It was one of the stranger stories in the music world - a young girl who’d grown up in a household where music was banned, her burgeoning interest confined to stolen moments at the practice room piano and a single dance music CD stashed in her desk at school. Phildel Ng lived for the bulk of her childhood under the rule of an abusive, strict religious stepfather, from whom she only escaped in a separation that lost her the rest of her family too. From the experience came her 2013 album, The Disappearance of the Girl, a dark breathtakingly intimate suite of songs exploring the gothic fantasies that sustained her through an unhappy time. Though written in a vacuum, Phildel’s intense piano and electronica music quickly spread to millions, sound-tracking ads for Apple, Verizon and LG. She won first place in The International Songwriting Competition with Moonsea, picked up a Cannes Lion Trophy for Beside You and has +90 million streams for her track "Qi" and went on to win Best Animated Music Video for track "The Deep".
She recently released Into the Woods, a cinematic vision of dream-pop, inspired by moments of the sublime in nature and is currently working on her next album.
It has been incredibly liberating, particularly as a woman in the music industry, to have so much technical control. In the earlier days of my career, my vision for my songs was frequently undermined by others who didn’t see the value of what I was doing. As a response to how damaging I felt this was, I started working alone much more. I don’t think I would have crafted the sound I have today, if I had continued working in larger creative teams in my earlier days.
However, once I signed to my first major publishing and record deals, I was surrounded by a very supportive, creative production team who were all a pleasure to work with. So, I’ve experienced both kinds of creative atmospheres. I should also note that almost every individual I’ve worked with in music has been male. It would be so good to see more women in different areas of music.
I think both being signed to a major publisher and then later, managing my own publishing rights with the help of Songtrust have both been hugely positive experiences and have both brought great benefits to the table. Most recently, I’ve been blown away by the sheer volume of uncollected royalties that Songtrust has managed to uncover, which ran into the tens of thousands. At this moment in time, with financial resources becoming more and more scarce in the music industry, artists really must ensure they’re having their royalties collected properly. I’ve worked with quite a few mechanical royalty collection services but have never encountered an entity that collects as thoroughly as Songtrust. I highly recommend them.
Skill up and be prepared to devote a fair portion of your life to learning, not just creating. You can learn loads from just watching other industry professionals who teach via their YouTube channels. It’s an important safeguard for the future. Because a career in music inevitably comes with times that are financially rewarding and times that are financially challenging - the more skills you possess across the various fields, the more you’ll be able to sustain your career when resources get tough. A lot of my peers transitioned out of the music industry because they couldn’t sustain paying for a full production team when times got tough. They felt like all was hopeless. I thought that was sad. I stress that if you can afford it, it’s always money well spent to be able to hire a professional who specialises in their craft day in, day out. Their skill set is going to be incredible. But it’s useful and in many ways essential to survival in this industry, to have enough experience and knowledge that you could still continue your career and get by using your own technical skills, if you had to.
I don’t think I’ve ever taken full inspiration from something that I’ve been sent from a brand. Generally, I’ll read a brief, identify the main emotive themes, and then think about one of my pieces that have been written from my own life experiences that would align. It’s almost always my instrumental compositions that work best. And I’ve always been glad that the film/tv platform exists because historically (and before the days of Spotify instrumental playlists), there were so few mainstream platforms for instrumental music to be discovered through. If it weren’t for the world of advertising, my Qi album would probably have never seen the light of day. But so many people loved the music having heard it on tv and took the time to then find it and stream it.
I was honestly blown away by the 2025 UK Tour experience, connecting with my listeners and hearing their stories, super-charged me creatively. I reconnected with so many people who told me how my music had helped them through hard times. And hearing those stories, helped me understand what music is capable of doing. Because I work in such a solitary way, I often can become a bit disconnected from the real world impact music has on listeners. So it was creatively so motivating to gain that insight.
I LOVE a Green and Blacks organic, dark mint chocolate to nibble on whilst I work!
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