Got a date with a Pixie

Bangkok has an audience with a star this week as soulful British pop singer Pixie Lott is set to grace Parc Paragon for a mini-showcase for Siam Paragon’s seventh-anniversary party tonight.
Raspy and soul-voiced Victoria Louise “Pixie” Lott broke into the scene in 2009 with her No 1 hit “Mama Do” on the UK singles chart.
Her second single, “Boys and Girls”, also topped the charts in September the same year. Her debut album “Turn It Up” reached No 6 in Britain, spawned five consecutive Top 20 singles, and sold over a million copies. The follow-up, “Young Foolish Happy”, came out last year with “All About Tonight” entering the charts at No 1, making it her third UK chart-topping hit.
With the third album on the way, the 21-year-old songstress chatted with us about how obsessed she is with Motown music.

Have you enjoyed Bangkok so far?
This is my first time in Thailand. We just got in, so we haven’t done anything much. We had a Thai massage, went to a night market and did some shopping. Then we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. I love Thai food!

When are we going to hear the third album?
I’m writing at the moment in the studio, and I’ve got, like, half of it finished. I’m writing till the beginning of next year.
It will be Motown-esque and soulful, and it will be consistent throughout the whole album. My previous album came out with a bit of mixture of things, but this one will be a Motown-style pop album, which I’m very excited about. That’s my favourite style of music, and favourite to sing. It’s what I grew up listening to, so it makes sense.

Who do listen to?
A lot of big singers like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, as well as Motown music like Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding and all that.

Did you go to the US to get some Motown mojo?
I was actually in New York for six weeks writing recently, and we did a lot of the album there. But there are some great people in London too that I work with and I love. They did that sound really well, too.

You seem to like retro fashion style, too.
I love a lot of ’60s fashion and the classics. I like classic styles, but I also make it quirky with cat ears or something to make it different. I like Edie Sedgwick, Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, too.

Have you chosen your producer yet?
There are a couple of producers, but instead of going around LA, which has tons there, I’m just going to work with a few to get that organic sound. I really don’t like to work with loads of people – just a few people that I love to work with.

Do you reveal your personal life in your music at all?
Yes, there’s always a bit of truth about yourself that comes out. How I feel, how I experience situations – they all come out in the songs.

So who was “Jack” on your first album?
Oh, I didn’t write that song, but I can tell you the history of that song. It’s the first song I ever recorded in America, when I was 15 or so. It was the song that got the record labels interested in me.
The guy who wrote the song wrote it with Marion Raven from M2M, who at the time was going out with a boy from another boy-group called Hanson. She really liked him, but then he split up with her and broke her heart. She wanted to write a song about it but didn’t want to make it obvious to the press that the boy was Zack Hanson, so she called him Jack instead.

Do you still want to collaborate with Beyonce and Rhianna?
Yes! I wouldn’t say no, because they’re all amazing. But it’s different every time people ask me because there are a lot of amazing people out there. Today I want to collaborate with someone with a different music style because that makes it fresher. I’d like to work with an indie band, or a guitar band like Kings of Leon or Coldplay.

There are a lot of good singers out there, and many have similar style to yours. Are you nervous?
I don’t really get the pressure, really, and I don’t know why, especially with this next album, which I think it will really be me. It will just be fun, I think.
I know there’s a lot of competition, because there are a lot of great acts out there. I’ll just stay true to myself, because everyone can bring out everything they want.

What about pressure over the next album?
I guess you’re always worried, because my last album had No 1 singles. You know that maybe you won’t hit that spot again, but all you can do is hope and try your best.