INTERVIEW: Gabrielle Aplin releases 'Dear Happy', her first album in 5 years: "This is the first time I've ventured outside of my comfort zone"
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Natalie Michele
The UK’s Gabrielle Aplin was one of the biggest breakout stars of the mid-2010s when she crossed over from YouTube sensation to major chart star, with her singles ‘The Power of Love’ and ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’ becoming massive top 5 hits in the UK and Australia in 2013 and 2014. Her debut album English Rain hit number 10 on the Australian album charts and number 2 in the UK and after releasing her second album Light Up the Dark in 2015, Aplin switched her focus to a series of EPs and a vegan cooking series #FoodWithFriends. After taking time away to focus on creating and writing, she releases her first new album in 5 years, Dear Happy, this Friday. The album sees Aplin move away from her folk infused indie guitar roots into beats based pop that flirts with electro, synthpop and disco in a glorious journey over 14 tracks. We recently spoke with Aplin to find out more about the creation of the album.
Massive congratulations on Dear Happy Gabrielle, what a corker. The album opens up with a smile in the form of ‘Until the Sun Comes Up’ and then you slide into that gorgeous track ‘Invisible’. I could go on, but I would rather hear it from you. Can you talk me through the creation of this album - its inspirations, its roots?
Thank you. I spent like 3 years writing it and I didn't really know what I was writing. It wasn't like I sat down and went ‘oh I’m going to write an album called Dear Happy. I decided to take time off indefinitely [from being] on tour and things to travel and work with people and meet new people and to experiment. And just to have loads of fun making songs that make me happy. And eventually they started forming a thread. I started collecting favourite songs and the theme started to come to me and everything started making sense. I felt like I had to keep writing until that happened. And in 2019 I just spent the whole year putting it all together and whittling down the songs and really caring about how it starts, how it ends, how the whole thing flows. I guess the whole thing is a big letter for happiness.
You did just say you were collecting all these songs, there’s 14 solid tracks on this album, that is a monster worth waiting for.
Well, my manager wanted 10 and I was like ‘nah’! When I whittled it down to the songs I had to have on it it came to 13, and I was not going to be having 13, so I had 14.
Who did you work with on Dear Happy?
I worked with some of my favourites, one of my favourites was Nick Atkinson. I've written with him my whole career. I went out to Bergen and I worked with some great teams out there in Norway, a bit in LA as well and just all over the UK. I did all sorts of things, just meeting people who are now my friends. I was also working with a lot of house and dance producers and that’s being really fun, for them as well as for me. I'm kind of just getting stuck into everything.
It's very evident. There’s a joy in the album, which I absolutely love
Yeah. This is the first time I've ventured outside of my comfort zone and wanted to work with new people. I've gone into rooms in random countries with people I don't know, and we've had to write a song and I really love that kind of ‘touch and go’ thing. You just have to spill everything and see what happens and you can't plan it because you don't know them. It's really intuitive and I think sometimes those are the best ones where you're just going to have to do it and get on with it and just see what feels the best.
Just let it go and see what happens, I love it. Now we were really digging the album’s second single ‘Nothing Really Matters’ - those pipes of yours! The Japanese influence is just beautiful and that video of course. What was the inspiration behind that one?
It was a really dreary day and I was meeting up with my friends Olivia and Tommy to work on this song to see if anything happened. It was one of those days where it was raining, all the trains were broken. Everything was just a mess and everything that was a mess was completely out of my control as well. All I wanted to do was just go home and sit with my dogs and eat. That song was about taking care of the things that are in your control. It doesn't really matter if you can't change it.
My favourite track on the album I will say is ‘Losing Me’ with JP Cooper. It is so beautiful, and the video is just something else with that 70s kind of council estate style dystopian imagery. You're quite an advocate for mental health and this song touches on the problems of social media. What are the roots behind it and why was it important for you to create such a song?
JP Cooper and I have crossed paths a lot. We have a lot of mutual friends and producers. He's just a really cool person. I really like his attitude to music and what it is in the industry as well as an art form. But when I wrote that it was really strange. It was a bit more of an anomaly. I had written it with a friend of mine [and] the idea was to write songs for another artist, and it wasn't for anyone in particular but that was what the whole point of that day was. We wrote two songs and my friends sang the duet parts with me and I really wanted to keep that one and make sure that no one got to have it. A few artists pitched for it and I was like ‘No, I really want to keep this one.’ I just wanted to try something that was like ‘what do you want to hear when you don't feel great and there's no explanation?’ I just wanted to make something that was really warm.
What role do you think that social media and handheld technology with all its convenience has to play in people's overall mental health these days?
It's really hard to tell. Something that’s growing so fast that hasn’t been around for so long. I think for my generation, we started life without that and now it’s our life. It depends on each individual person and how aware you are of what you are watching, your usage, what you're using social media for. I think the best way to make sure it doesn't impact your mental health negatively is to really curate what you’re following, what you see. You can make it what you want, but it's good being aware and [asking] what will you change to make you feel happier about your social media usage.
You have gone from YouTube covers to sell out tours, chart topping albums and an absolute plethora of streams which is just amazing. You've also got your own label, Never Fade Records which promotes both established and merging artists. How important is it for artists such as yourself to give back or to mentor emerging talent?
If I'm honest, I just want to be the good guy and create a platform where artists at the start of their careers can have a safe space to create something, whether it be a project or an album. We fill in the gaps, the bits where they need help. There are so many different artists that we have helped, and we don’t want to own them. We want them to do their thing. I think with major labels there's so much to do that it's hard to pay specific and intimate attention to each artist and what they really need, and that's kind of what we want to do.
You have had an extensive international touring diary throughout your career and you've never seemed to shy away from it. What is it about those live shows that you love most?
The best thing about touring is the hour and a half you're on stage. And obviously travelling to countries I would never have gone to had I not happened to have a bit of luck with the songs that I write. That's amazing. Especially when it's a different culture. I love to travel and experience that, but really the best thing is just people and the songs for countries and different cities around the place. I love how it all differs between each.
And just seeing their reactions?
Yeah, it's different in different countries and even in different cities as well. It's cool. The more you play somewhere the more you know what to expect. It just becomes more comfortable every time.
You're clearly inspired with a love affair with Japan and it runs very deep in both the sound and the visuals of Dear Happy. How important were those trips with regard to creating music? Is it to do with experiencing the audience's reaction first-hand or is it even just immersing yourself into the culture?
A bit of everything. When I first went there it was like I arrived on another planet. It was really quite overwhelming. But what I really really loved and really appreciated at that time was it was my first international trip - Japan. Usually they send you off to America and I was going to Japan. It was amazing, but I never thought I would ever go to Japan. I was so grateful for it at the time. Things kicked off for me quite quickly. All I knew was British and European press and how I was not really answering questions about my songs. But Japan really supports artists. I was there, and I was going ‘you've translated my lyrics and you're asking me about each specific one?!’ My whole trip there was just a joy and I felt so appreciated and welcomed as an artist. I just loved it. I learn so much every time I go there. It’s just the best country.
You've been in the industry for a long time, you started out on your own in your bedroom with your guitar. There's no secret that sexism is quite prevalent in the music industry. What have your experiences been both as an emerging artist and someone as established as yourself?
Do you know what? I haven't got any horror stories, but I know they exist. If anything, I've had a really lucky one really because you hear about people not being comfortable in work situations or being undervalued or not given equal opportunity, underestimated. And really I've worked with great people who have never made me feel that way. But I feel there is this kind of air of…when male artists do everything, they get involved with their artwork, they write their songs, they’re a genius. When women do it, they're considered control freaks. I've definitely been called that before. It was never in a nasty way, it was just a bit strange. I feel like sometimes it is easy to underestimate people: ‘oh, did she really write that? I bet she had help.’ It’s that kind of thing, but I feel like I've proved myself.
Like you said, there’s that thing of ‘oh she's ballsy, she's a control freak, she's a ballbreaker.’ You’re like ‘no I’m just doing a job - you've called him a genius.’
I'm just working. I’m not hiring people to do it for me thanks! Yeah, you know how it is…
I know how it is. We've got Dear Happy out on January 17, what is up next for you Miss Aplin?
Well that's the weird thing. We're starting a new year and I'm starting the new year with things that I've been working on for the last three years. So it feels like not a new year if I'm honest. It's just exciting to have Dear Happy out. It's been coming together for such a long time. That fact it’s out soon is great. And I just hope I get to travel with this album. It's my first independent release in a long time. It's really nice to have everything in my hands and to have made every decision based on what is best for my songs, and to work with a really great team. I don't even know what to say about it. I've seen it and heard it so much now that I just need it out for different perspectives. That's when I know that I’m ready to release it.
Dear Happy is out on Friday January 17 on all platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes
Track listing
Until the Sun Comes Up
Invisible
Just One of Those Days
Kintsugi
Strange
My Mistake
Like You Say You Do
Losing Me with JP Cooper
So Far So Good
Nothing Really Matters
Magic
Love Back
Miss You
Dear Happy
Gabrielle Aplin is touring the UK throughout March 2020. Tickets are on sale now here.
4 March – Glasgow, Saint Luke’s
5 March – Liverpool, O2 Academy 2
6 March – Newcastle, Wylam Brewery
7 March – Manchester, Manchester Academy 2
9 March– Belfast, Limelight
10 March – Dublin, Olympia Theatre
12 March – Leeds, Stylus
13 March – Cardiff, Y Plas
14 March – Nottingham, Rock City
16 March – Brighton, Concorde 2
17 March – London, Shepherds Bush Empire
18 March – Bristol, SWX
