TRENDING

Freya Skye is running through central London in sky-high hot pink heels, a neon green tulle duster and a full-on sparkly sequin dress, like you do.

She elicits a fair number of stares from tourists (“Is that girl going to a party?” In our world, yes, yes, she is) and Brits alike (“Is that the girl from Eurovision?” aka the biggest televised singing contest in the world watched by 45 million people…and yes, yes, she is).

While the most wonderful time of the year may now just be getting started for most of us, Freya has been in full-on holiday mode for months, decking the halls and pretending it was snowy szn (when, for the record, it so wasn’t) to film the music video for “Winter Dream,” her first-ever Christmas song.

“I was in a Christmas sweater, there were Christmas lights in the house and trees up, which was crazy because it was June and I was sweating,” says the 15-year-old actor and singer of the holiday track she’s been looking forward to sharing with fans for months. “I’m so ready for Christmas. Bring it on."

Bring it on are also words that would apply to what Freya’s life is going to be like in 2025, which is set to include some very big things. Like, starring in a Disney+ franchise big.

While she’s been on the scene in the U.K. for quite some time, she’s not yet a household name in the U.S.—but that’s about to change, fast. Last year, Freya signed a deal with Disney to release her music through the company’s Hollywood Records label while simultaneously landing the lead in her favorite Disney+ movie series Zombies.

Freya spoke her starring role into existence by basically being a proud superfan. “Whenever anyone asked me about which Disney shows I loved the most, I would always bring up Zombies,” she says. “I’d be like, I love the vibe, love the music, the dance, just everything about it. Looking back now, it’s so crazy how I would talk about that all the time, and now I get to be a part of it.”

Freya flew to New Zealand for the shoot, which she says turned out to be “the wildest and the best and the most exciting three months” of her life. The cast (which includes Zombies vets Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly plus other newcomers like Malachi Barton) was “so great, I feel like we all grew so close,” shares Freya. “We were literally like a family out there. Getting to go to set every day with your best friends is amazing.”

Calling her Zombies co-stars her “best friends” is a big deal for Freya, who says she was “the biggest Disney Channel fan kid” growing up. Flash forward to today: Freya has gone from fangirling and forcing her dad to do father/daughter renditions of “Someday” to being their co-star and FaceTiming with Meg in her free time—a surreal experience, to say the least.

“Winter Dream” comes smack in the middle of a run of new music from Freya. She released two other  singles earlier this year (July’s absolute bop “Walk Over” and September’s emotional “Someone to Love”) and will kick off 2025 with two more new tracks that show off totally different sides of her as a songwriter.

While Freya describes the first release, set to drop in January, as a “super fun, upbeat” song about “feeling like you can’t pretend that something’s over,” she calls the second, scheduled for February, as “really sad” and “very personal.”

It’s the kind of range as an actor and songwriter that takes years to develop and hone—and make no mistake, Freya has put in the time to earn it.

The U.K. native was just 5 years old when her parents realized they had to find an outlet for all her “performing energy” and enrolled her in Stagecoach, a part-time performing arts school she attended on Saturdays.

By the time she was 9, Freya was posting videos of herself singing Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen covers on Insta and enrolling in a full-time performing academy, where she started taking acting lessons and quickly signed with an agency.

After years of turning out for open casting calls and weathering rejections, Freya’s big break came via Instagram, where she had graduated from posting covers to writing original songs and making music videos for them with her friends. Someone from Eurovision saw the vids and reached out, offering Freya a chance to audition for the annual international competition.

Freya, who was 12 at the time, was eventually chosen to represent the U.K. at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Yerevan, Armenia, where she finished fifth overall and won the online global public vote.

“Getting to be on a stage in front of 30,000 people, then tens of millions of people watching at home, was amazing,” she recalls. “It’s sparkles and glitter and dance routines and just so special. It was a dream come true.”

Despite her wildly popular success abroad, Freya’s still getting used to her celeb status. That was evident at the most recent Descendants premiere, where she was totally starstruck. “I mean, growing up, I had a Descendants birthday party. I dyed my hair, wore a costume and made everyone learn a dance,” she laughs.

And when fans approach her to ask for a selfie? Her first reaction is still legit confusion. (Can confirm: Her “Why do you want a pic with me?” face is genuine.)

When we point out that she’s following in the footsteps of previous Disney powerhouses like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Zendaya and Sabrina Carpenter, Freya just smiles and giggles as if she doesn’t quite believe it. But with her new music, movie and the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour (where she’ll be joined by cast members like Malachi plus Descendants darlings like Kylie Cantrall and Dara Reneé) on her 2025 radar, global stardom is a concept she’d better get used to.

With all that’s ahead, it makes sense that Freya is looking forward to laying low at home during the holidays, blasting Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” to set the vibe and getting “very competitive” playing Spoons with her family. (“We’re really serious with it.”)

Freya takes her gift game seriously, too—especially when it comes to picking out the perfect present for her lifelong bestie, Liv (spoiler alert, girl, she’s getting you another stuffed animal). Why the cuddly cuteness? “When I went to New Zealand for Zombies 4, Liv and I got matching teddy bears. We wrote love hearts on them, so we’d always be with each other. It’s so sappy of us, but I love it. We’re just best friends.”

Ask her about the best gift she’s ever received, and she’ll immediately tell you about her beloved piano, which her parents managed to sneak into the house for a big Christmas morning reveal three years ago.

“They surprised me. I woke up in the morning and it was downstairs. I literally have not stopped playing it since,” she says. “It really helped me with songwriting—but it does drive my parents crazy when I’m playing at, like, midnight and they’re trying to sleep.” Nothing like a little night music?

As we wrap our shoot day in the growing shadow of Big Ben, Freya literally stops traffic on London’s busy Westminster Bridge, bounding toward one of the city’s famous red buses with a cheery, “Hiya! I’m Freya! We’re doing a Christmas photo shoot!” The driver smiles, waves us on and onlookers gather again as the photographer snaps some final pics.

Hang out with her all day and you have the sense that Freya’s balance of sparkly, magnetic star power and a grounded, warm aura is the reason why she’s able to project holiday energy year-round.

Freya has the kind of talent and confidence that shines all the time, but she still seems perfectly natural gushing about normcoreobsessions (like how her favorite thing about her first trip to Los Angeles was going on Target runs) and family traditions (they have a recurring “Sunday roast,” which is basically like having Thanksgiving every week).

In other words, if the Christmas season and spirit were magically turned into a living person, it would *be* Freya—dazzling and special, but familiar and welcoming all at the same time.

Hey, girl! Just wanted to let you know that this story originally ran in our December/January 2025 issue. Want more? Read the print mag for free *today* when you click HERE.

Photographed by MANICPROJECT. Styled by Whitney Brielle. Hair and makeup by Sophia Hutch.

by Kayleigh Roberts | 12/21/2024