My Inspiration: Robyn Errico

Photo Adam Kennedy

Darlington artist Robyn Errico releases Whitby Jet. Recorded at Blank Studios, the track is the first single from her upcoming EP, Through The Gap, and explores how the pursuit of fame and aesthetic success can distort our sense of self. Inspired by the mesmerising darkness of Whitby jet, the song reflects on the seductive glamour of conventional success — and the risk of losing real connection and fulfilment behind its polished façade.

Opening with an atmospheric blast that hits like North Sea winds, Whitby Jet unfolds with waltzing rhythms, ethereal synths and rich keys, forming a gothic carnival of sound. Choruses rise as tall as the Whitby cliffs, with echoes of Kate Bush, Aldous Harding and Agnes Obel — though Robyn Errico is clearly carving out a distinct, immersive voice of her own.

Here, Robyn tells us more about the inspiration behind the track…

When I first wrote Whitby Jet, I was at a totally different place in my life than when I came to record it at Blank Studios back in May. It was 2020 and my family and I, like the rest of the world, it seemed, were locked down in my childhood home due to Covid. During that strange time, both the pressures and the abundance of the outside world became very distant and surreal, and the things that really brought me joy and comfort came distinctly into focus. I had the garden, the birds, the sunshine, Mum’s baking, good music, a piano and an abundance of card games. I was beyond content, and I recognised how lucky I was during that time – not only to have a home like mine to hunker down in, but also to have regained the mental space and clarity to appreciate it so much. I was feeling so much better after quite a bad mental health spell, and these months at home were spent seeing new beauty in the simple things that we often take for granted amidst the great rush of life. For all the dystopian weirdness of that time, I am thankful for the way it refreshed my perspective and showed me so clearly what really matters.

This beautiful, calm simplicity was a stark contrast to the consumerist, excessive, money-centric culture that I started to really sense in the world during that period. I saw so clearly how fortune, fame and power – three things that many people spend their lives in pursuit of – mean nothing if you can’t appreciate a beautiful sky or the chirping of hedge sparrows or High School Musical 3 on DVD with your sister on a Tuesday night. The value of these simple things can so easily be lost when we’re shown and taught to aspire to versions of “success” which look a little too much like greed without empathy in a certain light. Take, for example, the fact that in 2020 there were 4.3 million children in the UK living in poverty. Then consider the fact that over the course of the pandemic, the number of UK billionaires increased by one-fifth. This is obvious inequality. It demonstrates so blatantly the unfairness that results from the way our current systems work. And yet we are still encouraged to spend more, make more, take more, have more and work more… in order to spend what little time we have fuelling this very system. I ruminated a lot on this, and one result of this rumination was Whitby Jet.

In essence, the song is about how fortune, fame and power – in other words, conventional and socially prized forms of success – seem so enticing despite how destructive they can be, both personally and on a society-wide scale. It is so easy to get stars in our eyes about these things, but the reality is that they aren’t best represented as bright, shining stars – they are much darker and more alluring. More like Whitby jet, or so I thought, so beautiful and yet so dark, and it became my instant symbol for this theme. Following this trail of thoughts is how I came up with the two lines that the song is built around: “The stars behind your eyes glitter like wet Whitby jet tonight”, and “All of this beauty around us tonight, still I can feel how it eats us alive”. 

I’ve never actually thought about the meaning of the song in as much detail as I have writing this and turns out I had more to say than I thought, so thanks for sticking it out and reading to the end if you have! I hope it was interesting-ish. And remember to always try and find happiness in the small things.