Artist of the Month: Tilly Cripwell

Tilly reflects on her time with the Prison Choir Project in HMP Wormwood Scrubs:

Prison experience
Just before Christmas 2025, I went into Wormwood Scrubs with Prison Choir Project to shadow them as they led the men in preparing for their Christmas carol service, due to happen the following day. It was great to chat to Adam and the other pros about the realities of the prisons, and this opened my eyes further to the countless benefits that communal singing can bring to the prisoners. This was especially prominent when considering efforts towards rehabilitation, in a place where the men are in their cells for 23 hours per day. I had brought my guitar along, and joined the pros in accompanying the men as they sang through the carols. It was lovely to meet them in this context, and to hear solos and a general zest for music. During the breaks from singing, I performed a couple of my own songs, something that felt both eerie and special within the setting of the Wormwood Scrubs chapel. 
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Coming away from prison, I was stirred both in thought and emotion, and led to really think about the conditions in which the prisoners are punished, and simultaneously expected to make rehabilitative progress. Prisons are so commonly overlooked, both socially and financially, straining the rehabilitative progress further and making the whole system seem frustratingly flawed. When performing, I played my song, ‘Inspiration’, the first in concept EP, ‘The Mood Board’, which includes songs which revolve around further titles such as Motivation, Achievement, Pride and Satisfaction. It intends to both inspire and motivate listeners in whatever they are doing. My experience with Prison Choir Project, in turn, inspired me to write the following song: 'Another chance to fly'

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Another Chance to Fly - about the imbalance between punishment and rehabilitation. 
Verse
If you catch a little bird, just make sure you don’t clip its wings and
If you keep it in a cage, at least don’t stop it when it sings,
You say it learns a lesson when it’s you pulling the strings,
So if you will not let it out, don’t stop the love from getting in.

If you catch a little bird, at least don’t take the tune it sings,
That tune is one thing it can keep when you’ve taken almost everything,
You say it learns a lesson when melodies cannot escape, 
But how can you wish for harmony when the tune’s taken away?
Chorus
If that bird tries to escape, to break out of its cage,
It beats its wings, does everything to try to fly away,
But no matter what it does, it cannot take to the sky,
Although it made mistakes
Why does it mean that it should
Never get another chance to fly?
Verse
You say you’ll set it free some day, but it’ll never fly again,
’Cause you have clipped its wings, it can’t take to the sky, soar through the air,
You say it learns a lesson when it’s sitting behind bars,
But no lesson is a good one when time’s the only thing to pass.

You say you’ll set it free some day, but it’ll never sing again,
’Cause you have cut its vocal cords, taken the air out of its lungs,
You say it learns a lesson when you take away its tune,
But how can it learn a lesson when the teacher is you?
Chorus
If that bird tries to escape, to break out of its cage,
It beats its wings, does everything to try to fly away,
But no matter what it does, it cannot take to the sky,
Although it made mistakes
Why does it mean that it should
Never get another chance to fly?
Verse
Now you say you’ve set it free but it has no feathers left,
The life that now awaits it is a life without a nest,
You say it learnt its lesson and that it passed the test,
A good student behind bars but in the sky, it’s now hopeless.
Chorus
That little bird tried to escape, to break out of its cage,
It beat its wings, it did everything to try to fly away,
But no matter what it did, now it can’t take to the sky,
Although it made mistakes,
Why does it mean that it can 
Never get another chance to fly?

I'm a 24-year-old singer-songwriter who also plays bass for the band, Patience Please. My folk-acoustic style centres on lyrics, vocals and harmonies, aiming to deliver powerful messages through thoughtful songwriting. My latest self-released singles, Leave Molly mAlone and Inspiration, reflect the value of activism through music and songwriting. My key inspirations include Tracy Chapman, Eva Cassidy, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan for the way they manipulate lyrics. I busked on Grafton Street (Dublin) from September 2022-May 2025, and have been performing at festivals, gigs, concerts and open mics since the age of 11. I now perform both as a solo artist and as a bassist for the pop-rock band, Patience Please. I will release my concept album, The Mood Board, in the first half of 2026, and will showcase this at many further gigs. 
I am also the founder of the ‘Leave Molly mAlone’ campaign, for which I harnessed my busking platform to advocate for gender equity, highlighting how the mistreatment of Dublin’s famous Molly Malone statue promotes sexist cultural norms. The campaign received global media attention, including coverage in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Telegraph, Good Morning Britain and RTÉ Prime Time TV. I navigated the media and collaborated with Dublin City Council to secure permanent statue modifications and improved female representation in culture. International Women’s Day marked the release of my version of ‘Molly Malone’, with two original verses in an ode to the campaign. I have also just been nominated for the Harper’s Bazaar ‘Women of the Year’ Awards 2025 for my campaign work.

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