Despite her youth, English songwriter Maisie Peters has already mastered the art of turning emotional minutiae into widescreen pop narrative.
Across just two records, she has already emerged as one of contemporary songwriting’s sharpest diarists, documenting the strange theatre of modern love with wit, devastation, and a near forensic attention to detail. But where 2023’s The Good Witch unravelled in a blur of heartbreak, self-mythology and emotional excess, her forthcoming third studio album, Florescence, moves toward something softer, steadier, and perhaps more difficult to articulate, contentment.
Never short on inspiration, there has always been something literary about Peters’ writing. Her songs do not merely confess the thoughts of a young woman, they construct worlds. Even at her most playful, there is an instinct for precision that feels indebted as much to fiction as it does to pop music.
Here, RUSSH had the pleasure of speaking to Peters ahead of the album’s release.
Inspiration can feel elusive or constant, depending on the artist. What tends to spark a song for you, is it a specific moment, a line, a feeling, or something more abstract?
Normally, I’ll have a title or a concept that I want to write about, and then the song will form around that. Sometimes it comes in the exact moment you choose to write, sometimes you have it in your Notes app for weeks. It just depends on the day.
Your writing feels incredibly precise, even when it’s dealing with messy or unresolved emotions. When something happens to you, how quickly do you know it belongs in a song?
These days I find myself writing retrospectively a lot, using a lot of past tense. I think I like being able to write knowing the conclusive point, which means I’m often waiting a few months before writing about an experience. Who knows if that will change in the future though – that’s just me now.
There’s a sense of both classic storytelling and modern pop in your work. Who or what has most shaped your emotional language?
Reading a lot has shaped my language – Wolf Hall and Rebecca were definitely inspirations for this record in particular. Lily Allen, Taylor Swift and Sara Bareilles are all songwriters that I listened to a lot growing up too, and I can really hear their influence in the way I write to this day.
The title of the new record suggests a kind of blooming into full development. What drew you to that word, and how does it reflect where you are, creatively or personally?
I wanted to find a title that suggested growth, and a blossoming – as the album depicts a journey into love. And I liked the album of the title being one word that encapsulated all of that. Florescence felt soft, rare and definitive, and I liked how it looked on the page
What kind of emotional or sonic landscape are you building this time – and how does it differ from the world of The Good Witch?
I wanted to build something more grounded, stable , peaceful, warm, organic. The Good Witch was very dramatic and destructive and sonically very reaching, and I think I wanted Florescence to feel much more cohesive regarding its instrumentation.
You’ve toured with artists like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, and have been exposed to very different scales of performance and songwriting ecosystems. What have you taken from those experiences, not just in terms of performance, but in how you think about your own work?
I’ve just seen so many world class performers who also manage to be kind and gracious to everyone they meet. Working at that level is truly a feat, and they all remind me of athletes in some way. I think it’s taught me a lot about the dedication and focus you need to get to those big stages
Who would you love to tour or collaborate with in the future?
I love Kacey Musgraves – so I always say her! I’m also a Lana Del Rey stan til I die, so I’m going to definitely have to say her too.
Florescence by Maisie Peters will be available on all streaming platforms from Friday 22 May 2026.
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