It has been around a month since we all saw our Spotify Wrapped, and from Lizzy McAlpine to Towa Bird, the past year has been the year of the songwriter. Despite finding comfort in familiarity, I am challenging myself in 2025 to discover new songs and artists to support. With Lucy Dacus’ new album coming in March, and the promise of more new music from Chappell Roan, you may think your hankering for melodic guitar and experimental drum-led passages will be sated. I assure you there is one more artist you need to watch out for in 2025: Iona Luke

“With powerhouse vocals and unmatched musicality, Iona is unafraid to redefine herself and be led by her artistic impulses”

Iona Luke is an independent singer-songwriter who is in her final year of studying English at Magdalene College, but her journey in music started long before this. Iona started songwriting at 13 as a member of the prestigious Capital Children’s Choir. This choir, she told me, opened her up to many opportunities, including performing with Rihanna at Westfield, but most importantly developing her own talents.

In being selected from a pool of young songwriters from this choir, she got to go to Real World Studios in Bath for a week, working with industry professionals to produce her song. As a result, Steve Osborne (U2’s longtime producer) and a couple of record labels were interested, but Iona decided to focus on school.

Like many, COVID-19 and its subsequent lockdowns were transformative for Iona. Via an online cover posted with the Capital Children’s Choir, she was noticed by Lana Del Rey in her first ever TikTok. She honed her craft of songwriting during the pandemic, deciding to take a gap year and gig in London, before being met with either the choice of the Royal Northern College of Music or Cambridge University.

After listening to her two singles, ‘Seventeen’ and ‘Violence’, it seems that this praise is entirely warranted. With powerhouse vocals and unmatched musicality, Iona is unafraid to redefine herself and be led by her artistic impulses. “Genre in itself is a made-up thing,” she told me, expressing that the only effect it has is, if an artist releases music of two different genres, it can be algorithmically detrimental to pulling in new listeners. Asking Iona if I could interview her, I never knew I would be talking algorithms in the Arc Café, but this evidences her dedication to her craft.

In her songwriting, Iona manages to capture a memory or feeling which is perhaps unique to her but, such is her skill, makes it applicable to all listeners. “The best songwriting is simultaneously specific and universal,” she said, highlighting that the more times you listen to a song, the more interpretations can be made, even within the same words. Iona agreed that the best kind of songwriters are the ones that can condense a large and complex concept into a single line, stating that “a picture says a thousand words.” This can especially be seen in her song ‘Violence,’ which I interpreted as a song about a toxic love. In fact, Iona did not write it as such, making it intentionally applicable to many situations. “Most of my songs are not love songs,” she said, which I appreciated, as there are far more stories to be told than simply those of romance. Instead, Iona focuses on evoking a specific feeling and letting the listener do the rest.

Admittedly I, in probably constituting most of her streams, have well and truly been doing the rest. Nevertheless, Iona is no stranger to impostor syndrome, comparing herself to those who are younger and doing what she does now. On a positive note, she highlighted that artists like Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan (among others) are changing the approach labels are taking towards emerging artists.

“Social media has been teaching me good lessons in not caring, especially in a bubble like Cambridge”

She remarks that, for a period of time, TikTok changed the game where if a creator had a viral moment, they would be signed, meaning they did not think about the long game. These artists, however, have been working on their craft for years, redefining both what it means to be successful and the timeline for this success. Iona’s perspective on these artists, and others that she is inspired by, has clearly influenced her approach for the better.

“Social media has been teaching me good lessons in not caring, especially in a bubble like Cambridge,” she said, commenting on how her confidence has improved with practice both in performance and songwriting. This has also been helpful in finding her place in the industry, where writing so many songs has, in itself, streamlined her sound. Slow and steady wins the race, with Iona joking: “I’m not in a rush to be successful.” Still, I’m manifesting that critical acclaim and masses of popularity come quickly so that I can scream “this is not what I wanted / this is not what I need” (from ‘Violence’s’ killer outro) at a live event.

This may be coming sooner than we expect, as Iona has been announced as a competitor for the Centre of Music Performance’s Take It to the Bridge, which will be the biggest audience she has ever performed her music for. I, for one, am excited to experience her raw talent in person, especially with a live band. Until then I will be avidly streaming, channelling my rage into music as the incomparable Iona Luke intended.

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