that. “Be A Friend” feels particularly special to me because I’ve been thinking a lot about what it really means to show up for people, but also what it means to show up for yourself. I think I’ve spent a lot of my life learning how to be there for other people, and more recently I’ve been learning that you have to extend that same kindness and understanding to yourself. It’s something I’m still figuring out, but that’s what makes the song feel so relevant to me right now.

So much of this EP was shaped by your move from London to LA. Once the initial thrill had settled, what did the city ask of you that home never had?

I think LA really forced me to get to know myself. When you move somewhere completely new, away from everything familiar, you suddenly have to figure out who you are without all the people and places you’ve always known. London will always be home, but I think there’s something quite liberating about starting again somewhere. 

I had to learn how to be comfortable on my own, how to trust my instincts and how to build a life that actually felt like mine. It wasn’t easy, and there were definitely moments when I felt completely lost, but I think those moments ended up teaching me the most. I feel like I’ve grown up a lot here. 

What about you remains unmistakably London, and where do you find yourself drawn to first whenever you return?

My sense of humour is probably the most London thing about me. I love how British people don’t take themselves too seriously, and I think that’s something I’ll always hold on to.

Honestly whenever I go back, I just want to walk around everywhere, get on the tube, see my friends and spend time in all the places that remind me of growing up. There’s something really comforting about knowing a city so well. I love LA, but London will always be my home

Your creative partnership with fellow Londoner Phil Simmonds has run through this entire trilogy, from The Bird, to now. What does he understand about you as an artist that others might miss, and how has that trust changed the way you work?

I think Phil understands that for me, the feeling always has to come first. I can be incredibly particular about things, and I have a tendency to overthink absolutely everything, but he has this amazing ability to bring me back to why we started writing something in the first place.

There’s something really special about working with someone who knows you so well creatively. You don’t have to explain yourself all the time, and you don’t have to be afraid of having a terrible idea. I think that freedom is so important. We’ve made so much music together now, and I think the trust we’ve built has allowed me to be much more instinctive and less precious about the process. Sometimes the most beautiful moments happen when you stop trying to make everything perfect.

You’ve spoken about being a perfectionist, someone who plans everything and protects her work fiercely. Is there a moment on this EP that an earlier version of you would have fixed, and what did it feel like to leave it exactly as it was?

Every song on this EP was written in a day, and we made a conscious decision to keep the original vocals and stay as true as possible to what we’d created in those first few hours. There were definitely moments when we went back and tried to re-record a lead vocal or change a lyric, but every single time, we ended up coming back to the original version. There was something about the feeling we’d captured in that moment that we just couldn’t recreate.

I’ve always been a perfectionist, especially with my music. I can spend hours obsessing over the smallest details, re-recording vocals and convincing myself that something could always be better. So this project really challenged that part of me. It’s taught me that just because you can make something more polished doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making it better. Sometimes the little imperfections are what make something feel real, and there’s something really beautiful about capturing a feeling exactly as it happened. It’s been a huge lesson in letting go, trusting my instincts and knowing when to walk away and let a song exist as it is.

Your spirituality is such an important part of who you are, what does that practice look like in your everyday life, and how does it guide you when you’re writing through something painful?

For me, spirituality is really about trying to stay connected to myself and the world around me. It’s not necessarily one particular practice, but more about the way I try to live my life. I’ve spent a lot of time looking outside myself for answers, and the older I get, the more I realise how important it is to be able to sit with yourself, even when things feel uncomfortable.

Music has always been a huge part of that for me. When I’m going through something painful, writing gives me a way to understand what I’m feeling without necessarily needing to have all the answers. Sometimes I’ll write something and only realise afterwards what I was actually trying to say. I think there’s something quite magical about that.

I’m learning that not every difficult feeling needs to be fixed immediately. Sometimes you just have to allow yourself to feel it, and often that’s where the most honest music comes from. Self-confidence, womanhood and freedom all run through this record, as does the idea of protecting your peace. What does it truly mean to you, and what has it cost you to honour it?

For a long time I confused being a good person with making sure everyone around me was happy. I was so worried about disappointing people or upsetting anyone that I didn’t always stop to think about what I actually needed. The hardest part has been learning to be okay with disappointing people. But I’m beginning to understand that you can love people deeply and still make decisions that are right for you. For me, freedom is being able to live honestly, without constantly feeling like you have to explain or justify who you are.

You’ve described this project as a return to the child who simply wanted to write a song. As you bring the trilogy to a close, what do you think she would make of the woman you’ve become?

I think she’d be quite amazed, to be honest. Not necessarily because of anything I’ve achieved, but because I’m still doing the thing I loved most when I was little.

When you’re a child, you don’t really think about whether something is successful or whether other people are going to like it. You just do it because you love it. I think as you get older, especially when something you love becomes your career, it’s quite easy to lose sight of that.

I’ve been trying to reconnect with that little girl a lot recently. The one who just wanted to sit at a piano and write songs about how she felt. I think she’d be proud of me.

For anyone discovering your music for the first time through this EP, which song would you play them first, and where in the world would you want them to be listening to it?

I think I’d play them “changed but nothing’s different”. There’s something about that song that feels like a really honest introduction to who I am as an artist. Feeling like everything has changed but everything has stayed the same all at once. 

I’ve always loved the idea that music can make you feel understood, even when you’re completely alone. Some of my favourite moments with music have been when I’ve heard a song and felt like someone I’ve never met has somehow managed to put into words exactly what I’m feeling. If my music can give someone even a little bit of that feeling, then that’s everything to me.