Glamazon! It's been nine months since we heard your last studio album, where on earth have you been?Hello! Yes, I've been quite bad to my fans, haven't I? I do apologise for that. I had to have a break, I needed to gain some new inspiration, and just try out different things for a little while. I've been doing a lot of photo shoots because I signed to a modelling agency, if you can remember. Never in a million years did I think that would happen, but it took my mind off a lot of things, so it's been a blessing.
I can imagine these past few months haven't been easy, right?Oh, you have no idea, it's been difficult. And it's still happening, every single day is a struggle... so what did I do? I put those feelings into a new album, of course!
Exciting! So we should expect an emotional album? A lot of ballads?I think a lot of people like to automatically think an emotional song is a slow song, maybe some people think that's just how it works, but for me it isn't. It is an emotional album, yes, but it's actually a very loud, noisy record, it's got a lot of balls. All of the things I've wanted to scream out during this time, I've put that energy into the album. It's a whole new direction, and it's something people won't expect from me. People are going to expect an album about killing men and lighting fire to their cars, but I haven't felt like that. If anything, I have a lot more respect for men these days, which is a funny story.
More respect for men? Why is that?Certain men, at least. Men aren't as bad as I make them out to be, of course, you're going to get the fucking annoying ones out there, but you know what? You're going to get your fucking annoying women too. I've got a lot more male fans than I actually thought, yes, I browsed through my Twitter followers, I was quite shocked, in a good way. I think times have changed now too in the industry, I think it's been so female dominated for so long, the guys are coming back. Slowly but surely... they're not quite there yet, but it's happening, and it will happen.
Would you say you've become softer as a person and as an artist?Not softer, just smarter.
Back to this new album, you've worked on it with Jared Nevo of Hey Lolita fame, correct?That is correct. I co-produced the entire record with him, he's a very intelligent man. Producers tend to make one hit song, then produce that same song fifty times over for other artists, but he's got enough creativity to avoid that problem, and he's just starting out, so that's a bonus. I've always wanted to work with new producers, they're really inspiring to work with, they've got such fresh and exciting ideas. I've got an all female band, so it was definitely out of the ordinary for me to then go and make my entire record with this one man, but it was worth it. It's a fantastic album, my best by a mile.
Even he tweeted that the lyrics to this album could make a grown man cry. Did you ever cry during the recording sessions?No. When I go to make music, I go to do the job, I don't fuck around. That sounds quite cold of me, but it's the truth. When I want to cry, I have my own time to do that, but I don't like mixing the two together. Of course, performing the songs live is going to be completely different, that'll be a challenge. We'll see.
What's so different with this album compared to your others?I'm a lot more honest on this album than I've ever been, which is quite scary to do when you have a few million people listening to the lyrics you're singing, but I'm okay with that. As I said before, sound wise, it's very different, it's quite alternative rock and noise pop driven.
What made you go in that direction musically?It's just really chaotic sounding, and that's how I'm feeling. Actually, I don't know how I'm feeling half the time, it's such a mix of emotions, I don't know when to laugh or cry, and that makes me angry. When I'm angry, I write a song. Before, I would write a song about killing someone, now I write about why I'm angry, and why I'm feeling the way I am... it's a lot more therapeutic, because it gets things off of my chest.
By the sounds of that, it sounds like you've grown up a lot since your debut. Would you agree?Well as I said, I'm smarter now, I've gone through a lot more. I've made a lot of music, I've penned many songs, so it's great to still be growing as an artist.
Your new single "Ashes to Ashes" premieres on Friday, what can we expect?(Sings) "I swallow my tears to taste my own sadness / I breathe in the air that we once shared / Once I spray your cologne over the house / I'll know you're here, your pictures will come to life". It's one of the loudest songs on there, I could have played it safe, but I think I'm established enough to do something like this.
I'm sure it'll be fantastic. Who and what has inspired you during your time away from music?Stephanie Fierce continues to remain daring and wonderful as always, she's my favourite female in the game. If I'm honest, I haven't listened to much music at all these past few months, no one has made me want to go in this direction other than myself. Life in general has just brought me to where I am now, as a person, and as an artist.
Life probably hasn't seemed very fair to you recently. Do you think you'll ever love again?Life is life. The more we call it a bitch, the more it won't like us very much! But if I'm honest, I don't think I want to. Love hurts more than a knife through the stomach, and love is hard. Love isn't just about the kisses and roses, true love is washing the other person's dirty underwear and squeezing their spots. (laughs) Don't I make love sound so attractive? You'll never want to love again after a conversation with me, I'm telling you! Maybe I should write a book about it all, the percentage of heartbreak in this world would rapidly decrease in that case.
I think that would come in handy to a lot of people. What would you call your book?It'd be designed to look like a teenage girl's diary. And it'd be called True Love, with hearts and a random name of a boy written over a thousand times on the front. This way, I can appeal to all the young girls in the world, and then when they open it up, they won't expect it, but they'll still find out the truth! Genius.
You've got it all planned. To finish off, on a scale of 0 to 666, how great are you feeling today? 666 being best, of course.Are you choosing 666 because I'm in the Illuminati? I'm feeling very 432 today.
Glamazon premieres "Ashes to Ashes" tomorrow.