Temi Adeniji AS Level Media coursework: January 2014

AFTER TEN YEARS THE QUEEN OF ROCK IS BACK

Ten years after her debut, the queen of British rock is back with her most "controversial” album inspired by fame, motherhood and feminism, with a little help from a man she calls dad, who we know as the legendary Noel Gallagher.
“It’s been rather overwhelming, a lot has changed in the past 3 years, I am no longer that sweet innocent teenager”, explains Gabs. On her way to LA she will be finishing her latest album due to be released in May. The singer who just released two new comeback hits, one in a chart-topping cover of Arctic Monkey’s 'Do I wanna know' recorded for a TopShop campaign. The other single an original called 'Too many lies' that tells its listeners "The number of lines in your forehead tells how many lives you've lived." Too many lies is a song about the people “not living their lives to the full” and the problems people face every day, the video which had many humorous moments, a personal favourite is the silver balloons spelling out “Damn Kim” in reference to Robin Thicke’s video for blurred lines “they were kind of a random to be honest” she confirms, “the director didn’t understand my creativity but pretended to laugh along”. However, images of dancers of various races twerking next to Gabs drew accusation of racism. “As soon as I saw people had gotten the wrong idea, I felt like I needed to defend myself…when you are offending people, it is a good idea to tackle it straight away” she groans. “At the end of the day I make rock music, it's not the nicest of genres, I try and shove as much as I can in three-and-a-half minutes…I can’t get it all right, you can only try.” Whichever way you approach this, Gab's return certainly has had an impact, especially for someone who claimed to have retired three years ago.
“I wasn’t surprised to be back again, but I definitely I’m surprised to want to be back so soon” she admits. A lot has changed in Gabs life since 2010’s peace and fire album: she married fellow rocker Serge Pizzorno from the band Kasabain in 2011, had two boys (Alex, 2, and Johnny, 1,) but also lost a special lady, her Nan in 2012. A”really powerful track” on the album, called 'Thinking of You' references to the particular episode in her life. “It has made the final cut, it is really important to me this song, it has quotes which she told me when I was a child” says the singer, adding that one song that feels “true and honest…it’s no use just singing about being famous , or rhyming ‘fan’ with ‘Nan’ a thousand times.” She says. “I like to write things that touch people’s heart. I like to be frank about whatever I’m talking about…but if people want to call it controversial then that’s not my business”
One song guaranteed to upset fans is 'chipping away', concerning the phone hacking scandal “it’s about relationships with people and how everything we do is monitored” Gabs was one of the celebrities who's phone was hacked. However Gabs says “we couldn't talk about it until the court case is over now it’s over, I have a right to say whatever I want”.

Gabs calls her album “collage of little moments”, Most of it involved working with long-time collaborator Noel Gallagher “my dad is very supportive when it comes to music, obviously he is one of the best rockers in the world, he knows everything and I guess I get my personality from him because he’s never struggled with putting he’s point across”. Noel who helped in writing her hit single 'I flourish' which went to number 1 in 30 countries joined Gabs in her country home in Devon to write the new album, “it was just us with a piano talking about what we were having for dinner and then it trued into a number 1 song...I wasn’t even planning on releasing it”. The singer told me that she was influenced by best friend Alex Turner lead singer f the Arctic Monkeys who she had collaborated with back in 2008 with the song 'get out of here', “he inspired me a lot in writing two songs on this album, he says things that just pop into he is head, he doesn't think about it… he is so laid back about things, it amazes me, he is a legend”.

Gabs says this album is more varied as a result of “new experiences in life and understanding myself better and who I want to be for my family and fans…jumping of a building with just a rope holding you also helps write a song” she laughs. Other titles includes 'she wants to know' (“adventures girl power song”), 'last night' (“about my outrageous nights out partying”), and 'some people' which is a personal favourite about the misconception that, as the daughter of one of the world’s greatest artist (Noel Gallagher), she had a privileged upbringing “it sounds really plain but people think I've been driving in stretch limousines my entire life because my dad’s a singer couldn't be further from the truth. Having a famous dad you have to deal with a lot, not having a private life is part of it…I've been in the spot light since I was born” she explains “but at the same time I can’t complain it’s had its ups also I guess, I just don't want people thinking I have had it easy all my life cause I can tell you I haven't'
The album is called 'To good for you', “I kept suggesting names when I was drunk with my manager, things that I thought were funny” she said. Like what? “Expensive thrift shops or illuminaughty but my manager didn't like any of them for some reason…we were recording at my house and the Big-bang Theory came up and Howard said ‘people think they are too good for you sometimes’ and I guess I have that reputation of thinking I’m t good for people so I went along with it” A woman whirlwind honest to a fault, who can say or do no wrong it’s good to have Gabs back, rock has not been the same without her.

Temi Adeniji