Sarah Whatmore

Sarah Whatmore

Sarah Whatmore found fame on ITV’s Pop Idol partially for her vocal talents and partially due to her proposal from music mogul Simon Cowell (which she thankfully turned down!) After a six year hiatus to make sure she brings a top class record, she is back with her new single Smile and ready to prove she has what it takes to be a Pop Idol after all.

What have you been up to recently?

This week I’ve been promoting the single and I went on a radio tour last week so it’s all been go, go, go which has been nice… it’s good to be back.

So you’re getting ready to release your new single, Smile, after being away for almost six years; what’s it like getting back into the swing of things?
Its pretty easy because it feels like I never left. I’m very confident about the new music so I don’t feel like I have to say much about it other than ‘listen to the music and it will speak for itself.’
What did you get up to in the time that you were away?
I basically went away to go writing for a while and that’s what I’ve been doing all this time. I’ve been developing as an artist but because I was out before and I was on a TV show; it’s a bit rare to do that first and then disappear. I didn’t mean to go down that road but I just changed and the album changed and I wanted to raise the bar even further.

What made you decide to return now?

Because the music is ready to go out and this is the album that I wanted to bring out. It’s not really that I planned to come back at a certain time, I just wanted to wait until I had made a great album which has happened now.

Can you tell me a bit about the new single?

Basically, Smile is a sample by Hall and Oates - Sarah’s Smile - and I’m not really into doing samples but this is an exception because of the name Sarah and because I co-wrote this song with a guy who had worked with Hall and Oaks and he let me create something different from the original.

In fact, I hadn’t even heard the original when I wrote over the sample. It just had a great impact and gave me a lot of energy and I just got the album from that song. But the rest of the album is quite different from this song; not in terms of lyrics or melody but just because the music is a lot more bass driven and r n b and funky.

How would you describe your sound to anyone who hasn’t heard of you as yet and what makes you unique?

I would say my vocals make me unique because my voice is very warm like Karen Carpenter - her voice is very distinctive - the music is very optimistic but with very melancholy lyrics, which is the sort of music that I listen to anyway and that I like.

Tell me a little bit about your album, Time To Think, and how it came together?

It all came after an incident at the Royal Albert Hall; I got on stage and my microphone didn’t work and I thought it [my music career] was all going to be over because there were loads of people from the music industry there and I thought that no-one was going to want to work with me but somehow it turned around and people rang up the next day saying they wanted to work with me!

The album itself is very honest and optimistic and it’s not really love songs, but I did break up with someone whilst I was writing the album and ran out of money and really hit rock bottom; but essentially that’s where the inspiration came from because I wanted to look at the light at the end of the tunnel.

You initially found fame on the ITV show Pop Idol, but do you think you would be where you are now if it wasn’t for the show?

Oh yeah, no doubt in my mind. The thing is that many people don’t realise I was in the studio before that and I was working towards that. I didn’t just wake up one morning and think; “I want to be a singer, lets go on this show.” it was just another audition for me and I didn’t realise how big the show would be. They even asked me to go back for the final but I turned them down because I wanted to do my own thing. It’s a great way to start for anyone but I had it in my mind what I wanted to do.

Who do you look up to within the music industry?

There are so many people I could go on all day! It varies over the years but in terms of inspiration I think that when you are your own artist you have to be genuine and be who you are and that’s an essential part of being an artist; you have to be a leader and not a follower.

I listen to all different types of music; I grew up on Pink Floyd and I’m heavily into Jeff Buckley. I also love Nat King Cole and Fleetwood Mac - there are a huge range of influences. I always like a beautiful voice - whether it be a man or woman.

Do you think reality TV shows can actually produce decent musicians or do you think they sacrifice the quality to bring in audiences who like to laugh at the terrible auditions?

I think it’s a mixture of both. At the end of the day these are great shows for people wanting to be entertained on a Saturday night. Everyone has to start somewhere and if someone who is genuinely talented goes on that show the judges will pick up on it and the person will be better off than they were before.

At the same time I understand what you’re saying as the show is becoming bigger than the acts themselves and there is a new series on every year so it snowballs and you forget the winner from the previous year and it can become quite confusing.

I’m quite half-hearted about it now because there are people like Leona Lewis who have a fantastic voice who come out of it but in terms of being a musician there are a load of different things that make a great musician and for me that involves writing music and getting the right sound and being involved in every little detail and then having the satisfaction of singing those songs you wrote. It all depends on who you are and what you want.

I agree, it seems to have lost it’s traditional values. So finally, we ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview....and Zoe Ball wants to know; “Who was your first crush?”

Oh I don’t know. Will I have had to be a teenager? I don’t even think I had a crush when I was younger!

Did you have anyone you used to stick all over your bedroom walls?

Yeah! It was Luke Perry from 90210.

Now can you come up with a question for the next person I interview?

What are the ingredients for Spaghetti Bolognaise? I bet he just thinks its tomatoes, meat and sauce but a real home-made spaghetti bolognaise is different so ask that and see if they cook!

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison