Paloma Faith used her time in lockdown to teach herself how to produce music.
And the songstress, 39, has admitted that she found the idea of it daunting, before actually giving it a go herself.
‘I learnt how to produce music for the first time in my career and wrote and engineered myself for the first time in five albums.
Woman up! Paloma Faith used her time in lockdown to teach herself how to produce music
It started, the lockdown, I thought, what do I do because I’m a workaholic. I despise sitting alone with myself and my thoughts. So I thought, how can I be productive?
‘So I decided to learn how to produce music. I hired a microphone and got a rail of coats for soundproofing. It’s like back to basics, art school days.
‘I started to write songs and record them, calling friends and saying, “Can you send me some music” and then writing over it.
‘There’s a couple of songs on [the new album] written pre-lockdown, only one of the songs was not recorded in my basement at home. I never want to go back to studio again.
If you want something done…: The songstress, 39, has admitted that she found the idea of it daunting, before actually giving it a go herself
‘Now I’ve recorded quite a lot, I vaguely sort of know [how to do it]. Quite a lot of the society we live in is built in patriarchal ideas, things being “men’s jobs”.
‘We’re taught to believe that they’re very complicated. Like a lot of ideas that only men are capable of doing – it was absolutely a piece of p***.
‘It was literally like, oh so you just press record several times. You do it a few times and you get it to sound a bit like what you like. I’ve burst that bubble. It turns out, it’s actually easy.
‘So next time someone says that’s going to cost you and take a week, I’m just going to do it myself. I wouldn’t want to take the full credit, I have a great engineer I sent this off to. He polished the turd.’
New skills: ‘I learnt how to produce music for the first time in my career and wrote and engineered myself for the first time in five albums,’ she explained
Of her career and be able to sustain it amid the COVID-19 crisis, she said: ‘I love my job and I really feel very fortunate and lucky and a job I can do in lockdown. Not everyone’s experiencing that. Not a day goes by and I don’t feel so lucky for it.
‘My mum, still to this day, thinks the career I’ve chosen is an unreliable one. So she constantly wants me to do a PGCE and be a teacher. She thinks it’s good because I’ll have school holidays with my children.
‘I think I might have gone past the stage where it wouldn’t be weird for the parents… now over a decade on the telly box, I’ve sort of think I’ve missed my calling.
Easy does it: ‘We’re taught to believe that they’re very complicated. Like a lot of ideas that only men are capable of doing – it was absolutely a piece of p***!’ she said
She added: ‘It was literally like, oh so you just press record several times. You do it a few times and you get it to sound a bit like what you like. I’ve burst that bubble. It turns out, it’s actually easy’
‘So now she wants me to be a landlady and she wants them to live in my house. So she wants me to have a lodger. Any spare rooms, she’s like, “Great, you’ll always be safe financially”.’
Paloma is also expecting her second child, another product of the lockdown.
‘At first it was worrying and then it became really productive – I conceived a child. Just in case anyone at home thinks I got on the banana bread too much.
Of how her four-year-old daughter feels about being a big sister she said: ‘I tried to make out that it was for her. So, she’s really happy.
She said: ‘So next time someone says that’s going to cost you and take a week, I’m just going to do it myself’
In good company: Jonathan Ross is also joined by The Apprentice: You’re Fired and Bake Off: The Professionals host Tom Allen, BAFTA award-winning actor and comedian Gbemisola Ikumelo, and actress Joanna Lumley
‘I didn’t want her to feel pushed out. When I first told her, we were sitting in front of the telly, she looked at my belly and said, “Is that food or a baby?” I said, “It’s a baby. It’s your baby.” She said, “Thank you mumma and kissed my belly”.
She said, “I’ll never have to sleep on my own again!” She hates sleeping on her own. It’s actually quite cute.
‘I’ve recently sleep trained my 4-year-old for the 106th time… I did recently say to her, “The reason you have to stay in your own bed, we love you so much, but sometimes mummy and daddy have to have time as we love each other… “she said, “It’s not fair, there’s no love in my room!” She’s got a nice way of looking at things. She says some gorgeous things.’
Jonathan Ross is also joined by The Apprentice: You’re Fired and Bake Off: The Professionals host Tom Allen, BAFTA award-winning actor and comedian Gbemisola Ikumelo, and actress Joanna Lumley.
*THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW, SATURDAY 14TH NOVEMBER, 10.30PM ON ITV.