“I Could No Longer Ignore My Calling”: Ruth Rothwell on Empire Child, Heritage and Finding Her Own Voice

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You spent decades as a senior A&R manager at MCA/Universal—working with Zero 7, Basement Jaxx, Air, and helping develop songwriters behind some of the era’s most enduring records. During all of that, songwriting was still pulling at you. What did it feel like to be that close to the thing you wanted to do without doing it—and what finally made you stop waiting?

Ruth Rothwell:Working in A&R for so long meant I had a voice that was respected. Many times I was able to say, “That’s not the hook,” or, “It’s not the right song.” So I was always using my songwriting abilities. In some cases, I even suggested lyrical changes that were adopted. So I was always close to my calling. With my friend’s encouragement, I was taken by force to meet a producer in Madrid. On hearing my songs, he said, “Let’s do it!” Then we got to work.

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“Trace the Race” is rooted in a very specific and profound inheritance: an Indo-Jamaican mother from the Windrush generation, a father from Cape Town who fled apartheid. That’s not background—that’s history with weight. How do you write about ancestry and belonging without either flattening it into sentiment or making it so personal it closes people out?

Ruth Rothwell:I feel many people in the world are unaware of where their ancestors come from, and also the long journeys that most of them probably took to start a new life. I am lucky I know the story of my ancestors and their struggles. The knowledge helps complete your own personal story. We all have traits that come from somewhere. Finding out about your ancestors is fascinating.

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The album was produced by Mariano Diaz, a Madrid-based jazz professor. It was also written between London and Spain. How did those two cities and that particular collaboration shape what The Empire Child became—would it have been a different record made entirely in London?

Ruth Rothwell:Moving between Madrid and London, it always gave me the sense of movement. Not only the journey, but time to reflect on my ancestors emigrating to new places. The experience gave the sense of being away from your familiar environment. It allowed me to push myself further. I think if I’d just stayed in London, I would not have explored and also not pushed my vision as far as I have done.

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You describe music as your sanctuary—a way to deal with life on life’s terms. But for most of your career, music was also your professional world, your industry, your livelihood. How do you protect the sanctuary version of something when you’ve also spent decades inside its commercial machinery?

Ruth Rothwell:I am free now from being inside the machine—the music business today. I have learnt so much, not all good. Man/Woman vs. machine: I feel the machine is winning, deciding an artist’s future, not a human, which I think is very sad.

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“Cut Those Ties” is built around a deceptively simple idea—choosing who and what belongs in your life. But the breezy, jazz-leaning sound sits in interesting tension with the weight of that decision. How conscious was that contrast, and is there something about music that lets you hold a difficult truth more lightly than you could in ordinary life?

Ruth Rothwell:I think conveying a life-changing decision is a responsibility. I still wanted it to be melodic and musical. The flute is magical in this song. The words are words of encouragement. Cut those ties—the ones that are blocking you from progressing in your life. It’s an important message.

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Your mixed Indo-Jamaican and South African heritage is woven through the record, but you’ve described it as being rooted in your upbringing in London specifically. How does a city shape identity in ways that heritage alone can’t—and what does London mean to you as a place that held all of those threads together?

Ruth Rothwell:Growing up in London with many Windrush children was a real experience. Our parents couldn’t advise us on what it was like growing up in London. They didn’t know. So we could carve out our own experience with music and clubs. We were tribal, so Wandsworth and Battersea kind of all stuck together. It was a culture clash of sounds and food, which was exciting. Reggae sound systems, soul and jazz funk with the New Romantics, mods and soul music from the US. It was a real melting pot. We followed George Power and Paul Trouble Anderson; we were true devotees. I feel real expression was so accepted then through music, clothes and dancing. I still love to dance.

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You worked inside the UK’s ’90s dance boom at a time when that scene was genuinely changing what British music sounded like. Looking back from where you are now—making a record that blends jazz, soul and reggae—how much of that era is still in you, and does it show up in The Empire Child in ways people might not immediately hear?

Ruth Rothwell:I remember I started going to the legendary Shoom club before the acid house explosion. A lot of the music had Black roots from America. New drum and electro sounds were more present. It was a more present sound with syncopated grooves. My record charts my roots and life challenges. I am now looking at doing remixes, as my dance A&R history is a big part of my story.

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“Negativity Be Gone” is about reclaiming control over the thoughts and influences that shape your life. That’s a very direct message. Is directness something that came naturally to your songwriting, or did it take time to write without the instinct to shade things, complicate them, add the layers you might have added working in A&R?

Ruth Rothwell:Yes, people who have previously worked with me know I am a direct communicator. I am not tough, just honest. I like clarity. When things are clear, we can make better decisions. So, for me, the directness of “Negativity Be Gone” says what it needs to say.

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There’s a particular kind of authority that comes from stepping forward with your own work after years of helping other people with theirs. Do you feel that—and does it change the way you hold your creative decisions, knowing how much of the industry machinery you’ve already seen up close?

Ruth Rothwell:I feel the music business has changed so much. I know in A&R departments there are people just dedicated to metrics—just watching numbers, streams and likes, etc. This is not me or my style. So, yes, the authority comes with being able to say, “That’s not for me.” I am learning the hard way that being an independent artist is really tough. But if you don’t want to compromise, you have to be prepared for the challenge. I always told artists I worked with: don’t compromise; be your authentic self.

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The Empire Child is described as your most personal body of work to date—but it’s also the beginning. Where does Empire Child go from here, and what do you want this record to have said about who Ruth Rothwell is as an artist by the time the next chapter starts?

Ruth Rothwell:The album is connecting with people all over the world; I think the story is universal. I would like the album to stand the test of time, a piece of artistic expression reflecting the times, global migration and integration. Of course I want to make more music. I have already started! I feel sonically I want to explore futuristic jazz with timeless songs. Watch this space. 😉