Exclusive Gabriella Cilmi Interview

07 July 2008

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Your current single is Sweet About Me and it's been taken from your debut album Lessons to be Learned what can we expect from the album?

A whole load of different things because I have so many influences so there isn't one particular genre running through the album. But if I had to pinpoint it down to a genre I would say it's pop/blues, glam rockish.

How did you get into music?

I guess it kind of started off with my dad buying a piano, because he thought it would look good, and put it in the house. Non of parents are really musical but they love music so I guess I just grew up listening to cool music: my mum loved Janice Joplin and Cat Stevens as well and my dad loved Blondie and T-Rex, so I had good music a round me all of the time plus I used to jam with my mates in a garage and we played Led Zeppelin covers.

And how did you secure your record deal?

My parent are Italian and every year we go to this festival thing and it's one of those places where people auction off their cheeses for charity and their wine and there's a one man band or a tribute band. This one year my uncle got me to get up and sing, so I sung Jumpin' Jack Flash, and there was a guy from Mushroom Records there and he ended up signing me first and eventually I got signed to Island Records in the UK, which is where everything has happened for me really.

How much creative control does the label allow you to have when putting your album together?

No they are pretty good they let me kind of grow, I had three years to write my album and they have always let me, obviously I was going to write a pop album to appeal to as many people as possible, but they let me experiment and have fun with it as well so I'm pretty lucky.

And how does the writing process work for you?

Well i co-wrote this album with people called Xenomania who have worked with people like Girls Aloud and Sugababes, real kind of pop music. I kind of start off with the lyrics most of the time then go write the music with other people.

It's cool because I enjoy writing with other people but I also enjoy writing by myself because I think to make those songs personal you need to have that bit of alone time as well.

But it's nice to share you ideas with other people plus I wrote with people who are totally different to me and came from a totally different musical background, they had worked with a lot of pop acts before and at the time I was listening to a lot of Jet and Kings of Leon, so when both our ideas met we came up with something pretty good.

You are the youngest artist ever to have a number one in Australia how are you finding your success?

Yeah it has been really cool but all the stuff in Australia has happened without me being there because I have been here (in the UK) the whole time but it's really cool to have success in my own country.

You were at Glastonbury this weekend?

Yeah I got in at like five this morning because it was mental traffic. I flew in from Switzerland at 4.30 yesterday morning and got to Glastonbury at about 2pm. But it was crazy and it was just really cool to be playing there.

And how did you find the crowd?

Yeah pretty good, once I played Sweet like Me people realised who I was, so it was fun playing to people who are just walking by but them come to check it out. Glastonbury is like my favourite thing because you are outdoors, there's load of food and music I just love it.

And how are you finding the UK?

Yeah really cool have been living her for a year so I feel pretty comfortable living here now and the live music is great, there is someone playing everyday, and I have some great mates here.

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