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Interview
by SaschaS
23-7-2004
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| Jamelia and Prince - the real one! |
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Sole sista
Jamelia: Brit-Beyoncé? Nope - femme Diddy!
Jamelia’s life, being a rollercoaster for a number of years, has been something special over the past few weeks… Switching on 'I, Robot' head, it’s been like a sci-fi flick. Two weekends ago she performed at the Party In The Park and did some hanging out with the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, who recently ‘appointed’ the lovely woman as a Prince’s Trust Ambassador; a week later her single, 'See It In A Boy's Eyes', penned by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, charted at 5 [although some hoped she’d usurp Usher’s top spot]; then, less then 48 hours later she got nominated for a Mercury Music Prize for her second album ‘Thank You’.
In between she found time for a chat with us and we started with her Hyde Park performance that was fraught with a dress that appeared to emphasise her charms to the limit of decency but then - she’s got them to export.
“That dress was a full-on one but the wind was blowing,” Jamelia laughs semi-wickedly, “and all the pictures that made the papers were of it being blown off my body; it wasn’t really a problem and I really enjoyed the performance but I was very aware that parts could fall out at any time. The picture that made most of the papers happened because my hand wasn‘t fast enough to pull the skirt down.”
“Don’t get me wrong, although I’m a woman and an issue of self-confidence lingers… But, you have to be proud of your body, which doesn’t necessarily mean showing it off, the same way I’m proud of my work, proud of my daughter, proud of my mom… I do feel like I’ve been truly blessed and there are people who are missing a limb or… So, I do feel I’m very fortunate. Still, the biggest thrill was meeting Prince Charles.”
How does celeb-mixing and hanging out with Royalty correspond to your everyday life, upbringing?
“I see myself as an inspiration, I see everything I do as something that can make difference to someone else… When I sat next to Prince Charles I felt like that I had the right to be there the same way other persons deserved to be there. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it is about where you are going to, where your ambitions lie… I’m aiming to succeed in every way that I can possibly can.”
“Being sat next to Prince Charles was such a honour for me and such a fantastic moment. My existence meant something on the day and I can be an inspiration, make a difference and, hopefully, people will follow my example and believe to be where I am today. Yeah, where I grew up would be described as a ‘ghetto’, not in the third-world sense but it is… I’m proud of it, I’m proud to sit next to the Prince…”
“Also, being appointed an Ambassador of Prince's Trust is a great honour and my duty is to promote it. When I was growing up I knew nothing about it, I didn‘t know you could apply for a grant as a young entrepreneur, none of my family knew it, none of my friends… That’s what I’ll be doing - making people aware of it so that they can use it.”
“All I try to do is be a good person and take everything as it comes.”
Detectable durability
“Yes, it would have been nice to have Number One with 'See It In A Boy's Eyes' but I feel that No 5 is brilliant because there are people still interested and buying it. There are more important things I’m doing, being recognised for instance, but having Number One this week is not important because I see myself as an artist who has longevity and the top spot could be mine in the future.”
The possible explanation is that this song is delivered in a restrained, hold-back mode, it feels like you could have injected it with a bit more oomph, not belting it though…
“I know what you mean but the subject is about holding back and we thought it could do with restraint because the song is about being in a relationship and the other person never tells you everything. You can see in their eyes that there is something else… We wanted to create certain mood, atmosphere and all things are intentional.”
Getting new father Martin to write you a song is certainly a coup…?
“I suppose so but I wasn’t chasing him for it,” Jamelia unleashes another burst of her girlie-cum-siren laughter. “He called my A&R man, we share label in England, and said he wanted to work with me. I was totally flattered, I was even amazed he knew of me and after he told my A&R man that I was one of his favourite contemporary singers, I just couldn’t believe it… And, working with him was one of the best days of my life.”
Fathomable horizon
Having signed up with a modelling agency, and rumoured acting in the offing, are you having any downtime this summer?
“Well, I have no time-off planned whatsoever and will spend the summer starting work on my next album, while the third, and last, single off this album is released. I’m really looking forward to it, as well as to modelling and acting. The sky is the limit for me right now… My daughter starts school in September and I have a crazy year ahead of me but in no way I’m complaining. I’m very excited and just very happy to be me…”
“‘Cannot’ is not in my vocabulary and I really want to do all these things… I see myself as a business woman, I want to be an entrepreneur, I’d really like to have maybe a record label, clothing line, do different things…”
Thus, the media’s calling you Brit-Beyoncé [although Jamelia appears to be more street than the Destiny’s Child’s polished material] is wrong, it sounds like your idol is P.Diddy!?
“Yeah, I wanna be like him…” she visibly perks up. “He really is my idol and I really look up to him. He has an incredible business mentality and we can learn a lot from the Americans… He seemed to have a vision early on and that’s how I feel: if there is something over there I go straight for it and if you are in the way you’ll get knocked down. I’m so determined and having been in this business for almost ten years now and, as far as I’m concerned, a lot of that time got wasted and now is the time to get down to it!”
“Beyoncé… Although I believe that Beyoncé is fantastic I don’t see myself being similar to her… I just can’t understand why can’t I just be Jamilia, why she can’t be US-Jamelia? Someone said yesterday that it should be flattering because if I’m Brit-Beyoncé, then she is the American-Jamelia… Still, that’s not the point, I want to be Jamelia when I go over there. She is fantastic artist but I don’t think we are similar in any respect, music-wise, image and we are heading in totally different directions.”
“She is aiming to be an icon, I’m aiming to be happy.”
Happiness is solely provided by daughter Taja (3½) due to a man deficiency in Jamelia's life, that is puzzling… This single-mom is a hot’n’sexy artist with a dynamic personality and a matching ambition.
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Latest: Jamelia's has collaborated with Italian star Tiziano Ferro on 'Universal Player' for 'Unity: The Official Athens 2004 Olympic Games Album'. Other artists featured on the disc are Alice Cooper duetting with Xzibit, Destiny's Child and Will I Am, Macy Gray and Keziah Jones... There are also songs by Avril Lavigne and Sting... The album is released by EMI on 05 August.
One of the best on 16-track compilation is Moby & Public Enemy's 'MKLVFKWR' that is reviewed on the day of release, Monday, the 26th inst. [The label is Mute, home of Moby's contract.]
SaschaS
23-7-2004
Jamelia’s album ‘Thank You’ and single 'See It In A Boy's Eyes' are available now on Parlophone
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