00:05Hi, I'm Jordan, you're watching NME and we're here at a very wet and windy
00:09wedding festival with the fabulous Absolutely.
00:12Yay!
00:13How are you doing?
00:14I'm doing good. I just came off stage pretty recently and I'm feeling very proud of myself.
00:22I'm feeling happy.
00:23Good. Tell us about this set. Why are you feeling so proud of yourself and so you should?
00:28I'm like not so used to doing festivals.
00:31Right.
00:32So this is probably like my third, fourth festival that I've done.
00:36And it's just like, I don't know if people are going to show up.
00:40Oh, please.
00:41You know, I didn't expect that many people to show up.
00:44So it was like really surreal.
00:47And to see how many people were singing along and just people looking so happy.
00:52It was really beautiful.
00:54Oh man, you're spreading joy. That's great.
00:55Yeah.
00:55And you were saying earlier before we started filming that you were doing a meet and greet.
00:59Which must have been lovely.
01:01Like what kind of things were people coming up and saying to you about your music?
01:05There were so many lovely people just saying that they loved seeing me live.
01:10They came and saw me on different tours like opening for Renee Rap and my sister Rae.
01:15And people saying they love my world and my fashion and things like that.
01:20Some people like made little outfits to like resemble my stage looks.
01:25Wow.
01:25Which was so cute.
01:26Do you feel kind of buoyed by that?
01:28Is that kind of very inspiring for like stuff that you might work on in the future?
01:32Yeah, it feels like everything I'm doing is not in vain, you know?
01:37Right.
01:37It feels like it's appreciated and understood and people really care about it and it just gives me more reason
01:44to want to keep creating.
01:45Yeah.
01:46Wow.
01:46Yeah.
01:47You grew up in London.
01:48Did you come to Reading a lot?
01:50Did you have a relationship with the festival?
01:52No, this is my first time.
01:53Oh my God, you were on the main stage at your first Reading.
01:56Yeah.
01:56That is a flex.
01:57It's insane.
01:58It's really insane honestly.
02:01Good work.
02:02Your new album or latest album Paracosm is out now.
02:06This is an amazing, inventive, incredibly eclectic and quite unique album.
02:13To say the least.
02:14What kind of influences go into a record like that?
02:17A lot I would have guessed.
02:19Yeah, well, I think it really like started from me separating myself from thinking and creating from like a logical
02:31perspective.
02:32Wow.
02:32Or like trying to craft a song that people are going to like.
02:38I was creating from more of a place of like, what do I enjoy creating?
02:44Just like playing, you know?
02:45And that was the concept of the album.
02:48It's Paracosm.
02:49It's called Paracosm.
02:50Should I tell you what the definition is?
02:53Do you know what?
02:53I was literally about to say, I write for a living and so I was like, shall I pretend that
02:59I know what this word means?
03:01Can I get away with this?
03:02I didn't know what the word meant.
03:03I don't know either.
03:04I didn't know until it-
03:05Please put me out of my misery.
03:07Yeah.
03:07So somebody commented on my YouTube, she is my Paracosm.
03:12And for some reason I felt like drawn to that word.
03:15I don't know why.
03:16Wow.
03:17But I just searched up what it meant.
03:18I don't think it's an actual like dictionary word.
03:22I don't know where it came from or like why it exists, but it basically just means fantastical worlds, places
03:32and characters that you create as a child that extend through to adulthood.
03:37So that was like the place that I was in when I was creating it, creating the album, really like
03:44trying to look through the lens of childlike wonder.
03:47Because I think when I was a child, I wasn't thinking about anything when I was creating.
03:53I was just doing it and I was just playing, you know, there was no like boundaries, no rules, no
03:59consequences.
04:02Yeah.
04:02That's gorgeous.
04:04Yeah.
04:04Because when you're a kid, I got two little kids and they just like draw and like, they just enjoy
04:08it.
04:09They're not thinking about whether it's good or bad, you know?
04:11Yeah, exactly.
04:11And then I think as we move into adulthood, we become kind of more self-critical and worried about doing
04:18or saying something embarrassing or whatever, you know?
04:21Yeah.
04:21So you're sort of preserving that childlike wonder and creativity, which I think is amazing.
04:27And it's all there in the music.
04:28Do you know if that person knows that you read that comment?
04:32I don't know, actually.
04:34If you're watching.
04:35If you're watching.
04:36Get in touch.
04:36Comment on this one.
04:37You were the one who titled my album.
04:40Yeah, I don't think they know.
04:42These are very layered and textured and inventive songs.
04:44How do you even, what is the process?
04:47What is the starting point for these songs?
04:51Um, it really depends, but I think a lot of the time I'm creating like landscapes with my voice.
04:58So I will layer harmonies and kind of like weaving vocals together to create like a landscape.
05:06And that usually like determines what direction the song is going to go.
05:10Wow.
05:11And it helps me to kind of build a world because I'm not like a multi-instrumentalist, but I can
05:18hear what I want an instrument to do.
05:21Yes.
05:22So I can just kind of use my voice as an instrument.
05:25Wow.
05:26Yeah.
05:27And that's how it all starts.
05:28Uh, you mentioned your sister earlier.
05:29You've in fact got two, both of your sisters are performing here this weekend.
05:33That's amazing.
05:34She's playing on the main stage and Amma is playing on the canopy stage, I think, tomorrow.
05:38Have you guys, did you get to meet up or maybe?
05:41Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:41We've been, we both, uh, Ray and I went to go and watch Amma's set together.
05:46Amazing.
05:46And it was so wholesome.
05:48It was so lovely.
05:50Um, she did amazing and I was seeing Ray up on the sidelines for my, my set and we've all
05:57been hanging out.
05:58It's been really lovely.
05:59God, that is such an amazing thing.
06:01I wonder if that's ever happened in like Reading and Leeds history.
06:02Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
06:04I mean, this must be, this is obviously a very talented musical family.
06:08It was a very musical household growing up, right?
06:10That's what, that's where this starts.
06:11Mm-hmm.
06:13My, my dad was kind of the one who, I guess, introduced music to the household.
06:20He loves producing and writing songs and he taught us all how to write songs.
06:26And then my mum was always playing like church music in the house, gospel music.
06:31We were always singing, my dad playing the piano, harmonies.
06:35It was just like normal, like second nature in our house.
06:39And taking that stuff from your childhood and being here now doing this.
06:42Is that a paracosm?
06:44Yeah, that, that is a paracosm.
06:46Yeah.
06:46We've come full circle.
06:47Yeah.
06:47That's great.
06:48Well, what's next for you?
06:49My last question.
06:50What's next for you?
06:51Um, next is figuring out what the next musical world is, which I'm, I'm like stepping into
06:58now and it's exciting to be back in the studio again.
07:03And thinking about what a, an absolutely tour would look like, which is exciting.
07:11And designing more clothes.
07:14And yeah.
07:16Well, I can't wait to say, to hear it and to see it all.
07:19Absolutely.
07:20Thank you so much.
07:20Thank you for having me.
07:23Bye.
07:23Bye.
07:24Bye.
07:25Bye.
07:25Bye.
07:26Bye.
