Romy: “More visibility for queer women in pop has felt very exciting to me”
The musician discusses coming of age in Soho’s queer clubs, the lesbian renaissance in pop and the circuitous roads which led her to finding love.
PHOTOGRAPHER VIC LENTAIGNE ART DIRECTOR AND COVER DESIGN JACK ROWE STYLIST NATHAN HENRY WRITER JENNA MAHALE MAKEUP ARTIST CHARLIE FITZJOHN HAIR STYLIST JAY DOAN PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT KEVIN MASON STYLIST ASSISTANTS NATASCHA NG AND STOYAN CHUCHURANOV STUDIO BOW BUNKER AT ESPERO STUDIO WITH THANKS TO MARTA AT ESPERO STUDIO COVER FASHION CREDITS JACKET BY MIU MIU, T-SHIRT BY ARIES, JEANS BY JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN When Romy Madley Croft started DJing as a seventeen-year-old Londoner, she was quickly inducted into Soho’s gay club scene, becoming a regular at a basement spot called The Ghetto. “I was quite happy to be getting let in at that age!” she says with a chuckle. “At some point, I was asked by the manager if I wanted to DJ, and I was like, ‘I don’t know how!’” So, she taught herself: “I burned a bunch of CDs and had so much fun playing really big pop and classic dance anthems.
I just loved that I could connect with people without talking to them.” Circa 2006, The Ghetto was a bustling dive that specialised in ‘trashy’ alt pop and cheap drinks. “It had a big impact on me in terms of meeting people that I felt like I could be myself around,” says Madley Croft. “I could really explore my sexuality and my identity and find other people to look up to – even though I was very shy.
I ended up meeting some of my best friends there, who are still my best friends.” Strolling through the city centre after a recent gig at a fundraiser and “feeling nostalgic,” it struck her to try and find The Ghetto, or at least figure out where it would have been.
