CHARLOTTE PLANK - NOVEMBER 2023

( Digital Covers ) - Thursday 16th November 2023

Words by Isaac Solanki. Photography by Tom Pablo. Thanks to Rick Moreno (Whiteboard PR).

Charlotte Plank, our first ever digital cover star - an artist on the rise who’s currently captivating the music industry by combining her undeniable talent and relentless energy with an unmatched passion for her craft. The Charlotte Plank journey is nothing short of extraordinary - it’s almost exactly as she planned it… just at 10x the speed. She’s recently risen to prominence in 2023 with the release of her debut EP - InHer World features the tracks from her career so far, including Dancing Is Healing with Rudimental, Lights with Hybrid Minds and Rave Out with Turno and Skepsis alongside two brand new generational anthems in Redline and Let You Down. In a nutshell, it’s pretty much perfect; it’s exactly what the young generation of today want, it’s exactly what the young generation of today need.

In the eyes of Slanky®, she’s unquestionably the future sound of this generation and a pioneering force for the future of both dance and DnB music. Earlier this year, we selected her to feature in Slanky® Magazine Issue 2: Lyrically Speaking as part of our first ever One For The Future? You Choose… section. At the time, she’d just been selected by Zane Lowe as one of his 23 for 2023, a significant accolade in itself and spoke to us about how she’d love to start playing more live shows, begin to build a solid fanbase and work towards releasing her first ever project. Since then, Charlotte Plank has created a sound that’s perfectly resonated with the very essence of this generation, seamlessly blending the future sounds of dance and DnB music to create banger after banger. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that her inaugural headline show sold out and the debut project I mentioned above has already amassed over 60 million streams, captivating listeners with its innovative sound and catchy lyricism. It’s things like this that have only cemented her influential status in the industry, so when it came to selecting our first ever digital cover star… it was only right that we caught up with THE Charlotte Plank to reflect on this past year.

Firstly, what a crazy year… how have you been since we last spoke in January?

“January! Oh my, this year has actually moved so quick… that feels like it was only yesterday! Well, yeah, I’m grand thanks, what a year it’s been - a literal whirlwind. I can’t quite comprehend how so much has happened in such a short space of time, it’s been mental. I was saying to someone the other day about how I’m trying to take the slow and steady route and they were like: you hardly had any music out this time last year, how on earth are you going slow and steady? and I think that sums up how it’s been really, haha.”

Did you ever think it’d turn into what it has so soon?

“Well, it’s always been the plan because I’ve never had a plan b! Since quitting my job, it’s been so full on - it’s what I’ve wanted my entire life; to have all of this free time to just focus on making music. I always knew that I was gonna put everything I had into it but I guess with a few twists of fate I’ve managed to land a few things (like the Rudimental feature) a lot quicker that I ever thought I would. Things like Rave Out also doing what it did - going from a causal writing camp to a top 40; I don’t think any of us expected that to happen at all, let alone so quickly. As well as that, it’s also important to mention about the great people I’ve met with and collaborated with along the way - they’ve really helped push things along and speed up the whole journey.”

Well, last time we spoke, you’d just been featured as one of Zane Lowe’s 23 for 2023 - since then, as you mentioned you’ve had a few surreal collaborations. Is there anything else, away from the writing side of things that’s stuck out to you as a key point from this past year?

“All of the festivals, all of the shows - just going around playing live shows and feeling like I’m physically collecting up fans. There’s not really been one specific stand out show but every single one has just been crazy - seeing people singing along to my music, seeing their reactions to my unreleased stuff; I think I speak for a lot of music artists when I say that is why we do this as a job. There’s no other feeling like playing live. I think that festivals especially are a perfect setting for my kind of music because everyones already in their element - it’s definitely been a highlight of mine being able to do the festival circuit properly so early on in my career. I think Reading was a proper life affirming moment for me - within the space of just a few years, I’d gone from the crowd to the stage, playing in front of what used to be me. It was mental but amazing; I think I’m still riding the buzz of that now as I continue with all of these club shows. They’re a lot sweatier but just as fun.”

Obviously the whole of this last year or so has been leading up to the release of your debut EP but I feel like the overall story goes back a lot further, a lot has gone into InHer World… where did it all begin?

“Yeah, it’s my first body of work. I spent so long thinking about things like the title; I think so many people overthink stuff like that, especially when it’s a debut project because it’s representing you - it says look, this is me, this is who I am, you know? The story behind the name InHer world actually comes from all of my family and friends - they’ve always described me as Planky being in her own little world. This EP replies to that, it says, well… this is what’s been going on; all of the daydreams and overthinking. InHer World gives you an insight into the place that I’ve been in for all these years. I’d like to think a lot of the songs on the EP are relatable for people growing up, whether you’re a boy or a girl - it’s the trials and tribulations of navigating your way into young adulthood. Every song represents a little step of that journey, sonically too - for example, Hate Me, the first song I made - it’s quite roar, patch-worked together with guitars and rough DIY drum and bass. On the other hand, Redline, a newer one from the EP, has the same influences but just feels so much more polished. I love that about the project - you can almost hear every step of the journey so far.”

Yeah, when we last spoke, you told me about your influences ranging from Nirvana and The Cure to The Prodigy and Four Tet to Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. There’s so many contrasting genres in there and now that you’ve combined this with your individual journey, do you think you’ve subconsciously created your own unique sound..?

“Well, I grew up singing Amy Winehouse - Lily Allen and Amy’s songwriting style still inspire me today. All of the different influences have definitely directly helped to craft my pallet as an artist. The 90s grunge literally comes from my mums Uni tapes, opening me up to a world of MTV Unplugged etc. I feel like the sound that I’ve created within the EP is purely just my musical DNA journey so far.”

I think the name InHer World encapsulates it all perfectly…

“Yeah, 100% - the artwork too, we actually shot the photo ages ago and I completely forgot about it. Once I’d finally decided on the name and put the two together, I realised that it all worked perfectly. The cover is literally me in my lounge after an afterparty, looking like a rave renaissance fairy in my own little world.”

What are your personal thoughts on the project, a chance for you to perhaps take a step back and reflect on the EP as a whole?

“I was actually caught in two minds about adding on every track I’ve released so far, I didn’t want to turn it into a greatest hits album haha. However, I think it instead nicely rounds up what’s been a crazy first year of releasing music. I included all of the features like Dancing Is Healing with Rudimental and Rave Out with Turno and Skepsis because they’ve been such a major part of this journey so far. I wanted people to hear that evolution and growth and I think that you can, so overall, I’m pleased. I’ve actually now got so many songs that towards the end, it was hard deciding what to put in with the already existing tracks and what to save for future projects and/or singles. I think as a musician you have to always be thinking one step ahead but it was definitely hard to hold back certain things. We ended up going with Let You Down and Redline as the only two new ones - I think they both represent my sound really well and I wanted to give them the chance; I wanted people to see that I can sway between genres but still keep that Planky stamp on everything I do, if that makes sense?”

Let’s talk more about the Charlotte Plank sound. It almost feels a little nostalgic yet also so refreshingly new - you originally described it as “a happy blend of dance and indie pop, the kind of music that sees you though the commute from home to a rave.” Would you still describe your music in the same way?

“100% - I want this whole tape to take you through your work commute to overthinking in your bedroom, then from home to the rave. I feel like there’s a song in there for every moment. It’s exactly what I want it to be, a nostalgic yet new genre-blending sound. I was having this conversation with my manager the other day actually - we were saying that there’s not many artists who can go and open for a pop artist like Caity Baser and then go and play at a sweaty drum and base club in Sheffield haha. There’s no one else doing that crossover; I feel so grateful to have been able to tap into it and more importantly to actually have people understand it. Moving forwards, I want to be a pioneer in this sound, something new and unique, completely my own - I think it’s the only way to cut through in this modern day music industry.”

Finally, what you’ve accomplished in this last year or so is more than what a lot of artists can only dream of doing maybe after 5 or 10 years of making music, so where do we go from here, what’s next for Charlotte Plank?

“To be honest, I’m just so excited for whatever comes next. I was at point a couple of months ago where I felt a bit of pressure, I’d just got into the charts and I was focussing really hard on making sure I could keep the momentum going. However, I now feel very relaxed, I’ve got songs in the bag coming next year that I’m really excited about and I’ve got plenty of shows coming up. I now feel ready for this next year, I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and I feel like my body is now very used to continuously being this non-stop manic. I think as soon as I started believing in myself, everything just started snowballing - I’m looking forward to releasing more music and bringing more people onboard this journey with me.”