![\"Dido-Issue-No25\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Dido-Issue-No25.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nA soulful synth-pop hit-maker turns up the electronic heat<\/b><\/p>\n
Dido took her time making her latest album\u2014five years, in fact. But the deliberate pace allowed her to develop a more ambitious sound for her fourth record, Girl Who Got Away<\/i>. Although Dido has always favored acoustic backbones surrounded by delicate synths, Girl<\/i> reflects a bold expansion into electronic production.<\/p>\n
Since she first made waves with her 1999 debut No Angel<\/i>, the 41-year-old singer-songwriter born Dido Armstong has sold nearly 30 million albums, propelled by hits \u201cThank You,\u201d \u201cHere With Me\u201d and \u201cWhite Flag.\u201d She was also nominated for an Oscar for her collaboration with A.R. Rahman on the song \u201cIf I Rise\u201d from the 2010 film 127 Hours<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Much of Dido\u2019s new album was created with her brother, producer Rollo Armstrong of the electronica group Faithless. She also collaborated with songwriters and producers Brian Eno, Greg Kurstin, Rick Nowles and Jeff Bhasker. The lead single \u201cLet Us Move On\u201d features a verse written and performed by hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. \u201cI love collaborating with people because you learn so much,\u201d she says. \u201cYou end up with songs that just completely surprise you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not every song was a collaborative effort. \u201cI was on a holiday where it was just too hot outside,\u201d says Dido, \u201cso I set up this little studio with a keyboard, computer and guitar, and wrote \u2018Love to Blame\u2019 and \u2018End of Night\u2019. I\u2019m always writing on the go, and that was a fun new thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did you intend to make an electronic record from the beginning?<\/b><\/p>\n
With every album, the sound is often dictated by the songs. Then you develop a bit of an intention with it. Some of the first songs I wrote for the record were \u201cBlackbird,\u201d \u201cGo Dreaming\u201d and \u201cLoveless Hearts.\u201d It felt like it was writing itself, and that was dictating the sound in a really nice way. It\u2019s also circumstance. So much of it was done while I was on my own in hotel rooms or at home\u2014on the computer playing around, making sounds. It just happened naturally and I got more confident in making that sort of music.<\/p>\n
Did any songs come easier than others?<\/b><\/p>\n
You have those songs that come so easily\u2014\u201cThank You\u201d was like that\u2014and then you have a song like \u201cWhite Flag,\u201d on which I had the chorus for ages, and then it took me ages to get the verses. On this album, \u201cGirl Who Got Away\u201d came quite quickly, while \u201cLoveless Hearts\u201d was like \u201cWhite Flag\u201d in that I had the chorus for years, and then one day there\u2019s suddenly a clear picture of what I\u2019m writing about. I want to make every lyric count, so I can spend quite a lot of time on the lyrics. Some days they flow so easily. Other times there\u2019s a point when the picture suddenly appears\u2014like a camera coming into focus. You suddenly feel and see what you\u2019re writing about. That\u2019s the moment you finish the song.<\/p>\n
How is it working with your brother?<\/b><\/p>\n
Pretty amazing. He\u2019s the missing half of my brain. He can do so many things that I can\u2019t do. As a producer, he brings out the best in an artist. He\u2019s supportive and encouraging. Some producers can be quite overpowering. Rollo has all the passion and potential to be overpowering, but he\u2019s not. He\u2019s also great at picking up the pieces. When I recorded \u201cGirl Who Got Away,\u201d for instance, I had the mic on a pile of books, the keyboard on my lap and the guitar on top of that. Then I played the whole thing in one go, and sent him this complete mess\u2014but he totally got what I was trying to do. Then he helped me bring it to fruition. I feel very lucky; we were a real team.<\/p>\n
Did you enjoy the scattered process?<\/b><\/p>\n
It reminds me of No Angel <\/i>in that way. Life for Rent<\/i> was an album where we were in the same studio the whole time and made a record that held together very coherently, whereas No Angel <\/i>was much more like this\u2014it was like, \u201cOh, we\u2019ve got a bit of studio time here,\u201d and you do things as you go along.<\/p>\n
Tell us how the Kendrick Lamar collaboration came about.<\/b><\/p>\n
I knew his records and absolutely loved them. It was a long shot: \u201cI\u2019d love to have Kendrick on this track.\u201d He loved it and he did the most brilliant rap on it. What I love about that is he\u2019d taken the idea of the song, told a story, made it more visual. I just love what he\u2019s done, I was so happy when I heard it.<\/p>\n
What did Brian Eno bring to the\u00a0new album?<\/b><\/p>\n
The way he writes adds so much to the production. He\u2019s a genius. Another Green World<\/i> is one of my favorite albums. He\u2019s inspiring\u2014and brings such a different flavor to the record. And he was so nice about collaborating with all these different people on this record.<\/p>\n
How did you meet Greg Kurstin?<\/b><\/p>\n
Over the years, about 10 people have independently said, \u201cYou\u2019d have a great time if you worked with Greg.\u201d His name always stuck in my head. I was coming to America and was like, \u201cYou know, it would be great to work with him.\u201d I haven\u2019t done many things where the record company sets up working with someone. Usually it\u2019s people I know or met. He\u2019s super talented and it\u2019s amazing to watch him build a track up from nothing. He\u2019s just so quick. He layers everything and it all sounds so warm.<\/p>\n
Are there any standouts on the album for you?<\/b><\/p>\n
After writing \u201cEnd of Night\u201d with Greg, I remember getting in the car thinking, \u201cThis is so different from what I\u2019ve done.\u201d That track really surprised me. It\u2019s as poppy as I\u2019ve ever been. I remember playing it for my husband, and I said, \u201cI\u2019ve either gone mad, or this is really good!\u201d I used to love Laura Branigan. She had this great track called \u201cSelf Control,\u201d and it reminds me of that nostalgic period back then, but a modern version of it.<\/p>\n
Do you think you\u2019ll do more film work?<\/b><\/p>\n
Love to. Making music to go with an actual visual\u2014it\u2019s challenging and a brilliant thing to do. I see music in such visual terms that it\u2019s really exciting. It\u2019s my dream to do music for film. I also really respect people who do it because it\u2019s not easy. Working with A.R. Rahman was a revelation\u2014he\u2019s so talented. I\u2019d love to work with him again. His sense of melody is incredible. The way the melody holds together, and the way he hears it\u2014it\u2019s amazing. Something I wouldn\u2019t have done naturally. He was the one who pulled the work together. I happened to be working with him just because he happened to be in London, and I\u2019ve always loved what he\u2019s done. And then [director] Danny Boyle heard something I\u2019d done, liked the way it worked with the track, blah blah blah, and then suddenly there\u2019s an Oscar nomination.<\/p>\n
How did that happen? It\u2019s not like you go into a studio to record a film song that\u2019s a contender for that sort of thing. It just doesn\u2019t work like that. I nearly fell off my chair when I started getting emails:\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve been nominated for an Oscar!\u201d \u201cI what?!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DIDO A soulful synth-pop hit-maker turns up the electronic heat Dido took her time making her latest album\u2014five years, in fact. But the deliberate pace allowed her to develop a more ambitious sound for her fourth record, Girl Who Got Away. Although Dido has always favored acoustic backbones surrounded by delicate synths, Girl reflects a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[6237,6239,6242,6240,6238,6241],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9340,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9338\/revisions\/9340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}