On the 20th December, I had the pleasure of seeing my good friend Cêrys Fleming perform live at The Crafty Baa in Keswick as part of their Junior Musicians Night.
Packed full of talented young musicians, there really was no better way to spend a cold, wet winter’s night in Cumbria.
Cêrys’ performance was preceded by that of Imogen Cockbain and Sophie Smith.
Imogen kicked off the night with a festive crowd-pleaser: Coldplay’s ‘Christmas Lights’, which, interestingly, Kylie Minogue covered in 2016 for her ‘Snow Queen’ album.
She then did a full 180° turn and performed Billie Eilish’s ‘TV’, which perfectly demonstrated the maturity of such a young voice, and really made Imogen’s voice shine!
She handled Billie Eilish’s notoriously difficult style with grace, gliding from highs to lows with a voice as smooth and sweet as honey.
We then welcomed Sophie Smith to the stage, who began her set with a rendition of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’. I have to admit, I was definitely far too excited to hear this, and was incredibly impressed by Sophie’s cover.
With a band whose sound is so recognisable, it’s difficult for singers to fall comfortably between covering and copying the original artists’ song, and performing the song well. Sophie managed to do both, but more so excelled in making the song her own.
Then, the moment we’d all been waiting for…
Miss Cêrys Fleming takes to the stage!
Equipped with a gorgeous, white guitar, Cêrys launched into one of my favourite songs, ‘Linger’, by the Cranberries.
This song is incredibly soft and delicate, a true love song, written by Dolores O’Riordan as her audition song for the band.
While the song originally had lyrics written by their previous singer, Niall Quinn, O’Riordan took the song and turned it into a song of regret, and a testament to her first heartbreak at the hands of a soldier she fell in love with, describing this as a song about ‘the way I reacted to infatuation’.
While the song is tragic in its backstory, based on O’Riordan’s ex-lover treating her badly and cheating on her, and her feeling as if she could never break free from the relationship, as he ‘had to let it linger’.
The truly beautiful thing about this song is that it immediately adopts such a personal meaning to any of its listeners, and is a timeless testament to young love.
For a song so incredibly beautiful, an equally beautiful voice is required, and Cêrys was just that.
She rounded up her set with a varied set list, including Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ and KT Tunstall’s ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’, a testament to her half-Scottish heritage.
Such incredible range between each and every song she performed, yet each and every song was sung with such passion and talent that it’s hard to believe that Cêrys is only seventeen.
Testament to her incredible ability was the sheer volume of people tuning in!
Not only did Cêrys have the 50+ people in The Crafty Baa captivated, including three of her supportive friends and close family, over 400 people tuned in to hear Cêrys’ full set on TikTok Live. The Live took place on Hollr’s official TikTok page @hollrsite.
To venues far and wide, there is no song or style out of Cêrys’ depth, nor any venue that wouldn’t be utterly mesmerised by this incredible young talent.
I’m sure one day we’ll see her whisked away to join the likes of Stevie Nicks in the Hall of Fame! But for now you can follow Cêrys on Instagram @cerysf_music.