Online networks has repopularised your song Headlock, but how did it feel in the early 2000s when you had to create, advertise and market the Speak For Yourself album largely on your own?
In those days if you were lucky you got into popular press outlets. The primary exposure I got was in the techie music mags, but then the track Hide and Seek was in The OC, Headlock got on the radio and I started getting notice. If only we could have had TikTok and all this no-cost advertising 20 years ago … but if I’d received then the kind of attention I get now, I might have made alternative decisions, so I wouldn’t have changed anything.
Did you really remortgage your flat to finance Speak For Yourself?
I spent four years making an album in the group Frou Frou on a record company, but it failed to earn back so I never saw a penny. Creating more music with that label would have felt like returning to a place that damaged your treasured item. After I got out of that deal, no bank would provide financing. Then I realised that my two-bedroom flat in the city I’d bought for that price was worth an increased value a year later. I used its equity to make the album and never looked back. Funnily enough, after all the online resurgence recently I’ve just received my initial payments from Frou Frou after 25 years.
Over two decades back, you recorded and toured with Jeff Beck. How did the collaboration come about?
I met Jeff when I was 19 at a songwriting camp in Miles Copeland’s castle in the the countryside. I was considerably less experienced and socially awkward so I got pretty drunk. I was sitting outside attempting music to myself and Jeff said: “Allow me to teach you.” I said: “You’re talented!” That evening I ended up drunkenly driving a golf caddy around the estate and crashing into Miles’s mum’s prized terracotta pots. Soon afterwards I got a message from my manager asking: “You encountered Jeff Beck?” He told me he was this renowned artist – It surprised me – who wanted me to collaborate vocally. I sang his gorgeous Nadia as best I could and did some shows with him. He was a sweet man and I loved him so much. Numerous artists from that generation are just so thankful to have been able to do what they loved all those years, and their humility is notable in comparison to the amount of success they achieved.
‘If only we could have had TikTok and all this no-cost advertising in that era’ … Heap, the city, 2006.
Her autobiographical work is a unique, autobiographical song, intended to update [with an added minute] every multiple years. How hard was it to distill a seven-year period into one minute?
I’m unsure about my success, but I sat in a actual seat and asked audiences: “Which unwritten song matters to you?” There were hundreds and hundreds different answers, but all reflecting personal timelines. For anyone aged early childhood it was single word answers like “toy” or “game”, from youth it was fun, adolescence was about self-discovery and mature years “I’m in the wrong job and that maybe I personal reevaluation.” I didn’t complete those years because my family loss in my 42nd year and I couldn’t proceed, but I’m about to release the concluding work, a extended composition called the title, about who I am now. The work is all true. The line “Personal humiliation … I’ll never live it down” is about the time my acquaintance – took my stupid padded bra out of my drawer and tossed it. Then everyone threw it around. I was mortified.
How did you get the concept for that cheerful track? It consistently delights my infant whenever I put it on, so I appreciate it.
A formula brand Cow & Gate wanted to create a song that would make infants cheerful, so they put me in a research setting. I iterated various bits of music depending on their responses. My two-year-old daughter Scout started some of the musical phrases. We’d taken her to the an exhibition so that’s where “bing bing on the bicycle, beep beep in the car” comes from. The sound at the beginning is her laughing at my friend’s cat. Young listeners enjoy the music, but it soothes adults, too.
Did you often misbehave in education and if so what were you rebelling against?
I feel awful now for some of the things I did. The breaking point came when I told the staff member off and they removed me, but they still needed me to be the star performer for the end-of-term concert, so I ended up staying with the principal and she was really kind to me. I just found residential education insanely boring. I was recently diagnosed with specific conditions, which might explain why I’ve always wanted to create change and do creative work.
What shades have you tried?
In recent times, actually, all kinds of vibrant colors. When I was younger I had issues around my body, so like I’d wear garments to make my legs not look so thin or wear over-the-top costumes with embellishments. For the extended period I’d tease my hair into a big look because I felt my head was too tiny. It’s only in the recent period I’ve realised I actually like my hair – I just needed to stick some layers in it.
It’s been 11 years since your last major record. Will we ever get a follow-up?
Certainly, I did the soundtrack work [The Music of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – in Four Contemporary Suites], and a couple of years ago I made the music to an Audible podcast called that title with my associate the creator, who gave me a collection of audio like insects croaking underground, which we turned into a two-part release. I just got tired of traditional formats, but now I’m really excited about freestyling and improvising vocally. I’ve spent extended periods caged up in the studio and I’ve sacrificed personally. There will be a record shortly which will be the conclusion of that phase but I’m more excited about creating music in real time.
‘I’ve spent thousands of hours caged up in the studio and I’ve sacrificed experiences’ … Heap plays in Los Angeles, spring 2025.
In 2014, the pop star invited fans to her residence to hear her new album 1989 while she provided snacks. It seemed a very typical thing to do. Had you discussed listener connection when you worked together on that song, that title?
Not exactly. I think, like me, she just enjoys public response. I’m constantly bringing guests going: “What do you think?” It’s rewarding to see if something you’ve just completed connects people. I’ve had many supporters round to gatherings and I’m sure her fans are as welcoming.
Last year, a article about your goals to use technology in concerts. Listeners had worries. Is it still active?
A hundred percent. When people think of AI they maybe think of this conscious brain making all the music while I’m sitting there being a puppet. I see it as a partnership. Say I’m in a outdoor space and there’s {dog sounds
Film critic and industry analyst with a passion for uncovering cinematic trends and storytelling techniques.
