THE TOYN-ING POINT

My task was to create a profile on an emerging creative as if I were to be publishing for 10 magazine. This assignment involved me researching and developing techniques, writing styles and approaching a selected individual relevant to the job at hand. I chose to write about up-and-coming musician Darcy Toyn. With a limit of 770 words, I have condensed a haul of information in to just a short profile.

Attendant Coffee, parcelled in between the bustling scenes and industrial heights of Shoreditch, myself however blanketed by its central heating, away from the scheming and plotting of the winter winds. Singer Darcy Toyn is scheduled to arrive here at 3pm , by her recommendation.

I’m early- therefore filling my company with a caramel mocha, which the American barista urges is “a good combination, I like it.”. I didn’t realise it was that interesting. It is either that I am in the set of Jumanji, or Attendant coffee really has an eye for hues of foresty green, and strives for that“earthy, but modern, potted plants everywhere” type of vibe. The Wi-Fi password being ‘friedegg’ and people typing at the laptop free zone seems quite ironic but makes me laugh. Darcy arrives at a respectable 3.01pm.

She enters with a bounce, bright eyed, though the bushy tail is notably absent. A standard English breakfast tea is essential before we begin, she takes pride in her patriotic choice.

The 20-year-old describes herself as a Neosoul artist but tends to genre blend an umbrella of musical styles, with a metric split of 56% female and 44% male listeners. For her own taste in music, she remembers her first concert: Stevie Wonder at Hyde Park, honouring that the legend has moulded her sound. We are meeting this week ahead of the release of the vintage, 70’s inspired music video for her new and second single “Orange”, choregraphed by Eddie Simms.

“Visuals are so important to me, people eat with their eyes”.

This follows the release of her first summer hit “June” that boasts 13,000 streams per month, with radio features on BBC introducing and Rinse FM. She sits so eagerly at her seat I am afraid she might fall off, “I’ve always felt like a very different person when I’m performing. I feel like I’m not me, I become someone else and I wanted to experiment with that.”  I too often catch myself playing air guitar at her music, not realising that it is infact me.

Setting her apart as an artist comes quite easy, not everyone has such a vibrant orange phone case. She talks about the challenge of steady growth, but being grateful and working hard for any opportunity, resembling to that of Olivia Dean, “I don’t really take no for an answer, I’d like to say I have a few strings to my bow”. After a recent trip to South Africa, and dipping into the spiritual scene with aura readings, she realised she has always embodied her own alter-ego, inspiring her newest single “people always say, you’re literally so Orange. So I thought about it and it must mean that whoever I step into when I’m performing, they’re orange too.” - it appears you don’t have to go to Bali to ‘find yourself’ after all.

The cogs are turning and she begins chuckling, recalling when she wrote her first single “June” with best friend and music partner Sebastian Green,

“we were in McDonalds car park in my car, and had just been crying listening to , I don’t know Celeste or something. We just said, ‘shall we write a song right now’, and that’s how it happened”.

Picture this; a scorching cup of tea, salt lamp on, tarot cards out, candles lit. That’s where you will find this up-and-coming superstar writing her next hit.

I compliment her ability to still look incredibly stylish whilst trying to avoid the menace of London’s sharp winds. She immediately grips at her blue hat, then her baggy sweatshirt, then her rolled up striped jeans; and her head falls into her hands “oh my god this is all my boyfriends, I didn’t even realise!”. However, taking credit for the rather impressive powder blue scarf she knitted by hand, one of her unknown talents, as well as kickboxing, which we interestingly share a bizarre experience in.

If you fall victim to the aesthetic allure of Toyn’s ra-ra skirts, grungy jackets and vintage sunnies, she insists on a day of Clairo listening and scrolling the websites of (www.peachyden.co.uk) and (manymanyclothes.com)

As for 2025, Toyn says to expect new music very soon and “lots of live shows, I would really love to support someone on a Europe tour”, Jordan Rakai being the dream. “I literally wake up every day and I’m like okay. What the fuck, this is so fun.”  We’ve placed our bets on Darcy Toyn and suggest you also invest your ears now, that is until everybody else does!

“The best thing ever would be imagining a group of girls and guys getting ready in their house, makeup done, pre drinks started- going to see Darcy Toyn.”