Preston songwriter tipped for stardom by BBC Introducing

Pip Hall started creating music just messing around on the digital audio computer programme GarageBand at school. Now the student from Preston has been featured on BBC Introducing, which helped launch the careers of Ed Sheeran and Florence + the Machine. Pip, who lives with her mum in Cottam, is also in demand performing gigs in Covent Garden, London in between balancing her studies at Cardinal Newman College and a job at McDonald’s. For the 17-year-old, hearing the praise from radio stations and critics is surreal. “It’s weird,” she said. “Even though people are saying these really nice things about me, it doesn’t feel real. I wouldn’t say those things about myself, it’s really strange, it’s lovely but it’s strange.”Pip has been learning the guitar since she was 11 years old and it was at high school that she was introduced to GarageBand. “We just used to play around on it and I just started making little beats,” she said. “It took off from there and I just started adding my vocals to it and I realised that I could sing.”It was Pip’s guitar teacher who encouraged her to set up an online SoundCloud account to share her music and once she had a few tracks uploaded she sent a couple into BBC Introducing, which gives exposure to unsigned musical talent. After her appearance on the show, she got offers from two managers to promote her work and the music student will be performing at The Great Escape music festival in Brighton this summer as well as supporting singer Bryde on her upcoming tour. Pip will be Bryde’s opening act in Manchester on April 26 and on May 1. Asked how she describes her tracks Pip is unsure but says it is “synthy” and listeners often call it “dark pop”. She is the youngest of four brothers and two sisters who she says are all very supportive of her. Pip’s dad died when she was just six years old and she says his vinyls are a constant source of inspiration to her. “He’s where I get a lot of my music influence from,” said Pip. “After he died, I found all these vinyls and I’m still in love with all of them – Fleetwood Mac especially. “I love looking through them and I always find something new even now.”

- To follow Pip’s music on her SoundCloud account and to listen to her new EP James see https://soundcloud.com/piphallmusic