In just 18 months, Indiana has gone from playing her first gig as an unknown in the Old Market Square, to signing a major label deal and performing for the Queen. This week she released her first single for Sony which has been playlisted by Radio 1. Simon Wilson caught her at home just before she headed off to Los Angeles to start work on her debut album...
IT'S one thing singing for the Queen when she's sat just eight feet away from you in a small radio studio but to have deliver the line "and I will be Queen"...
"I was told not to look at her when I sang that line," laughs the 26-year-old at her home in Long Eaton. "But I was so focussed on not looking at her, my eyes were darting around the room and they hit her a couple of times."
She was performing a cover David Bowie's Heroes with Irish band The Script, a random gig that was arranged at the last minute to show Her Majesty the new Live Lounge at the Radio 1 studios at the official opening of the BBC's new Broadcasting House in London.
After the performance, screened live on BBC News 24, Indiana was introduced to her.
"She's well sweet and little," says the mother-of-one in her home studio, where she's been working on tracks for her much-anticipated debut album.
"She reminded me of my grandma Mary. I was still proper scared though. I was so glad I didn't mess it up."
They had a quick chat about Glastonbury – where Indiana, real name Lauren Henson, was due to appear on the BBC Introducing Stage, part of which was seen on BBC Three's coverage.
Indiana was championed by The Script when Danny declared her as a new and upcoming singer. Anyone who listened to her beautiful and haunting voice will find it reminiscent of Bo Bruce, Danny's protege on series one of The Voice.
"Sometimes it feels like ages ago," she reflects. "So much has happened. I want to say I never dreampt I'd get this far... or some other corny line, but the truth is, as soon as I realised this was what I wanted to do, I dreampt big."
But she admits: "I've still got a long way to go."
This week her debut single for Sony, Mess Around, was released and was placed on the playlist at Radio 1, a station that has supported her for months.
Her music has been compared to everything from Portishead to Sinead O'Connor and The Cranberries. It's electronic-based and lyrically dark – surprising for an apparently happy, warm personality.
"People often say I'm not what they expected after listening to my music but I am drawn to darker things. I wanted to be a forensic scientist growing up.
"A lot of the time it's just the way it comes out when I'm writing. Last week I set out to write an Arabian love story but I ended up with a song about a zombie army. It's called Sleeping Nation.
"I'm a weirdo," she laughs.
As well meeting the Queen, Indiana has said that since playing with The Script things have just taken off. Danny offered me so much advice. He's a nice and genuine guy, he really cares and you can hear it when you talk to him he talks to you as a real person, a person in your own right. Not a big star giving a newbie a tiny tidbit that MIGHT help them.
Source: The Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net
No comments:
Post a Comment