WOMAN OF
DANIELLE
MUSTARDE
SPEAKS
TO WALLIS
BIRD ABOUT
WOMANHOOD
AND BREAKING
FREE OF APATHY,
AND FINDS
OUT WHY SHE’S
USING HER VOICE
TO CHAMPION
THE MOVEMENT
OF ALL PEOPLEI
t’s been three years since
Berlin-based Irish singer-song-
writer Wallis Bird released her
fifth album, Home. Now, as she
prepares for the launch of new
record Woman, we find out
what she’s been up to and what life
looks like as a “fully grown” woman.
“I actually got really into swim-
ming,” Wallis beams, when I ask how
she’s been filling her time outside
of writing her latest album. “Like,
in between all of the touring and
writing, I did a lot of things that I re-
ally like. I had a nice couple of years,
actually – and yourself?” She smiles
warmly. It won’t be the last time the
36-year-old extends the conversation
beyond herself.
Just what was it about swimming
that drew her in? “I’ve been really
scared of water for a long time. [Then]
I started going to the lido with friends
and hanging out with the local teen-
age boys – they all compete with each
other, dive bombing, and I thought,
‘I’m sure I can do that’. I started there
and then got to really enjoy it. Now
I’m a complete water baby! I’m not a
good swimmer. I’m an Olympic doggy
paddler, but I needed something
other than music as a [means of]
expression. For me, swimming is the
ultimate cleansing. And, over time,
I’ve been diving from higher heights
and going down deeper...” – which she
agrees is all very lyrical – “It’s helped
me overcome fear.”DIVA: On the subject of lyrics, why
“Woman” as a title?
WALLIS BIRD: It’s time to celebrate
femininity out loud; to speak openly
about what’s important for equality
and to give women a leg up. There’s
an awful lot of that word “empower-
ment”, but that’s really what it is. In
western society, we’re seeing a lot of
rights being taken away from women.
Particularly in America and on the
other side of the Atlantic, in Ireland –
where women, just last year, won the
autonomy to have an abortion. It just
felt like the right time. I use the word
“woman” because gender and putting
it into boxes [has] become far more
of a point of conversation now. What
makes a woman a woman? What
makes a man a man? I wanted to take
the word and celebrate it now, in 2019,
because I imagine, even in my lifetime,
we’re going to see a change in the58 SEPTEMBER 2019
PHOTO^ JENS^ OELLERMANNA