Delilah Bon: “When I meet a fan, I feel like everything they tell me, I feel the same.”

Delilah Bon’s new EP, Princeless Princess, is a mix of fairytale imagery, raw honesty, and the kind of unapologetic spirit that has become her signature. What began as an idea to explore fantasy quickly evolved into something deeper, reflecting both the magic and the shadows of girlhood, independence, and self-discovery. The result is a record that reimagines the princess story not as a waiting game for rescue, but as a celebration of self-worth and resilience, told in Delilah’s unmistakably direct voice.

For Delilah, the project marks a natural extension of her connection with fans, who see in her music both a safe space and a rallying cry. She blends sharp, straight-to-the-point lyrics with moments of humour and play, moving seamlessly between escapism and lived experience. With Princeless Princess, Delilah writes her own fairytale, one built on power, independence, and the reminder that, in the end, you can write your own story.

In our latest Cover Story, V13 spoke to Delilah about the idea of the princeless princess, being a role model to her fans, and how those fans can write the fairy tale ending to their own future.

What was the spark that first inspired Princeless Princess?

“I knew for a while that I wanted to do something fantasy. I feel like that’s how it started out. I planned to do something different from most of my other songs, which tend to be more relatable, and many of the topics I explore are quite dark. So, I thought I’d do a fantasy EP, and then the more I wrote the EP, the more it became dark as well.”

What was your original vision for it?

“It started out with the princeless theme. It’s the idea of rewriting the fairytale and centring the princess instead of having something where all you’re doing is waiting for this prince to come along and be the answer to everything. It’s the idea that the answer is you, and it’s just about girlhood and being a woman and how the fairytale would look if you didn’t just focus on the prince.”

Did you grow up on fairytales?

“Not a lot. I always watch Disney films and things like that. I think, subconsciously, every young girl grows up thinking that one day they’ll get married and that the meaning of life is this idea that you’ll meet a prince. I feel like a lot of girls are realizing that life doesn’t really work out that way. Focusing on yourself and having self-love is so important because you can easily get your heart broken. I feel like the fairytale is very much outdated now.”

Delilah Bon “Princeless Princess” single artwork

What does Princeless mean to you?

“Princeless would just be a princess without the prince. I think when you think of the word princess, it sounds as though her story’s not finished as though she needs to find the prince and maybe become the queen. I think a lot of young girls grow up wanting to be a princess, which doesn’t always mean that they want a prince. A lot of girls want to be in a relationship with a woman, and I think it’s a way for us to still be princesses and still have that fantasy and still have that escapism, but it doesn’t mean that we’re actively looking for a prince.”

“It’s the idea that the answer is you, and it’s just about girlhood and being a woman and how the fairytale would look if you didn’t just focus on the prince.”

Who were your role models and inspirations?

“P!nk was a massive inspiration. She used to write about the underdog all the time. The underdogs, the weird kids. I always identified with the weird women. I loved Bikini Kill when I found Kathleen Hanna. I love outspoken women, and I found her. Courtney Love. Even though she’s very controversial now, and I disagree with a lot of things that she says, when I first found her when I was a teenager, just listening to her music and the way she sang, that inspired me so much to just be less polished and be more raw and care less about being perfect and care more about being like authentic.”

You’ve got a very dedicated fan base. How do you feel about being that role model to them?

“I struggle with it sometimes because I feel like I put a bit of pressure on myself to be the perfect role model, but then when I meet my fans, I find it really easy to give advice and to be that role model.

I think it’s so wonderful that people look up to me, and I’ve become the P!nk that I once looked up to, where people message me and they’ll tell me that they’ve listened to my music at school. If they’ve been bullied at school, they listened to my music to help them find worth.

I get so many messages. I get hundreds of messages every single week from people telling me that my music has helped them through domestic abuse relationships or helped them at school, at college, every walk of life, people message me and they’ll tell me how important my music is.”

V13 Cover Story – Issue 107 – Delilah Bon

How has that changed from the early days, especially in your confidence to be that person?

“I feel like the audience has changed, and I finally got the audience that I’ve always wanted. I feel like I resonate with these people so much. When I meet a fan, I feel on the same level as them. I feel like everything they tell me, I feel the same.

A lot of the time, experiences they share with me, I tell them I’ve been through the same thing, or everything you’re saying, I completely resonate with. The difference is that the audience has changed over the years.”

Have those conversations changed as you got older, or are they similar?

“I’d say from when I first did the Delilah Bon shows, the message in my music has always been quite similar. People usually share stories of abuse and sexual abuse a lot of the time. So I’m used to having really deep chats with my fans after shows. If I go all the way back to Hands Off Gretel, when I was in Hands Off Gretel, I never had conversations like that. I always wanted to connect in that way, but it was nothing like this.”

“People message me and they’ll tell me that they’ve listened to my music at school. If they’ve been bullied at school, they listened to my music to help them find worth.”

Delilah Bon @ Boomtown Festival, photo by Lorna Leahy Photography

Why do you think you have got that connection now?

“I think it’s because people feel that I’m authentic when I sing about what I sing about, and they feel that I’ll understand and not judge. It’s weird because I have always been singing about these things, but I think the more I use social media and the more I connect with my fans, the more open I am, the more open they are. It’s just me being more open and being more confident in myself to address things, especially if I’m introducing a song live, and I’ll make a little speech before I introduce a song. I think it’s then that people afterwards will say, ‘Thank you for saying that on stage. It really inspired me to come and talk about my experiences.’”

You talk about some dark subjects, but you play on words a lot, adding a touch of humour. How much of a role does that play when you’re writing lyrics, because some can be quite straight to the point…

“I prefer straight to the point, but I think having both is fun. With this EP, I’ve definitely got a mixture of both, where some songs are more fantasy and more personal to me, where not everyone can relate. Songs like ‘Dragon’ they are quite crazy concepts, but then there’ll be songs like ‘Cinderella’, which is more blunt.”

Is there a risk that by adding an element of humorous word play, given the subjects you write about, people might not take your message seriously?

“Not really. I feel like my fans and I have a really strong connection, where I can sing something where some lines can be quite funny and have a sense of humor, and then other lines could be dead serious. Whenever I play live, it’s fun to see people change between the two, where I can see my fans dancing and shaking their ass and enjoying one side of my music, and then the next song will be a rage track, and they flow with me, and no matter what mood I’m in, they match the mood. I think it keeps it more exciting for me and for the listener, where it’s not all the same thing.”

When writing about subjects such as sexual abuse or male violence, how do you balance fantasy with reality?

“When I write, I word vomit completely onto my music. I use it quite like a diary, and I think, as a person, one part of me is funny and I don’t take life too seriously, and then the other part is very passionate about things. I don’t know how the balance works, but it works. The fact that I can flip between the two means that I never get stuck when I’m writing. Whatever mood I’m in, I will make it work.”

Do you look back for specific events to get inspiration for the songs?

“A lot of my inspiration, especially with the darker topics like songs like ‘Cinderella’, comes from things in my past. It also comes when I’m meeting my fans, and they’ll share stories with me after the shows. So, it’s always a bit of both. It’s always stuff that’s happened to me or stuff that’s happened to my friends. I write from different perspectives all the time, where certain lines will be inspired by something, and then other lines will be inspired by something that maybe I’ve experienced. It’s usually from true stories, from either myself or different people.”

How does it help you write about your own experiences?

“It’s a way for me to feel in control because I feel like a lot of the time, you feel like you don’t wanna talk about experiences that happened. I think talking about sexual abuse or talking about things like that can be difficult. If you can write a song about it, it gives you time to put it in your own words and really plan what you’re saying. By being able to do that, it just makes you feel powerful, and it makes you feel like you can control the narrative better.”

Delilah Bon ‘Princeless Princess’ EP Artwork

An artist I interviewed, who wrote from very personal experiences, told me he didn’t like to write in the heat of the moment. Do you think some of your more personal songs would be different if you wrote in the heat of the moment?

“Yes, definitely. I feel I never write about things in the heat of the moment. There have been times that I’ve written dis tracks if I’ve fallen out with a person or something’s annoyed me. I write songs, and then I always listen back to them and think I need to wait. I think, when you’re writing lyrics, you’ve got to write them and stand by them. Sometimes, it takes a while for you to write it in the right way.”

Another artist who wrote political lyrics said that it’s about sparking conversation as much as it is about trying to change the world. Do you agree with that?

“Definitely. I think sometimes it’s just hearing that someone else feels the same as you, and it’s as simple as that. I meet so many people that feel alone and they feel that no one feels how they do, and they find my music and they’ll say, ‘It just feels so good to hear the words that I’ve always thought in my head, but you are screaming them, and I think it’s that.’

Trying to change the world is quite difficult because people don’t want to listen. Especially with my music, people instantly hate it or instantly love it. It’s very much dividing, and I just don’t try and impress people if they don’t like it because there are so many people that already do like it, and they always just thank me for saying what I’m saying because they agree and they feel it. I think empowering people is so important, and trying to change people’s minds sometimes is just a complete waste of energy.”

“I think it’s because people feel that I’m authentic when I sing about what I sing about, and they feel that I’ll understand and not judge.”

You get a lot of females who look up to you as a role model. You also get a lot of males coming to your shows…

“I get lots of guys that come to the shows, but they don’t really talk to me, so I haven’t really met many afterwards. The ones that message me, a lot of them are dads. A lot of them have had experiences of their own and they’ll say, ‘I know I’m a man, but I relate to a lot of your lyrics.’ I think they’ve all got their own personal reasons for being there. I think some just do just enjoy the music, and it’s not any deeper than that. I’ve not really met many of the guys after the show. I always meet the girls… I think maybe the guys might be intimidated?”

Are you active on social media in terms of communicating with fans?

“Yes. Every day. I feel that’s what I’m strong at is having that connection where I’ll meet people and they’ll say ‘Oh, we speak on Instagram.’ I recognize a lot of people in my crowds because I’m very active on Instagram and, and I think it’s really sweet getting to speak to people like that. It keeps me focused, and I feel part of a community. It’s like we’re all in it together.”

Do you find people are more open on social media, especially given your previous point about men in particular not approaching you at shows?

“Yes, that is when my male fans message me. I get a few messages from there. There was a man who messaged me and said that his daughter’s coming to the show and that he won’t be coming to the show because he’s not my target audience. I replied and said that he should come to the show and that the show is for everybody and that, although the show is about women, and it’s about like our rage, it’s also really nice for women to see guys in the crowd singing along because it shows that we’re not in this on our own. Social media is good and bad because people are more confident in the good and bad ways.”

Delilah Bon Princeless Princess Tour Artwork

How do you deal with the toxic side of social media?

“I’ve got a video currently that’s at 2 million views, and it’s being boosted every day by arguments. It’s just a lot of arguments and a lot of threats, and it’s always people who have accounts that don’t have any photographs of themselves. They’re always hidden behind a fake account. I got a lot of threats before I went to America.

I had a guy threaten me when I went to the US, so it is quite scary. I did report that guy to the police, but it’s quite scary to know what to believe and what not to believe.”

How do you deal with that in terms of your own mental health?

“Sometimes I can deal with it, sometimes I can’t. I think when I can’t deal with it, I just don’t go on my phone. At one point. I couldn’t really read comments. I’d post things and then just not look at the comment. My Mum would go on my social media and delete things, especially on Facebook. Facebook’s the worst place for hate comments. I had to delete Twitter as well because it was just so bad.”

What was going to the States like, and did you notice any difference in the conversations you had with people?

“America was incredible. Before I went, so many people were saying ‘We need you here. We need a bit of hope.’ When I was meeting people, they were just thanking me and saying that it’s been something that’s given them a boost and given them hope. There are a lot of people, especially trans people, that I’ve met who told me that they were really afraid for the future and that my shows gave them something to look forward to.

I didn’t wanna leave. It just felt so right. I felt so comfortable and, I hugged so many people and they just kept saying ‘We need you to come back.’”

“I’m very active on Instagram and, and I think it’s really sweet getting to speak to people like that. It keeps me focused, and I feel part of a community. It’s like we’re all in it together.”

Is that something on the agenda then?

“Yes. I have my Visa now, so the plan is to go back as much as I can and make the most of my Visa.”

There have been a number of high-profile instances where artists have been cancelled or shut down for speaking out. What keeps the fire burning for you to keep fighting and speaking out?

“I see people with platforms, and I think you could post anything, and you don’t post anything except selfies and music. I want to be able to use my platform for good, and if I can, then I will. I think people are too afraid sometimes to pick sides, but if you’re talking about Gaza and a genocide, how can you go about picking sides when it’s just so obviously wrong? I always speak out, and I always use my platform even if it limits my reach with the rest of my posts.”

Have you experienced any issues?

“I find that especially with story views, if I write anything political, my story views drop. Whereas, if I post like a selfie that’s about nothing, then the views will be higher than if I’m speaking about something.”

How frustrating is that?

“Sometimes, if I put up a political post, it will get a lot of reach, but it’s because people argue in the comments. I think I would find it quite difficult to promote my music if it weren’t about anything, because the way I promote my music, I’ll write a song and then, in a short sentence, I am able to connect with the audience and say what the song is about, so then it sparks conversation.”

Finally, have you got any message for the fans that support you and believe in you?

“I love you so much, Bon Bons. Keep being loud. Keep being outspoken. Keep speaking your truth.”