Paloma Faith: from BRITs to BAFTA? Eyeing major 'gritty' film role

She finally bagged a Brit, but Paloma Faith won’t stop there – she now has her eyes on an Oscar.

The singer, who scooped best female solo artist at last night’s ceremony, aims to step up her acting skills and thinks a role such as the battered wife played by Olivia Colemanin Paddy Considine’s film Tyrannosaur would be right up her street.

‘I’d be after something that challenges me to do something completely the opposite of what my public persona is. I would like to play a next door neighbour or something gritty,’ the Only Love Can Hurt Like This singer told Metro exclusively.

‘I am a big fan of Paddy Considine. If he does another film I would love to be in that,’ she continued, admitting she would love to be considered as an actress akin to Coleman.

‘I have started petitioning him! I direct messaged him on Twitter saying “If you do another film, please call me!” And he replied saying that in his house they were big fans of mine, him and his kids. Which was cute. I am sowing the seeds!’ she said.

However Faith – who played the girlfriend of the Devil in Terry Gilliam’s 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – is not abandoning her music career yet as she hopes to have a new album out before the end of the year.

‘It’s an ambitious thing, but I’m hoping. That’s the idea. I’ve started writing but I haven’t been recording yet. It’s still very early days and I’ve just done a few days of writing so far,’ she teased.

[Printed Metro February 2015]

George Ezra almost decapitated by train

George Ezra may have lost out on all four of his nominated Brit award categories last night but he’s still a very lucky man after revealing he narrowly escaped being decapitated by a train.

The 21-year-old singer-songwriter almost lost his head in the near-miss last year, but says he was rescued by a guardian angel.

‘I was getting the train from Paddington to Bristol a few months ago and I couldn’t be happier to be getting out to the countryside,’ he recalled exclusively to Metro.

‘The sun was setting and after you go through the industrial areas and past Slough you are in the countryside and it’s beautiful. I had my head out the window and I had my eyes closed. And then I pulled my head in, for no apparent reason, and a train sped past the other way. I would have been fully decapitated. I turned white. I was like a ghost!’

Shuddering he says he learnt a valuable lesson: ‘We don’t put our heads out train windows, do we George?’

And Ezra – who topped the charts with his debut album Wanted On Voyage – says he is often left shaken by fans who tell him they make love listening to his music.

‘People have told me that,’ he confessed, before insisting he never listens to his own material when getting down to business himself.

‘Someone asked me if I listen to my album during sex and I just looked at him and said, “Are you f***ing serious? I do not put my album on before that!”’ he laughed.

[Printed Metro February 2015]

One Direction: The Totally Nuts Interview

One Direction’s latest autobiography Who We Are might be a perfect gift for Christmas, but at this most wonderful time of the year, we just want to know who in the band has been naughty and who has been nice. Guilty Pleasures caught up with the boys this week for some rapid questions.

It’s Christmas time boys, everyone wants to know who in the band has been naughty and who has been nice?
Niall: I have been great.
Harry: He helped an old lady across the street….but he actually left her half way. He wasn’t as nice as we originally thought.
Louis: Niall has been the naughtiest. He steals old ladies handbags.
Harry: That’s why he left her in the middle of the street.

What is your craziest story involving Sinitta?
Liam: Our craziest story is still from The X Factor when she came out with us dressed in leaves.
Harry: Niall slept with Sinitta. Wearing leaves.
Louis: That sounds like we’re joking but that did actually happen.
Niall: My favourite story about Sinitta is when she took a penalty on us in A League Of Their Own. She scored past Harry.

When did Simon Cowell last get cross with you?
Louis: Simon don’t really get angry though, does he, like? He don’t ever raise his voice.
Niall: Sometimes he will do that disappointed voice but he hasn’t done that in a while. I’ve never really seen him angry at all. Even with the people he works with. He just gets his point across in a relaxed manner.
Harry: He will be angry when he realises that Eric is Niall’s.
Liam: This interview is crazy.
Niall: I am going to have to do some serious apologising to Simon now!
Liam: I’ve not met the kid yet.

You’re on tour again next year – who is the worst for farting on the tour bus?
Liam: To be fair, Niall, you do just let rip at random occasions. And they are proud farts. They are not quiet ones. They are not smelly. But they are musical.
Zayn: The farts used to be worse, but now they are calmer.
Liam: Did you know that Niall can’t burp?
Niall: Yes. That’s something people don’t know about me. I had cholic as a child and didn’t have power over my muscles in my throat. The muscles moved down here [points to bum].

When was the last time one of you walked in on the other naked?
Louis: Someone just walked in on me having a wee, actually.
Liam: [To Louis] You walked past me having a wee the other day. The toilet in the hotel had a window and I was having a piss and then I turned round and he was looking at me.
Louis: A lot of hotels have windows in the bathroom.
Harry: The Standard in New York has windows where you wee. It’s ridiculous.

Harry – who would you rather be stuck in a lift with: Caroline Flack, Taylor Swift, or Kendall Jenner?
Harry: Erm… well I have had amicable relationships with all of them, so that’s a trick question.

All of them at the same time? Would that be fun?
Harry: I see what you are doing…I don’t know.

Would you give Caroline a shoulder to cry on now she’s single again or give her advice?
Harry: Erm… what a question!
[Publicist] Next Question!

Who did you last snog? With tongues? Zayn – we’re assuming Perrie?
Zayn: Yeah, my bird.
Liam: I love how Louis and I have girlfriends, but you’ve not asked like we are out snogging fans all the time.
Harry: Niall’s was Ariana Grande. And Caroline Flack at the same time. They were stuck in a lift.
Liam: That was Niall’s relationship advice for Caroline. And Sinitta was there as well. Wearing leaves.

[Printed Metro December 2014]

Ella Henderson talks marriage proposals, Adele and Bond theme ambitions

Chart topper Ella Henderson says she has been flooded with marriage proposals since unleashing her debut single earlier this year.

The 18-year-old former X Factor star says she is a little alarmed by her infatuated fans who demand her hand in marriage online.

‘It freaks me out when people I’ve never met are like, “marry me! Please!” I think the scary thing is I think they aren’t even sixteen yet,’ the singer laughed.

However Henderson is she’s already taken – having been dating fellow Grimsby local, Matt Harvey, since January this year.

‘I don’t tend to discuss too much about him. He’s so private and I respect him for that and that’s the way he wants it,’ she says of her own happy romance – although she admits she has to leave him behind when work takes her around the world.

‘He’s got a job! So he has to work,’ she sighs before changing topic to wishing she could meet fellow singer Adele who championed her when she competed on The X Factor back in 2012.

‘I would love to sing with her at some point. It would be really dark. Not gloomy, but imagine Rolling in the Deep mixed with Ghost! It would be really cool,’ she gushed.

Another ambition for Henderson is to mirror Skyfall singer Adele by penning her own 007 tune.

‘It is definitely on my bucket list to perform and write a song for a Bond theme one day,’ she reveals, but confessed she couldn’t imaging going one step further to become a Bond girl.

‘They always die! And it’s really upsetting. Whenever you engage with one and think “I really like that one!” she’s dead going down in a lift under water,’ she laughs.

Ariana Grande: I'd prefer a guy to cheat on me with another guy

Ariana Grande says she is convinced an ex-boyfriend cheated on her with another guy – but says it would be much worse if he had cheated on her with another girl.

The 21-year-old Problem singer says she is ready to be honest about her love woes and reveals all on a new track from her upcoming second album.

‘There is a song called Break Your Heart Right Back which is about a boy that cheats on a girl with another boy. It’s one of my favourites on the album and it’s really funny to me,’ the pop beauty told Guilty Pleasures in an exclusive chat.

‘I believe it has happened to me. I’m not going to say I’m 100 per cent positive, but I’m 99.9 per cent positive,’ she said, adding the heartache would be more traumatic if a guy left her for another woman.

‘I would rather he cheats on me with a guy than with a girl any day! Oh please! Oh my god. If I found out my boyfriend was gay, I would be like “Ok!” I’d be so relieved,’ Grande laughed.

‘It would be so much better than finding out he was cheating on me with a girl. Of course we would be friends! Absolutely,’ she added.

With her album, called My Everything, due for release on August 25, fans of the singer can expect to hear other tales from her love diary.

‘A lot of the album is about love. It’s definitely really fun to sing about,’ she said.

Grande also revealed she she won’t scrap her duet with former lover Nathan Sykes from her future live set lists – and might even call up her ex to join her on stage.

The American beauty recorded a track called Almost Is Never Enough with former The Wanted star Sykes when they dated last year but says the memory of what they had and lost won’t impact her performing their track.

‘I don’t think it would be awkward to perform with Nathan. That would be professional,’ Grande explained, adding she has no ill feelings following her four month romance with 21-year-old Sykes.

‘I wish him well. He’s a great person, it just wasn’t right. You know?’ she said of their past.

The singer explains that love is a frequent influence when it comes to penning her tracks and says it can be upsetting singing the songs once the love is no longer there.

‘It brings back the memories but I love it because it was real and I get to capture that in the song. It’s like a love-hate thing. That can be so emotional sometimes,’ she said.

Boys aside, Grande is thrilled to be featuring on new single Bang Bang alongside Nicki Minaj and Jessie J after the girls reworked the song she originally wrote.

‘All of a sudden [music manager] Monte Lipman sat me down in his office one day and played it for me with Jessie and Nicki on it and I had a heart attack! It was the best surprise ever!’ she gushed.

Pixie Lott talks duets, Selena, and meeting Justin Bieber

Pixie Lott reckons Justin Bieber still carries a flame for his ex Selena Gomez after they shared their appreciation for the fellow singer in Monaco earlier this year.

Lott hung out with the Biebs – who has had an on-off relationship with Gomez since 2010 – after she performed at the Grand Prix and they found themselves gushing over the American beauty.

‘When I was in the South of France I bumped into Justin Bieber and we were both talking about how elegant and beautiful she is,’ 23-year-old Lott revealed.

Hinting that she may have something of a girl-crush on 20-year-old Bieber’s ex, the Nasty singer continued: ‘I think she is so lovely and beautiful. She is really talented.’

She also said she would love to reunite with Gomez, 22, for a pop duet having sung with her on a track back in 2011.

‘Selena recorded a song I had written and she left my parts in on the middle eight so it ended up being Selena Gomez featuring Pixie Lott,’ Lott explained.

‘There are lots of boy-girl duets but there isn’t as many girl-girl ones. One of my favourite songs is The Boy Is Mine by Brandy and Monica. I’ve always said I’d love to team up with another girl for a girl power track,’ she said.

Lott is currently romping her way up the album charts with her self-titled third record which has entered the Top 10 in the mid-week charts.

‘It is really exciting that it is No. 8 at the moment as my last album was out at a tricky week and its position didn’t do as well as this one has done – so I’m really over the moon about that,’ she said at her album launch at London’s Langham hotel on Tuesday night.

Prides eye up Kylie at Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony

Stewart Brock of Glaswegian indie rockers Prides says he would be too intimidated to date Kylie Minogue after sharing the stage with her at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.

The 25-year-old frontman fears the media storm that would surround dating the Aussie beauty would overshadow any possible romance.

‘I’m not sure if I could date her. I mean, she is a babe, obviously, but I’m not sure I could do it. The pressure would be too much,’ the Messiah singer said.

Brock did add that he regretted not asking Minogue one question when he had the chance after they sang together at Hampden Park.

‘I wanted to ask her where she gets her hotpants. I feel that could be my new look,’ the singer joked.

Referencing 46-year-old Minogue’s famously pert derrière and youthful looks, Brock said he and bandmates Lewis Gardner and Callum Wiseman couldn’t believe the In To The Blue’s singer is now 46-years-old.

‘We were all looking up how old she is – that sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But we were trying to guess. She does look incredible. She must do her squats!’ he said.

However Minogue can rest easy as Brock explained he has his eye on another famous pop singer for a date.

‘I’m saving myself for Katy Perry. I wouldn’t want to scupper my chances. All her tunes are great and she is a total babe. What’s not to love?’ he asked.

Having wowed the crowds at the Glasgow Games ceremony – plus one billion viewers around the world – Brock revealed he took the ‘House Party’ theme of the closing ceremony literally and partied with mates the night before.

‘I was at a mild house party which was maybe not the best idea the night before the Closing Ceremony. But I recovered in time,’ he laughed.

[Elements of this article appeared in Metro, Guilty Pleasures, Monday 4 August 2014]