INTERVIEW: Kamille on her debut mini-album 'K1': "As a woman, you always have to prove yourself and I'm happy to keep doing it if I can inspire other women."
Interview: Jett Tattersall
The UK’s Kamille (full name Camille Purcell) is one of the most talented and impressive artists in the UK right now. Alongside being a singer-songwriter, she is also an esteemed writer and producer, creating hit records for over a decade for artists such as Little Mix, Kylie Minogue, Freya Ridings, RAYE and Mabel amongst many others.
This year her incredible artistry was celebrated at the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards when she was awarded Outstanding Song Collection award, only the fourth woman to win the award in 25 years.
First releasing her own solo material in 2017, she has just released her debut mini-album K1. Its eight tracks are a beguiling mix of new wave UK R&B and 1980s inflected funk-disco, and includes collaborations with Nile Rodgers, Tamera and Bellah.
The album kicks off with first single ‘Muscle Memory’, featuring Nile Rodgers, and it is as fresh and funky as ever, with syncopated beats, squelchy guitars, gorgeous melodies and synths that shimmer to perfection. ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ continues in the electronic-pop lane with an infectious beat and distorted vocals. Lyrically, it is a song of taking ownership of your independence as Kamille sings her priority is herself and no-one else - “I do me, that's the motto”.
‘The Sun’ is a lush, summery song with acoustic guitar mixed with electronic and R&B beats as Kamille sings of the joy of becoming a mother. “I'm gonna love you forever / Now I got you to make me better.” Latest single ‘Time To Kill’ blends funk with R&B and also includes rapping from Kamille, while ‘All My Love’ embraces soul and gospel with a liberal dollop of 1990s R&B.
The mini-album finishes with ‘Manifesting - Pt.1’, a powerful, assured declaration of Kamille’s power and how she will no longer let anyone drag her down or stand in the way of her achieving her dreams: “Bitch, I'm destined, manifesting / All my blessings I'm gon' get / I'ma speak it, I'ma be it” she sings. Delivered in the main through rap, it is backed up with a thumping beat and multiple backing vocals and is an incredible way to end the mini-album - it leaves you in no doubt to both Kamille’s intention but also her remarkable talent and charisma.
Kamille has been behind some of the biggest pop hits of the last decade and with K1 she deservedly takes her place in front of the spotlight. A formidable talent, it is an album full of gorgeous melodies, smart lyrics, danceable beats but also a ton load of the feels - both the warm and fuzzy type but also the invigorating, wake-up-and-feel-alive kind. While she has many years experience behind her, it feels like an entrancing new talent has appeared before us with an incredible future ahead of her. With a collection as impressive as this, expect Kamille to become just as famous and in demand as a singer as she is as a writer and producer. We recently sat down with her to chat more about her career and the creation of K1.
Kamille, it is honestly, so lovely to chat with you today because you make exceptional music, and I have just spent the last day with K1 on repeat, so excited to talk to you.
Thank you so much! It’s so weird hearing that you've heard it because it's just been something I've kept to myself for the last however many months. So thank you, that means so much.
It’s beautiful. Before I get into what I feel about your mini album, what was the inspiration going into it? All the songs are so very standalone but they just really blend into each other so effortlessly.
Thank you, that means so much. The inspiration actually was my pregnancy, I was just stuck at home a lot of the time, bored out of my mind. I'd always wanted to do something, and it was just the perfect time because I had no choice. I was at home with morning sickness, I couldn't even leave the house so I found that it was useful for me to get in the studio to just distract myself. I started making all this music but I didn't really know what it was, I just made stuff that I knew very well, like the sound of the 80s, soul inspired, Motown inspired funk, that was the music I grew up on. It was just very, very easy for me to make, it is very nostalgic. I'm obsessed with Stevie Wonder, and I'm obsessed with so many artists from that era that have made us who we are as musicians. Even having Niles Rodgers be a part of that, that's kind of where it started, K1 became a thing when Niles Rodgers jumped on ‘Muscle Memory’, which was the first release on this project, and it just became very real. I was like, ‘Okay, I've got an icon like Niles Rodgers willing to be on my on my album, so let me just keep going!’ I just kept making music and I felt so inspired.
I love that. What I get from this album is it’s almost like you’re reflecting and you’re cataloguing in order to get it together to share with your child as like these are the things that made me, sonically.
Yeah, definitely, it was definitely a moment of that. It was also a bit of self indulgence, I just love that era of music. I actually have a song that is about my son, it's called ‘The Sun’ and I wrote it all about him, obviously. Just having him threaded through the album, I think you can hear the happiness that I have in making this music. That’s one thing a lot of people how said, is how happy I sound.
There's joy, even with ‘Don't Waste My Time’. It's got such ferocity, but it's fun because it's anthemic.
Oh, thank you. Just before I made this album, I’d gone around to loads of record labels, playing them this music because I was thinking maybe I should try and get a deal or try and partner with someone and they all kind of slept on it. No one really went for it. And they all wanted me to write songs for their artists at the same time, and I don't usually mind that but I remember one particular day I came home and I was like, this is really really making me angry, they only want me for this one thing, they only want me to be a writer. No one can see that I'm more than a writer and I think that's where the song just came from, my frustration - don't call me now when you want something else! It was inspired by a lot of anger but it turned into a moment of joy for me and freedom and just expressing myself.
Do you think the joy came because you pretty much were already on the other side of it, and it was almost like ‘in your face.’
It was like that. That's what music is meant to be, a form of self expression and release for you to get out your emotions and I love the way anyone can kind of resonate with that song. You don't have to have been in my situation, it could literally be someone that was annoying on the train this morning.
Yeah, people are going to be sharing this one amongst each other whenever anyone has a bad day.
Yes! I love that, I love that. I've always loved that about being a writer and a producer, people can resonate with my music.
Because you've had such a killer career as a writer and as a song maker, I found it interesting that you said people weren't ready for you to change lanes. Do you feel that was it, or that you were such an asset, that they didn't want to lose that magic you sprinkled on other people's things if you're going to do your own?
I talk about this all the time with my team and my family. I think that we can all be guilty of only seeing someone as one thing. We all do that, and it's happened over time across so many different industries. You know, Michael Jordan was trying to play baseball for crying out loud, it took him forever to try and get into that. So I get it, but I definitely think there needs to be some open mindedness about people being able to do more than what you think they can do. Sometimes the record industry can be subject to just seeing people as one thing, I definitely think that's been my journey. But slowly, I'm maybe starting to prove people wrong, I mean I was track of the week on BBC Radio 1 for crying out loud, I can't even believe that happened. These kind of moments for me are really important to change that and show people that I am more than a writer and I can do a lot of things. I play the music to people and they were always like ‘who produced it?’ And I'm like, ‘I produced it’. And then it’s ‘no, no, no, but who produced it?’ it’s a lot, and as a woman, you always have to prove yourself and I'm happy to keep doing it if I can inspire other women.
100% and no one ever asks a male artists who produces his song.
No, never ever ever ever. It’s not even a question. I absolutely hate it. Why are we seen as lesser than?I don't get it. There's still so much work to be done when it comes to equality, it’s crazy.
I mean you are more than a writer, you are an incredible songwriter. Did you ever start to believe that you were ‘just a songwriter’ from having heard it so long? Or did you always know you were going to make and sing your own songs?
I think I always knew, I was just waiting for the right time. There definitely was a massive movement of writers becoming artists recently. I look at my girl RAYE who's absolutely killing it. We've been writing in the same room for absolutely years, we were just in my house yesterday, talking about it, how your life can just change when you believe in yourself. I've always believed I would be an artist but sometimes it takes a lot of belief from others to make it real. And that's slowly slowly starting to happen with me so I'm just embracing every day that comes and just making more music.
The album ends with ‘Manifesting Pt.1’ and it has got the same energy or the same spirit as ‘Don't Waste My Time’, but you're dealing with some much more confronting truths. It has such an empowering energy.
I love making people feel empowered, and I love empowering myself. I've always believed in the power of manifestation. My dad and my mum are very much people who were like you got to say it to yourself, positive affirmation. My mum has an MBA and I remember her always saying, ‘I believed I would get an MBA’, and she went and got it. I just think I'm used to that, so I wanted to spread that energy to others who might not feel as empowered to manifest something is a real thing. When you have positive thoughts, it definitely becomes positive reality. That one is very special to me, for sure.
Being this great songmaker, we have mentioned some amazing artists and people that have inspired you. I am also aware that one of your greatest songs in the world is ‘Want You Back’ by N’Sync - no shade.
Oh my god! That song, don't even play with me. I can't even deal when that song comes on. It’s the chords for me, the writing it’s everything, their voices like. And also I just think ‘N’Sync were incredible. I'm such a lover of a great pop song. I just lose my mind!
And what makes a great pop song?
It has to be something that just makes your ears go ‘What the hell’, it makes your ears so happy. I was just listening to Cardi B on ‘Bodak Yellow’, that song is such an incredible pop song because she just came out the gate with something you'd never heard a woman doing. A pop song can be anything, it has to just capture your ear in some way or another. Typically a massive selling song will do that if you look historically at the charts, you'll find that the top songs are always the ones that just do something incredible, whether it's melodically or they have a catchy moment. But t can also be a zeitgeist thing as well, someone could have had a crazy personal moment and that sold the song. It's just a weird hybrid of lots of things. I'm always trying to chase it, I never know what it is. It’s like an addiction for me to find out what a great pop song is. I'm still trying to work out.
I love asking that to songwriters and song makers because, it's getting better, but we were all raised on this notion that pop music was something to be embarrassed about when we listened to it, even though we all listened to it. However artists across the board, from alt rock to hip hop to you even metal the goal is always to write the perfect pop song.
Right? I mean, you want the perfect pop song but I think the crazy thing about pop culture is it will tell you what the pop song is. Even with TikTok now, it's defining what is a pop song. I can't even tell you anymore, because I have no idea what's going to be a viral song from one day to another. It's just so many different factors. I'm here as everyone else is trying to figure out what it is,
Kamille I can’t wait to digest this album even more, but what else is coming up for you?
Oh my gosh, I’ve got an amazing headline show coming up in October I’m so excited about it, it will be my first headline. I can't wait to perform songs from K1 and maybe some other things I've done. I'm trying to think of a way of including songs I've written for other artists as well. I want to do a kind of recap on the last 10 years of my life in this industry and start a new chapter going forward with my music as well. So that's really exciting to me. And then I'm just gonna keep putting music out. What I’ve loved recently is no pressure on my music. I'm not thinking about a big video, I'm not thinking about being promo, all I'm thinking about is do I love this song? Yeah. Can I put it out tomorrow? Yeah. And that's it. I just want people to embrace K1 and listen to the music and to see what people are saying. If everyone loves the music and wants me to push a song more I will but I'm just not putting any pressure on myself anymore. Because that hasn't worked for me in the past. K1 is like a no pressure body of music.
K1 is out now. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Kamille you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
