Standing Tall - The Making Of The Album [Part 1]
20 year old pop starlet, Stefani Vola is about to embark on a wonderful journey into music. The singer has already experienced fame through girl group G2L but Stefani is now out on her own, making her own way into the music business. Here, we see how she works, why she decided to go solo, what inspires her music, who Stefani is working with and when her love for music began. Stefani also gives us sneak peaks of the album and shares many tips on vocal techniques, how to build your confidence and fashion. This interview is split into 3 parts and by the time they are done, Stefani will hopefully be dropping her album for all of us to hear!
So, first of all, thank you for letting your fans get a sneak peak behind the scenes. The first question that is on everyone's minds is why did you decide to go solo?
Well of course my fans get a sneak peak, what kind of person would I be if I didn't let those amazing people behind the scenes? Eh, the whole idea of me going solo came about during the promotion of the G2L single; 'How?'. We knew that it was the last single from the 'Confessions' album and that fans may have to wait a while before they get a new album due to label issues and personal stuff, so I saw the opportunity to explore my musical talents and see what I could do. Also, it was partly to please the fans who would have to wait for a new G2L album and to let them hear me on my own and really see what I can do as an artist rather than just sing a verse or two with the girls.
Well I'm sure they'll love your album. Now, your debut single 'You Sent Me Flying' will be available to buy on Sunday. How does that feel?
I tell you, it is just an amazing feeling. To hold you head up high and annoy people by asking them to constantly buy your single and to also tweet about it too is just fabulous. No being serious now, it is still a great feeling because you feel as if the hard work has finally paid off and now everyone can hear the outcome and support me and show the love. It is quite nerve racking too because it could flop. Don't get me wrong, chart positions and sales don't usually phase me but because I worked so hard on this record it would be a shame if it slipped off the radar, so please everyone keep me on your radar!
Can you tell us what inspired the single and what it is about?
Well I've always had a passion for R&B and real funky yet laid back tunes, so finding the right genre for my debut was easy. Artists like Tisha Jackson and Alicia Lena really inspired the sound. For the actual lyrics it was inspired by a train journey I was on. I was going to visit my cousin and whilst on the train I kept on looking at this cute couple, I mean they were so loved up and kissing each other nearly the whole journey and I was going like that to myself; 'Girl, keep your tongue in your head' but it was sweet at the same time. So the whole 'never leave me, you've got me feeling like star' thing came from that.
You mentioned artist like Tisha Jackson & Alicia Lena, is there any artists that you wish to work with and is there any on your album?
Well there are no vocal collaborations on the album because I selfishly wanted to do all the vocals. However, I did work with Kia Johnson during the song writing process. She was amazing and was constantly phoning me up saying; 'Yo Stefani, I just thought of some sick lyrics for you babe' and I'm like; 'Kia it's four in the morning leave me alone!'. I would love her to feature on a future track. There are the obvious ones like Alicia Lena and Tisha Jackon but I also like to mix it up so to work with someone like Jason Smith or Glamazon would be amazing too.
We know you have a passion for R&B, so who did you listen to whilst growing up.
En Vogue are up there with the best groups of all time. I listened to them, and still do, nearly everyday. Their second album 'Funky Divas' is without a doubt the most played album in my house, my dad bought it for me when I was only 2 years old and I would constantly walk around the house singing "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" and "Free Your Mind". In the late 90's when I was at school, it was always Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child in my CD player too. I was never into that euro dance thing they had going on in the nineties, that was just a bit.....weird. Also, me and my friends always have a place in our hearts for Boys II Men.
So we've talked R&B and we can tell that it is the main influence on your album. Will there be any other type of genres on it?
Oh definitely, yes. I'm always one to mix it up because right now everyone seems to be mixing and mashing every genre together and incorporating like 50 genres into one album. An artist that is currently doing that and inspiring me is Chloe because she really mixes it up and keeps everyone interested. Most of the album will be R&B but there is also dance tracks in there, pop tracks and even some jazz. Years ago if you bought a pop album you heard like 13 pop songs on it, same with R&B, Dance, Hip Hop and so on but nowadays everyone is doing a bit of everything, I'm waiting to see Mandy Williams do some heavy metal stuff and see Glamazon do cheesy pop.
Can you tell us the name of the album and a few of the songs names?
The album will be titled; 'Standing Tall'. I named it this because it is a very confident sounding album. There is no 'I wish I was dead, life sucks' tracks on it at all. The album reflects how confident I've became in myself and the songs are really out there which shows I'mm not really in my shell any more, I am who I am and I'm standing tall and proud. It, hopefully, gets all the listeners to become more confident too and hopefully inspired by some of the songs. Some of the songs are; 'These Shoes' which is just fierce, there's also 'Get It Together' which is the seductive jazz track I mentioned and one more is 'Don't Let The Music' fade which is a sort of pop/dance big ballad that talks about meeting someone at a party and dancing with them and living in the moment but you don't want the music to fade as you know you will never feel that rush again with them.
PART 2 COMING SOON....
