Music for the Future
Music for the Future
Creating a Body of Work that Offers Hope to the Next Generation
An Interview with Elle Limebear by Katie Maryschuk
When uncertainty is constant, where anxiety is commonplace and loneliness endemic, writing music for the next generation is an artistic frontier.
While music pours out of the mouths of curated Spotify playlists into willing ears, there’s never been more of a persistent need for music that encourages in a real and lasting way. That’s why Elle Limebear knows that there is a need for music that tunes the heartstrings of a 16 year old in London, and offers a profound hope to a preteen in Capetown. There is a need for music that speaks to their very soul. Limebear wades deep into the waters of the coming-of-age ethos. As a musician filled with spirit and joy, she knows this very task is the thing she’s meant to do.
Limebear is 24, a new mom, married to Tom, and lives in Brighton, UK—and yes, her dad is Martin Smith, frontman of the popular 90’s Christian rock band Delirious? More on that later. She is the kind of person you’d want to meet at a coffee shop for a long and lively chat, full of the laughter that comes as a second language to her.
What’s true for many musicians with a modicum of success isn’t particularly true for Limebear. Where influencers and celebrities are so often publicly splashed across tabloids and social feeds, Limebear is content with sticking to the consistent and the quiet. There’s a softness to her life that brushes up against the harsh world of mass-music-making. She declares simply: there is another way. Though humble Limebear’s method is marked by a vibrancy that could fill any room.
It’s satsumas on a Saturday (or any day for that matter) and strolls for coffee around Brighton. It’s delight in her newborn son Maccabee and family outings. It’s an unfiltered social feed and a presence with friends. Don’t mistake quiet for lack of passion though—it’s the meekness of a steady life that propels her forward into the big, saturated world of melodies.
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In 2017, Limebear experience a shift in her spirit. She followed this sense—reluctantly at first—into the world of the music industry. Limebear’s dawning burden to make music that resonates with a younger generation came from a deeply rooted family of origin, but also a string of yeses to intimate moments with God. As her father Martin Smith lead worship around the world with his band Delirious?, Limebear recalls summer trips full of packed bags and evenings of singing worship all night at conferences. Along with her siblings, she witnessed the sprawling early 2000s worship movement. She ponders, “My eyes have seen so much, and my ears have heard so much… I knew I wanted to do something creative, and be with people.”
Coming from a big family means that Limebear’s creative pursuits aren’t just a solo act. It’s looked like long conversations with her father about the specifics of her lyrics; it’s looked like drawing inspiration from her brother Levi or her youngest sister Mary. It’s been 24 years of familial and creative love fanning the flame.
Limebear recalls those first waking moments and her initial reaction. “When the Lord really clearly spoke to me about doing music, I was like, ‘wait, I feel I don’t really want to. Hold up, I don’t want to do that Lord.’” As someone who loved being at home and around family, it felt like a considerable call when God nudged her towards music—but not an unfamiliar one. “I think because my dad was a worship leader, and so amazing at what he had done as a musician, I thought, ‘he’s done that, I don’t need to do that. I could do something else’.”
At the point that Limebear had the clarity to move forward with making music, doors began to open and personal prophecies came to fruition. She explains, “prophecies I had almost just kicked out the door or hadn’t really welcomed…it all came flooding back to me. If I’m being honest though, it took me a while to believe that this is what I am supposed to be doing. I still have times where I think someone else could do this better.”
Limebear’s songwriting serves a simple, yet indispensable purpose: to bring her audience closer to the heart of God. To know Him and to spend time learning about Him. And to do so with lyrics and melodies that invite and tell a story. “The heartbreak, the trauma, there is so much that goes on in life,” she says. “I know what I’m going through, but I am so intrigued by others and things I will never go through.”
“When I started writing songs, I remember being so convicted. I actually knew exactly who needed to hear my music,” That who happened to be kids walking to school. “It might sound random, but I want to have truth or encouragement and joy blasting in their ears. I hope they put on my music and they get encouraged,” she puts simply.
Limebear’s time with the people she most hopes to influence weaves its way through her daily life. She is no stranger to energetic Friday nights at church youth group, filled with loud tunes, games, and youth beaming with wonder. Being a youth leader feeds her heart to make the music that can be put on repeat by the kids she spends time with on a regular basis. She joyfully admits, “the youth teach me so much, and they’re saying things and having revelations and I’m thinking, ‘I need to be around you!’”
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Recording, writing, serving and being a mom aren’t mutually exclusive roles for Limebear. While that may seem obvious, the mutually conducive endeavors create a bond that she feels brings her even closer to her son and understanding the impact of her music. From father to daughter, and now from mother to son, Limebear sees the opportunity and the responsibility to nurture the next generation.
“Every time I’d go into a session and I’d say goodbye to him, I’d say, ‘whatever song I’m going to write, maybe you’ll sing it over your children.’”
Noticing the small, sweet signs of growth in Maccabee , Limebear explains, “He’s recognizing mine and Tom’s voices now. He’s going to be watching us forever—what his parents do, what his parents say, how they are with different people, what I am singing about and how we talk to each other… There’s that conviction that what I do now doesn’t even just affect my life, or my friends or my surroundings,” she says. “These songs are going to transcend to Maccabee’s life, his generation, his friends and his maybe even his grandchildren.”
This realization leaves Limebear energized by the call to charge her frontier of future generations. She knows that creating isn’t confined to her own limits, but rather, it’s an invitation to make music for the sake of kids who need just a little bit of hope.
Katie Maryschuk
Writer & Creative
Find Elle Limebear’s work here