Feature

Lovelle: Young and talented

“I love Amy Winehouse because she inspired me to really want to sing. I have always been interested in everything she does. She just seems to be a really an honest person.”

It’s a sunny-ish afternoon as I make my way to meet Lovelle for her first Blues & Soul interview. The first thing I am struck by is her bubbly and enthusiastic personality and her bohemian fashion sense of red jean shorts and her ripped tights and jacket, which is a testament to her days training as a fashion designer.

Always in the creative arts, it has taken her a while in her young life (she is twenty), to finally realise her great voice. Her new single 'Uh Oh' is a grimy, bashment soulful something that allows Lovelle’s vocal ability to shine. With the payback from her hard work now visible, a buoyant Lovelle chats to me in a trendy Shoreditch pub AND I have to say I enjoyed it chatting with her.

Firstly, Lovelle it must be surreal when you see a big paper like the Metro highlighting?

I am very honoured that people want to know what I am doing. The Metro piece was a review just about "a one to watch and what I am doing" and the fact that my single 'Uh Oh' is out now. I do not let things get to me though, so when something comes, I just think “it is really cool”.

I understand that fashion was your first love.

I love fashion because it is all about personality and I do have a big personality. I actually used to be Goth, then I was a grunger, then a rude girl with the slicked down hair but literally I like exploring with fashion. At the moment I have ripped tights now and I think it looks cool so I do not care what people might think.

When did you realise that you wanted to be a singer?

I just kind of realised I could sing and the passion just started to grow. I never went out much when I was younger if it was weekends it was theatre school or I was going dance class, but people kept saying that I could sing. My mum would get me to sing to her to keep it up - that was how I discovered that I could sing and I just kept on it from there.

So are your family musically inclined?

My dad was a rapper, my brother IS a rapper and on my mum’s side... my cousins can sing. There was always music in the house from pop to rock to hip-hop, soul.

So who are your big inspirations?

I love Amy Winehouse because she inspired me to really want to sing! I have always been interested in everything she does. She just seems to be a really an honest person. I would not say she is fragile; but she shows her emotions and she is really real, and that is something that makes me really admire her. I also like Nirvana and their track 'In Bloom' (1992) - the video was great!

What would you do if Amy asked you for a duet?

I would cry if she ever wanted to do a duet with me, it would be like wow! 'What Is It About Men' [taken from her first album Frank 2003] is my favourite song ever - I just instantly just get into it.

You are twenty - has it been difficult to get to where you are now?

I have never stopped going for what I want to do, which is music. Obviously there are times where it has been difficult, but now seeing all the outcomes, it shows how hard that I have worked. I did not think I would get to the stage of making a video AND I did not think I would get to the stage of performing - so I am just really happy at the moment.

So what about your single?

The inspiration was being in a club and having too much to drink, and giving a guy the wrong impression, which is a mistake because I have a man at home. The 'Uh Oh' features Lady Chann, it was my producer who had heard of her but I had not. I must admit that when I heard her I was not sure, because she does the bashment kind of thing. But when I heard the track, then of course I really liked it!

And performances what have you got lined up?

I will be performing at Love Box, Redefinition, Underage Festival and I will be in Derby for another festival - then I have Glastonbury. I never thought that Glastonbury would ever want me to perform there, so I just can-not-wait for that gig!

Lovelle’s debut single 'Uh Oh' is out now.
Words Semper Azeez-Harris