After a two-year hiatus Pixie Lott is back on the scene with her third studio album, which will be out early next year. In an exclusive interview with The River she talks pumpkin spice lattes, Mariah Carey and why this is her best album to date.
In a dimly-lit pub in central London, the 22-year-old swirls the straw in her cocktail. The menu describes the drink as sweet and fruity with zesty undertones. Aptly chosen.
She is confident, but refreshingly approachable and conversation flows naturally.
In fact, if it wasn’t for all the prolonged glances and people asking for photographs, you would never have guessed I was sitting with the pop sensation behind three UK hit singles and a fashion line for Lipsy.
Pop sensation
Pixie Lott is chatting about her Halloween outfit: “The two films I’m obsessed with at the moment are Dirty Dancing which I’ve just loved forever and Clueless. So I was thinking, I might go as Cher from Clueless but like a scary version, yeah, like a dead version,” she laughs.
“I love Halloween! Today pumpkin spice lattes came out in Starbucks, and I was so excited about it and then I didn’t get a chance to go and buy one. I can’t believe it. I’ll definitely get one tomorrow,” she gushes as if to an old friend.
Unlike a lot of pop stars her age, Pixie hasn’t been affected by the fame, and after four years in the spotlight she still manages to stay true to herself, and that includes her music.
“If anything, it’s more me – properly me,” she says as she reflects on her forthcoming album. It’s taken two years of slogging away in the studio to produce it, and it’s her favourite album to date.
“It’s more soul-like. It’s Motown-inspired – my favourite kind of music,” she explains. “I’ve written loads of songs but I could only pick 12 for the album. I’ve been finding it hard, there’s a couple more I really want on there,” she says with a sigh.
Style icon
In the past, Pixie has been used to penning music with a range of artists in her studio in LA, often working with a different person every day. But for her new album, she took a different approach.
“This time it was a small group of people I’ve been co-writing with and producing with. I’ve been in London, New York and Miami doing it, it’s been really fun.”
Travelling around the world and meeting influential people in the music industry is what Pixie does for a living, but the magic of it all hasn’t faded. “I cried when I met Mariah Carey,” she admits. “And Stevie Wonder, I was so star-struck.”
Her life sounds enviably hectic, but the style icon enjoys her days off too. “I either like to see my friends or just like go out and have loads of fun, like stay up really late because I don’t have to sing the next day. When I go out and drink it really affects my voice, so I can’t do it if I’m singing the next day.”
She adds: “Or, just completely doing nothing, so staying in my pyjamas and like chilling at home and watching loads of Friends and getting a take away.”
London roots
Kingston students will find this lifestyle familiar. Does she wish she’d gone to university?
“If I wasn’t a singer I definitely would have gone. I definitely would have loved it, I like going out and stuff but if I was there I would have just be itching to be singing,” she admits.
Two of Pixie’s friends grab her for a photo and she eases into a natural yet perfected smile, though things haven’t always gone so smoothly since she emerged on the music scene in 2009.
“I do remember when I first started doing little gigs, I’d do like crappy pub-gigs and there was this one sound system that was just so bad that when I went to sing my single, which was Mama Do at the time, it would keep skipping back to the beginning every time,” she confesses.
As Pixie prepares to reveal her ‘new sound’, she’s made the decision not to collaborate with other artists. She smiles: “I want people to take it seriously. I feel like it will be more of a statement if I come back and do it by myself, rather than like ‘oh here’s collaboration with some rapper.’
“I think it’s always good to do collaborations with someone from a different genre, it mixes it up. So a band or a dance artist; someone who was different to my music,” she adds.
Refreshingly approachable
Often seen gracing the front row of catwalks, Pixie has quite a following when it comes to fashion. “I really like the 60s era, so I really like Edie Sedgwick and Brigitte Bardot,” she says, fixing the statement bow in her hair.
“My favourite time was Milan Fashion Week – it was so much fun. We went to a Katie Grand loves Hogan party, we just had too much fun.”
Despite all the bright lights, the British sensation hasn’t forgotten her London roots, and enjoys running a music night at The Oliver Conquest for up-and-coming artists.
She explains: “I enjoy doing this night because I get to meet so many young new singers who are so good. It’s really exciting because they’re unsigned and they’re all really talented.”
Maybe my second cocktail is to blame, or maybe it is her gracious smile and earnest demeanour, but as I say goodnight I really feel as if I’ve just had a drink with an old friend.
Pixie Lott’s new single from her third album will be out in January.