So far, 2013 has already been a ridiculously successful year for UK urban soul star Emeli Sandé.
Still surfing the wave created by her multiple platinum-selling debut album, Our Version Of Events, the 26-year-old Glasgow-based singer-songwriter picked up, amongst numerous other gongs and trophies, both Album of the Year and Best British Female at the Brit Awards last February (following in the red carpet footprints of Adele, Florence & The Machine, Ellie Goulding and Jessie J).

She has spent much of the intervening months touring or on the promotional trail. There hasn’t been any time to spare, which possibly explains why Sandé insists that she has neither seen, nor even heard of, Cheryl Cole’s latest badass tattoo (in her parallel career as a songwriter for hire, she has written a couple of tracks for the former Girls Aloud star).
“Her new tattoo?” she says, quizzically, when Hot Press mentions it. “What is it?”
Well, basically her entire backside is covered in a cheeky rose tattoo that took 55 hours to ink...
“Oh wow!” she laughs. “No, I haven’t seen it. It sounds great, though. I need to check that out. I love tattoos, so maybe she’ll look cool.”
The half-Zambian, half-Cumbrian singer is such a fan of body art that she has six tattoos herself. Does she get them done to mark special occasions?
“In the moment, I probably wasn’t thinking I was marking an occasion but, looking back, I suppose I was,” she says. “Like when I moved to London, I got my first tattoo. It was a Virginia Woolf quote and I think that marked a whole kind of liberation and freedom for me. So yeah, I guess they all mark a moment in my life.”
What’s the Virginia Woolf quote?
“It’s from her A Room of One’s Own, which was a book that inspired me to be creative and to go and be independent as a woman.”

Emeli Sandé is talking down the line from her London home, having just returned from the US a couple of days ago. She’s still a little jetlagged and tends to be rather brief in her answers anyway. It’s a habit that may well have come from having spent the last few months doing countless ditzy FM radio interviews. It is not, in other words, that she doesn’t have very much to say. She is a highly intelligent woman.
Indeed, far from being yet another empty-headed pop starlet, she was less than two years away from completing her degree in clinical neuroscience at the University of Glasgow when her music career suddenly took off. Not that she has any real regrets about not becoming
Dr. Sandé.
“No, none at all,” she laughs. “For a while I thought it would be really cool, but, for now, I’m just loving music and all that. I loved studying medicine, too, but it just wasn’t my dream.”
She’s definitely living the dream now. She began her music industry career guesting on hit rap tracks by Chipmunk (‘Diamond Rings’) and Wiley (‘Never Be Your Woman’), and penning songs for the likes of the aforementioned Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle (leading Simon Cowell to dub her his “favourite songwriter” at one stage). Having signed a publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing in 2010, she has gone on to write songs for everyone from Alicia Keys, Cher Lloyd and Gabrielle to Rihanna, Alesha Dixon and Tinie Tempah.
Just recently, it was announced that she’s now also writing for Katy Perry and Britney Spears.
“Yeah, I’m delighted about that,” she enthuses. “I’ve been doing a lot of writing. I mean, I love writing for other people anyway, and they’re two really cool people to work with.”
What’s the difference between writing songs for yourself and writing them for others?
“Well it’s just your intention, really,” she says. “When I go into the studio to work at my own album then I’m definitely in that other kind of creative mode. When you’re writing for other people, you are there as more of a facilitator. You want to know what they want to write about, you are suggesting things, and you are thinking physically of them. I really love it when you can be in the room with the artist as it makes so much more sense than just sending songs off.”
Does that often happen or is it mostly done online or by email?
“Yeah, a lot of the time it’s done where I send it to my publishers and they send it to someone else, and if someone likes it then fantastic. But my favourite time is if they are in the studio, and you’ve met them, and you can have a discussion and connect. I think you get a song that is a lot more tailored for them doing it that way.”

While she’s undoubtedly a multi-talented and much in-demand songwriter, her own singing career has taken off like a rocket since her first solo single ‘Heaven’ was released through Virgin in August 2011. Sandé subsequently scored three consecutive No 1 singles in the UK and Ireland with ‘Read All About It’ (with Professor Green), ‘Next To Me’, and ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’ (a collaboration with Labyrinth).
Her retro-futurist soul pop album, Our Version of Events, spent a total of seven weeks at No 1 in the UK (and has now sold well over a million copies). More recently, she’s been concentrating her energies on breaking America. A remix of ‘Next To Me’ featuring Kendrick Lamar brought her much airplay and acclaim in the US hip-
hop world.
Her current Stateside release is the ballad ‘My Kind Of Love’. Featuring people shooting bullets from their mouths (with words like ‘Bitch’ and ‘Dick’ etched onto them), the surreal promo video for the US version is much more hard-edged and controversial than the UK original. Why the need to make a new one?
“Well, we’re re-releasing ‘My Kind Of Love’ in the States, that’s the next single over there, so I felt that – two years on – we needed to look at the video and explore different concepts for the visuals as well. So that’s why we did a new one.”
Is the US campaign going according to plan?
“Well, in the States, I mean, it’s just early days to be honest,” she admits. “But it’s going really well. Every time I tour and play, the next time I go the shows are getting bigger. So we’re starting from that level but, like, the last time I went it was like, it made sense when I got there, all the hard work from the beginning paid off. It’s a really exciting place for me to go and to entertain new people.”
While not quite yet a household name in the US a la Adele, she played for President Obama in the White House last March. “Yes, I was performing for Carole King, when she was being awarded the Gershwin songwriting prize,” she recalls. “I had to perform ‘Natural Woman’ in front of her, the President and his wife. It was surreal. But it was brilliant, a really special night.”
Special as it may have been, her White House gig still didn’t top the night of July 27th, 2012, when she both opened and closed Danny Boyle’s widely praised Olympics opening ceremony in London.
“Yeah, I mean the Olympics was a big one and just a really special night to get so early on,” she says. “It was a privilege to be involved with Danny Boyle and to be involved with an event that really represents where the UK is at right now.”
Given everything that’s happened, it’s hard for Emeli to pick her biggest moment of the past year. Still, she manages. “What’s been the biggest moment?” she repeats. “For me personally, I suppose it was releasing the album because it was such a struggle up until then, and it was a great opportunity to have that platform. So the album was then received so warmly when it arrived – and that was such a good feeling. Having a No 1 with it was definitely the biggest moment. Everything that happened after that was thanks to that moment, so that’s the one I look back on with the most excitement.”
She’s been so busy touring and promoting that it must be difficult to maintain creative momentum. How’s the second album shaking up?
“It is coming together,” she laughs. “You know, I have many ideas and moods after this last year. I’ve been trying to write on the road but, to be honest, I haven’t really got my head stuck in it at the moment. I have been doing some writing with (producer) Naughty Boy, we have been doing some exciting stuff that I’m looking forward to finishing.
“I am trying to get into the habit of writing more on the road – because, before, I had this idea in my head that I would have all this time free, and it never happened. So I am really trying to learn to discipline myself after shows some nights or between sound checks to write and try and get as many ideas down
as possible.”So when can we expect the follow-up to be released?
“Oh, I have no idea,” she laughs. “I have no idea because it is not even halfway made yet.”

The last time she spoke to Hot Press, Emeli told Celina Murphy that she was learning to play the cello. Will she be playing the instrument on the next album?
“Ah, the cello…,” she says, sounding slightly guilty. “No, I am still not very good and I haven’t been practicing. I am a little bit missed by my cello at the moment, but maybe over Christmas I can pick it up again.”
Given that she first came to public attention through duets and collaborations with other artists, many fans were surprised when Our Version of Events didn’t actually feature any. Is that the plan next time out, too?
“Maybe, you know, nothing has really been confirmed yet with any other artists. But we don’t yet fully know what kind of thing we will be working with. It really depends on the vibe of the album.”
Are you looking forward to your Arthur’s Day show in Ireland?
“Yeah, I’m really excited. I’ve been hearing lots about it. It sounds like a really exciting cultural event. I have performed a few shows in Ireland, but not nearly as much as I would
like. So I’m always happy for a chance to perform there.”
Are there stresses involved in knowing that you’ll be playing a relatively intimate venue?
“Not at all! I love performing at intimate venues – and I think with any new material that’s the best way to present it. It’s great to perform it somewhere that you can really get into the crowd and have that direct connection. So I much prefer intimate. That’s what makes Arthur’s Day special.”
What kind of show are you planning?
“Well, I am going to come with a band. I feel like it is going to a celebratory day, so I am going to bring what I do, soul and high energy, and it will be from the album. It will be one of the last shows I’ll be doing on this campaign so it’ll be great!”
Have you seen your old Irish pal Maverick Sabre recently?
“The last time I saw him he was performing in Brixton. He’s amazing, every night I have had with him has been pretty mental. He’s a great guy.”
What advice would you give to any young singer-songwriters coming up now?
“The advice I’d give is don’t have fame as your main objective – because that will come when you have set everything else in place. So focus on really making your music distinct and create your own way in the industry.”

Emeli Sandé performs at Arthur’s Day on September 26.