In a wide-ranging and candid discussion, the artist opens up about her name change as well as life as an up-and-coming musician in 2025.
Prior Silk is a 23-year-old pianist and vocalist who graduated from Leeds Conservatoire in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. She has since released several tracks under her birth name ‘Eleanor Joy’, but recently decided to revamp her artistic persona. She sat down with Yorkshire Voice for an in-depth discussion about her career so far and her future plans. You can read the full interview below.
Hi Ellie! What formative moments caused you to pursue a career in music?
“I very much stumbled into being a musician. I thought as a little girl that maybe I’d end up being a politician or a lawyer because I had no idea what I wanted to do and they seemed like sensible choices. But I found out through my Charismatic Evangelical Church that there was an opportunity to play piano as part of a worship – it had a heavy musical centrepiece. I found that I really enjoyed playing for people and formed great connections when singing with people, not just to them. Then one day I sat down at the piano and started playing chords that weren’t related to worship music. I think the first one I played was Adam Lambert’s If I Had You, which is a super camp song that really confused my parents! I’d never heard non-Christian music at home, we maybe had one Queen CD, so discovering for myself was massive. That sparked it all for me.”
So, the rebrand! Could you tell me about the decision to change your artist name?
“Yes! Prior Silk! I started life as Eleanor Joy, literally and musically. I was really proud of putting my music under my real name but as I developed and started working with narratives that were very different to what I was writing earlier on, I learned that I didn’t feel connected to my own name as an artist anymore. There’s something really nice that happens when you can separate yourself from the narrative. I didn’t want these stories, which aren’t about my own experiences, to be taken as my life – perhaps people wouldn’t feel they could connect as easily or maybe they’d come up with wild theories about ‘what’s going on in Ellie’s life’.
Why Prior Silk?
“My grand-aunt’s married name is Pryor, which I thought was a nice link, and I really like the term silk. It means ‘the Queen’s council’ and I loved the idea of this very regal, ethereal name to go alongside these stories that are separate from my life. I’m also branching out into more classical composition so I think I’ll reserve my real name for stuff for a classical audience.”
I wanted to ask you about the difficulties you might have faced as an up-and-coming female artist traversing through the industry in 2025. How have you found it?
“There’s definitely a particular struggle with being a woman in the music industry and I think it’s actually different to what people expect. Sexism has many faces and luckily people are becoming more aware of it. When you’re trying to branch out as an individual, legally single woman using public transport you have to rely on the public to be safe toward you and that isn’t always the case. In my situation, I was part of a group of local women who were being stalked and there’s a lot of fear that you’re going to be the next victim of violence when male counterparts might not have that. Even at the top of the industry you’ve got people like Chappell Roan talking about how she’s experienced such things. Rather than being a barrier to people entering, it’s more of a barrier to them continuing. It doesn’t feel as if there’s an industry safety net in place – you’re self-funded, you’re often alone and it can be scary.”
Do you think there has been progress in the industry to support female artists?
I think there definitely has been. I’m getting approached more for work which is great but it’s going to be a long-term battle. I’ve been to open mic nights at pubs with male musicians and friends that have gone along to perform and the guy will go up to a male artist and get them signed up and then walk past me and I sort of have to go ‘Hi, sorry, I’m here to perform as well’. Turns out they thought I was a girlfriend. You still constantly have to be prepared to represent yourself even if you feel looked over. I don’t think he did it intentionally and it didn’t feel malicious – there are a lot of men in the industry who are doing great work to create safer spaces for women. There seems to be a want to do that and a want for female voices but we need to make sure that space is readily there for us and we don’t need to barge in.
Let’s talk future plans! What is on the horizon for Prior Silk?
“I’m currently working on a debut E.P release because I have about 200 songs on the back burner which is insane and unhealthy! The aim has been to release them as demos to have people hear them in their raw form before I can work on them with a producer. I’m also working on a new merchandise line, some very personal homemade merch that relates to the music and lyricism. I’ve also got some gigs lined up but In terms of wider goals the dream would be if Raye hit me up for a collaboration!”