Mimi Webb Wrote The Best Child-Of-Divorce Song Since Lindsay Lohan

Mimi Webb is entering uncharted territory for herself, both personally and professionally. Known for U.K. Top 10 hits like “House on Fire” and touring with Tate McRae and the Jonas Brothers, the British pop singer is about to release her second album, Confessions, on Sept. 12. But behind the scenes, she’s had to face a difficult new reality.

Five months ago, the 25-year-old found out that her parents were getting a divorce. “There was no crazy story to it,” she tells Bustle over Zoom. “It was just very much parents waking up one day and realizing what they needed for themselves.”

While the separation felt like the natural next step to her mom and dad, it was a crushing blow to Webb, who grew up in “such a loving household” in Canterbury, England, with her parents and brother. “It’s really hard to navigate,” she says. “For me, it was respecting my parents’ happiness —  whether that be as them together or not together — and also remembering that we’re grieving as much as they are. As the kids, we’re grieving that household base. Now, you see your parents separately.”

The experience inspired her new ballad “You Don’t Look At Me The Same,” which she calls her most personal song to date. Webb uses her own child-of-divorce perspective that’s rarely explored in pop music (save for Lindsay Lohan’s “Daughter to Father”) to craft a story about a couple losing their spark.

She considers her latest single the centerpiece of Confessions, an album that she says “breaks the fourth wall” and introduces a more vulnerable side of herself, without sacrificing her electro-pop sound. She hopes to build a catalog that blends emotional storytelling with dance-floor anthems, much like the pop stars she looked up to as a kid. “I just love a good dance,” Webb says. “I loved watching Britney Spears, these artists that would put on an incredible show, and just wouldn’t stop moving the whole time.”

Webb hopes to bring that same energy on her headlining tour, which hits the U.K. and Europe this fall. “I’d always say, ‘I would love to have someone come to a show and hear me sing, and walk away feeling so touched and moved,’” she recalls. “That was the whole reason I wanted to get into music.”

Below, Webb opens up about the writing process of her deepest song yet, her parents’ reaction, and performing with the Jonas Brothers.

Your parents broke the news to you five months ago. How are you feeling about it today?

The really lovely thing is that my parents have been able to be in the same room and be supportive. I was so grateful. But definitely in the early stages, it was just like, “Where do we go from here?” A lot of exterior family members like uncles and aunties are also involved, and everyone’s got an opinion on it, so you feel you’re being pulled in all these different directions.

How did you get to a place where you felt like you could put these feelings into a song?

I started writing this song quite a while ago, and we finished it when [the divorce] was happening. It was something I realized I was writing for a long time, and that made me open up to the fact that this isn’t something that’s just randomly happened, and we’re all so shocked. There are always those signs that you start to see when you're an adult.

Wow — you were subconsciously absorbing it?

Yeah. I knew what I wanted to write about, but I didn’t know it was about them. I was digging into something I knew was there, and the guys I wrote it with knew it was there, too. It was kind of unspoken. It was like when you go to therapy, and you speak about something, and your therapist helps you connect the dots, link things up, and get all that dirt out.

Did you play the song to your parents before it came out? How did they react?

I played it to both of my parents, and they were so grateful, proud, and happy that I wrote a song about their story and the story of our family. It brought us all together so much stronger.

How do you think this experience has changed you?

It's made me stronger as a person and appreciate the present moment. You start going back in time through all those different moments and memories. Now I think, “Oh my gosh, I wish I just could have lived in that one a few more hours.” And it’s definitely opened me up even more because I know so many people go through this, and being able to support one another is what’s helped me through it.

I’m nervous [about the reception] because there’s a lot of emotion in the lyrics, but I’m also proud that we’ve managed to turn something that felt like such a negative into a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. That is the most rewarding feeling: knowing this is going to help so many other people out there in their process.

How does this song fit into your new album, Confessions?

This album is about everything I’ve been through the last two years, and it goes so deep into each dark corner of what’s been going on. Sometimes we can get really scared and hide behind the gimmicks and try to create this character. Now, the character is me. I’m putting myself on the edge of the sea, just holding my hands out and screaming, “This is me.”

The first thing I just thought of was Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers reuniting to perform “This Is Me.”

Yes, oh my gosh. It wasn’t long ago that I was on stage singing with Joe Jonas as well, and I felt like I was Demi Lovato in that song. We all deserve that Camp Rock moment.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.