Cornwall’s Bailey Tomkinson beats musical heroes Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus in iTunes charts

While Taylor Swift may be singing about being an Anti-Hero, the Midnights singer-songwriter has acted as a hero for many up and coming lyricists including Cornwall’s own Bailey Tomkinson.

Taylor’s inspiring lyrics and power moves in re-releasing her old albums after her master recordings were bought by Scooter Braun in 2019, provided inspiration for Bailey to not only start writing her own songs from the age of 11 but also to set out to break into the music industry.

“Part of why I started making music was because of Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus…it was so inspiring [having] females dominating the charts and doing so well, so I learnt a lot from them,” Bailey said.

“As a songwriter, you want your music to connect to people and I think it is important that your music can translate - I just want people to feel like I get them or they get me…Taylor Swift’s music is so relatable and it really helps people, and as a songwriter that’s what you ultimately want to do is help someone else.”

The 23-year-old ‘home-grown’ musician from St Ives has played ‘her whole life’, but started to perform professionally soon after finishing school at Truro and Penwith College, and released her first EP called Hey Ace, at the age of 16.

She said: “The music industry is such a big industry - there are so many great things, but there’s lots of really challenging things about it and it’s not all sparkly and shiny, you have to put the hard yards in. It’s one of those daunting things but you look at all of these people [like Miley Cyrus and Taylor] and think, ‘if they can do it, why can’t I?’”

Several EPs later and Bailey’s ‘dreams have come true’ as her latest single ‘Astronaut’ and its accompanying music video have overtaken the likes of Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus in the iTunes video charts.

“It’s been a really crazy few days definitely…head in the clouds kind of stuff,” Bailey said, “It’s just amazing that my name is next to theirs now and that all of the hard work is paying off. I’m just so grateful.”

To add to Bailey’s success, the Cornwall singer-songwriter has propelled her career this far without the backing of a manager or a label, and even filmed her successful ‘Astronaut’ music video with simply a friend and a film camera.

Bailey added that they used a Super8 camera to capture the clips in places such as Grand Central Station in New York, but did not know how the footage would turn out until they got the film back.

And what came back was a marvel as the music video has beaten the likes of Miley Cyrus’ self-love anthem ‘Flowers’ and Taylor’s newest release ‘Lavender Haze’.

The premise for the video was centred around nostalgic films like When Harry Met Sally, which Bailey is a massive fan of, and were filmed around New York when the ‘Hey Ace’ singer performed her first gig across the pond in December, 2022.

She said: “It was my first show in America and I love going over there. New York is one of my favourite places and it was really really cool to be somewhere new and to see different people and to play my music somewhere else.”

One of the most ‘rewarding’ things about Bailey’s career has been people coming up to her and saying how her lyrics have helped them through tough times.

Following her ‘astronomical’ success, Bailey is continuing to put her all into her ‘favourite thing in the world’ and is looking forward to playing more festivals throughout 2023, releasing more music and finding a label to share her music with more people.

You can watch Bailey's 'Astronaut' video on Youtube and follow Bailey on her social media.