Pixie Lott chats with Kevin Cooper about becoming a mum, her acting career, her latest 2024 album release Encino and touring the album next year.
Pixie Lott is an English singer, songwriter, actress and former ballet dancer. Her debut album, Turn It Up, was released in 2009 and it reached number six on the UK Album charts and sold over 1.5 million copies. From the album she released six singles including two number one singles Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh) and Boys And Girls.
She released a further two albums, Young Foolish Happy in 2011 and her self titled album in 2014. Ten years later she released her fourth and latest album, Encino.
Lott made her acting debut in 2010 when she starred in the Nickelodeon film, Fred : The Movie. In 2016 she starred in the UK production of the Richard Greenberg play, Breakfast At Tiffany’s. From 2017 to 2023 she was a coach on the children’s singing competition The Voice Kids UK.
In 2014 she was a contestant on the 12th series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering with Australian professional dancer, Trent Whiddon.
Whilst busy promoting her latest album she took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what she had to say.
Good morning Pixie, how are you?
Hi Kevin, I’m good thank you, how are you?
I’m very well thank you and before we move on let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
Not at all, thank you so much for wanting to speak to me.
And just how is life treating you at this moment in time?
Life at the moment is treating me lovely jubbly. It is very busy at the moment because, as you know, this is album release week. I have still got mum duties as well to take care of but being totally honest with you, I am loving it (laughter). It is so good for me to be back with a totally new album. Getting it out there to the people really is my favourite part.
We really must talk about the new album, Encino, and I have to tell you, I love it.
Thank you so much; thank you for listening to it.
Are you happy with it?
Yes, I am, I’m very happy with it. The album has been five years in the making, so I love the process of making it. I am so pleased that it is actually out there now, because when I have been doing shows I haven’t been able to sing any of the new songs, until the album is physically out. But now, I can sing all of the new songs (laughter).
A lot of the fans are saying that it is your best work to date, would you agree with that?
That really is amazing. I am so happy with the comments that I have read, and I really can’t believe that because I always think that as well. Obviously I am biased because you always love what you have just been working on most recently. But I have to say that the latest album most definitely feels very personal. The reason why I love music is live music and hearing people properly play and hearing properly sing, and telling stories, so that is why I love this album.
It has now been some ten years since 2014’s album Pixie Lott. What was the catalyst to get you back into the studio writing and recording?
To be totally honest with you I have been writing the whole time. I was dropping songs and features that were more in the dance and pop world. I was doing the latest album as a side project because I loved it, and then I thought, ‘just why am I doing this on the side, I should just do this for myself’. There wasn’t anyone pushing me in that direction, so I knew that I had to be totally myself and I thought that if I don’t do it now then it is never going to happen. So, that really is what started off the whole Encino project some five years ago now. And then I took my time with it, because I wanted it to be a timeless project.
I knew that there was no time constraint attached to the project, and that I had to get it out because of the trend, or the sound was now. So, it really did give us that luxury of time. And now here we are (laughter). Also, during that ten year gap I have undertaken other projects like acting. I played Holly Golightly in a limited 12-week season of Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London’s West End. I’ve been involved in fashion, plus I was a coach on The Voice Kids UK alongside will.i.am and Danny Jones for seven years. So, as you can see, I’ve not been lazy (laughter).
You mentioned acting. Is that something that you would like to get into?
Yes, I would as I really did learn a lot when I was acting in the play. Every time that I do an acting job I feel as though I learn loads even if it is just a couple of days on set. It is a world that I am still learning in; in fact music is as well. Whenever I do anything, I feel as though I am learning something new every day. I always want to keep learning and growing. Now that I have done some more acting, I most definitely want to do some more.
How was it working with Jeeve and Dave on the album?
It was really amazing for me to do a whole album with the same team. That was totally the opposite to my experience of working on albums before. I would be working with totally different people every single day, learning thousands of songs, and then basically I would pick the best 12 songs. However, for this, we all had the one vision. It was all very considered; it was all very cohesive, we were all inspired by the same sounds. It was all about 70s bands and singer songwriters, and it really did feel as though we were all working towards the same goal. The guys let me write about anything that I wanted to write about, so it really was a great album process.
Am I right in thinking that the album is actually named after Jeeve’s studio?
Exactly, yes. We did the whole album there and because it was so different from all of my previous experiences of making albums, I felt like I wanted to highlight that, the fact that we all made the album together, in a room at Encino Jeeve’s studio, and as you know Encino also means Oak Tree in Spanish, which I thought was perfect because it is all about stripping everything back to its natural grass roots situation.
I currently have four go to tracks; they are Midnight Trash, Further From Love, Happy and Starts. I think that those four tracks are brilliant.
I am so pleased that you like those four tracks; they are actually receiving a good response. So, what can I say, you chose a good four (laughter).
Will we be seeing you touring the album?
Yes, I will, most definitely. As the album sounds so fresh and real it really would be rude of me not to tour with it. These songs were made to be performed live.
That’s great to hear, just make sure that you don’t forget us up here in Nottingham.
(Laughter) I most definitely won’t. I love Nottingham; it has a real happening vibe to it. There is so much music in the city, I love it.
Are we seeing a different side to Pixie Lott with this album?
Yes, you are, most definitely. I would say that there is most definitely a deeper side to this album, something that has never been seen before on previous albums. There are lots of things that I have never written about or even spoken about before on this album. I really get to sing on it; there is most definite no dance club vibe to it, it most defiantly concentrates on the more pop side of things. So, yes, I would totally agree with you when you say that it is a side of me that has never been seen before most definitely.
Has becoming a mum changed the way in which you approach your writing?
To be totally honest with you, most of this album was written before Bertie was here. But it most definitely gives me a different perspective, especially when I am singing the songs. I am singing them from a very different place which has made it even more special.
Is Pixie Lott currently in a good place?
(Laughter) I am currently in a very good place; life is so crazy, but I feel like I have been waiting for this moment and for these things to happen for a very long time and now they have all happened at the very same time. As I said earlier, I have been working on the latest album for five years; I have been looking at this house, a family home for us to move into, for five years. The first time that I saw it was six years ago and we have just moved into it. Bertie is here now, and he is a year old. He turned one year old the day after the album came out. I’m not a very patient person, but I have had to be so very patient with everything, waiting on the sidelines, but then everything happened all at the same time (laughter). So, yes, I am currently in a good place, and I have to say that everything is so very exciting.
What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?
Wow just where did that come from (laughter). There is a song that Phil Collins sings on his Face Value album called You Know What I Mean. That song gets me every time that I hear it.
On that note Pixie, let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been delightful.
Thank you so much Kevin, and ++thank you for putting up with me (laughter). I will be sure to stop by Nottingham when I tour the album next year. Hopefully I will see you then. Bye for now.
Encino was available on 27th September on BMG and TAG8