Cambridge singer-songwriter Lorenza Wildcard and her Army move on to the next battle

Cambridge-based singer-songwriter Lorenza Wildcard is set to release her second single My Army tomorrow (June 30).

Although it comes two years after her well-received debut effort You & I, a lot has been going on behind the scenes.

Less than three weeks after its release in May 2021,You & I went to number one for 18 consecutive weeks on Cambridge 105 Radio’s unsigned chart.

It has since been played on radio stations across Europe, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

My Army moves away from the pop ballad with a modern feel that is You & I, displaying a more energetic and upbeat pop-rock style, with hints of blues and folk.

Sitting in the plush surroundings of the library at the University Arms Hotel, the very affable Lorenza, who is originally from Bologna in Italy, chats enthusiastically about her new music, revealing that she’s been very busy since the release of You & I.

“When I had my debut single out, I didn’t know how this was going to pan out,” she says, “and it came as a surprise because the single came out and then suddenly I ended up on some radio stations and on charts – and I wasn’t expecting that...

“Then I had to think, ‘So what do I want to do? Do I want to do this as a career?’ And I decided that this is what I wanted to do.

“Little by little, I started to play at venues and people started to contact me, saying ‘Do you need a guitarist, or do you need a drummer?’ Before I knew it, I ended up basically having a band, which came as a total surprise to me.”

Lorenza and her backing musicians set about rehearsing many of the songs that she’d written, and the up-and-coming musician, a former presenter on MTV, notes that she’s been working “on a lot of material”.

She continues: “We’ve been trying to get a catalogue together of songs that we can play at events, and also songs that I want to record and then release – so there’s been a lot of that going on...

“From the outside, I think it looks like not much has happened, but in fact a lot has been happening – the putting the band together, rehearsing the songs with them, getting all of this ready, and then all of a sudden last year I was contacted by radio stations and newspapers in Canada, America, around Europe, and even Australia.

“It was like, ‘OK, so things are moving, things are changing’ and again it was surprising – and I was trying to ride that wave and keep the promotion going.”

Lorenza says she has enough songs for an album but plans to keep on releasing singles every month – or every couple of months – for the rest of the year, in order to keep things fresh and to maintain momentum.

My Army was actually written not long after You & I. Lorenza says: “It’s about a very specific time in my life when I was getting over the worst of the challenging time that happened to me, and it was when I started to find my feet again and move on and feel much stronger.

“This song is basically about the people that helped me in that difficult situation. I always say there are three kinds of people, there’s the people who put you in a difficult situation, the people who leave you in a difficult situation, and then the people who help you in a difficult situation – and this song is really dedicated to the people who helped me out in that difficult situation that I found myself in.

“I remember it was one morning… it was not long after You & I and I remember I went into my studio, picked up the guitar and I just started strumming it and the chorus just came to me. Immediately, I knew what the song was about.

“It’s a very powerful song and it’s really uplifting, and I wanted it to be the next single because I like the idea that the people who follow me will see an evolution – and not just an evolution at a musical level.

“You & I has vocals that are kind of light and sweet, the vocals in My Army are a bit louder, more powerful and ‘grittier’.

“You also see the evolution from sounding a bit wounded to sounding more empowered, with energy, and saying ‘OK, I’m ready, I’m going to move on’, and I wanted people to be taken on a journey with me.”

My Army was recorded at Headline Music Studios in Harston and was produced by the “absolutely amazing” Piers Mortimer. “I’m super pleased and I can’t wait to be able to share it with people,” says Lorenza.

[Read more: Cambridge singer-songwriter Wildcard releases new video, Cambridge singer-songwriter Wildcard takes her chance after penning debut single]

Lorenza’s new single My Army will be available to download from Friday (June 30). Visit Lorenza’s Instagram or Facebook pages for more.