Katie Melua is celebrating ten years as a recording artist in 2013, and to celebrate she is releasing her brand-new album Kevetan.
We caught up with the singer/songwriter to chat about the new record, the first single to be lifted from it and what lies ahead.
- You are about to release your new single, I Will Be There so what can fans expect from the track this time around?
I Will Be There was a special song that was commissioned for the Coronation Festival; it was a song that my long-time producer Mike Batt wrote. I didn’t envy his position... My job was to sing it, and I just thought ‘I will just try to do as best a job as I can’.
It was very emotional because the song is about all the mother figures and a nod to her majesty.
But what happened during the making of this last album and during the writing of that song was that my mum was diagnosed with cancer, and passed away; it was literally two or three months after she was diagnosed. The song had a very personal meaning for all of us.
He did such an exquisite job on it as a writer, and it immediately belonged to the spirit of the record; we just had to have it on there. We have had some good feedback and some lovely comments about it after I had performed it at the Coronation Gala to have it as the first single just seemed appropriate.
- As you say Mike Batt wrote this song for you to perform for the Coronation Gala so what was it about this track that you liked when you heard it for the first time?
Mike and I have worked together for a decade together - we are celebrating ten years this year - and I always get excited when Mike Batt writes a song. He actually played me a different version of it, but it wasn’t quite right and was in a completely different direction.
However, it was when those bits that were going on in our personal lives started to come through and influence the song that it really took on this very immense essence. I was just moved when I heard it.
I would like to think that this song that helped him through this difficult period. So that is what I was thinking when I first heard it.
- This is the first single to be lifted off your new album Ketevan, so how does this track introduce us to the rest of this record?
It is difficult to say because there are definitely parts of the album that are like this single. The interesting thing about this album that I want people to realise is that there is a lot of variety on there.
It goes from the melodic, epic world that I Will Be There inhabits, to very folky music, to jazz songs and then also quite rocky/blue songs; so there is a lot of variety. So this track is very much just one side of the album.
The album, to me, I would have to say is the best way to sum me up; there are a lot of styles on there, but it is my little baby steps back to trying to be reflective again. I have also started doing some song-writing again, which is quite difficult when you have a junior song-writer in your team (laughs).
Mike encouraged me at the beginning of this album to come up with some songs myself, and I really tried to get to that level.
- You have touched on my next question really. You have returned to song writing with this record so how difficult a process was getting back into that?
Well, I always write when I am inspired, and I am not a constant song-writer. But I enjoy singing other people’s songs as I get a lot of pure enjoyment and happiness from that. It is tricky to sit down and write my own tunes - especially when I have sung some of the best songs ever written.
So you almost end up comparing what you are writing to the greatest songs that have been written; that is what makes it difficult and slows me down. But I still battle on because expressing and coming up with melodies...
Expressing yourself through lyrics and words and trying to find little phrases and sentences, to sum up, life and emotion is something that I really adore and love.
- We have talked about Mike Batt already, and he is a long-time collaborator of yours, and you are working with him for this album. So what was it like working with him once again?
We have never really stopped, to be honest. The fourth album is categorised as the album where Mike and I didn’t work together; he was still executive producer on that album, and he helped me find William Orbit. So he was still very much on board and helped me find the material.
We have been a solid team for all of these years; just like any relationships we have had lots of ups and downs and left and rights. It has been nice to have been able to carve a relationship together as a creative team. I am and always will be immensely grateful for our beginnings and where we are today.
- You clearly have a great working relationship but what is about Mike that makes you want to work with him again and again?
First of all, it is his songs. His lyrics and his melodies are just beautiful. There are a few albums on this new album that he has written that ate just beautiful, and I just think ‘how does he do it?’ His song craft is just amazing.
I have worked with a lot of modern writers, but he is a unique songwriter as he is so much about the lyrical detail. The title is also incredibly important because if he feels that the title doesn’t sum up his song, then that is it; he thinks of it as a really impossible wall of song writing to climb if you don’t have a title.
There is a song on this album called Never Felt Less Like Dancing, and you just know instantly that Mike has that title and the song, and the essence of the song is those few words.
- Mike son’s Luke and Toby Jepson have also been on board so how did these collaborations come about? And how did you find working with them? Did they bring a new energy to the studio?
They did. What was really interesting on this album was that Luke Batt, Mike’s son, he co-produced the album and also wrote some of the songs, but he did bring a freshness to mine and Mike’s collaboration.
He made it sound like Mike, and I had never sounded before, and there was a different kind of energy in this piece. There was a mix of everything that was knowable between us, having been working for so long together, and then there was something fresh in the air too.
Toby is someone who I wrote with, and he brought something very new to my writing. He has a very different approach to Mike as he is more about the overall feeling of a song, and he doesn’t go into too much detail about lyrics.
It was just so interesting to be covering all of these ways of working; perhaps that is why the end result is so varied.
- The album is called Ketevan, which is your Georgian birth name, so how did it come about as the album title?
I think it might have been one of the girls at my record label’s office that came up with it. We had a bunch of titles floating around, and none of the song titles felt like they really captured the album.
We also thought about a few Georgian things; there is one song on the album, which I have dedicated to the Georgian director, which is called Love Is A Silent Thief.
Because of my step back to song writing that was being reflective and a sense of the ten years and looking, why not go further? So there were a few Georgian words that I was trying to come up with.
Then it was Jodie or Roseanne said ‘what is your Georgian name?’ When I said Ketevan they were like ‘well what about that?’ We floated the idea around; I quite liked it, and so we went with it.
- This new album comes ten years after your debut Call Off The Search, so how would you sum up the last decade when you look back over it?
It has been a hell of a ride. I think my biggest achievement is still going out on the road and wanting to make music on the road. It doesn’t matter to me that I am still travelling around because I just love everything about it, I love the lifestyle, and I love being on stage.
The thing about doing gigs is you make music, and then it is gone and that is being watched by thousands of people. So I just look back at all of my times on the road, and I just absolutely adore it.
- The music industry has seen many changes throughout the ten years that have been in it, so what have been the major ones for you?
It is hard to say, to be honest. I know that people have been really worried about the physical format, but I am not that worried about it. You can’t really fight the wave that is going on.
I personally stream or download from iTunes because I love the quick access that I have to music; I don’t have to write down a list of songs that I like and then go to the shop.
I can think of an artist and an album and then can listen to it instantly. I love that, as a musician and a consumer of music. The CD single has totally gone, and that was an interesting thing to live through.
- You are also going to be performing a special 10th anniversary concert at The Roundhouse in London in October so what can fans expect from that show?
It is a show that will be celebrating the ten years as well as introducing the new album; that will be the first performance of the new songs.
There is also a little Georgian treat that I am bringing over for people to enjoy - but I won’t to into too many details. So it is going to be a night of lots of wonderful things.
- How excited are you about getting back out there and presenting these new tracks to a live audience?
I always love going out on the road. The band is so solid and so great and to be able to get our hands-on new material is always an exciting time. So I am really excited about it all.
- Finally, what is coming up for you within now and the end of the year? Can we expect more shows?
The Roundhouse is my only UK show this year, but I have some gigs across Europe in December. Then it will mainly be promo for the new album.
Katie Melua’s new album Kevetan is released 16th September.
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