NO ANGEL, JUST
A STAR
British singer Dido has made a
big splash in the U.S. with her album, No Angel. The track Here
With Me was chosen as the theme song for the television show Roswell,
while rapper Eminem sampled her Thankyou in his song Stan.
No Angel was released in Europe in October, and Dido embarks on her
first European tour later in January. Time's Jeff Chu recently spoke
with Dido. Here are excerpts from their conversation.
Time: How did you get
"discovered"
Dido: There was this
week, four or five years ago, when Rollo [her older brother, a music
producer and member of the U.K. group Faithless] suddenly spotted it,
having spent two years telling me to get out and sort of stop bothering
him. Clive Davis [then head of Arista Records] also called that
week, which was this bizarre thing, because I hadn't sent anything to
anyone. I think my demo tape just drifted around the music industry
through friends and by word-of-mouth, basically. It also suddenly
dawned on Rollo. In record company meetings, they were always
looking for really good things to sign and it suddenly dawned on him that
he'd been sitting on it all along. You know, he kept using my stuff
as an example of something good, saying that they should be trying to sign
something similar, and they turned around to him and said, "Why the
fuck aren't we signing your sister?" ... It was nice that suddenly it
was, "O.K., maybe you can have a record deal."
Did you study music as
a kid?
I learned a few
instruments and went to music school and stuff. I was a very, very
strange little kid. I practiced completely of my own volition,
according to my mum, who wasn't sure why I was doing it. I practiced
for six or seven hours every night from the age of five. It was my
thing. It was what I liked doing. My mum was always like,
"You are very strange." I would come home from school and
go upstairs, and all she'd hear was [high screechy noises]. I did
violin, piano and recorder. I'd do like two hours on each instrument
and maybe an hour on harmony and composition. It's so weird. I don't
know what I was up to. Now I don't have that sort of patience.
I have respect for how I was when I was younger, because I'm so not that
cool now.
How do you know now
that music is "the real thing," - what you should be doing with
your life?
I feel really lucky to
have found this before I'm 30, to be doing absolutely what I want to
do. I would be quite happy if I died tomorrow. I'd still feel
good about having done what I wanted to do. Now I totally know what
I'm doing and I love it ... When I first started, I was kind of naive,
saying, "Yeah, yeah, if it doesn't work out, I'll just go back to my
old job." That would just be horrific to me now. Can you
imagine? Nah! No! Horrible!
Is the album what you
expected when you started?
Yeah, it is, actually ...
I'm really pleased with it. I'm embarrassed to say, I really do love
the record. I still listen to it. There's nothing I would go
back and change. I was very, very careful at the time that nothing
went on that record that I didn't like. I didn't want to be here two
years down the line and go, "You know what? I've always hated
my record." Do you know what I mean? I just didn't want
to go there.
Tell me about the
songwriting process.
It's always
different. Sometimes I'm in the studio at home, fussing about on my
own and a friend will come around and get involved. Sometimes,
someone will send me a sample of something and then I'll write over
that. Sometimes I'll write something with the guitar. Or I'll
go down to the studio and see Rollo and I'll be like, "I've got this
music and a melody idea. Give me a lyric idea."
My whole thing on the
album and I think on my next album, too, is really just to keep writing
with mates. If I'm in the middle of a song and a friend of mine
comes in - we all work out of the same studio - and he'll go, "Oh,
you know, it would be really cool if you changed that chord to that
chord," and then they get involved and it's just really nice.
Yeah, it's just a sort of fun thing, the writing process. I like
people getting involved and having ideas because it gives you new ideas as
well ... What I love about this record is it's just all me and my mates
and my brother basically.
Someone wrote that
your style is a combo of trip-hop and something else. What does
trip-hop mean?
I've never quite worked
that out. I think it's sort of like softer-focused hip hop.
That's the way I see it. It's sort of slowed-down dance music,
sampling hip-hop beats using dance sounds.
If I were to force you
to boil down your own style to one phrase, what would that be?
You can't force me to do
that, because I haven't been able to do it for two years. I came up
with a really good one the other day ... I can't remember what it
was. I finally thought, "Well, maybe that's what it
is." D'you know what I mean? Wait... Oh! In fact,
it was using that trip-hop thing. It's trip-hop with good songs.
Wait, does that mean
Faithless songs were bad? [Dido formerly sang back-up for
Faithless]
No! No!
They're wonderful! A lot of trip hop stuff is more meandering than
what I do. [I'm] sort of bringing it down. If you took all the
electronic stuff away, there's still a song there that sounds good, just
on the guitar.
What are you going do
do for your next album?
Probably a rap-rock
thing. [Laughs] No, I'm not sure. The same principle will
follow. I'm going to write the songs and then produce them in the
most loving way possible. That's not to say I won't be moving off
into different directions, because I think I always will. Just
because there are so many bits of music that I love. I've been
winding up journalists left, right and centre ... "Maybe I'll do a
punk album now." And they're like "Oh, God, that Eminem's
really changed her!"
When's the next one
coming out?
Not for a while. I
just saw my schedule for next year and my first opportunity to even record
anything is October. I want to tour England and Europe and the rest
of the world, so that's going to take me through the summer. Then
the third single will be coming out in America.
Which one's that?
I don't know
actually. I haven't made my mind up. I'm sort of a great
believer in making my mind up at the last minute. You can feel
it. The fans sort of tell you ... Maybe it's good to bring a
different vibe, so you're picking up a different audience than the one
you've already got.
The record company
lets you pick whichever song you want?
Weirdly enough, they
do. It is my decision. I'm quite bossy. And a control
freak. I'm a sort of smiling control freak.
OK, a few quick
questions. Favourite drink?
Water, without a
doubt. And tea. The around me have had to learn how I have
this really anal cup of tea. My only concession to exploiting my
position as sort of a pop star is sending people out for this ridiculous
complicated cup of tea. It has to be from Starbucks. Because I
don't drink milk, because I'm allergic to it, it has to be soy milk.
It's very complicated.
Favourite movie?
Star Wars.
The first one, just because I saw it 15 or 16 times. But I like them
all. Bear in mind, I was nine or whatever when the first one came
out. I was just at the perfect age to be completely blown
away. I just thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen. I'm
still living on the memory of when I first saw it.
Favourite food?
Probably bananas.
Mmmm.... They're just a very good source of potassium ... Did you know
that if you eat too many bananas, you can die if you have too much
potassium? So you have to be careful.
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