Following her performance at Glacéau Vitaminwater’s #shinebrightstudio, we caught up with Foxes…
At this point in her career, Foxes is pretty much a household name and so she needs no real introduction. With a grammy-award winning collaboration under her belt as well as three top-20 singles, she’s at the forefront of the music scene right now, and she’s even about to try her hand at acting in an episode of Doctor Who.
The Southampton-born singer was also part of Glacéau Vitaminwater’s #shinebrightstudio, a project at London’s Truman Brewery designed to exhibit, spark creativity and encourage people to be inspired. The series, which runs for seven weeks from July 31st, features hot names and newcomers including James Lavelle and The Bread Collective showing off their latest work and running workshops.
Foxes was selected to launch the project, and as a new young creative she seems like a natural choice for the project. Aside from performing at the event, the singer also hosted mentoring sessions about the music industry and songwriting. During a rare-break from her busy schedule, and prior to the release of her upcoming single ‘Glorious’ (released 10th August), we managed to catch up with the singer for a brief chat…
So Foxes, tell us what’s your earliest memory of encountering music?
My earliest memory of encountering music was being about four and banging pots and pans together in my kitchen, pretending I’m in a band.
What music was playing in your house growing up?
My mum and sister sort of sound-tracked my childhood with a lot of Patty Smith, a lot of Massive Attack, a lot of Bjork, Kate Bush.
Some of the greats then! How old were you when you decided you wanted to be a singer?
I can’t remember ever not knowing I wanted to be a singer.
Tell us, how did you first become involved with Zedd?
Well, Zedd first heard me on a track, a track of mine called Youth. He was looking for a female vocalist to collaborate with so he got in touch with me and we ended up skyping. Then from there, we got on really well musically, I felt like we sort of had the same taste in music and shared the same different musical ideas so then I flew to LA and we started working on clarity.
You wore Vivienne Westwood on a night out right, which designers are most important for you?
Vivienne Westwood is an incredible designer. I’ve always really admired her work and I think she’s got a really amazing way of really complimenting the female figure. So I felt very lucky to be able to be dressed by her for the grammys. I really love Moschino and I also really, really love Chanel.
I read that you almost went to beauty school, what changed your mind?
I wasn’t going to go to beauty school, it was more that I was following a lot of my friends, cause they wanted to do that, and coming from a small town, so a lot of people that think being something like being a musician can be something that seems quite unrealistic. Luckily my sister called me and said No. Come to London, come live on my sofa, so I ended up doing that. I lived on her sofa for a year and lived out of a suitcase.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re doing at the shinebright studio?
It’s an amazing place really – I performed here last night and now I’m hosting a mentoring session this evening to talk with people about the music industry, song writing and try and help answer some of their questions. This place is all about creativity and inspiring that in people – helping them get to where they want to be creatively. It’s going to be fun.
How was the shinebright Launch for you?
It was cool. I love performing to big crowds but I also love small intimate gigs like last night. I had fun and it was cool to be part of somewhere that is promoting creativity and inspiring people.
What are your biggest sources of inspiration?
I take a lot of inspiration from movies, I project a lot of films onto a quite wall for inspiration. I also take a diary pretty much everywhere I go. So a lot of the music I write is very personal. Its like a form of therapy.
And what does the rest of 2014 hold for you?
After my mentoring session here with vitaminwater, I’m releasing my single Glorious on the 10th August and also I’m going on tour with Pharell for 6 weeks that I’m really excited about. I’m going to be on an episode of Doctor Who. I’ve done a song for Doctor Who that was very exciting. I’m doing lots of UK festivals. I’m going back to Tokyo to promote the record out there. All of those things.
Whats on your bucket list?
Buy a bucket.
Check out the shinebright studio launch here:
Words: Ryan Cahill