Asha Banks Interview

It’s immediately easy to like Asha Banks. She carries a grounded, salt-of-the-earth presence that quietly commands a room. At just 21 years old, the British actress and singer-songwriter has already staked her claim as a triple threat; equally at home on stage, on screen and in the studio.

A fledgling thespian, Asha first stepped onto the West End stage as young Éponine in Les Misérables at the age of seven. Those early, formative years laid the foundation for what was to follow: acclaimed roles in Prime Video’s high-stakes romance drama My Fault: London, BBC’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and the beginnings of a reputation for unmistakable screen presence.

Earlier this year, she introduced her sound to the world with her dreamy debut EP “Untie My Tongue”, a project that carved out her distinctive space and built her a cult-like following. Her voice – ethereal and introspective – tiptoes across each track with a fragile, deliberate touch before enveloping you completely in its graceful sonic. In July, she teamed up with Holly Humberstone for a new version of the artist’s song “Dive”, adding her signature raw touch to the collaboration. With her second body of work, “How Real Was It?” on the horizon, Asha Banks stands firmly as a name on everyone’s lips.

Just days before we speak in early October, Asha’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder co-star Emma Myers made headlines with a surprise appearance alongside Lady Gaga at The O2 during the Mayhem Ball tour—a moment that set the internet alight. When Asha joins our Friday evening video call, fresh from the set of filming Our Fault: London (not one, but two of the sequels to this year’s flick-of-the-summer), the two fall into an easy, conspiratorial rhythm. Her signature dark waves are pulled back to reveal a warm smile, finally ready to take a deep breath and unpack it all. “You’ve got free rein,” she teases.  

EMMA MYERS: I just wanna talk about you because I love you so much! First of all, “Mascara Tears” is out today and I’m so excited about it. It’s one of my favourite songs on your upcoming EP.

ASHA BANKS: Aw, thank you!

EMMA: How’s the reaction been so far?

ASHA: It’s been so good. It’s a weird one; “Mascara Tears” I wrote quite a while ago. Well, I say that—I wrote it the day after I wrote “Feel the Rush”. It was March last year. It’s always been one of my favourite songs I’ve written, and I always knew it was gonna come out. But it didn’t feel like it fit with “Untie My Tongue”, my first EP. When I started writing songs after “Untie My Tongue”, I realised it fitted so much better with these songs and this EP.

It’s definitely a really special one for me because I’ve been playing it since the first show I did to like 50 people at the Shoreditch Treehouse. Even from when I first played it, the people that came really loved it. It’s been a fan fave – in sort of quotation marks, as that seems crazy to say – since then.

EMMA: I watched you perform this song at Regent Park on Sunday! That was so crazy to me. How many people did that venue fit?

ASHA: Around 1,200! 

EMMA: 1,000 people screaming your songs at you, the second you came on stage. I turned to everybody and started crying! That gig was nuts. How was that for you?

ASHA: It was exactly that, it was nuts. As I’ve been filming for a few weeks now, in the lead up to it I’ve been so busy. I’ve been manically in my trailer, playing my guitar whenever humanly possible. I’ve probably been driving everyone insane on set. It kind of went so quickly because of that; I had such a build up, but I was so busy at the same time. 

OMEARA was my first ever headline show in April. The two shows I did there went as well as they possibly could. I was kind of nervous about topping it, even for myself—with it being as insane. But, nothing much had to happen… I just had to walk out and it had exceeded all of my expectations.

EMMA: I’ve never seen you perform like that.

ASHA: I remember when I came and visited you when you were filming Wednesday, and being in your hotel room and playing songs, and I played you some of my songs from "Untie My Tongue”.

EMMA: Was it a month or two before you released “So Green”? It was coming out really soon. I think we were both doing our makeup because we were going out?

ASHA: We were!

EMMA: And you said, “Can I play you some of my music I’m releasing?” And we were sitting there, and I was like, “Asha!! This is so good.”

ASHA: Yeah it’s mad, that wasn’t that long ago.

EMMA: It really wasn’t. But, your growth from then until now – it’s been a little over a year – you’ve had this crazy journey. Seeing all of your fans singing the unreleased songs must have been nuts. Was there a specific moment from the Regent’s Park show that stood out for you?

ASHA: “Mascara Tears” is always really special at the shows. I think that something about that song makes me feel really emotional. Possibly because I wrote it back then and it’s been on such a journey. I know that with a lot of my good friends, it’s their favourite and I know that it means something to the fans. So when I play it, I feel the energy of that. It always makes me emotional and I have to try not to cry. Especially on Sunday. Everything kind of spiralled and hit me. And like you say, hearing people sing it back. 

EMMA: That venue just fits your vibe so much. 

ASHA: It’s been a dream venue for me to perform at, forever and ever.

EMMA: Performing on set is so different to performing on stage, how do the two compare to you? Because I wouldn’t know, because I don’t sing. 

ASHA: We’ll circle back to this because literally the night after this I watched you at the O2 perform with Lady Gaga! You can relate slightly… But we’ll circle back! [Laughs]. I mean, it is so different. Especially compared to a set environment. I’ve done a lot of theatre, especially growing up. Theatre and a live show are obviously more similar, especially in that I have found ways of controlling my adrenaline a little bit. Having done theatre helps me with that, it helps me calm my nerves a bit.

In terms of filming something, it’s so wildly different because I feel like in live shows you have to use how nervous you are, and the adrenaline is so crazy and you have to learn to control that. With film and screen, obviously there are still nerves, but a lot of it is summoning stuff from within and creating a situation from whatever you have around you. The adrenaline is on such different levels. But, being able to do both of them is so cool. 

EMMA: Are there any experiences on set that inspire your music, or vice versa?

ASHA: For sure. I think both of them play into each other, constantly. I think existing in a creative space, everything kind of feeds back to each other. Especially on set, I love to be so invested in someone else’s head and storyline, and then going to play my guitar or write a song, and be so pushed back into my own head. It’s sometimes nice to be so involved in myself and be thinking about what I’m writing. I think they work quite well in that sense—at least at the moment. 

EMMA: Speaking of sets, My Fault: London was huge for you. It was a huge success and now you’re doing two sequels at once which is crazy. What’s the sequel filming been like?

ASHA: It’s just been amazing. We wrapped the second one a few months ago now. Both that and Good Girl season two are the first times that I’ve revisited a character. And they both kind of happened at once, so it was really interesting experiencing that and seeing how I deal with that. With My Fault: London, filming the first one, there was a sort of pressure, because of the wonderful Spanish movie and the book, but nobody knew about it and we were just making something. Whereas with the second one, people really liked the first one so there was buzz to make it again. We’re filming the third one right now and it’s so bittersweet because I’m so happy to be on set and to be back with everybody but at the same I want to delay the end of it as it’s the last one.

EMMA: Is there anything you do to prepare for My Fault, or any character in general?

ASHA: Music is a massive thing for me. Having different character playlists is one of the first things I do. Even so much as when I’m listening to music in my day-to-day life, I can listen to something and be like, “Oh that feels like it relates to Cara, or to Noah.” And figuring out why I think it relates to that person always makes a difference. And then being able to play that music while I’m filming really helps me. Aside from prep, I think it’s such a nice memory—it’s like a little memory box and when I go back I can listen to the Cara playlist from season one and it’s so nostalgic.

EMMA: You’ve said before that acting is bringing someone else's vision to life while music is telling your own story, how does that transition from acting into music feel for you?

ASHA: I think I’ve always just existed doing both. It’s just whether I’ve been working as either an actress or musician. As a kid, I always did both. I was doing either theatre shows or guitar lessons, or writing little songs. Or I was doing musical theatre, which was a collision of everything I love. They’ve always existed hand-in-hand for me and I think that’s why I’ve always been so passionate at trying to keep that going because if I can have enough energy and enough passion to want to do both of them, then hopefully I can make that work. The transition has been good. Releasing music last year for the first time was wild and my EP came out just after My Fault: London came out, so everything kind of butted heads. “Feel the Rush” was in the credits of My Fault: London which was honestly my biggest dream in the world and had always been on my bucket list: one day I’ll be in a film and have a song in that film. I’d love to do more of that and explore how acting and music can fuse.

EMMA: You balance all of it so well. How do you balance the freedom of expressing yourself through music with vulnerability?

ASHA: When I first started writing music it was just by myself in my room. I never had the thought that people would hear it. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. So, I was always being so honest and it’s always been my way of coping with things. That then transitioned into my style of writing. And then I started writing with other people and the people that I love writing with are the ones that really encourage that. They are able to let me flourish at my most vulnerable state. But it is scary. I remember writing for “Untie My Tongue” and not really thinking about it and the body of work just kind of came together, and you start talking about actually releasing something and it’s like, “Oh God." It feels like someone taking your notepad. As soon as it was released and I got over that – and as soon as you see anyone that you don’t know saying that they connect with it – it makes all of it worth it. It made me go into the next bit of writing wanting to be more open and more vulnerable. 

EMMA: You’re also doing a really cool tour, starting in December in the States and then UK and Europe, early next year. Is there a stop you’re most excited for?

ASHA: The thought of playing in other cities is mind blowing; that there’s people that care and listen to music anywhere else. There’s so many places I’ve never been before, like Copenhagen. Berlin and Paris will be so cool. The American dates are so exciting and so soon now. 

EMMA: I want to talk about the fact you have an EP “How Real Was it?” coming out on the 14th of November. How do you choose which stories and emotions you share in music?

ASHA: I always have a list of lyrical ideas, or any ideas that pop into my head. You know, when you're lying in bed, thinking about those conversations you’ve had, or running things through your brain. Now I’m almost haunted by thoughts that pop into my head and then I think, “Oh that would be a good song.” Then I write it down immediately. I either do that, or I just sit on my bed and see what happens. It’s often things that are playing on my mind, because I’ve always found it a very therapeutic way of dealing with things. Even subconsciously, when I don’t know I need to write a song. There’s always something going on, and when you write, you’re forced to dive in and think, “Hey what’s going on?”

EMMA: I know you’ve collab’d with Holly Humberstone, who you’ve said is one of your favourite artists. And I know you really wanna do a collaboration with The 1975—are there any other collabs or creative experiments you want to try with your music?

ASHA: There’s so many artists that I love and I’m inspired by. The collab with Holly was so special, I’ve loved her for ages. She was definitely one of the artists and songwriters that I looked up to when I was writing music. Being able to sing on one of her tracks with it being so connected with My Fault: London too, was so special. And I’d love to do that again. I’d also love to write a song with another artist, because “Dive” was Holly’s song already. The 1975 would be unreal, I’ve always been obsessed with Bon Iver—he would also be a huge dream. I think that’s another thing about being an actor, you’re so used to working with other people and that’s definitely something I’m wanting to do with music too. If you ever want to do a song with me Emma…

EMMA: I can do terrible backing vocals for you or something, the recorder in the background?

ASHA: You can dance in one of my music videos!