Music

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How would you describe your music to someone who hadn’t heard it?

Ooh. I’d say it was imaginative pop with a narrative.

How did you start making music?

One of my music teachers at school encouraged me to start singing, so I did.

What’s the question everybody asks you?

Apart from, ‘How would you describe your music’? Well, there’s always the questions about my dad. But he’s not involved in what I do at all. In fact, my dad’s never even met my management or my label. If people wanna talk about him, they should probably go and interview him.

The MySpace questions must pop up, too…

Oh yes. I love MySpace , it’s done an amazing job for me and it’s been insane over the past couple of weeks, but I’m not a poster girl for them. And as much as newspapers like to say I got signed because of MySpace, I actually signed my deal in September last year and I set up my MySpace page in November.

Are there questions you’d like to be asked that you haven’t been?

How does it feel to have sold four million albums in your first week of release? Ha!

What is the weirdest record in your collection?

Shaggy, ‘Oh Carolina’. It’s not very cool, but I love it. When I DJ and play that everyone always goes mental.

What’s on your rider?

Well I haven’t played any gigs yet. But what will be on my rider is cider. I’ll have a cider rider!

So what can we expect from your first ever gig?

Well, usually people don’t have this much attention before they’ve done a gig. It’s probably my fault for not having played gigs earlier. So I’m very nervous and excited about it but I don’t want people to come down thinking it’s going to be a perfect show. I’ve only done a week’s rehearsals.

Would the best thing be to go along expecting it to be rubbish?

Yes. Then you might be pleasantly surprised.

Have you always sung with a London accent?

Yes. Well, I did once do a cover of a Galliano song called ‘Jesse’ in an American accent and it sounded really foreign and strange. It’s not an intentional thing the way that I sing, I just can’t sing any other way.

Where in London are you from?

Well, I was born in Hammersmith, then moved to Bloomsbury, then to Shepherd’s Bush and then to Islington where I live now. So all over, except for south London – thank the Lord!

What’s on your iPod?

I listen to a lot of hip hop, but I mostly listen to old stuff like The Specials and all the things that influence my music.

Best piece of advice you’ve received so far?

Be nice to everybody on your way up, cos they’re the ones who’ll be there for you on your way down. That was from my mum.

Lily Allen is the new…

…kid in town. Ha ha! No, that’s rubbish. Lily Allen is the new Bob Dylan. Please could I have that instead?