Life’s unpredictable journey often leads to stories that blend serendipity and determination in a way that feels like a movie. Louise Burke’s tale is one of those captivating narratives where the ordinary and extraordinary intertwine seamlessly. One day, she’s translating for international giants like the UN and European institutions; the next, she’s playing the role of the royal nanny on “The Crown.” Then, director Danny Boyle tells her, “You have music in your eyes.” To top it off, Amy Winehouse’s father publicly praises her singing to a spellbound audience.

Louise Burke is an artist whose journey from translator to actor to musician is as diverse as it is inspiring. Recently, she ventured into the music world by releasing two poignant singles. The first, “Artist’s Rut,” dropped on February 3, 2024, exploring the deep conflict between creative ambitions and personal responsibilities. The second single, “Benevolent not Malevolent,” released on April 13, 2024, is a bittersweet track born from an attempt to save a faltering relationship during the lockdown. It’s a heartfelt tribute to lost love, with Burke’s powerful vocals and a dreamy acoustic backdrop crafting a moving story.

In this exclusive interview, Louise opens up about her creative passions, her journey through music and film, and the remarkable experiences that shaped her career.

photo by Kate McDonald

Hello Louise! It’s great to have this opportunity to chat with you. You’ve made a fascinating transition from working as a translator to becoming a musician. Considering your extensive background in translating for international organizations, how do you think this experience has shaped your approach to songwriting? 

My love for language was the reason I got into the entertainment industry in the first place. It was the driving factor behind everything. I was inspired by Spanish singer and songwriter Joaquin Sabina and his poetry so much so that I know almost every lyric to his tracks. This went down a treat when he came to play at the Royal Albert Hall and a group of Spanish Sabina fans followed me to one of the local bars after the gig. They couldn’t believe a Scottish girl had the poetry of Sabina in her blood. So, my passion for translation and language in general inspired me to write just like him and to find the truth – through the poetry – in every song I write. Language excites me in the same way music does. It makes me feel alive and when you leave Spain, for example, and fly home, you leave a part of yourself behind when you have a language like that in which you are almost as fluent as you are in your mother tongue. As soon as you go back, that part of you is waiting for you.

Could you share a specific moment or conversation that served as the catalyst for “Artist’s Rut”? How did it feel to transform that internal struggle between your artistic aspirations and personal responsibilities into a song?

To answer the second part of the question first, it was so liberating and at the same time grounding. It was a reminder, to myself, of why I was doing this. Why I was writing. Why the desire to be creative was so strong. As I felt I was sinking and losing sight of the road ahead, out of nowhere came Artist’s Rut. The main message that came through was stay true to who you are. Don’t lose sight of how you got to the world of entertainment in the first place. Always keep that in mind and be you – you might be in an artist’s rut now and you might think you have the solution to the problem of being in the rut but actually you’ve got to stay true to yourself and who you are and that moment came at 01:45 as I stared out of my skylight at the time in Ealing Broadway – suddenly the jungle appeared and I thought yeah. This is it. The animals know how to get up and get on with it. Now you have got to take their lead. I had so much fun writing it just before bed, I got the best night’s sleep I had had in ages. And a few days later, I had clarity as to why I had had that turning point. Everything suddenly made so much sense.

Could you delve deeper into how your interactions with influential personalities like Danny Boyle and Amy Winehouse’s father influenced the development of your new singles? What kind of specific advice or insights did they provide that helped shape the direction of your music?

I worked with Danny Boyle on the TV series Pistol which he directed a few years back in 2021. I had a role as the Sex Pistols’ stripper, Kay, and Danny came to me and he said “Louise, you have music in your eyes. I can feel it and I can see it. But this is the Sex Pistols. You don’t like the Sex Pistols”. It was in that moment, I realised he was right. My passion for music is so strong that I can’t let it go again like I had done to pursue a degree in languages. It was a part of me, music. It had been a huge part of my dad’s life too. I grew up with music. And from as far back as I can remember, my dad was playing You’re my Best Friend Don Williams to me every night along with I Recall a Gypsy Woman. I can still hear the music playing – the vibrations – and my dad’s soft voice singing to me as I fell asleep. So, Danny was right. I do, as a consequence of that, have music in my eyes… and in my soul. And, so, this was a crucial wake-up call for me to never let music go again from my sight. The evening with Mitch Winehouse in Pizza Express, Soho, was one of the best moments of my life. And all I can remember was Mitch coming up to me, sporadically, with the mic as he sang “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” – someone during the interval had asked if I was a singer because of how I was moving to the music, so when he came over to me it wasn’t totally unexpected —  and, as I sang into the mic, I just remember hearing the audience inhale deeply and audibly with a ”Wow” and exhale with a loud cheer and applause. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life. Mitch took the microphone and he said “Well, it’s safe to say she can sing”. I turned up on my vocal coach’s door the following day in tears because I could feel things shifting in positive ways but also in ways I knew were going to be challenging – I couldn’t hold onto the life I had known for so long for many reasons I won’t dive into right now — but I also couldn’t fully let go. But… things were changing and I was very fortunate to have people like my vocal coach there to help with that transition. People who have lived and breathed the industry – just what I needed at this point in time.

Your second single “Benevolent not Malevolent” was inspired by a personal relationship during lockdown. How did writing this track help you navigate your emotions during such a turbulent time?

Benevolent not Malevolent was a delight to write. I didn’t give the title a second thought. I barely gave the lyrics a second thought. I wrote about the day as it unfolded all from the comfort of my jacuzzi bathtub at that time and the story I wrote about was based on life exactly as it was that day. I captured one single day in those lyrics but a day during a super turbulent time. During lockdown. During a very uncertain time when there was talk of the army descending upon the streets and nobody quite knew what to believe and what not to believe. I was trying so hard to find security at home and there was very little to be found given my relationship appeared to have a rocky foundation. There was little certainty it was going to last and there was also little certainty, given the lockdown crisis, that I would be able to leave to get back home. And, since we had moved in together, where was home if where I was living wasn’t home? So, the song helped me realise there was still some fight left for us… some fight left in the sense we might be able to salvage what we had built up and the deep love that had been there and still was there. And I wrote it as a reminder to both of us (though I never communicated that) that life is short and when there is so much instability on the outside, stability needs to be created on the inside.

photo by Kate McDonald

You’ve had success both as an actress and a musician. How do you compare the emotional fulfillment you get from acting in a feature film to that from performing your music live?

It’s a great question. I always say it’s a very different kind of intimacy between the lens and the actor or actress in a movie shoot and the eyes and ears of the audience and the performer in a theatre or in a live music venue. The movie shoot gives you the permission to be more controlled and still. The power of the emotion is captured in your eyes and the lens sees everything. The actor’s flow is one of the most satisfying releases – it’s therapeutic. The ability to explore so many sides to the human emotional realm is fascinating and when you throw the ability to be still with that into the mix and communication, and send the emotion, through the eyes, the round of applause from the lens can easily match that of a live audience if it likes what it sees. When performing live, the sound of the live instruments and the ‘hearing a pin drop’ moments are beautiful to experience. On stage, you can afford to go bigger so it’s a nice contrast when you bring both disciplines together. A full-circle release.

Could you describe your typical process for writing a song? How do you begin, and how do you know when a song is finally complete?

Most of my songs I have written in the bath, believe it or not, with the exception of Artist’s Rut. I don’t hear the music when I write. I hear something. Perhaps a beat or a rhythm and I tell the story. I tend to write quickly and in one sitting and as soon as I have a good title I am done. I don’t tend to overthink because you simply can’t. That would be a hindrance. The first song I wrote, Casting Couch, was written in Manchester and was written both in the bath and from my apartment at the time overlooking the city of Manchester. I simply knew it was time and I had to go for it. My vocal coach had said “Go away and do it. Do something. And as soon as you have, come back and see me”. I couldn’t put it off any longer. The song was down and dusted in a week. It’s a great country tune—true bump-dee, bump-dee style of rhythm. I might tweak in the studio with the producer and my vocal coach but for the most part when the song is written in that pocket of time it is complete.

What are some of the dreams or goals that you still aspire to achieve in both your music and acting careers?

This time last week, I would have said next stop has to be a good solid speaking role in a Bollywood. I have worked on many a Bollywood with lead armourer Perry Costello as his assistant armourer and from having spoken to producers and directors I knew they knew I had it in me to be a successful actress. Well, in the space of the past week I have been cast in, and already completed the filming on, a Tamil movie and it’s set to be a big one. Little did I know I would then be asked to be the stunt double for the lead, Jiya Shankar. I have done very few stunts over the years so they have started me off easy but working with the team of professionals I am working with has been a remarkable experience. My next stop will be a role in a period drama series or in a detective series or in a feature film of a similar nature. I am also in the process of making my first music video with Tony van den Ende and we are aiming to start shooting that later this year. I am also set to head over to Nashville to record some of my tracks out there so really looking forward to heading over there. I am also looking forward to my first feature film in Spanish, French or Portuguese – I would love to work with Guillermo del Toro or Pedro Almodovar, and I would also like to release a song with Joaquin Sabina or Jean-Jacques Goldman.

Balancing an acting career with music can be challenging. How do you manage the demands of both, and do you find that one influences your creativity in the other?

When I first set out, I didn’t expect to get I this deep and it can be tough, yes. Especially with my translation commitments as well. I have done a lot of acting through song and I know that the training I have done as an actor has been invaluable for my singing, especially the performance aspect. I had always been afraid to sing in public and I knew I had to face my fears on that front. Acting training definitely lifted a lot of that fear. Now, I am more afraid of the concept of living without singing than I am of being on a stage in front of an audience. I have always had people try to classify me as being one or the other but I refuse to answer their question as to which I prefer. I don’t separate the two. Both are performance and one indeed compliments the other. You will see from the music video for Artist’s Rut just how important the performance side to singing is – I have gone big with this one. It’s a true spectacle of a song and it is there to be performed. So, to think Lady Gaga meets country is not far off the mark to give you an idea of what is to come.

It’s fascinating how titles can encapsulate so much meaning. Could you delve into the thought process behind “Benevolent not Malevolent”? I’m curious to understand the story or emotion you’re conveying with this title. It seems to carry a lot of weight and depth. 

I wrote this song in 2020 in what the news channels liked to refer to as “unprecedented times”. I was struggling to comprehend who a virus could be so malevolent in nature that it could haunt a vicinity and take the lives of many. When I looked at the lack of security outside and the lack of security in my relationship, I took pen to paper and started writing. The words didn’t stop flowing. It was a true outpour of emotion and it was directed at the universe. The unseen. It was a cry for the universe to step in and intervene and to stop the pain and the suffering across the world. It was also me telling myself that everything was going to be ok, while I took the time, during the writing process, to acknowledge how I was really feeling – “ill at ease”. Those feelings can’t, and shouldn’t be ignored, and so through the song coming to life I knew I had to wake up and admit that although things might not last I would be ok regardless. The song spoke back to me.

Lastly, if you could escape to any destination right now for a peaceful retreat, where would you go and why?

I write this as I approach Loch Lomond to film another stunt scene for Jiya Shankar on the Tamil/Bollywood movie I am shooting. So, I am going to say Loch Lomond for a few days’ rest after shooting. You can’t beat the beauty of this place. Anywhere with a view – and especially a lake or sea view, is right up my street. I would also like to spend a few weeks in a Tibetan spa and India looks like it is also going to be on the cards as well.

Connect with Louise Burke via Instagram

*This interview was made possible by Quite Great PR