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In the beginning there was the piano at Jiliaan. It became something like a constant companion for the Berliner, who is at home in many cities. Alone in a room with an instrument that takes everything into itself with its sound, is also so loud that no other sound penetrates.
Therefore, it was no question whether the piano would also become a leading actor at the singer’s first song collection. “L” Starts with a “Lullaby”, a lullaby, completely without vocals, the piano keys delicately painted. It could be the start for an album by Malakoff Kowalski or Niklas Paschburg. But the dark cloudy sound of the neoclassical is just a spray.
With “Love Like a Movie” it becomes clear that Jiliaan is more towards a big voice of pop. “My music sounds a little as if Chopin and Adele have a baby,” explains the songwriter, who also used a “nocturne” motif of the world-famous Polish pianist for the piece.
Of great feelings and important retreats
The emotional British was already an inspiration because she can open up mentally in her songs. The letter “L” is now, without a symbolic ballast, for this detachment of feelings that actually moves all songs by Jiliian: Each song begins with such a “L”, from “Little Do You Know” to “Lonely”.
The latter was created a good ten years ago and is also one of her most important songs for the singer. He deals with the miss, specifically about the longing for her brother, who was always an ally in the turn to music, but at some point it was a bit away from the family. “He was always my hero,” she says about him. “Music was always our thing, our retreat. We were also on stage together.” Even if the song has developed over time and combined new topics with each other, it was created from this basic attitude.
Homesickness should also be such a constant. Jiliaan, born in Hamburg, went to a boarding school in England in her youth, the piano was first deregistered (in the meantime it is used to deepen into classical music again, but almost exclusively for itself). But the relationship to music remained. In addition to studying in Amsterdam, the singer decided on classic voice training-and Rolling-Stone readers may have already read one of her texts.
“L” is now also an exclamation mark, not to wait too long to release your own songs into the world. The enthusiasm for music suction Jiliaan, however, is not on breast milk. The daughter of sports moderator Gerhard Delling and a journalist found access through a band in which the piano plays a supporting role at best. Jiliaan: “We heard a lot of the Eagles at home. This is our family band. Whenever the music ran, everyone understood.”
While many songs such as “Leave Me BE” alternate between modern indie, jazz pop and neo-soul (with hints to Olivia Dean), the high-personal of the texts stands out. “It’s a little like reading my diary,” says the singer. “Every song has its own trauma, which I somehow process with it.”
Although Jiliaan occurs as if the moment of her emergence is often the one when the pain is almost, but not yet quite experienced. The pieces of the young musician often begin with an idea that then transforms and opens new facets. “Love Like a Movie” also deals with the move from London to Berlin, the painful but necessary departure from a life that can no longer take place. A little, Jiliaan indicates, it was also an escape from an almost too perfect script that felt like in a Hollywood film.
Sometimes it takes a little less dreams and more reality. And music that itself works like a dialogue with friends that you can no longer see every day.