Francine LimYou’d think the bubbly 21-year-old Pixie Lott would be used to the luxe life that comes with fame, but the jovial star remains a humble Londoner at heart, missing family and friends and preferring home comforts to a star suite when she travels for work.
“When I’ve been around L.A. or something, I always come home, and in East London, where I live, there’s loads of Indian restaurants, and we have some curry,” Pixie tells journalists in Singapore, “and then just get into my own bed, which is really nice.”
And like any regular young person, she must play counselor and comforter to her friends. “Let’s say if my friend had been in a breakup with her boyfriend, then I’d just be like, “Let’s go out and have loads of fun, cause it’s all about tonight”.
This was actually what inspired “All About Tonight”, her first single from the new album, she says. “Everyone has hard times and bad times and everyone deals with it differently. If I’m feeling really upset or sad about something, I can change it to think positively. I feel like that’s the best method to get over something. Sometimes you just have to let time take its course. But if you can try to speed it along quicker, then it’s always best.”
Decked in an American Apparel and Tory Burch outfit she put together, the doll-like Pixie settled comfortably into the armchair, approachably affable and yet confident, after 6 years in the business. She may have made her debut in June 2009, but the preparations for stardom started at the age of 13 when she took on a role in the West End’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
It has also made her professional enough not to mix her private life with her work. When asked if she’d want to feature boyfriend and model Oliver Cheshire in her music videos, she says, “I’d like to think that if he would be there, we’d have fun. But I don’t know if it would be the right thing to do… It had to depend on what kind of song it was. Like if it was, like the song was about him, and it was like a love song, it’d be a bit too much if he was in the video as well.”
At her showcase at Zirca to promote Young Foolish Happy., Pixie bedazzled her fans in a sleek black dress, a matching necklace, and a pair of bejeweled wire cat ears peeking out from her platinum blonde locks. She may have only graced the stage almost an hour after the doors opened, but she was instantly forgiven. Even radio DJ Boy Thunder (who hosted the showcase) and rapper Kevin Lestercouldn’t hide their star struck gazes every time either one of them was on stage with her.
The first single from Young Foolish Happy, “All About Tonight”, kick started the showcase. The 800 Crazy Cats (Pixie Lott’s fans) burst into life upon their idol’s appearance and went wild the moment the song started, jumping on their feet and enthusiastically waving their arms.
Fan-favourite “Boys and Girls” from the previous album, Turn It Up, kept the crowd dancing on their feet. It was a number that got the blonde popstar compared to industry stalwart P!nk and fellow Britain Alexandra Burke.
“When I first released [Turn It Up], I was compared to every female artist out there,” said Pixie, “I feel like I’m very different, because I love that whole soulful vibe so it comes out a bit in my albums.”
On the rather unexpected collaboration with G-Dragon and T.O.P, she earlier said, “I felt that it was really cool. Cause it just sounds fresh and a little bit different. They sounded really good on it, so I was like, ‘Perfect, let’s put this on the Asian album’.”
Photos courtesy of Asyraf Chazz & Noel Teo.
Next, Pixie crooned her way into an acoustic version of “Cry Me Out”, with guitarist Bani Hidir from local band, 53A. Her soulful vocals warmed up the small club, blending harmoniously with Hidir’s chords.
It was easy to see how differently she brings each song across and it was clear that following “Cry Me Out”, the British beauty connected with the audience more through “Everybody Hurts Sometimes”.
As for the one song in Young Foolish Happy to represent her life now, she picks “Stevie On The Radio”, which sees her collaborating with the legendary Stevie Wonder, who is one of Pixie’s musical influences.
The starstruck singer gushes on about her idol who played the harmonica on the track, “I was just over the moon just to meet him. But to have him on the song and have him play, I’m just really happy just to even have that. Just to experience that, I’m very happy.”
On why else the song resonates with her, she says, “Because it’s about being young and reckless and free and being in the sun in summer.”
You can’t get any more normal than that.
Click to hear audio clips of Pixie’s answers to other questions!
- What is your craziest, most fun fan experience? Question01
- It’s your first time in Singapore, so have you travelled around yet? Question02
- Anything you hope to see or heard about Singapore? Question03
- You acted in Fred: The Movie, in 2010, so if you could pick a movie to star in, which will it be and who do you want to play? Question04
- Do you think you missed out on your childhood because you started so early? Question05
- Your new single featured GD and T.O.P. from Big Bang, so do you have any interaction with them? Question06
- Do you have any strategy to help the sales of your album in Asia? Question07
- So what do you think are the major differences between collaborating with GD and T.O.P. and Martin James? Question08
- If you could choose one song from your latest album to represent your life right now, what would it be? Question09
- In an interview last year, you actually mentioned that you wouldn’t have time to focus on acting because of music, so is this the case now? Question10
- What are you inspirations when you are writing songs? Question11
- You just opened a Chinese Twitter account, the wei bo, so are you putting a lot of emphasis on the growing China market or something? Question12
- When you just released your first album, you mentioned in an interview that you’d like to collaborate with Stevie Wonder, how does it feel to be working with him now in your second album? Question13
- What are the struggles you have faced in life and you know you’ve actually overcome it and you know if you have friends who are facing similar problems, what would you actually do? Question14
- If you could collaborate with either Adele or Jessie J, for a song, who would it be and why? Question15
- What about a collaboration with either The Wanted or One Direction? Question16
- Many say that your music sounds similar to P!nk, so how do you actually, differentiate yourself? Question17
- Would you want to feature Oliver Chesire in your music videos? Question18
- What were some problems you encountered when you were producing this album? Question19
- What’s the first thing that you usually do when you reach home? Question20
- Is it different when you write songs for yourself and when you write songs for other artists? Question21
- How would you sum up your latest album in five words? Question22
- Olympics will be held in London this year, how do you feel about it? Question23
- Have you ever tried gymnastics before? Question24
- So now that you’re 21, has anything changed for you? Question25
- Is there anything that you’re trying out for the first time in your latest album? Question26
- If you could collaborate with any artist, who would you want to work with?Question27
- What will be your ultimate achievement? Question28