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 An Interview With Little Miss Joyfull
Upon meeting Alicia, I quickly find that she has such a positive happy outlook on almost everything, She appears to be such a cheerful person, “I do find things tough sometimes but it’s not in my nature to dwell on the bad things in the world. I’ve always been a glass half full kinda girl and I make cheery upbeat music, I’d like to think there’s a lot of emotion and depth in my songs but I keep any kind of negativity and pain locked away.” So does she ever just get angry, “Yeah sometimes, not in public though. I do stand up for myself, I’ve never been a one for fighting but if something needs to be said then I’ll always be the one to say it, I‘m a pretty honest person so if I think someone‘s out of line then I‘m gonna call them on it.”
After the success of her debut album, This Is Who I Am she’d be forgiven for assuming her next effort would be a massive success, “I always want to improve. I’m not going into recording this album with any great expectations that it will automatically tear up the charts. I’m confident that the material for this new album is a lot better than the first time around but I’ve still got a lot of work to do with recording it. I think every time someone works on a new album they always go into recording it with the hope that it will be their best effort, every artist is looking for that giant album, whether they’re seasoned pro’s like The Bards or new artists recording their debut album, we’re always trying to make the best record of our lives.”
And longevity is something Alicia is more concerned about, “It’s all about creating a legacy, creating something that’s gonna outlive all of us and something people can hopefully fall in love with fifty or sixty after I die. It’s a line from the new album opener, it goes, “Clichés Come Easy But Substance Is Hard.” you can have a number 1 single and a number 1 album but that’s not what makes a career, it’s about the full product, I wanna look back on my career and see 15 album of great music, each track sorta different from the last, if I can make that happen then I’ll consider myself a success but right now I’m just working on a dream.”
Finding love is not necessarily easier now that she’s a big name, “It seems like an impossibility right now. I’ve just been so busy to find time for love, I never thought I’d say that but over the past year I think I’ve just not needed love. I’ve been working pretty hard over the past year and I find I work better when I don’t have that kind of commitment. I’m not exactly a fling type of girl and like most girls, I’m just waiting to find the one, but for now my music and my fans are enough to keep me happy.”
And is she the conventional female type, “I’m a pretty typical woman, I’m gonna get married someday and have kids, I don’t quite know what that would mean for my career but I’d honestly have no problem with taking a long time out from music. I’d be happy to take a hiatus from music to become a parent it’s so much more important to be a parent.”
Her personal life is often kept quite and although she’s an open and honest person, she has always seemed a bit unsure about talking about her personal life, “I don’t know where the boundaries are between answering a question and giving too much information, I’m not very different from everyone else I guess, If I’m not working on music and travelling then I’m usually either in my apartment or shopping in New York with friends. During my time off I tend to enjoy the basic things in life, I don’t really live the quintessential superstar lifestyle, I’d happily spend my weekend with a takeaway and good book or a good film, I’m distinctly basic.”
What about bad habits, “I don’t have any really bad habits. I’m sometimes a bit obsessive compulsive, but it’s nothing too crazy, just like making sure my CD’s are alphabetised and making sure my books are placed in height order, double checking that I’ve locked the door before I go to bed at night. I don’t smoke or anything like that, I rarely drink alcohol, I’m sorry to disappoint everyone but I’m pretty basic.”
And she’s friends with anyone and everyone?, “Maybe a downfall of mine is that I’m sometimes too open and friendly, I want my fans to feel more like a friend of mine rather than just fans, I like the crazy fans who send me the weirdest gifts, I’ve always made friends with people very quickly, it’s sometimes a curse though.”
And Moquel has returned after laying low for almost 7 months how did she feel about him returning to the spotlight, “It’s fine with me, I’m sure he’ll have his own things going on and I know I’ve got my own things going on. He’s a good guy but I don’t think there’s anything there anymore, certainly not for me and I think the best thing for both of us is to just get on with our own lives. I think although it was fun when we dated, It was also a lot of hard work, I don’t want to get into the little things but it didn’t really work. I think the bad outweighed the good in my opinion and I’m sure he’ll wanna get on with his life and not dwell on the past, he’s a talented guy and I’m sure he’ll do well with his music but I can 100% draw a line over our relationship, I know that the media will be interested to see if there’s anything to write about with that but there’s no chance of us dating again, maybe we could become friends but in all honesty I think it is best for us to draw a line under it and move one.”
She’s set to embark on a huge 2011 world tour, “I’m so nervous about it, it’s my first high production tour, on my debut tour, I kept things simple, It was me and a piano and a microphone and a stage and I was at ease with it but now I felt like I had to step it up a little bit, there won’t be any crazy dance routines but there’ll be a more high energy performance, there will still be some stripped down performances and I’m going to be trying very hard to keep the emotion in my music because I think that’s the strongest part of my live shows.”
And what acts currently excite Alicia, “It’s maybe a little too obvious to say that Stephanie Fierce is a pretty big inspiration, Of course Miss Vanity is an icon already, Glamazon appears to be very different and she’s got great music, Ryan Ross Hernandez is amazing, Let A Man Be Lost is one of the best records I’ve heard in such a long time, Cherise is doing really great and I love Pyramid, Of course I can’t forget about Matty he’s been awesome. Hayley Hudson has a lot of great potential, so has Chloe and of course Michelle Green just blew up last year she’s done so well. There’s so many more that I haven’t mentioned, Radio Vine, Hannah Beth, Tisha Jackson of course, Daniel is very talented, I really like Electrodeath, Hard Sugar have so much potential, I think Allura Silk could be great, Brittany Knox is great and she seems like a very nice person, Umm, if I’ve missed anyone out then I apologize but they’re all talented artists.”
And what can we expect to be different with this new album compared to her debut, “The debut was hugely pop influenced which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think it was a good first effort but I think it’s important to grow and I think I learnt a lot from the first record and there was mistakes with it which I think I’ve took on board, this new album will be a much more distinctive record, It will have a pop feel to it of course but it will be mostly RnB influenced, my first effort was inspired by modern artists like Stephanie Fierce, Miss Vanity and Tisha Jackson but this follow up is inspired by older music. It’s influenced by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Etta James and Otis Redding. Those are the kind of artists that I desire to be compared to one day and I think I’ve channelled a lot of those influences on the writing for this second record.”
So the big questions is, will the album be a success or will the highly anticipated follow up to This Is Who I Am fall short of it’s predecessor, time will tell, but If I was a betting man, I’d put my house on Alicia being around for the next 30+ years. OOC: Sorry about the length, I never know when to stop. |
