FM Premiere
Dutch singer-songwriter Lily Franc is turning the uncertainty of early adulthood into a six-track study of identity, expectation and self-acceptance on her debut EP, The Fitting Room.
The title frames identity as something tried on and reassessed, as Franc explores the expectations, relationships and imagined futures we eventually leave behind.
Musically, the EP moves between indie pop, country pop and folk, with flashes of funk and Broadway-style storytelling. Franc’s classical background also gives the project a distinctive production element, with violin arrangements woven throughout the record rather than added as decorative flourishes.
Each song approaches the wider concept from a different angle. burnt out gifted kids club examines the pressure of building an identity around achievement, while fun sponge targets the performance of emotional detachment. under the weather and old leather jacket explore heartbreak, distance and self-worth, before soldier considers emotional balance within relationships. Closing track for old times sake finds resolution in acknowledging nostalgia without allowing it to control what comes next.
Franc explains:
Every song explores someone letting go of something that no longer fits, whether that’s an expectation, a relationship, a fantasy or a version of themselves.
Franc studied at Amsterdam’s Young Pop Academy and later joined Metropool’s Songmidse programme before securing a fully funded Universal Voice Institute place.
With The Fitting Room, Franc establishes a clear creative framework for her first major body of work. Its strongest idea is also its simplest: growing up is not only about becoming someone new, but recognising which identities were never yours to keep.