Icebreaker Festival: Jerry Williams is back with a renewed love of music, and headlining The Wedgewood Rooms

Our ‘indie-pop princess’, armed with a batch of seriously catchy tunes, she was working hard – touring, releasing new material and even appearing on national TV.

And then… aside from very occasional gigs, she largely dropped off the radar.

However, in recent months – don’t call it a comeback – Jerry has been starting to emerge from her musical hibernation. And this weekend, she is headlining The Wedgewood Rooms stage at the multi-venue Icebreaker Festival in Southsea.

The News caught up with Jerry to find out where she’s been.

"It was around Covid time, I was wanting a break anyway – a reset, I guess. Then Covid came along and obviously everything just stopped anyway.

"To be honest, I was just enjoying my life, just... being. Just doing normal things, it's what I needed at that time."

And since then?

“I've just been enjoying my life! I think I just found it hard to get back into it again after coming out of it.

"I was quite happy to put it [the music] to the side – I didn't really miss it that much at the beginning. I think I had not long just come off the tour with Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things,” she supported his band Calpurnia on their UK and European tour, “all my social media was building and it was a really exciting time, but I knew that I needed to stop for a bit.

“It just happened naturally, it wasn't a conscious thing to stop.

“In that time I was writing, but more like library music and other projects, which I really did enjoy because it wasn't my name as such. You get given a brief to write, I don't know, a surfer-punk album. You do it and then it goes in a library so people can licence it for adverts or whatever.

“My own project just took a back seat, which didn't bother me so much at the time.”

Was there anyone nudging her to get back into playing live and recording as herself again?

"Everyone around me was okay [with her stepping away]. I had a few people online being like, ‘we want more music’ and stuff, but nobody was pushing me to do it.”

Did she ever miss being up in front of a crowd during that period?

“A little bit. I did miss that, yeah, and I remember thinking that's just never going to happen again. I couldn't imagine ever going to a gig because of Covid and everything, anyway.”

But you still played Victorious Festival regularly, didn’t you?

“There was one year I didn't do, but it's been the one show that I look forward to every year. I love playing at Victorious so much, and I am lucky that I've been able to play it so many times.

"It's been nice to get back into it again and to do these things that bring me joy and make me happy.”

And happiness is key to Jerry in 2026.

"I'm just happy to do it again, this is fun for me. Don't get me wrong, I had so much fun years ago when I was doing this, but it was hard. It was hard – my whole life was consumed by it. For lots of people who are in the music industry, it is like that.

“But at the moment I feel like I've got a nice balance of doing the music stuff for fun, and I've got my regular life which I really enjoy.

“If something comes out of it, then something comes out of it, but the main thing is that it's just making me happy at the moment.”

She’s also found her song-writing mojo again.

"I've had so much to write about that things feel fresh again. It feels exciting. And from having a few years where I had such writer's block, it's just coming out all the time at the moment. I love it.

“They're just at the demoing stage at the moment, but I've got about eight complete songs that I'm really happy with, and a few more that I'm working on. They've all been written on my own, which I've not done for a long time.

“I love doing co-writes, but these have all been done by me, which I'm really chuffed with. I've been working with a few friends, just to get things going again, but the plan is definitely to record and get them out there for people to listen to.”

And she’s keen to get more new songs into her set.

"I still like playing the old stuff, but some of them are very much, ‘ah, that was me at that time’, and the new stuff is me, ‘this who I am now’.”

“I am excited to get the new ones all up to speed and start playing them, just because it feels more like a growth of myself, and I'm sure with the subject matter, I do think a lot of people will relate to it.

"Hopefully people will be open to the new music – they were telling me enough they wanted it!”

As she points out she first came into the public eye locally when she won The News’s Instant Star competition aged just 17, 13 years ago.

“It feels weird to think about all of the things that I've done before, but I'm 30 now. I'd be in the 'overs' category on the X-Factor now!” she laughs.

While she’s headlining The Wedge this Saturday, it will actually be her second time on its stage this month. She was part of the A Night of Bowie charity gig on January 10, singing Under Pressure, among a cavalcade of local acts.

"It was so much fun, and to play with that house band as well, they're just so amazing and all lovely people. I was so honoured to be asked, and I really enjoyed it. It was a hard song to sing, but I thought, I'm just going to go for it!”

How does she feel about being back there as the headliner?

"I am really looking forward to it. I am one who does get quite nervous, but I'm just really excited.

“Before I'd be so nervous, it would consume my week, but I've got my setlist in order, I've got band rehearsal tonight, it's really nice to play with a band again – I feel lucky to be asked to play – I've never played Icebreaker before!”

Get your tickets for Icebreaker Festival

Icebreaker Festival hosts 80 acts across eight stages along Albert Road and Elm Grove in Southsea, from midday until late on Saturday, January 31.

Other stages’ headliners include Beatroot, Eloise Carter, Froglord, Wrex, Baby Said, and Joe Burger & DJPT

Tickets £20.

This year for the first time there is also a Junior version, in The Wedgewood Rooms and Edge of The Wedge from midday until 4pm.

Tickets £8.

For more details and to buy tickets, go to: icebreakerfestival.com.