Haarlem
Dutch singer and songwriter Lilith Merlot is known for her warm and deep voice with a timeless feel.
Lilith was surrounded and enchanted by the beauty of harmony and melody from a very young age. Her mother was a classical violinist and as a young girl, Lilith often joined her mother on tour through Europe. She and her brother would listen to rehearsals in an empty concert hall, and would fall asleep in the audience during the concert at night. This was also where she experienced her first time being on a stage, at just 5 years old, when she joined the conductor and stepped onto the stage of the Royal Albert Hall during the Proms in front of a massive audience.
With her mom being away a lot, and her father being absent, her youth was quite turbulent and she sought comfort in music, which you can hear in her original songs. “I started writing music for two reasons: to voice my feelings and to comfort myself. When I was really young, from the age of 4, I would write little melodies on the piano to express how I was feeling that day. My grandparents (also both musicians) - who often looked after me while my mom was away - would write it down in sheet music and fax it to wherever my mother was staying at that time, Tokyo or the States.” - Lilith
When studying Jazz vocals at the Rotterdam Conservatory, she performed a song in front of American singer Renée Neufville (known for her work with Roy Hargrove, RH Factor), to which Renée responded: ‘your voice is just like a Merlot, it’s so warm, deep and round’. These words stuck with Lilith, because it was said at a time in her life where she doubted her capabilities as an artist. It even resulted in Lilith using Merlot as her stage name.
Since the release of her debut EP in 2017, Lilith has been experimenting with various musical genres such as Jazz, Pop and Soul, which has gained her many listeners worldwide. Her cover of Lizz Wright’s ‘Speak Your Heart’ has hit over 3 million streams on Spotify so far.
On May 26th Lilith will be releasing her newest EP called ‘Shades of Blue’. ’Blue’ represents not only the state of mind Lilith found herself in while writing some of the most vulnerable songs she has ever written on this EP, it also represents the deeper meanings of the color blue: wisdom, healing and freedom. “I started writing the songs on this EP after a very unexpected and painful breakup. Again I found myself not being able to talk about it, so I sat down behind the piano instead. Some of the songs are painful to listen to, like Burn Your Bridges, which comes from such a deep pain. But there are also lighter songs on this EP. Songs in which I sing about moving on and feeling at peace, even though I wasn’t even there yet at the time of writing it. But writing those songs actually helped me get there, and I did in the end. I am happy this EP ends in a lighter shade of blue. And I hope this can codmfort others as well.’’ - Lilith
The transformation in shades from dark to light can be heard in songs such as ‘White Lies’ and ‘Happier Alone’, as Lilith sings: “I refuse to remember you in this dark shade of blue, you can take it all from me, but I’m keeping the memories”.