Now then. I haven’t done any quickfires in a while (my bad…) but I am happy to start them again. It’s always interesting to see what inspires promising newbies.
I featured Emmi not too long ago, so here’s more about this new talent…
Tell me more about you
I stand at 5 ft 7. Not quite tall enough to be a chorus girl (I tried once) but taller than most of my mates.My accent is confusing to most people I meet.I was obsessed with Shirley Temple videos as a kid. I wanted to be her.Goats cheese is my favourite food.I have a fear of the flapping wings of birds.I talk too much.
When you did you realise that music was something you wanted to do seriously?
I was working as an actress in a show. It was a long tour, and we’d been going a while, so to alleviate the boredom I went out and bought a guitar. I started writing songs and being creative in a way that working from a script had never allowed me to before. Something was coming from nothing. From my own head! That felt good. I was on stage one night delivering lines and all I could think about was this song I’d started in the orchestra pit that afternoon. I was totally distracted. That’s when I knew something had shifted in me. I decided to give whatever bug I had caught a chance to take hold so I left the tour and moved to a house boat in the South of England. I spent a year away from the city and distractions, writing songs about stuff, and trying them out at local taverns. The songs from that time will never see the light of day of course… but I was finding my voice, in both senses of the word. That was the beginning of music for me.
What influences you to write?
People I meet. Their stories. Films. Plays. People struggling and failing or scared but doing it anyway. Something in the way someone is strumming a chord or playing a piano. A feeling. Everything. Anything. It’s all voodoo to me.
Who would your dream collaboration be with?
Oh man. Can I go back in time? Do I have to pick one?James Brown. Gene Kelly…(and it’s a tap routine and miraculously I can dance like Ginger). Eminem. Alica Keys. Damien Rice. I had a dream the other night that Craig David, Gotye and I were in a writing session together and we were arguing over a chorus melody. That’s not so much a dream collab but a collab I had a dream about. Does that count?
What’s coming up over the year for you?
I have a video coming out imminently for my debut tune My Kinda Swag. I’m pretty excited about that. We are also planning to set a few more tunes of mine free over the coming months! No solid album releases to speak of just yet I’m afraid, but the album itself is done so I hope to have release news for you very soon.