'Made You Look'
18-year-old Ellapaige is ready to step out of the celebrity shadows and into the spotlight as she releases her debut EP 'Made You Look'.
With a whole host of fans already behind her, she's released a music video featuring Tinchy Stryder and doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
We got the time to chat to Ellapaige about that collaboration, her career and how she deals with the cyber bullying that's come her way since she was spotted alongside Justin Bieber.
How did you find yourself in the world of music?
I was writing songs and just really interested in music since I was like, four or five, but when I was about 13, 14, was when I really started songwriting. I kind of used it as a way to deal with my stuff at school, as a teenager, and it was like my outlet. I started writing and building up a songbook, and from then on I just loved doing it and I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do, so, ever since then I've been pursuing it.
What would you say music means to you?
Music to me is my way of expressing myself. It's definitely the way I find it easiest to talk about what I go through and I love when I can listen to other people's music and I can relate to it, and I know that that's helped me through a lot of different stages in my life, so I'm hoping to make music that can help people in the same way.
Whose music do you enjoy listening to?
I saw John Mayer at the O2 last week and I'm a massive fan of him. As a songwriter he's amazing. I'm a big Eminem fan, I do love rap as well. I like Rihanna, obviously, everyone loves Rihanna, and I'm a big Taylor Swift fan as well because as a songwriter I've always admired her.
Who would you say are some of your influences, or where do you draw influence from as an artist?
I draw influence just generally from my life and my experiences and other people's, so that's basically what I write about.
Did you find it a challenge to break into the industry?
Definitely, definitely. It's always a challenge and I think I'm still breaking in now, and finding my feet, but I've always been so motivated and so set knowing it's what I wanna do that I've never really looked at it like that - I've looked at it like a great challenge, so I guess that's what I feel.
Tell us about your debut EP 'Made You Look'.
So my EP, I started recording it in March, and I recorded it for about two months and I've been recording with my producer Flo for a few months before that, I was kind of demo-ing tracks, I was trying to find my sound and the kind of music I wanted to make, but then it really kind of naturally all came together and ever since I finished recording it I've been doing the videos for it and getting it all together. It's been a lot of work but a great experience and I've learned so much from doing it.
How was working with Tinchy Stryder?
Working with Tinchy was a lot of fun - he's such a cool guy, and he made me feel really comfortable. I've always wanted someone to feature on one of my tracks, so I'm quite blessed that the first person was Tinchy.
You touch on cyber bullying in the song 'Made You Look', as it's something you've faced. How did that experience make you feel, and how would you advise other people to get through something like that?
I myself am quite a strong person I'd say. I try not to let things get to me, but I get a lot of tweets from a lot of my fans that seem to find it very hard to deal with that pressure, and they always see me as someone who can help them, and through my music. Obviously I've been writing songs for so long so I really wanted to write a song that's kind of light-hearted. I wanted a way to show kids that it's OK and they're not the only person and there is a way to stand up against it and I'm definitely not gonna let it get me down and hopefully, other kids that are going through the same thing will listen to the song and be like 'you know what? Made you look.'
What's next for you following the EP?
I definitely wanna get back writing and making more music. The whole experience has been so much for me that there's so much more stuff I want to write about, and all this new stuff that I've learnt. So that's really my main focus and I just wanna develop my sound more, write with other people, and hopefully go back to LA as well and write, because I made a lot of great friends there last year - that's definitely where I wanna be.
Can you give us the exclusive surprise you tweeted about?
The surprise was that my fans have been tweeting me for quite a while trying to get me verified, but now with my record coming out on Monday, I am gonna get verified so that was my little - I'm quite excited about that. (laughs)
'Made You Look' is released October 28.