Since her self-titled debut entered the charts at number 3 in 2010, Eliza Doolittle has gone from strength to strength. Her recent collaboration with Disclosure on smash hit ‘You & Me’ saw the singer-songwriter move away from her signature sunny sound towards electronic RnB vibes, all the while maintaining her unmistakeable pop sensibilities and aptitude for infectious hooks. We caught up with Eliza to discuss her career so far and what we can expect from her much-anticipated second album.
Prime Planet: Congratulations on the success of “You & Me”. How did you come to work with Disclosure?
Eliza Doolittle: Thank you! Basically we have a mutual friend, Jimmy Napes, who writes a lot with them, and I’ve been working with Jimmy since I was 13. He actually produced the first ever songs that I wrote, and we’ve been working together ever since. When he started working with Disclosure, I think Howard had my album, and said “can we do something with Eliza” to Jimmy, so Jimmy asked me, and I was like “hell yeah”, ‘cause I thought they were brilliant! So we got into the studio and wrote You & Me.
PP: The track’s quite a departure from your earlier tracks like “Pack Up”. What kinda vibes can we expect from the next album?
ED: I think it’s different from my last album. My first single off it is probably a good connection to the last album; it’s got kind of like a sunny, summery vibe to it. But with the rest of the album, you kind of get a little further into it with each song; it definitely moves in a different direction.
PP: Have you felt pressured to move towards that new direction according to trends?
ED: You know what, when I’m writing I don’t listen to the radio at all. Over the last three months or so I’ve been listening to the radio again, just so I’m aware of what’s going on, but when I’m writing I kind of zone out. I always want my music to be a true expression of how I feel and what I’m thinking, and not to be a reflection of too many other things. But at the same time, you’re always going to be influenced by what you listen to, and I listen to a lot of different music, regardless of what’s on the radio. I listen to whatever I like.
PP: You’re often tagged as ‘singer-cum-model’. How do you feel about that label?
ED: I’m flattered, but it’s just not true! I don’t think I’m a model at all. As lots of singers and musicians do, you get asked to model for little campaigns here and there, but it’s not really as a model, it’s more like as a person, as a human. Sometimes people want you to represent them, and that’s great, if you love what they’re doing it’s quite cool to collaborate like that, but I definitely wouldn’t call myself a model… I wish!
PP: Do you feel like you’ve got more to prove as an artist in your own right, coming from a family of performers?
ED: Of course, yeah. It’s not like I was trying to hide anything on my last album, but I didn’t want to use it to my advantage by going on about my family being in theatre and show business or whatever. I’m very independent; I always wanted to do my own thing, and I have. Obviously I’ve still got a lot more to prove and a lot more to show, but at the same time I’m proud of my family and what they’ve done as well.
PP: I live in Camden too! What was it like growing up there in the ‘90s?
ED: No way, fellow Camden girl! Camden Market was amazing back then. We’d go there all the time and buy little trinkets and bells to wear around our ankles, crazy sarongs, bindis… all those kinds of very ‘90s things. We used to go to the Buffalo Shop, which was right next to the station, back when the Spice Girls were big. There’s so many things! In fact a lot of the references in my latest song “Big When I Was Little” probably come from Camden.
PP: It’s pretty terrible now though.
ED: Yeah it’s not so good anymore. I mean, I still represent, but it would be nice for it to go back to the old days, definitely.
PP: Who are you most excited to see at the festivals you’re playing at this summer?
ED: I’m really excited about doing this Lionel Richie gig in Hyde Park! It’s going to be great to see him, and J-Lo and Chic as well, so that’s going to be amazing. And I’m going to do Glastonbury with Disclosure, and I know the lineup’s brilliant, so I’m really excited for lots of different acts there. When it comes to old music, the Rolling Stones are gonna be sick. In terms of new music I’m looking forward to seeing Tom Odell, I think he’s cool.
PP: Do you get time to go and see the other acts, or are you kept in a van for most of it?
ED: I try and go see as much as I can. Sometimes if there’s a lot of promotion to do you’ll be having to go straight from the stage to do a radio or TV interview, so it’s hard to catch music. Because my album’s coming out in October, I’m not doing so much promotion this time, so I think I’m going to get to see a few acts.
PP: Speaking of live shows… There was quite an outcry about Disclosure at the Capital FM Summertime Ball. What were your thoughts on the whole situation?
ED: You know what, sometimes you have to do that kind of thing, especially when there’s like 20 acts and you’re having to rush on and off stage. I still think Disclosure’s the kind of act that deserves to play live, and the same goes for a lot of the other acts that were playing, and it would’ve been great to see them play live, but I think it that sometimes you’ve just got to do that, so people can at least boogie to your music. Of course we were all singing live, so it’s not like it was completely mimed or anything like that.
PP: Some of the things people were saying about it were pretty unfair, but I think the band’s message got across in the end.
ED: You know they were upset that they couldn’t do their proper show, and really down about it. So really it’s not fair that people are putting them down for it; sometimes you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do.
PP: People tend to write about your hair a lot. What’s the craziest style you’ve experimented with?
ED: I don’t do too much with it, it stays pretty wild and curly all the time! I remember when I was younger we used to crimp our hair, which was quite awful. I remember one of the girls in my class had a party in a hair salon and we all got our hair crimped there, that was fun. It was a long time ago though!
Eliza’s brand new single ‘Big When I Was Little’ is due for release on July 28th, with pre-order available from June 17th.
– Ben Lifton
