Josephine Hits The Big Time - Women Talking
Born to a Liberian mother and Jamaican father, Josephine benefits from a colourful West African culture as well as feeling intrinsically British.?
By her own admission she always knew her future was set to be a musical one
?Music was always being played in our house when I was growing up and the radio was always on.
?I was very visually inspired as a kid and I love painting and drawing and expressing myself in that way. I still have many of those pictures and even though I lived in the inner city I found a lot of things visually stimulating about it all. Broken down churches, grubby patches of grass and concrete structures, these are the types of things that inspire songs for me now ... weird how everything is connected really.
?I started playing guitar in high school and when I was 15. I found the name of a local music manager and promoter in the Yellow Pages, I sent him a tape and he said he'd get me a gig.?
But moving from practicing in the bedroom to getting her first single released was no easy feat. So just how difficult was the whole process?
?Next to impossible. I won't go into the process and the length of time it's taken and how many setbacks there have been ... it would be boring. But, put it this way, I started gigging at 15 and the single has only been released this week!?
But it isn?t just a single she has managed to release because October 8th sees her debut album ?Portrait? hit stores. So just how long did it take her to write the complete collection?
?I wrote ?I Think It Was Love? when I was 19, it's the oldest song on the album, so let's say it's taken 10 years. However, there have been multiple versions of the album, countless songs excluded, and the very last song to be written ?Last Minute? was only written last year.
?In fact I'm involved in pretty much everything, from writing the songs to picking the artwork. I think we're actually going with some pictures I took of my home town.?
There?s no hiding the fact that the music industry has been hit hard in recent years and for many artists, plummeting CD and Vinyl sales have placed a greater emphasis on live performances. Does she feel it is still possible for artists to make a long-term career in the business?
?I'm not sure. There still seem to be people making a career in music. But as things get more difficult I suppose artists might have to combine music with other things. There's no holy grail any more.
?New technologies can help in some ways. As a musician the web makes little difference stylistically speaking but in terms of promotion it?s a brilliant tool, giving you direct access to fans, with so much feedback, which is quite cool.?
One area that still divides opinion amongst fans and musicians is the place that reality TV shows such as X Factor occupy in the industry, forcing many to deliberate over whether they hinder or help the music business. Josephine has her very own opinion of the situation.
?I used to love X Factor and Pop Idol/American Idol etc ... but as the series' developed they became more about laughing at, and humiliating, people so I stopped watching. I don't really think they make that much difference in the industry. It's become such a treadmill of one hit (Christmas number one) wonders that I think the only casualties in the end are the people who win.
?After they win its seems like they have to try desperately to stay in the minds of the people who watched the show and the general public, who unfortunately are only interested in the next series and the reaction of the next winner.?
So who does she most admire in the industry today?
?I really admire Beck. No spring chicken, he released his first album at 28 I think, and is now 42. He's about to release an album as sheet music only. People just don't have to work to hear music any more, they don't have to go to a record shop and they don't even have to pay for it. By releasing his album like this, he makes people work for it again, you have to play it, or get a friend to play it, you can't just download it or stream it.?
Outside of her music, what interests occupy her?
?That's hard because I love playing my guitar when I'm not busy, and I Iike going to gigs too. But I love books and I read whenever I can. I'm a huge art fan too and I recently went to the Picasso exhibition at the Brisith museum, which was so small and simple but powerful. I'm currently reading a biography of Frida Kahlo.?
Any guilty pleasures??
?I have many. Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars ... the list goes on, anything geeky and space related.?
And to end, if she had to put a finger on it, what really annoys this Manchester girl?
?Poor manners. Just say 'please' and 'thank you' and don't play loud music on the train, it isn't really that hard.?
?What A Day? is available now and offers audiences a tantalizing glimpse into what to expect from her album, which comes out in October.
A startling and unique, Northern talent, we think Josephine could be one to watch for 2012 and beyond.
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George R Vaughan
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Check out the acoustic version of "What A Day" below.
Posted Mon, 08/20/2012 - 20:56 by George Vaughan
Source: http://www.womentalking.co.uk/topics/entertainment/josephine-hits-big-time
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