There’s a certain, perplexing something that artists from the UK must have to achieve success in America. Paloma Faith seems possessed of this elusive elixir for US success. She’s a smart, sophisticated songwriter with a voice that’s a dramatic, open-hearted, pop-soul amalgam all her own. She’s already a big star in the UK, with her latest album — Fall to Grace — charting at #2 across the pond. This woman is the real deal, and her new US tour aims to bring this country into the Paloma Faith fold.
We joked that I was Paloma’s millionth interview of the day, but the digital age chanteuse was gracious and funny and had lots to say about her new album, her many influences, and the feeling of “starting over” as a virtual unknown in the US.
How did growing up in Hackney, so close to a major arts scene in London, influence your decision to pursue music seriously?
Well, when I was brought up I was encouraged to be creative. I didn’t find that academia lent itself very well to me in my early days. I sort of showed signs of excelling in creative stuff as a kid. Like, I was really good at drawing and I was really shy as a kid. When I was at primary school, my teacher was really concerned that I was so shy so she put me in the school play; I had to play the head dinosaur because she thought I should come out of my shell a bit. And so I did that and it changed me forever because I just loved being on stage so much!
I’d always done ballet as a kid because my mum wanted me to be coordinated, so I was a little bit in ballet and wasn’t very celebrated. But when I was the dinosaur, it made me very confident about my ability to be somebody else on stage and I think that’s how I had the confidence to roar like a dinosaur because I was really shy as a kid – really shy. And I realized then that if I became somebody else that I could do anything.
Do you feel like you bring elements of that – of becoming somebody else – into your performances today?
Yeah, it’s not really outside of myself – it’s just that I adopt an element, an air of confidence to step on stage. I think I channel the spirit of people I admire – like the spirit of Grace Jones or Shirley Bassey or Etta James. Strong women, defiant women. There’s a side to me that isn’t that [way], like when I’m caught off-guard or in private at home or whatever. I find the attention slightly repellant in those instances because I’m not ready for it and I have to sort of be – I wouldn’t say a different person… I’d just say it was a different side of my character to be able to go on stage.
That’s interesting given the tone of the songs on Fall To Grace, which seems incredibly emotional without being overly sentimental. Do you feel that’s accurate?
Maybe I am overly sentimental. [Laughs] That’s strange coming from an American! [Laughs] I dunno. I wouldn’t call it sentimental, I would say I was inspired by the kind of essences… like romanticizing tragedy in the same way as Edith Piaf would have. Like, a dramatic approach to sadness and tragedy almost – I wouldn’t call it really sentimental, but a more romantic approach.
Do you think your time singing in burlesque clubs introduced a different sort of flair to your music?
I would say that everything you do in life feeds into your art if you’re a creative person, so maybe that has an element to it. But I’ve always come from a theatrical background. The things that I related to and the things that I take as inspiring and that influenced me are kind of dramatic things. I don’t like mediocrity – I like extremes. And I am half Spanish, so I’m quite fiery! I probably over-indulge a bit. But I dunno… I think it makes for good songwriting.
Do you feel any sort of attachment toward the album format when it comes to your songwriting, or do singles suffice for you?
Absolutely the album format. I get upset when people interview me and haven’t listened to the whole record ‘cause it feels like they’ve only read the first chapter of a book.
I was speaking to somebody earlier on because, as you predicted, I’ve done a million of these today. But I was speaking to somebody earlier on and they asked why I didn’t want to work with Mark Ronson. And I said because he only wanted to do a few songs because he only had time to do a few songs, and I wanted to work with only one producer because I have it in my head that I adamantly wanted to have a very sort of coherent body of work that was a whole story. And I think that it’s difficult to get that when you’re going between various different producers. You don’t get that sort of linear storytelling vibe to it, really.
There seems to be a greater tendency today to treat an album as a depository for random songs rather than as a complete piece as you have done with Fall to Grace.
Yeah, exactly. There were songs that I wrote for this record that have amazing responses from audiences, but they just didn’t fit with the record. As much as I didn’t want to let them go, I did because I felt that I made the choices that were right for this record. Like, they feel like they would have been a red herring in the story, do you know what I mean?
Absolutely.
So, I’ve kept them because I know I’ll put them out. When I write, I sometimes play the odd thing at gigs. And when I’ve done something good, I play it before it’s released, and all these fans in the UK keep writing to me about this one song in particular that they’re really upset isn’t on the record. I’m upset, too, because I love it, but at the same time it just doesn’t make sense in the story, so I’ve had to leave it.
Since you do have this dedication to making albums, do you have any albums in particular that, to you, are the prime examples of artists committing themselves to their albums as complete pieces?
I’ve got quite a few. I really love… growing up, a big childhood album for me was that Tracy Chapman album, the first one – the brown one [Tracy Chapman]. I’ve just got it in my memory from when I was a kid and I know all the words.
Another album I grew up listening to and know all the lyrics to is Moondance by Van Morrison.
Well, one that I loved as a teenager was Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun.
If I could sit here and think of them, I could go on and on and on. They were all amazing artists and notorious for making the sort of albums everyone has to have.
And I love that sort of mentality in music – the, “Oh, you must have heard this record!” sort of thing. Whereas now it’s all a bit single-based. It’s the downloading generation; everyone makes their own compilations, don’t they? But I was determined to make an album where people would have to buy the whole thing.
Do you think there’s any way the pendulum will swing back to albums instead of singles?
I hope so. I think when it comes to a lot of British artists, globally at the moment, that’s happening.
Do you feel like, in all the interviews that you’ve done for American journalists, that there’s something that’s missing that nobody’s covering?
No, because I let the music speak for itself. In fact, if I had a choice I wouldn’t do any! [Laughs]
How is touring in the US different than in the UK – is there a noticeable difference as a performer?
Well, for a start, it’s like I’m going back to the beginning again. It’s like I’ve got less team and less technical stuff, and it’s small venues again. I like that, because it’s got an intimacy to it and a rawness about it. I feel like I’ll actually probably be able to interact with the audience in a sort of more personal way, and that’s exciting for me. It’s like a new challenge.
I just hope that you and all your friends tell all your friends so I’ve got somebody to play to! [Laughs]
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Paloma Faith Tour Dates:
Thu 09/13/12 – Washington, DC – The Red Palace
Sun 09/16/12 – Chicago, IL – Martyrs’
Tue 09/18/12 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Wed 09/19/12 – Hollywood, CA – Hotel Cafe
