Billy Nomates is the moniker of Tor Maries, a UK singer-songwriter who released her self-titled debut album back in August. Even though the album was recorded pre-pandemic, the album resonates in the current climate due to its themes of class struggles and social inequality.
“I’ve never really had money, but I was the poorest I’d been a couple of years ago after working a load of minimum wage jobs,” Maries explains to NME. “I was miserable and poor and unfulfilled: I couldn’t write about fancying someone or anything nice. I thought: ‘If I’m going to write again, I have no option but to write about “ah, it’s all crap “.’”
This is well exemplified by one of the album’s standout tracks “FNP,” which is short for “Forgotten Normal People.” It highlights the reality that if you are not part of the elite then the powers that be don’t care about you.
In the United States, this reality has become even clearer considering the government’s response to COVID-19 and their failure to pass an adequate stimulus package. Both sides of the political aisle are using “Forgotten Normal People” as a pawn in their power grab.
The lyrics also contain a message of empowerment: “In a corner of society that they hope disappears. That has more soul than their tiny minds could handle. Forgotten Normal People are a force to remember. And what they havenʼt considered, Is how we hold everything together.”
If people band together and make their voices heard, they can force those in power to remember them.