My favourite UK singer Lianne La Havas sat down with the independent for an interview. Check out some of the interview below
But she has been faced with setbacks and there were moments when success seemed far from assured. “There were a lot of times when I couldn’t write anything,” she recalls. “After I decided to leave Paloma, there were times when I thought, ‘God, why didn’t I just stay in the band?’. I was completely broke and not able to write, and people at the label I’d been working with had left and there was this kind of limbo. I felt like I had lost all my momentum.” She decided the only thing to do was to play as many gigs as possible. “I just played and played and played. I kept playing because I was frustrated,” she says. “Then somehow I managed to create some sort of buzz; I don’t know how it happened really.”
The buzz led to her being invited to perform an internet Black Cab Session, which grabbed the attention of the Later… producers. Now La Havas is in a position where breaking America doesn’t seem out of the question. She’s already had a positive write up in The New Yorker, was a hit when she made her US television debut earlier this month on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and has some more gigs lined up there later this year. But for now she’s focused on next month, which will see her embark on her biggest UK tour to date, and, of course, the Mercurys.
So, who would she like to see win? “I’m so happy that Jessie Ware is nominated. And I happen to know her and just love her singing and love her songs. So it would be amazing if she won. The talent on the list is insane. Yeah, I would vote for Jessie,” she says, before laughing. “I mean, only if I couldn’t vote for myself.”
Lianne La Havas tours the UK from 5 October. ‘Is Your Love Big Enough?’ is out now
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