Speaker 1: There's always been this kind of push and pull where
Speaker 1: I've actually really liked the feeling of being scared and
Speaker 1: kind of thrived off of that kind of fear and
Speaker 1: the pressure.
Speaker 2: Hey, good evening, Welcome to Midnight Chats it is I'm
Speaker 2: sad to say the final one of this series. Stuart
Speaker 2: and I have loved bringing you ten new podcasts during
Speaker 2: the autumn, and I just want to take a moment
Speaker 2: to quickly thank again all of our guests on this run.
Speaker 2: That's been Idols, Tim Burgess, Phoebe Bridges, the now multi
Speaker 2: Grammy nominated Phoebe Bridges. I should add congratulations to her,
Speaker 2: Matt Berninger from the National Ezra collectives, Fermi Colioso, Big
Speaker 2: pig Arlo Parks Perfumed Genius. Plus, we had the one
Speaker 2: and only Jarvis Cocker chat to us for our monumental
Speaker 2: one hundredth episode. Wherever you're listening to this, all those
Speaker 2: chats are there. Do catch up on any you've missed
Speaker 2: and complete the set and let us know which your
Speaker 2: favorites have been. We love hearing from you. Find us
Speaker 2: at Loud and Quiet mag on social media. We've had
Speaker 2: more people listening than ever before, so big thank you
Speaker 2: to you for streaming the podcast. Every time we put
Speaker 2: a new one out. You can directly help what we
Speaker 2: do and support the making of another series of the podcast.
Speaker 2: There is a link to our supporters page in the
Speaker 2: show notes of this podcast, So if you do want
Speaker 2: to buias equivalent of a pint at this year's non
Speaker 2: existent Christmas parties, do feel free. It all helps and
Speaker 2: it is very much appreciated. Fingers crossed. We will be
Speaker 2: back with more episodes in the new year. On with
Speaker 2: tonight's episode. Then, it is a huge pleasure to welcome
Speaker 2: Rommy Madley Croft from the Xx onto the podcast. We've
Speaker 2: been fans of that band for a long time, since
Speaker 2: they've played a club night for Loud and Quiet magazine
Speaker 2: many many years ago. Of course, they're now not just
Speaker 2: headlining festivals but putting on their own new music from
Speaker 2: them I'm sure is not too far away. But I
Speaker 2: was chatting to Ronny as she recently released some music
Speaker 2: under her own name for the first time. The single
Speaker 2: Lifetime is a big dancelaw tune. Do go and check
Speaker 2: it out if you haven't heard it already, And my
Speaker 2: understanding is there's an album's worth of songs that she's
Speaker 2: still working on, probably due for release in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: Ronnie might only be releasing her own stuff now, but
Speaker 2: she has been writing music outside of the band for
Speaker 2: a while for other artists, like previous podcast guests Mark
Speaker 2: Ronson and Jenny Beth. She also won a Grammy for
Speaker 2: her work with Do a Leaper. That's all been happening
Speaker 2: in the background the past few years. So part of
Speaker 2: our conversation is about her new solo music, which sounds
Speaker 2: like it's been really liberating experience to work on in
Speaker 2: a number of ways. But there's also some stories about
Speaker 2: her first visits to Hbitha, playing football for her local team,
Speaker 2: Whippets FC, and the joy of recently seeing players that
Speaker 2: she admires, like Meghan Rappino and Marcus Rashford bring about
Speaker 2: really impactful societal change. What else can I tell you?
Speaker 2: This was recorded at the beginning of November, a couple
Speaker 2: of days after the US election and the first day
Speaker 2: of the second UK national lockdown. And I think that's it.
Speaker 2: I think that's everything you need to know. So let's
Speaker 2: get into the chat. I'm delighted to bring you Rommy
Speaker 2: on Midnight Chats episode one hundred and three. I feel
Speaker 2: like this has been quite a week for everybody sort
Speaker 2: of with the US election, and today is the first
Speaker 2: day of the second lockdown in the UK. So how
Speaker 2: are you doing, how are you feeling? How's you're weeping? Hi?
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm okay. It has definitely
Speaker 1: been quite a week so far. I feel a little
Speaker 1: bit overwhelmed, as I'm sure everyone does. I'm just sort of,
Speaker 1: I guess, learning to take each day as it comes
Speaker 1: at the moment, and it definitely forces you just to
Speaker 1: be literally in the moment because you can't, you know.
Speaker 1: I guess we've all gotten a bit more used to
Speaker 1: doing future plans and thinking, oh, you know, I can
Speaker 1: do this in two months or whatever. But now I
Speaker 1: just have to be like, I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: have to see what I'm doing today. There's something that's
Speaker 1: something about slowing down that has been kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: taking some getting used to, but is yeah, kind of
Speaker 1: there's something beautiful in that as well, kind of.
Speaker 2: Still yeah, it's like these two polar opposites, isn't it
Speaker 2: that I think we all learned during the first one to, like,
Speaker 2: you say, slow down a little bit like maybe sort
Speaker 2: of get back to basics with the things that you
Speaker 2: sort of the time that you spend doing things and
Speaker 2: the things that you enjoy. But also there is that
Speaker 2: flip side of it being quite it is stressful and
Speaker 2: it does bring on like anxiety not being able to
Speaker 2: do the normal things you do. And so I don't
Speaker 2: know how I feel about going into this sort of
Speaker 2: second one a bit like I sort of know what
Speaker 2: the deal is and so it's maybe a little bit
Speaker 2: less scary, but I'm also still scared about doing another
Speaker 2: lockdown haircut because yeah, definitely they're don't go well for
Speaker 2: me first time.
Speaker 1: Oh really, I just wanted to say, oh yeah, same.
Speaker 1: I just want to say, my cats just come and
Speaker 1: sat right next to me, and so you might hear
Speaker 1: some a low purring if you're if you're wondering what
Speaker 1: that sound.
Speaker 2: Is, Yeah, she's what's your call?
Speaker 1: She's called Sola, but she's she's likes to get quite
Speaker 1: up close and personal.
Speaker 2: So if you hear I can hear there. Yeah, how
Speaker 2: was did? Because I think you've got a dog as well,
Speaker 2: haven't you?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, So what's having the cat and the dog through
Speaker 2: the first lockdown? Was like I mean, people talked a
Speaker 2: bit about just having making sure they had like their
Speaker 2: their pets and stuff to get make sure they're going
Speaker 2: out and getting fresh air, and of having them there
Speaker 2: was that a big, big help.
Speaker 1: It was it was super nice. I think, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think having having animals around, it's just it's just it
Speaker 1: was a lovely thing. It's everything anyway, but I think
Speaker 1: just you know, being just sorely in the house and
Speaker 1: just kind of it felt like, you know, like I
Speaker 1: live with my girlfriend and it's like it actually felt
Speaker 1: like there was four of us here because you know,
Speaker 1: with the animals. And someone said to me today actually
Speaker 1: they were like, oh, it's just nice having animals around.
Speaker 3: It's more beating hard.
Speaker 1: And I was like, that's actually very that's very sweet
Speaker 1: thing to say. And so yeah, it was lovely. And
Speaker 1: obviously being able to get out and our dog is
Speaker 1: called Mouse and.
Speaker 3: She is she's very big.
Speaker 1: She's much bigger than a mouse, but she is was
Speaker 1: it was just a real joy to be able to
Speaker 1: get out and sort of have walking her as like
Speaker 1: a real focused point of the day. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think normally with with you know, with work and
Speaker 1: with kind of busy schedules and stuff like having a
Speaker 1: dog is such a joy, but a lot of the
Speaker 1: time thinking okay, you know, he can have Mouse if
Speaker 1: both of us are working, and you know, always feeling
Speaker 1: a little bit of a juggling act. And then it
Speaker 1: was just so nice to be able to have that
Speaker 1: time and just be able to just enjoy being with
Speaker 1: her and enjoy just sewing down.
Speaker 2: Mouse and Zola are going to hate it when you
Speaker 2: go back to work, when you're off on tour for
Speaker 2: like six months at a time.
Speaker 1: Again, Oh, I think I'm going to hate you know,
Speaker 1: I'm going to miss them so much as well. And
Speaker 1: it does seem like a sort of distant, a distant thought.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean I really hope that that touring
Speaker 1: and everything can can happen. I feel very very grateful
Speaker 1: for the touring I've done at this point, you know,
Speaker 1: like more than ever. I'm already grateful for the places
Speaker 1: I've seen, But it does seem slightly abstract at this time,
Speaker 1: but I'm hopeful for more.
Speaker 2: Have you thought about that a lot. Has that been
Speaker 2: something that you've really missed or is it a bit
Speaker 2: of a mixture. Is that enforced break been a nice
Speaker 2: thing as well to sort of imagine like touring occasionally
Speaker 2: can feel like a little bit of a slog when
Speaker 2: you're when you're doing like big, big tours, So like
Speaker 2: just having that enforced break, has that been nice in anyway?
Speaker 3: It has been. It's been.
Speaker 1: It's been really good to slow down. But I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I spent pretty much my entire twenties. I'm
Speaker 1: thirty one now, but our first album came out with
Speaker 1: The XX, when I was just turned eighteen, No, just turn,
Speaker 1: I had just turned twenty. Sorry, we started making it
Speaker 1: when I was eighteen, and so yeah, basically the full
Speaker 1: full of my twenties was with all basically everything to
Speaker 1: do with The XX and touring and traveling, and it
Speaker 1: was incredible and I didn't really stop very much. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think we've we've always been very much
Speaker 1: like we're going on tour. We're like committing fully to it,
Speaker 1: and the tours can sometimes be like, you know, our
Speaker 1: first album tour, we didn't know what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: We had no expectations, and as things kind of grew,
Speaker 1: the tour ended up being like two and a half
Speaker 1: years long, and you're sort of like like, you don't
Speaker 1: really know what normal life is anymore at that point,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, just being a bit more
Speaker 1: like slow and at home and keeping things simple has
Speaker 1: been I don't know. I think maybe it's the age
Speaker 1: I might as well. I'm really really appreciating it at
Speaker 1: the moment, but then in the context also it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for those experiences I've had and even
Speaker 1: if I can, you know, even if I couldn't go
Speaker 1: anywhere ever, again, I just I'm so grateful that I
Speaker 1: got to see parts of the world. And I was
Speaker 1: thinking about it before when I was when I was
Speaker 1: a teenager, I was quite I developed a fear of flying.
Speaker 1: I had like a flight that was just really bumpy,
Speaker 1: and I just got really scared. And I think I
Speaker 1: could have been that kind of person that was like,
Speaker 1: h do you know what I'm like, I'm just someone
Speaker 1: that's afraid of flying, So I'm not going to travel really,
Speaker 1: I'm just I would just, you know, I'll make it
Speaker 1: work within the my kind of fear like parameters. And
Speaker 1: because because of the XX and opportunities we had and
Speaker 1: being in a band and my bandmates being like, no,
Speaker 1: come on, let's go, let's do it.
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: You know, I managed to face those fears and get
Speaker 1: like as far as Australia and all these things, and
Speaker 1: I'm just so grateful for having something I loved so much.
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I'm going to push through that
Speaker 1: and be able to still and the other places I've seen.
Speaker 1: I never would have done that if it wasn't for
Speaker 1: the XX.
Speaker 2: So that experience is kind of yeah, like almost like
Speaker 2: forced you to confront some of those things, Like your
Speaker 2: life could have been really different if it wasn't for that,
Speaker 2: I guess is what you're saying, Like it's that experience
Speaker 2: has forced you to do that, but then like the benefit,
Speaker 2: the sort longer term benefit, maybe it didn't feel that
Speaker 2: that right at the beginning, has probably had huge impacts
Speaker 2: in terms of the places you've seen, the experiences you've
Speaker 2: had shaping your personality which is in turn has probably
Speaker 2: gone into your art now in terms of the music
Speaker 2: you make. So absolutely, Yeah, maybe difficult at the time,
Speaker 2: but the long term game was there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, absolutely, And I think I think about that
Speaker 1: a lot, like just in terms of there's a sort
Speaker 1: of duality I guess between like I love making music
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of more of like a quiet person
Speaker 1: off stage. And then I think it took quite a
Speaker 1: lot of like to like build up my go past
Speaker 1: nerves and stuff to get to the point where I
Speaker 1: can be on stage and perform in front of people.
Speaker 1: And I think, again, I could have usually been like, oh,
Speaker 1: like I'm not a performer, Like that's just not me. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't like flying. I'm just gonna, you know, just
Speaker 1: be this one side of my personality is kind of
Speaker 1: quite low key, and it's kind of the more time
Speaker 1: I spend off stage, the more I sort of forget
Speaker 1: that I actually can be on stage and do that stuff.
Speaker 1: It's just it's like quite an other side of my personality.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, it's funny like since so my girlfriend
Speaker 1: and I've been together for two years. We were together
Speaker 1: ten years ago at the very beginning of over ten
Speaker 1: years ago before the EXE sort of did this all
Speaker 1: this touring, and so she's never seen me play live
Speaker 1: apart from in a small pub eleven years ago. So
Speaker 1: it's quite funny because like when I'm with her, she's like, like,
Speaker 1: you know, she's seen videos and stuff. She's like, it's
Speaker 1: crazy that you do that, but she's not used to
Speaker 1: me doing that, and I'm sort of not used to
Speaker 1: myself doing that with her there, So it's kind of
Speaker 1: this other side of Yeah, it's kind of accentuated by
Speaker 1: the fact of our relationship as well.
Speaker 3: It's kind of a funny thing.
Speaker 2: And has it given you the stuff that we just
Speaker 2: talked about there in terms of how you've confronted some
Speaker 2: of those things that could have become fears and prohibitors,
Speaker 2: things that might have stopped you do things. Have you
Speaker 2: sort of developed a sort of reflex of like having
Speaker 2: the courage so safe for example, when you're when you
Speaker 2: maybe perhaps when you approach starting to create some of
Speaker 2: this solo music that you've been sharing, I imagine you know,
Speaker 2: was there a reluctance there and did you sort of
Speaker 2: have to have was the other side of your brain
Speaker 2: sort of saying to you, you know what, I've been
Speaker 2: in situations that I think were that I was a
Speaker 2: bit nervous about before, but it was all okay, so
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, I think it's going to
Speaker 2: be all right? Was that yeah?
Speaker 3: Totally?
Speaker 1: I think there's there is that kind of there's those
Speaker 1: two sides. One I'd going, oh, it's a bit nerve
Speaker 1: wracking the other side just being like just go for it,
Speaker 1: like just take the risk. And then there's always been
Speaker 1: this kind of push and pool where I've actually really
Speaker 1: liked the feeling of being scared and kind of thrived
Speaker 1: off of that kind of fear and the pressure, and
Speaker 1: I think under pressure, like I don't know, there's something
Speaker 1: that I've kind of gone pushed past that and then
Speaker 1: actually something really like good has come from it. So
Speaker 1: there is kind of a push and pool going on
Speaker 1: inside me. But I would say with making solo music,
Speaker 1: I wasn't like it took me a little while to
Speaker 1: come to it, even though it was quite obvious that
Speaker 1: I was writing a lot of songs for myself. It
Speaker 1: was I was not the last to know, but I
Speaker 1: wasn't the first to know that I was like making
Speaker 1: a solo album.
Speaker 3: It was I think it was it was a confidence thing.
Speaker 1: I you know, I really love being in the XX
Speaker 1: and I've I've you know, I haven't had this burning,
Speaker 1: sort of secret desire to be a solo artist like
Speaker 1: all of my life. It's more like I just was
Speaker 1: craving some new writing experiences outside of the XX. So
Speaker 1: I in between our second and third albums. I did
Speaker 1: quite a bit of pop songwriting for other people. I
Speaker 1: asked to be put in sessions and collaborate with new people,
Speaker 1: and people kept thinking, oh, are we writing songs for
Speaker 1: the XX? And I was like, well, no, I feel
Speaker 1: quite passionate that I've only ever me.
Speaker 3: Oliver and Jamie.
Speaker 1: I've only ever written the songs for the XX. And
Speaker 1: that's something I was really I'm really like, I take it,
Speaker 1: you know, it's special to me that. But so I
Speaker 1: had to be like, oh, no, this isn't for the XX,
Speaker 1: but I want to learn about writing, and I want
Speaker 1: to learn, you know, how pop music is made and
Speaker 1: how these big pop hits are like what you know.
Speaker 3: I just was curious.
Speaker 1: So once we kind of got over the head or that,
Speaker 1: it was like, no, this isn't a song for the XX,
Speaker 1: which people work I think maybe hoping for. When I
Speaker 1: was in the sessions, I was like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: can we write for somebody else? And in writing for
Speaker 1: you know, potential other people, I ended up realizing I was.
Speaker 1: It was quite freeing because I was thinking, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to sing this song, but obviously the things
Speaker 1: that I was writing about were kind of still personal.
Speaker 1: Because I wasn't just picking things from thin air. They
Speaker 1: were coming from some from somewhere. And then i'd play
Speaker 1: people with some of the songs and they'd be like, well,
Speaker 1: be sure you want to give that song away, because
Speaker 1: that's like clearly about this thing I know you've gone through.
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, no, I'm giving it away.
Speaker 1: I'm giving it away. I don't you know what else?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not going to give it with the
Speaker 1: exits because someone else has worked on it, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not releasing a solo album. And after a while,
Speaker 1: it kind of I built up a few of these
Speaker 1: songs and I slowly kind of came around to it
Speaker 1: being like, actually, I think I've got something i'd like
Speaker 1: to say. And I started working with a producer called
Speaker 1: Fred Gibson, and he's we just developed a friendship and
Speaker 1: he was just very encouraging and playful with the songwriting,
Speaker 1: and I really liked being around him. And one day
Speaker 1: we met up and he said who should we write for?
Speaker 1: What should we do? And I said maybe me? And
Speaker 1: it was kind and he was like, of course, and
Speaker 1: it was like it was a sort of as simple
Speaker 1: as that, And then we wrote this song which kind
Speaker 1: of started the whole journey of making a solo album.
Speaker 1: But it was kind of even though it sounds kind
Speaker 1: of straightforward that I would just ask to write for me,
Speaker 1: it was actually took me quite a long time to
Speaker 1: get to that place.
Speaker 2: I needed somebody else's kind of realization or a few
Speaker 2: other people's realization to just sort of like prod you
Speaker 2: and be like, hey, maybe this one's not for somebody else.
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: And once I sort of got in that mindset, I
Speaker 1: sort of just relaxed a bit more and then could
Speaker 1: just enjoy it and just be a bit more playful
Speaker 1: with it, which, you know, which has been the biggest
Speaker 1: joy of making this solo music.
Speaker 2: Before we talk a bit more about Lifetime and the
Speaker 2: other solo material you've been working on, just that point
Speaker 2: you mentioned there, you deliberately went out and try and
Speaker 2: wanted to go and work with other collaborators and other
Speaker 2: artists to write songs, and it ended up being people
Speaker 2: like do A Leper and Mark Ronson and you had
Speaker 2: a track on the Jenny Beth record that was out recently.
Speaker 2: So what were your big takeaways from that experience of
Speaker 2: going out and writing music for other people.
Speaker 1: I mean, I loved that experience. It was a kind
Speaker 1: of a year and a half of traveling around and
Speaker 1: kind of get like being parts of other people's worlds
Speaker 1: in a way. Jenny Beth is a really close friend
Speaker 1: of mine and we spent a lot of time hanging
Speaker 1: out when we were on same festival tours and things
Speaker 1: like that. And when she was saying to me that
Speaker 1: she was making a solo album, I was, you know,
Speaker 1: because because we're close friends, I was like giving you
Speaker 1: listening to things and giving her my thoughts and feedback
Speaker 1: and as you would. And then she asked if we'd
Speaker 1: like to write together, and it was that was a
Speaker 1: really intimate experience because we were writing literally together in
Speaker 1: the room very much like discussing so many thoughts, like
Speaker 1: she's like so clever and sees things from such an
Speaker 1: interesting place and she really like challenged me and like,
Speaker 1: you know, we talk a lot. And I really loved that.
Speaker 1: So that was a very That's one side of the
Speaker 1: kind of collaborative experience with other people. For a song
Speaker 1: like The Electricity, which is with Juy Lipa and Mark Ronson,
Speaker 1: that's another very different process where I got to know
Speaker 1: Mark from He's somebody that I had met over the years,
Speaker 1: but not not very closely. But I was asked to
Speaker 1: do a songwriting session with King Princess, who again has
Speaker 1: now become a friend who I think is incredible artist
Speaker 1: and she's like, I'm really excited for her with everything
Speaker 1: she's doing. I met her before she had released any music,
Speaker 1: and I found her to be a really inspiring person
Speaker 1: about like, she's just very very confident in her sexuality.
Speaker 1: She's very open about it. She's like, you know, she's
Speaker 1: so young, and she's just really not afraid to be
Speaker 1: who she is. And I really took so much from that.
Speaker 1: And she is on Mark Ronson's label, and I did
Speaker 1: a session with her and him, and when we were
Speaker 1: working together, it was just, you know, I was really
Speaker 1: interested in and I was you know, again, it was
Speaker 1: more intimate working with King Princess, sort of like one
Speaker 1: on one. And then Mark messaged me and said, oh,
Speaker 1: I've actually need some help with some lyrics. You know,
Speaker 1: I like the way you work or whatever, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I was very flattered, and I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's you know, I'd love to I'd love to try something.
Speaker 1: But then he so he played me a track that
Speaker 1: it was an instrumental track that he'd made with a
Speaker 1: vocal melody over it that was by Diana Gordon. He
Speaker 1: was an amazing artist herself, but the melody was just wordless,
Speaker 1: so it was like just the extreme of consciousness melody
Speaker 1: and I found it really inspiring. And he said, can
Speaker 1: you know, would you would you write the words for this?
Speaker 1: So this is kind of like a patchwork quilt of
Speaker 1: a song essentially, because I'm coming in to sort of
Speaker 1: give it meaning. I guess I give it the story
Speaker 1: and that was quite new for me to be that
Speaker 1: later on in the process, just to inject that part
Speaker 1: of it. I actually really loved the challenge, so you know,
Speaker 1: I really studied exactly what the vocalmenity sounded like, kind
Speaker 1: of picking up on the phonetics of what she was
Speaker 1: subconsciously saying, and at one point I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: it sounds like she's saying electricity. And you know, then
Speaker 1: that kind of sparked this story which I put into it.
Speaker 1: I sang the demo and then you know, I was
Speaker 1: like again in this place where I was like, well,
Speaker 1: this this is not something I would sing myself. And
Speaker 1: so Mark went and to find someone to sing it,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's amazing that that dua sat like
Speaker 1: said yes, and so she then sang it and then
Speaker 1: you know, added it and developed it into her own
Speaker 1: way and like made some changes and you know, has
Speaker 1: then gone on to breathe so much life into the song.
Speaker 1: And it was just amazing to see the journey it
Speaker 1: went on, because then you see her do this amazing
Speaker 1: pop performance at like an award show.
Speaker 3: She has like a music.
Speaker 1: Video where she's dancing in it, all of these things,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Wow, she's taken this song to
Speaker 1: a place I never could have taken And I just
Speaker 1: loved watching the journey and that she's made it so
Speaker 1: amazing for what it made it into something so special.
Speaker 1: And then it wasn't until after us that I met Jolipa.
Speaker 1: So then we were both happened to be in La
Speaker 1: at the same time, and I sent her a message saying, hi,
Speaker 1: you know, we've never actually met, Like you know, I
Speaker 1: saw we were in La, like, do you want to
Speaker 1: have a drink, and she was like, of course. So
Speaker 1: we met and we had a really nice chat about
Speaker 1: the song. It was great to meet her. But the
Speaker 1: context of this story is just like, it's so different
Speaker 1: to say, working with Jenny Birth or King Princess, where
Speaker 1: I was there at the beginning of the song and
Speaker 1: I watched it grow. This was like I met the
Speaker 1: person that ended up singing the song after it was
Speaker 1: already out, you know, and then we could talk about it,
Speaker 1: and that was just like a whole other side of it.
Speaker 1: And it's just very very different each song and each
Speaker 1: different collaboration and things I've worked on. I guess it's
Speaker 1: they're different scales. But I've noticed that the bigger pop stuff,
Speaker 1: and this is something I got told by people in
Speaker 1: the industry. It is like, well, you're not going to
Speaker 1: be in a room necessarily with a big, big pop star.
Speaker 1: You present them with this with a trap and you know, I,
Speaker 1: for me, I totally get if that's the way it works.
Speaker 1: But I would say that there's something very special about
Speaker 1: being able to be a part of the songwriting process
Speaker 1: with the person that's going to sing the song. And
Speaker 1: if I get the opportunity to do that with someone,
Speaker 1: I would really rather that because I want it to
Speaker 1: be personal to them and if I can help them
Speaker 1: get the words out and be a part of that,
Speaker 1: that is like a really special thing.
Speaker 2: There must have been such a thrill seeing that song
Speaker 2: with do Ale, a kind of go stratospheric, maybe a
Speaker 2: little bit surreal as well, perhaps, But I mean you
Speaker 2: described two quite different experiences of songwriting. There are they
Speaker 2: both ones that you want to pursue in future or
Speaker 2: it sounds like you have a slight preference for being
Speaker 2: kind of there at the very sort of nucleus of
Speaker 2: the song, like being there at the beginning, which is
Speaker 2: doesn't like you say, it doesn't always happen when you're
Speaker 2: writing for big pop artists. So you're going to continue
Speaker 2: to do a bit of both? Are you going to
Speaker 2: continue to do one over the other?
Speaker 3: I'd love to do both.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's something quite there's something quite sort of
Speaker 1: instantaneous about getting center of vocal melody, writing some words,
Speaker 1: sending it off again, and then that being the only
Speaker 1: that's hit.
Speaker 3: You're done. It's quite.
Speaker 1: It's very fast, and it's actually like quite an amazing feeling,
Speaker 1: and I really love It's like having this very specific
Speaker 1: role within the process because you know, I'm used to
Speaker 1: being part of every single part of it, from you know,
Speaker 1: from the initial songwriting to the production to the arrangement
Speaker 1: and the mixing and the and the promotion of it
Speaker 1: and everything, and then I was literally like wow, I
Speaker 1: just worked on the lyrics and watched it grow and
Speaker 1: that was that was really interesting. But for me, songwriting
Speaker 1: is that it's my biggest passion. So I just think
Speaker 1: it depends on the on the person as well. Like
Speaker 1: there are some people that work really well, you know,
Speaker 1: one on one and like opening up and stuff, and
Speaker 1: there are some people that it's not really what they want.
Speaker 1: So it just got to adapt, I think to what
Speaker 1: the situation.
Speaker 2: Is over a decade of writing songs with THEX and
Speaker 2: obviously other people that we've just been talking about, what
Speaker 2: is the difference to or what is the difference when
Speaker 2: coming to write a song that has your own name
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 1: I put a lot of pressure on myself, I think
Speaker 1: to I don't know, I've tried to just have a
Speaker 1: bit more fun at lately with the songs I'm writing,
Speaker 1: and it's been quite different for me writing by myself
Speaker 1: or a full story because with Oliver from the XX
Speaker 1: I'm so used to sharing a song in the sense
Speaker 1: that the way that we've always used word. We initially
Speaker 1: started working as Oliver might have a verse or a
Speaker 1: chorus idea, which he would then send over to me.
Speaker 1: We used to work separately. We used to work over
Speaker 1: eye chat. Went in like two thousand and eight or nine.
Speaker 2: It feels super retro.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was that time. It was we were
Speaker 1: off MSN Messenger, we were on eye chat and it
Speaker 1: was like MySpace I Chat sort of time.
Speaker 3: That's we were. Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 1: We've been best friends since we were three years old,
Speaker 1: but we still were quite shy about writing together in
Speaker 1: the same room. We would sort of collage things over,
Speaker 1: sending messages to each other on iChat and would build
Speaker 1: you know, if Oliver had some a verse idea, he
Speaker 1: would send it to me, send like a clip of
Speaker 1: the voice memo or like whatever. Then I would react
Speaker 1: to that, you know, not asking him what is this exactly.
Speaker 3: About for you?
Speaker 1: I would just read the lyrics, kind of think about, well,
Speaker 1: this kind of connects with something I've been through.
Speaker 3: Then I would.
Speaker 1: Write based off what he'd said about my experience, collage
Speaker 1: that back, does it flow?
Speaker 3: Does it match?
Speaker 1: Then we'd kind of work out maybe a chorus together,
Speaker 1: and in doing that college this song that sounded like
Speaker 1: a very intimate song between two people, but it was
Speaker 1: actually from two very separate experiences formed into one song.
Speaker 1: And that's the way that we've kind of been. And
Speaker 1: so I was used to writing half a song, you know,
Speaker 1: and sharing it with him and bouncing off him and
Speaker 1: a kind of you know, collaborating in that way. And
Speaker 1: then so for me writing solo music, it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to write the beginning, the middle, and
Speaker 1: the end of this story within the song. And that
Speaker 1: was kind of and I've you know, spoken to all
Speaker 1: of about that, and it's like kind of a new challenge.
Speaker 1: Can I finish this song myself and and like, you know,
Speaker 1: give it the full meaning. And I've really I've enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: It's been it's been like good to have the space
Speaker 1: to do that and a new challenge. And I've enjoyed
Speaker 1: in the songs that will come, just being more personal
Speaker 1: and more open about my sexuality, singing about like I
Speaker 1: love her rather than in the ex sex. We've always
Speaker 1: kept it, you know, intentionally, very universal. We use you,
Speaker 1: I we they and never hear or she. And I
Speaker 1: think that was you know, that was partly as well
Speaker 1: feeling a bit more shy about being so open about
Speaker 1: my sexuality when I was younger. You know, I think
Speaker 1: now just being older and being more comfortable in my
Speaker 1: own skin, and you know, things have progressed in the
Speaker 1: world and I just feel like more happy. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's just getting older and caring a bit less,
Speaker 1: but just to include that in my songwriting for myself.
Speaker 2: And have Jamie and Oliver have been encouraging along this
Speaker 2: process of writing your own Solin material. Have they been
Speaker 2: on hand to sort of sounding boards and there with
Speaker 2: sort of encouragement and advice.
Speaker 1: Oh totally, Yeah, they've been. They've been amazing. And it's
Speaker 1: like it's very much like when Jamie made his solo album.
Speaker 1: It was very much the same thing. Like it's an
Speaker 1: extension of him that I just I saw him. It
Speaker 1: was great to watch him like fly off and explore that.
Speaker 1: And I feel like they, you know, Oliver and I
Speaker 1: were very encouraging of him doing that. And I can
Speaker 1: really feel that same thing from Oliver and Jamie with me,
Speaker 1: which I'm so grateful for, and you know, I am.
Speaker 1: Jamie worked on some additional production and arrangement of Lifetime.
Speaker 1: He was very much the sounding board for me with
Speaker 1: everything with Oliver. I was always playing him things and
Speaker 1: talking to him about it and it was great.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: He's like, I sent him the version just before I
Speaker 1: got mixed. He's like, I really missed that that vocal
Speaker 1: take you before you really sang it out on the bridge,
Speaker 1: you know. And I was like, Oky, yeah, I'm going
Speaker 1: to put it back in. I'm going to put it
Speaker 1: back in in. You know, these little details and what's
Speaker 1: you know, it's nice. It's like Jamie was saying, it's
Speaker 1: just this song sounds so you like in a nice way,
Speaker 1: like it's I've got like this taste of music which
Speaker 1: is quite like pop dance, a bit like playful and
Speaker 1: it's nice to be able to show a bit more
Speaker 1: of that in lifetime and in what's to come.
Speaker 2: And I want to ask a little bit about your
Speaker 2: love of DJing and club music and dance music. Am
Speaker 2: I right in thinking? You went to Ibtha for the
Speaker 2: first time last year? Yes? And how did you find
Speaker 2: the experience did did it? Was it what you were
Speaker 2: expecting or something different?
Speaker 3: I loved it. We went.
Speaker 1: I went twice last summer. I went one for once
Speaker 1: for Oliver's birthday, which was amazing. We got we went,
Speaker 1: Me and Oliver and Jamie and our friends went to
Speaker 1: Pasha for the first time, which was a real which
Speaker 1: was amazing. You know. I think the iconography and the
Speaker 1: graphics and everything of Pasha, I just like, I love
Speaker 1: it and I.
Speaker 3: Was really excited to go.
Speaker 1: And we went to Dixon's night and it was great
Speaker 1: and like the music was, you know, it was really cool,
Speaker 1: and I realized that Dixon doing and there was one
Speaker 1: of the more like tasteful nights that passion that it
Speaker 1: was doing at the time. But like I'm all for
Speaker 1: like quite brush pop dance music anyway, but it was
Speaker 1: it was, it was amazing.
Speaker 3: I loved it.
Speaker 1: And then I went back a few months later in
Speaker 1: August for my birthday. It was both of our thirtieth
Speaker 1: that year, so I think we were both kind of
Speaker 1: wanted to do something fun and I loved I loved
Speaker 1: it so much I decided to go back and I
Speaker 1: went back to Pasha and I saw John Talibot and
Speaker 1: it was Dixon's like again, I saw Rasheen Murphy play
Speaker 1: there and Dixon play. It was amazing, so that you know,
Speaker 1: there was a great lineup that Dixon was putting on.
Speaker 1: And then I went a few days later and I
Speaker 1: saw Calvin Harris play there, and I think that was
Speaker 1: Pasha in It's In It's Full was what I was
Speaker 1: maybe more expecting from Pasha, and it was a different crowd,
Speaker 1: but it was great to see it and it's different versions,
Speaker 1: and you know, it was still actually so much fun
Speaker 1: and it's just a very different, very very different sort
Speaker 1: of set. And I can sort of appreciate both nights
Speaker 1: for what they are. It sort of feels like two
Speaker 1: sides of my like tastes. Really, it's like I can
Speaker 1: really appreciate, you know, the beautiful, like the way that
Speaker 1: the night progressed of the programming that Dixon had, and
Speaker 1: like the you know, the subtleties within things. And then
Speaker 1: there's like the Cowen Harris night where it's like it's
Speaker 1: not about subtlety, it's it's kind of the opposite, but
Speaker 1: within the songs that he plays, it's a lot about
Speaker 1: there is a song. It's not just like it's not
Speaker 1: like an instrumental club night. You know, it's like people
Speaker 1: are singing along it's a song, they know the words,
Speaker 1: they're feeling the emotions of it, and there is something
Speaker 1: whether it, you know, it's maybe more brash than I
Speaker 1: would ever go. There is something I do love about
Speaker 1: that too, and yeah, I had I had a lot
Speaker 1: of fun, But it's you know, I think I'm interested
Speaker 1: in the dream of what Abitha was, what I thought
Speaker 1: it was when I was like twelve and watching it,
Speaker 1: like you're watching kind of music videos of like club classics,
Speaker 1: and I don't know this kind of I had this
Speaker 1: fantasy of Abitha, but I don't know, if you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's been that, or it has ever
Speaker 1: been that. It's this kind of collage of things that
Speaker 1: you kind of project on it from being young and
Speaker 1: thinking about this place and you know, reading and like
Speaker 1: seeing clips of like raving there, and like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I have all of the graphics and all of the
Speaker 1: sort of visuals of that, and something I've really become
Speaker 1: quite fascinated with.
Speaker 2: I wonder what it's going to look like when it
Speaker 2: all comes back, having basically got like a lost year,
Speaker 2: like what I befa in that scene, will look like
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, if it can come back, if
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Yeah, it seems it seems
Speaker 2: like such a strange time for Clubland as well as
Speaker 2: everything else.
Speaker 1: No, it really does. I really, I really hope that
Speaker 1: places can survive. I hope that speaking to friends of
Speaker 1: mine that are DJs that are just feeling a, look,
Speaker 1: it's a bit despondent that have tried to do the
Speaker 1: you know, they've done some social distance parties and things
Speaker 1: and they want to keep the you know, keep things going,
Speaker 1: and but it's I know some people are feeling a
Speaker 1: little bit edgy about it. So I'm really I'm really
Speaker 1: hopeful that we can you know, all go back to
Speaker 1: Ibitha and keep the dream alive next year.
Speaker 3: And fingers crossed.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I really I long for those days like
Speaker 1: just like being like sweaty in a club with people
Speaker 1: and not feeling like you need to step away. It's
Speaker 1: like something that I really I hope. I hope we
Speaker 1: can all get that too.
Speaker 2: Definitely. I went to Ibitha. I've been a couple of times,
Speaker 2: but I sort of want to go back at this
Speaker 2: age now because when I first went, I was eighteen,
Speaker 2: and I really didn't I think I was just the
Speaker 2: experience was wasted on me. You know, I went and
Speaker 2: I just wasted is the kind of probably the operative word,
Speaker 2: but it just it just didn't you know, I don't
Speaker 2: appreciate for what it was. And I went a few
Speaker 2: years later, and then I think I realized, Yeah, you
Speaker 2: have to go different places to to seek out the
Speaker 2: music that you really love. And I think now, more
Speaker 2: than a decade on from that, I think if I went,
Speaker 2: i'd go with a much clearer idea of where I
Speaker 2: wanted to go and what I want to hear, because
Speaker 2: it's interesting. I was there. I was the one sort
Speaker 2: of knee deep at the phone party doing that experience. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you know, catching a sort of fresh as flu
Speaker 2: after two days and sort of just you know, almost
Speaker 2: like the Kevin and Perry go larger or in between
Speaker 2: us or something. I totally ruined my Abeth experience. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I'd love to go back one time. I think it
Speaker 2: would be I think I would get much more out
Speaker 2: of the experience.
Speaker 1: Now, totally. I think there's so many different sizes to
Speaker 1: it as well. Like you know, I spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time out away from the clubs and like just
Speaker 1: in the nature of it and lots and I went
Speaker 1: to Pikes and Jamie had told me a lot about
Speaker 1: how much you loved Pikes and it was great to
Speaker 1: go there.
Speaker 2: And I went to Pikes. Isn't it fascinating?
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: We walked through the gates. Is it For anybody that
Speaker 2: doesn't know it. It's the sort of legendary hotel in
Speaker 2: Ibetha where George Michael stayed and lots of other people,
Speaker 2: particularly in the sort of eighties and nineties, and it
Speaker 2: was very famous for place in Abetha to visit. And
Speaker 2: now it's still quite legendary now. Lots of people go
Speaker 2: there and stay there and there are great parties and
Speaker 2: things like that, but the place has a has a vibe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: We met Tony Pike before he passed away, Oh wow.
Speaker 2: And he was just he was propped up at the
Speaker 2: bar with a drink, and my wife and I stood
Speaker 2: there chatting to him for hours because he was just
Speaker 2: he was this quite sort of legendary figure who just
Speaker 2: wanted to tell stories. And so you'd be stood at
Speaker 2: the bar and he was basically he'll tell the story
Speaker 2: to whoever's there having a drink with him, basically. But
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it. It was quite an experience.
Speaker 3: That's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's the dream experience to actually have Tony Pike right
Speaker 1: there telling you everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, in terms of the djaying aspect of it.
Speaker 2: I mean, you started out DJing when you're young. It
Speaker 2: was your first job being a DJ in a bar
Speaker 2: in so Home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, technically I think it was so Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was kind of something I never really mentioned before, like
Speaker 1: in terms of like the XX and it sort of
Speaker 1: sort of felt like it's just a separate part of
Speaker 1: my kind of introduction to music. And it was just,
Speaker 1: you know, I started going out and Soho when I
Speaker 1: was about sixteen growing up in London, and I could
Speaker 1: get to Soho on a night bus and luckily I
Speaker 1: could get into like in Soho, there's a few gay
Speaker 1: clubs that were like places that I really wanted to
Speaker 1: get into and I managed to get in, and it
Speaker 1: was it became like a real sort of community of
Speaker 1: like every Thursday I would go there and I would
Speaker 1: see the same people living if I was a bit
Speaker 1: shy to talk to them, and then I you know,
Speaker 1: I ended up meeting one of my best friends.
Speaker 3: There were still best friends.
Speaker 1: And the whole like really, you know, something that I'm
Speaker 1: just so grateful for now, that sense of community and
Speaker 1: I would go all the time, and one I don't
Speaker 1: really know how it came about. You know, we were
Speaker 1: doing the XX at this time, but you know, playing
Speaker 1: in small bars and pubs, and it was quite a
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a definitely wasn't I would say, going
Speaker 1: amazingly Well, it was just something we were doing. So
Speaker 1: I don't think that this DJ set would have been
Speaker 1: related to anything with the XX. I think it was
Speaker 1: simply because I went a lot and this guy that
Speaker 1: worked there was like, do you want a DJ? I said, well, DJ.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, yeah, you can. You can always come.
Speaker 1: I think you'd be could. So he was like, okay,
Speaker 1: just burn some CDs. You fade it in, you fade
Speaker 1: it out, You're fine. And I was like, right, okay,
Speaker 1: So I really you know, I was like, I really
Speaker 1: wanted to do it. So I went home. I burnt
Speaker 1: all this music on CDs. I'd been sort of in
Speaker 1: the in the corner sort of observing anyway for like
Speaker 1: months about like watching the kind of arc of it
Speaker 1: and how people would you know, react to a song assume,
Speaker 1: you know, if you put it on and people knew it,
Speaker 1: And so I just like burnt all a lot a
Speaker 1: lot of the songs that I loved and I knew
Speaker 1: the moment you put it on people would instantaneously just
Speaker 1: hands in the air. Oh I love this song, and
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I've been drawn to anyway. But
Speaker 1: you know, when I couldn't literally had the technique of
Speaker 1: failing in and out, these songs that are quite bold
Speaker 1: and recognizable were actually a great tool and that's just
Speaker 1: something I really loved. And so I was playing that,
Speaker 1: you know, like pop dance music, hits like club classics,
Speaker 1: eighties music like disco, and then at the same time,
Speaker 1: starting with the XX, making music that was a lot
Speaker 1: more sort of subdued and like it just kind of
Speaker 1: not as kind of bold, I would say, is what
Speaker 1: I would play out, And that's just a different side
Speaker 1: of my taste, I guess. I remember when the XX
Speaker 1: was started to get some more opportunities, I was asked
Speaker 1: to do a DJ set after a gig, and I
Speaker 1: remember I played what I would had been playing, and
Speaker 1: someone came up to me after us and they were like,
Speaker 1: is this really what you like? I can't believe that
Speaker 1: you make this music and this is what you're DJing,
Speaker 1: And they were like really confused and a bit like
Speaker 1: offended I was, and I was a bit like, oh,
Speaker 1: and it kind of was a bit you know, I
Speaker 1: was really young and I was a bit like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, it just it just kind of stayed with
Speaker 1: me and I still kind of I still have done
Speaker 1: more DJing and stuff, but they just felt like two
Speaker 1: different things at the time. And what's been quite nice
Speaker 1: is that now ten years on or whatever, the music
Speaker 1: I'm making for myself is very much in line with
Speaker 1: the music I was playing back then. I've just kind
Speaker 1: of been on a journey, I.
Speaker 2: Guess, yeah, kind of come full circling.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does feel like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which there's there's something I actually kind of love
Speaker 1: about it, the fact that I've come full circle. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny when I think about those moments back then.
Speaker 2: We talked about your love of songwriting obviously in club music,
Speaker 2: and a bit about I Betha. But one thing I
Speaker 2: wanted to ask you about was about football because I
Speaker 2: know football as well, and you were in the campaign
Speaker 2: to launch the England football Kit. Not that yes, are
Speaker 2: you still playing as well because you play for Whippit's FC,
Speaker 2: which is that's right local team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so football's in the past few years since
Speaker 1: being on the last tour for the XX I came
Speaker 1: back from touring and I was feeling a little bit
Speaker 1: like I've been away for about eighteen months, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, what's what's life like in London? What's
Speaker 1: my routine? Who are my friends? What's you know? And
Speaker 1: some of my best friends were like, okay, we've started
Speaker 1: a women's five side football team.
Speaker 3: You're in it?
Speaker 1: No, like, you know, come on, let's see it. Every
Speaker 1: week we're going to go. And I was like, oh wow, okay.
Speaker 1: We'd all been watching the World Cup that summer and
Speaker 1: got really into it. And I'd been into football a
Speaker 1: lot when I was a kid, but had sort of
Speaker 1: moved away from it as i'd been like in my twenties.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, so we started this team. It's
Speaker 1: we're part of part of a women's league in Hackney
Speaker 1: called Super five League. It's amazing. It's really grown over
Speaker 1: the past few years. And yeah, so I've ended up
Speaker 1: meeting so many amazing girls from this team and kind
Speaker 1: of finding what I was sort of seeking, you know,
Speaker 1: is that sense of community. Again, London can be quite
Speaker 1: lonely and to meet friends, I think as you get
Speaker 1: a bit older, can be a bit weird. You know,
Speaker 1: you got your friends from when you're younger in school
Speaker 1: and stuff. But I think I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: really enjoyed the meeting people again and also being like
Speaker 1: nothing to do with music, Like nobody really cares on
Speaker 1: my team or on the pitch like what I do.
Speaker 3: It's more like, you.
Speaker 1: Know, they're like, oh, you defended really well today, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm like, great, Okay, that's that's it,
Speaker 1: you know. So I really loved that. And you know,
Speaker 1: for me then to get a request to be in
Speaker 1: a night campaign to launch the England Kit, I was
Speaker 1: like I got that request and was like you're joking,
Speaker 1: like what.
Speaker 2: What you know?
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, it was just incredibly surreal
Speaker 1: and like just really cool and like a meeting of worlds,
Speaker 1: you know. And it was nice to be there on
Speaker 1: the shoot as like this is Ronny from Whippets FC.
Speaker 1: It was not this is not Ronny from the XX
Speaker 1: you know, And and that was quite a cool thing
Speaker 1: in itself and made me proud of our team and
Speaker 1: that it made an impact in that way. And but yeah,
Speaker 1: it was amazing the experience you know, it was a
Speaker 1: really really cool group of people that were a part
Speaker 1: of it and I got to meet Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: great to meet them, and you know, a weird moment
Speaker 1: to be able to go into the Nike shop and
Speaker 1: just see myself there and be part of this this launch.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think football now has become you know,
Speaker 1: now we've just got told that it's all kind of
Speaker 1: play in this league. It's been canceled and obviously, but
Speaker 1: you know, getting to play a little bit in between
Speaker 1: these two lockdowns has meant a lot to me. And
Speaker 1: watching football is quite an escape for me as well,
Speaker 1: Like I am quite like a football fan, Like I
Speaker 1: watch games and I watched the interviews and I just
Speaker 1: kind of like, I find it quite entertaining. And also
Speaker 1: the Women's World Cup last year was just an amazing
Speaker 1: progression in women's football and just felt like so inspiring
Speaker 1: and just made me really excited for women's football and
Speaker 1: hopefully pushing that on because there is still like a
Speaker 1: big gap in that, but you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: things are changing and that feels important and exciting.
Speaker 2: I actually really missed football when it was away during
Speaker 2: the lockdown, and I've really appreciated it's been great to
Speaker 2: see people like Marcus Rashford and raheem Sterling and obviously
Speaker 2: like Meghan Rapino and these players over the last few
Speaker 2: years made quite considerable social change, haven't they. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean it's it's I think football in that sense has
Speaker 2: played quite an important role in a lot of the
Speaker 2: big changes that we're seeing and being really encouraged by that.
Speaker 3: I am no. I love that.
Speaker 1: I feel like they have such a platform to make
Speaker 1: some changes and like I think, yeah, Meghan Rappino, like
Speaker 1: it's just so inspiring and I loved yeah, exactly, Marcus Rashford,
Speaker 1: where heem Sterling, They're just doing such good things. I
Speaker 1: really like a play called Hector Bellerin as well, who's
Speaker 1: got a podcast that I've been listening to.
Speaker 2: Has he I've not listened to that. I need to
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's great.
Speaker 1: Actually he talks he's vegan, and he really he believes
Speaker 1: in like you know, he's very eco conscious and he
Speaker 1: has like started an incentive to plant trees when Arsenal
Speaker 1: win matches, and you know, he's like he talks to
Speaker 1: he talks to a range of people about like mental
Speaker 1: health and like racism and veganism and like stuff that
Speaker 1: you don't really I just like that he's got like
Speaker 1: a voice and wants to talk to people about more
Speaker 1: than football.
Speaker 3: It's called more than actually, so.
Speaker 1: I've been telling people about that podcast, but I really
Speaker 1: I don't know. It feels like they have got such
Speaker 1: a big platform and people really look up to them
Speaker 1: and like in a very different way to I think
Speaker 1: to musicians.
Speaker 3: It's football is just huge.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of power, and I think my
Speaker 1: dream is, like I hope that we can get to
Speaker 1: a place like Megan Rappino being so open about her sexuality.
Speaker 1: It's just so important and amazing. And if in the
Speaker 1: men you know, in men's football, if there can be
Speaker 1: a bit more openness about like sexuality, like that would
Speaker 1: be a dream of mine. But who knows if that's you.
Speaker 2: Know, I feel like, yeah, I mean, we've been saying
Speaker 2: it for a while when it's kind of like it's
Speaker 2: only amount of time, But yeah, I hope it happens soon,
Speaker 2: because it does feel like in the last eighteen months
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit longer, yeah, that the footballers have
Speaker 2: felt able to be a bit more open and maybe
Speaker 2: just you know, I mean I know where they take
Speaker 2: a lot of rahem. Sterling in particular took so much
Speaker 2: horrendous criticism when he's spoken out about racism in football,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it's it's important, like they make it like
Speaker 2: his voice and their voices collectively are the ones that
Speaker 2: happen to make progress. So totally does happen soon.
Speaker 3: Totally.
Speaker 2: Final thing I was going to ask you was just
Speaker 2: about twenty twenty, like and just what you've been listening
Speaker 2: to and what you'll take away from it, because I think,
Speaker 2: because it's been such a memorable and strange and possibly
Speaker 2: difficult year, that the sort of music I've been listening
Speaker 2: to is left quite a sort of indelible mark, as
Speaker 2: I will always remember that this was the music that
Speaker 2: I loved in twenty twenty, and those records have been big,
Speaker 2: euphoric pop records. I love the Dua liber album this year.
Speaker 2: I really like the Lady Gaga album from So I'm.
Speaker 3: Glad you said that was about I was going to
Speaker 3: say that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so good, I mean yeah, and the way it
Speaker 2: opens with that incredible string section. Yeah, if there are
Speaker 2: any releases from this year that you will think that
Speaker 2: in I don't know, five years time when things look
Speaker 2: a bit different, that you'll be like, that's the album,
Speaker 2: that's the track that's that reminded me of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's funny that you say Lady Gaga, because
Speaker 1: I would say that that particular album, Chromatica, coming out
Speaker 1: in the middle of lockdown was a real just a
Speaker 1: real like pleasure to have a bit of a gift,
Speaker 1: because you know, I've noticed that I've just gravitated to
Speaker 1: music that kind of makes me feel you know, it's
Speaker 1: a sense of escapism within the sense that it's like
Speaker 1: things have been pretty heavy, and like, you know, I've
Speaker 1: been pretty glued to the news and as everyone has,
Speaker 1: and to just have some like pop like dance music
Speaker 1: that is just really ephoic and uplifting and I can
Speaker 1: just turn off all the lights and just dance in
Speaker 1: my kitchen is actually the thing that I've really really
Speaker 1: craved and well, I don't know, I just reached a
Speaker 1: point I think where I was like, oh, I'm just
Speaker 1: so like stressed and like freaked out by everything. Was
Speaker 1: I think I just need to dance, even if it's
Speaker 1: just me and my girlfriend in the kitchen with the dog.
Speaker 1: Like that felt like a release, and so I think
Speaker 1: I'll always remember that Gargo album for that. And I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even say a specific track. It's like the whole
Speaker 1: thing has been with me as a journey. But I
Speaker 1: really like the song Alice. I think it's just like
Speaker 1: a really good It's just a really solid song. Oliver's
Speaker 1: favorite one is Replay and he called me and he
Speaker 1: was like, Rommie, you need to make music like this.
Speaker 1: It needs to be like this. I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I loved that, and I was like, I'll do my best,
Speaker 1: but you know, I think that's for me. With Lifetime,
Speaker 1: the song I put out, you know I've made that
Speaker 1: for that was made in Lockdown in a time when
Speaker 1: I was in my room, very still craving the pace
Speaker 1: of the outside world and connection and the euphoria of
Speaker 1: clubbing and everything and having none of it. And I
Speaker 1: guess I just tried to create that for myself when
Speaker 1: I was missing it. And my dream was a you know,
Speaker 1: it will come out and we'll all be able to
Speaker 1: be together and hear it in a club, and that
Speaker 1: wasn't really the case, and you know, I was a
Speaker 1: bit worried. I was like, is it insensitive to put
Speaker 1: out this music at this time, you know, it was
Speaker 1: just overthinking it maybe. And the biggest compliment I got
Speaker 1: was from people sending me messages and saying to me
Speaker 1: in person, like I really needed to hear that song.
Speaker 3: It just cheered me up.
Speaker 1: It made me feel like like you know, the energy
Speaker 1: of it just really like brightened my day or whatever,
Speaker 1: and like that was that was that was beautiful to
Speaker 1: me because that's all I was trying to do, just
Speaker 1: for myself as well, and so if if people can
Speaker 1: get that from that, I'm super glad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, here's to dancing in our kitchen and our pets.
Speaker 2: It's what it's going to get us through.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah. Anyway, good night,