Michelle Alexa Green was born on September 16, 1994, making her 16 years old, a fan of music from a very young age she began performing from the age of 6, she began piano lessons and vocal lessons two years later and by the time she was 10 she was already winning awards and various other accolades, she would regularly triumph at talent shows and travelled not only the length and breadth of her home country of England but she also travelled over to the States to take part in talent shows, her family were very wealthy and spent the majority of their time trying to help their young daughter achieve her dreams of superstardom, the money and efforts certainly paid off for the Green family as she released her multi-platinum selling debut album, The Voice Of Me on August 18, 2010 and a string of hugely successful singles, and all at the age of 15 makes this a rather huge achievement for the quirky Indie pop singer-songwriter who is set to return with her follow up album, Only When I’m Smiling at the end of this month, Rolling Stone met up with the teenage phenomenon in Los Angeles where she has been recording her upcoming album and this is how the interview went;

So Michelle Green, It’s been a year since you were unleashed on the music industry, providing your own brand of quirky indie pop with old fashioned influences, how would you describe the past year?

Michelle: It has been beyond incredible, it’s definitely been the greatest year of my life. I still can’t believe that things took off so quickly for me I really wasn’t expecting any of that kind of success and certainly not so soon in my career, When I think back that I was only fifteen when I released my debut album it’s like, I still have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming, I know it’s like a huge cliché to say that it’s what I dreamt of since I was so young but I really did, I worked so hard on getting to where I am today and it’s like wow I still can’t believe it, it just blows my mind every time I think about it.

So how did you get your first record deal, with Junction Records?

Michelle: Well I was in the states at the time, I was taking part in some talent shows and I was in Jersey at the time, the owner then was Max Armstrong and he lived in New Jersey and he just decided to take his family out to watch the show and I guess I was lucky that he showed up because he got in touch with me and asked if I would head out to Junction Records offices in New York to audition for the label and I was like so nervous but I went and auditioned and I did alright but I could have done so much better, I messed up one of the lyrics so they asked if I would perform an original song for them, that song was called fifteen and became my first ever single and things took off from there but yeah I basically auditioned for the label and I guess they saw enough from me to sign me.

And things took off pretty quickly, your debut single went to number #2, the following two singles then went to number #1, what kind of feeling did you have with that success?

Michelle: Again, it was just incredible, unbelievable I honestly didn’t think things would happen like that so quickly, it was the greatest feeling ever when I found out that the singles did so well and I celebrated the success just by spending time with my family really, my parents were really happy for me and they were so proud, things kind of went a little crazy after Red Symphony was released though.

How did things get crazy?

Michelle: Well so much happened after that single was released, people kind of went a little crazy and a little obsessive maybe, my parents’ house got broken into when they were away for a couple of weeks, I had to get some serious security not only for myself but for my family and anyone who knows me knows that I was so uncomfortable with it all because I essentially had to have security around me almost constantly, there was some pretty scary moments around that time and then there was the relationship with Matty which didn’t really help because everybody wanted to know everything, things have calmed down a lot since then and I’ve been able to live relatively normally since then.

So is that one of the reasons why you were so quiet for the past 6 months?

Michelle: Yeah kind of, I mean I was living in Manhattan towards the end of last year and I finally got to move back home to London in the new year, during that time I kind of relaxed a little and just took some time to enjoy my life a little out of the spotlight and slowly work on some new music, it was great to finally get back to London and spend time with my friends and family and just enjoy life and enjoy being young, obviously there are still so much that I can’t do because of the attention but I do try to live as normal a life as I possibly can.

Ok so you’ve recently announced details of your second album, it’s titled Only When I’m Smiling, what’s your thoughts, opinions and inspirations for the album?

Michelle: I wanted to create something a little less cute, with my debut album it was like, Oh look at the little fifteen year old with her cute voice singing old fashioned sounding songs but with this I wanted it to feel a lot less dated really, It’s got a much more modern feel and I think over-riding genres on the album are an Electropop sound that I wanted to try to push to the forefront of the album, it’s very modern and kind of fits into where we’re at right now. Of course I wanted to show what I can do vocally but it’s quite different from my debut album. The inspirations for it were essentially just modern artists really, I was heavily inspired by that quirky indie pop style and obviously the inclusion of an electro sound gives it a modern feel, there was no dominant inspiration but I listened to a lot more modern music in the build up to the album, I guess I wanted to show that I could be relevant, instead of the whole, “Oh look at the young girl singing like people used to sing.” But overall I’m delighted with the album and how it turned out.

Ok, so you did release the first song from the album, You Just Lost Your Lover, it kind of failed pretty badly, is there any reasons for the failure of it?

Michelle: Well your right, it failed to chart which was a little disappointing but it was a taster to the new record really, it was a promo single, it wasn’t the final version of the song and you’ll see the differences with the album version, the promo version was essentially a teaser for fans but it’s not important that it didn’t chart because like I said it was a promo version, judge the song off of the album version is all I ask because the promo version is quite different from the album version. It’s a great song and I hope the failure of that promo doesn’t put people off from listening to the album.

And now there’s one big issue to talk about right now, and that’s labels, your no longer with Shooting Star Records right?

Michelle: Yeah, I left Shooting Star Records recently, there’s no anger or anything because I do love that label but I just felt like I wanted to find a label that I can stay at for a while and develop and I started out at Junction Records for one album, I moved to Shooting Star Records and they had their own ideas, they have new owners and they had their ideas and opinions and I decided that it would be better for me to go somewhere else, I wanna grow as an artist and I want a regular interaction with my label because I feel a label should be working with the artists to develop their abilities and help them grow, I felt like I could stay still at SSR and I wanted to freshen things up again and almost re-invent myself and the best way to do that would be to join a new label.

So did you read the statement from William Grach regarding your departure from Shooting Star Records?

Michelle: Uhhh, yeah I did, I saw the statement from the guy and it’s whatever, it is what it is really, we have to take care of ourselves in this world because no one’s gonna take care of things for me so if that makes me a spoilt child or a brat as that guy says then fine I’m a brat. The fact is, if you look at the label in comparison to other labels for example, Monk On Fire, Studio 60, Tric-Jam and Chaos Records, you’ll notice that they seem to genuinely care for their artists, now I don’t wanna cause an argument or anything but in my opinion a record label should really be pushing themselves to do the best for their artists and you tell me, do you see Shooting Star Records promoting artists, even just a quick, hey check out “Whoever’s new album” but no, and that’s fine, I guess that’s not the way they wanna do things, hopefully they can continue to do well but for me, I felt like I could gain more from another label and that’s partly why I decided to leave, you can label me a brat if you want but I’m doing what I think is right for my career and I’m doing it because I wanna grow as an artist not stagnate which is something I think I would have been doing if I stayed at Shooting Star Records, I wish them the best for the future though.

Ok and you signed a new record deal pretty quickly, Chaos Records, how did that happen?

Michelle: I saw what was happening at Chaos and I liked what they were doing, they seemed new and a little innovative and so when I found out they were interested it was almost a no-brainer for me. They contacted me and we met up and talked for a little while before they offered me a record deal, I was really impressed with what their plans were for the label and they seemed interested in developing their artists which was the biggest influence on me signing with them, I really like their ideas and so it was a perfect combination, hopefully I can have a long and successful time at Chaos Records.

So you’ve become a pretty big name in the music world and the media attention is always pretty high, the question on a lot of people’s minds is your private life, are you dating?

Michelle: Umm, No not right now, it’s not so easy to date when the media attention is so high and I haven’t dated since Matty. I’ve been on dates since then but nothing has ever really became of those dates, but I dunno, I guess we’ll see what happens hehe.

And what about some of your fellow celebrity’s, does any famous names interest you?

Michelle: What, for like dating? Umm, there’s a lot of cute people out there right now, I quite like Hayden, he’s real cute and he seems like a pretty funny guy, I quite like Neil Stinson he’s super funny, Den of Teen Titans is quite cute too and well I’ve spent some time with Ryan Ross Hernandez and I know he’d be pretty disappointed if I didn’t include his name into the equation, but yeah if there’s anyone I was crushing on right now then I’d probably say Hayden hehe.

So, you’ve won some awards in the past, will you be attending the Chaos Awards on Sunday?

Michelle: Yeah, I’ll be at the show, I always try to make those kind of events because it’s always a really fun evening and I’m looking forward to meeting some people and seeing who wins the awards. It’s nice to sort of enjoy yourself and sort of spend time with people in a similar situation to myself so yeah I’ll be going, I won’t be performing though, I just kinda wanted to enjoy the show really.

And any plans to release a single from your upcoming album anytime soon?

Michelle: Yes, definitely, I can’t wait to release the first single from the album. We haven’t been able to decide which track to release as a single first but there should definitely be a single released sometime soon and hopefully people enjoy it and the slightly new sound that I’m going for on this record, I think there’s like 3 songs that we’re considering to release but we’re still trying to decide the perfect lead single so it may be another few weeks before I announce anything about that.

Obviously you take inspiration from other musicians, So what music is currently playing on your iPod?

Michelle: There’s a lot of music on there, I guess in terms of what I’ve been listening to more recently are more singer-songwriter stuff I guess, obviously Ryan Ross Hernandez is on there a lot, I’ve listened to Katie Coyle’s debut album a lot, Brandon Caulfield, Umm Hannah Beth and of course her brother and Isabel’s singles are pretty awesome. Umm, I really like Sammy Griffin and Aaron Marks, they’re really cool too and Abie Lena, Buzz & Hype of course, The Teen Titans and just random selections of everything really.

You performed with the legends that are The Bards at the Music Hall Of Fame Awards last year, that got a lot of attention and you received so much praise for that performance, mainly down to the unexpected nature of the collaboration, do you plan on other surprise collaborations in the future?

Michelle: I just love working with other people, it’s great especially as a solo artist because it can get lonely sometimes, if you in a band you can sort of confide in each other and your all kind of going through the same sort of thing but as a solo artist there is a lot of, Umm, let’s say loneliness so the chance to work with other people is always extremely tempting and I’ve worked with my producers Ryan Ross Hernandez, Red X and Gia on this new album so that was awesome, I’ve also recorded something with Katie Coyle for the album which was awesome because I’m a big fan of her music, but it’s not a huge surprise that we worked together, it’s not gonna surprise people like it did when I worked with The Bards because I think people expected us to work together sometime anyway but it was awesome working with Katie.
In terms of other possible collaborations in the future, I dunno we’ll have to see what kinda offers come in for that but I’d love to mix it up a little, maybe work with another rock band or even feature on a rap track or something but there’s no other collaborations planned yet but I’m definitely open to working with new people and working alongside Ryan, Red X and Gia was definitely a great experience for me on this new album.

What did the producers bring to the table on this new album then?

Michelle: They all added something different, I think Red X helped me get that modern sound and helped me achieve that pretty quickly, he kinda specializes in that Electro sound which was one of the reasons why I asked him to help out, Ryan helped me out a lot, he really taught me a lot of things and he made sure that this album wasn’t too over-produced which is great, and Gia was awesome, I was always told that producers could be a bit Umm, eccentric and well to be honest she was totally crazy, but she was amazing, she has quite an awesome mind and there’s things that she changed that I don’t think anyone would have thought of that worked perfectly so yeah she was just awesome and pretty lively too, but yeah I’m delighted with how the recording worked out, It was a great experience.

Okay and one final thing, when can we expect the album to be released?

Michelle: It should be released at the end of August, we don’t have the actual date confirmed yet so it’s subject to change but we are aiming to get the record on shelves hopefully at the end of August.

Michelle Green’s sophomore album Only When I’m Smiling is available at the end of the month, click HERE for more information on the album, or click HERE to go to her official website.