Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Actor Simone Ashley is exploring her first passion via a new EP, Songs I Wrote in New York. Greg Williams joins her during two studio sessions over the past year as she finds her sound.
When I meet The Devil Wears Prada 2’s Simone Ashley at producer Fraser T. Smith’s [multi Ivor Novello and Grammy Award winner] Studio outside Henley-on-Thames in early January 2025, I jokingly ask him how the actor is doing outside of her natural filming habitat. ‘Amazingly. We wouldn’t be working with her if she wasn’t any good,’ he grins. ‘We got together doing some film stuff, and then we wrote a few songs, and to me it was apparent that Simone should make an album. So we talked about it, and we’re making the leap. It’s going to be amazing.’
The duo are in the process of finalising vocals, mastering and mixing Simone’s debut EP, Songs I Wrote in New York out now. I’ve heard her sing when we hung out in Cannes previously during the film festival, but never as she lays down some tracks. She welcomes me into the room and explains what inspires her to write. When I previously heard her sing in Cannes, it had a bluesy feel. This, she says, is very different. ‘This is more soul pop. And we’ll play you another one that I wrote with Amy Wadge, who’s just amazing. She does a lot of Ed Sheeran’s music. So, very ballad, love-based kind of songs. It started off as a ballad. And then what’s so amazing about Fraser is, I’ll bring an idea, and he can just completely flip it. It was amazing that day, because the sunlight came into the studio, and suddenly there was so much positivity. And I wrote that song in Wales with Amy when I was in a bit of a dark place. It was just shit weather, and cloudy, and dark. And then when it came to the day of recording it, Fraser knows the kind of beats that really resonate with my heart. He started playing this beat, and the sun just came in. And suddenly all these lyrics that came from a place of heartbreak, suddenly turned really positive.’
A lot of these songs were inspired by a summer that I had in New York when I first moved there. Working on The Devil Wears Prada 2 was intense – this was the original cast, the original producers, in New York. It was summer in Manhattan and I was in New York, and I was having the time of my life. That really affected how I wrote the songs
Simone and Fraser continue to talk through their process and the sounds they’re using, their enthusiasm infectious. As Fraser plays some beats, Simone sings along. ‘When I was working with Amy, I gave her some of my favourite chords,’ she explains between takes. ‘I’m really drawn to B-flat major, F major, A-flat major for some reason. It sounds so heartbreaking and nostalgic to me, that kind of chord progression. So we just laid out these chords, and I was almost rapping – just riffing all these different things. And then it’s hours of mixing and work with Louis and Fraser. A team effort.’
We meet up again in January in LA, during Golden Globes season – and Simone is working with another musical maestro, multi-award-winning Diane Warren at her Real Songs Studio in Hollywood. The 17-time Oscar nominee is working with Simone on her album, impressed by her songwriting and voice. And Diane isn’t one to blow smoke up asses – her straight-talking manner is apparent the minute I walk through the door. There’s a jar just inside the room that Diane describes in her beautifully fruity language as ‘a jar of fucks – in case you want one’.
Diane has collaborated with Simone on a couple of songs destined for her album. ‘I’m excited,’ the songwriter tells me. ‘She’s an amazing singer.’ Simone has laid down one of Diane’s compositions earlier today and now they are working together on finessing it. Diane plays the melody on the guitar to accompany Simone’s soulful vocals. ‘It’s very exciting to see the magic of when the right artist finds the right song,’ Diane says, comparing Simone’s sound to Sade. ‘I mean, you’re a great singer, and you’re a great artist, and you have your own thing,’ she says. ‘You already have an audience built in that loves you, and loves you from your other work. But once they hear you sing, and they hear you sing these songs – you’re going to have a whole other thing going.’
Over the previous Christmas break, Diane has written a song that she has gifted her new protege. ‘I just write songs that I like. A lot of the time, I don’t even know who the fuck they’re for. But this is perfect for you.’ Simone is beaming. ‘This is a “pinch me” moment for sure.’ she admits. ‘I mean, Diane Warren is the songwriter. It’s a big fucking honour to be here.’ The EP, Simone explains, is inspired by her own experiences while acting. ‘A lot of these songs were inspired by a summer that I had in New York when I first moved there. Working on The Devil Wears Prada 2 was intense – this was the original cast, the original producers, in New York. It was summer in Manhattan and I was in New York, and I was having the time of my life. That really affected how I wrote the songs, and what I brought into the studio. It was what I was experiencing on set, and outside when I wasn’t filming; the nights I had out in New York; the people I met; the friendships and relationships that I had… It all bled into the music.’
She goes into the booth to record some vocals under Diane’s direction, honing the tone of the song with different tweaks each time. I ask Diane how she thinks being an actor impacts Simone’s craft in the studio. ‘I think it helps, because you’re a storyteller in another world, too. It’s not just singing a song. You have to convince someone that it’s real. That’s what you do as an actor, and that’s what you do here. And she knows her lines!’ Diane suggests we have a listen back of the work the two have completed together so far, a song under construction, being shaped. ‘What a fucking smash,’ Diane says when it ends. ‘Come on. I think she’s going to have a really big, huge record.’
A couple of weeks later I catch up with Simone in New York during a particularly fierce snowstorm. Now that she’s two years into making her music a reality, I ask what it was that made her want to pursue it, having had such success with acting in Sex Education, Bridgerton and the upcoming, Devil Wears Prada sequel. ‘Something that I’ve always carried with me throughout my life, and especially in my career – I never want to look back and be like, “I wish I gave something a go,”’ she says. ‘I never really wanted to have too many feelings of regret. Regret is something that sometimes you can’t control. But within the things I could control, I always wanted to make sure that I gave it my best shot. I wanted a professional project with my music, a body of work. I never wanted it to come across as a hobby. So about four years ago, I really started talking to people in my team, and was trying to figure out a way of meeting the right people, and finding the right people who had the same belief and vision as me. Perhaps part of me always knew that something like this was inevitably going to happen. But it was more just taking the first initial steps and actually breaking the seal.’
Though she’s only recently started writing songs in collaboration with Fraser, Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Dan and Tolu, Simone has been writing music since her teens. ‘Music has always been something that I had a very strong instinct with. I grew up playing piano, and learning how to write music. I classically trained as a singer. I always write in my journal – lyrics or just ideas – and I would maybe try to match the beats to certain lyrics that I had down, or certain ideas that I had down. When I was working with Dan and Tolu in Brooklyn, that was a very specific form of songwriting – we were just talking for hours. It was the same with Amy Wadge, we just chatted for about six hours, and then we would pull things from our conversations and what we were feeling, and try to convey that conversation in a song, or certain chords would match that feeling. Those are my favourites sometimes, because you take something like that, and then maybe a year later, in the studio with Fraser, it turns into something quite different. But what was important in all of my songwriting process, was that I wanted my lyrics and my songs to feel inclusive – especially writing from a personal place about whatever I was going through, whether it’s a relationship or friendship or a feeling that I had; it was important to me that my audience can listen to it and relate to it in a way.’
I ask which artists she’s been inspired by herself and she smiles. ‘When I was a kid, my dad used to play vinyl all the time, just 24/7. So I grew up listening to music since I was a baby, and I could list a million different bands, solo artists, and so many different people.
‘But I think one thing that I’ve learned throughout my career as an actress is to just always compare yourself to yourself. It’s such a strong way to do it. I’m on my own journey with my own timeline. I don’t think I’m comparing it to anyone else’s… yet.’
She admits she’s been ‘surprised in a good way’ by the album that is coming together. ‘We actually have this body of work that, at one point, was living in our imaginations, and then was living in the studio, and living in comps and demos. And now it’s something that I’m almost there to share with everyone…’
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Songs I Wrote in New York is out now
