The Eye features music’s best rising artists in a bare-bones studio space to perform renditions of their top songs with only one camera, one microphone, and one take. Featured on the latest installment is Maisie Peters, who is a favorite of some of your favorites.
She’s also a favorite of music consumers over in the United Kingdom, as her debut album, last year’s You Signed Up For This, peaked at No. 2 on the charts on that side of the pond. Fellow UK native Ed Sheeran is a fan, as the album was released on his Gingerbread Man Records label, which is under the Warner Music umbrella. He also once said of her, “She’s a very special artist who continues to push her storytelling in new directions. We had a few great writing sessions together and from there I knew I had to work with her.”
The year before that, Peters made her presence known by contributing “Smile” to the beloved Birds Of Prey soundtrack album and opening for Niall Horan on his European tour. That summer, she also got a Twitter co-sign from Taylor Swift. Peters’ journey began well before all that, though, as she started writing her first songs when she was 12 years old. She honed her craft in subsequent years and dropped her debut single, “Places We Were Made,” in 2017.
Now, Peters’ path has led her to The Eye, where she has performed a couple of You Signed Up For This highlights, “John Hughes Movie” and “Psycho,” the latter being one of the three songs on the album that she co-wrote with Sheeran.
For both songs, Peters took a simple approach, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. Both tunes sounds like they were crafted specifically for this singer-songwriter format, which is actually a far cry from the highly produced pop tunes that the original recordings are. Slick pop aesthetics can often be used to obscure a lack of quality songwriting, but with these performances, Peters proves that’s absolutely not the case with her.
Of “Psycho,” Peters previously said, “One reason I love ‘Psycho’ is because it’s so tight. I went into the studio going, ‘I want to make a song as upbeat as [Carly Rae Jepsen’s] ‘Call Me Maybe.” It was a lofty goal. Who knows if we measured up, but we like to aim high!”
Watch Peters perform “John Hughes Movie” and “Psycho” for The Eye above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.