London based Finnish songstress Scarlette has never revealed too much about her true persona. Identifying herself as a modern day Cinderella, Scarlette has always believed in big dreams. Given that you could blink and miss the village she once called home, she knew she had to pack her bags and head for the bright lights of London in order to make her pop ambitions a reality. – From Scarlette’s Website
With our remit of covering artists who deserve to be heard, when we were told about Scarlette we were intrigued, and had to follow her up. We like a bit of EDM on EP, and we like strong women, so it was easy to say yes, we’d love an interview! We hope you enjoy our chat with Scarlette, and we’d like to thank her for her time:
Give us the Scarlette story!
I was born in a small village in Finland and I was bored to death. I found an SLS singing book in the library and started to skip school to take dance lessons. Since I was 2 I was glued to MTV and I wanted to be a performer like Madonna. My big sisters said I was weird and “I should find a man to marry and settle down” like them. I was struggling to cope. I used to drown myself in music to escape and planned for my escape. I saved up some money living with my dad. So one freezing winter morning 6am, I had booked a flight to London and my dad was going to work and he asked me what I was up to (my friend was waiting in a car outside!) I told him that I’m going to London to become a star. Later overlooking London I had no clue where I would end up, where to sleep at night and I knew no one. I had never been to a big city before but when I arrived to Euston Road I just felt totally free! I started looking for producers and I found a small room and sung like 6 hours a day! Alpha Female EP happened after I fell in love and he suddenly left. I was so mad feeling like shit – “Wasting My Love” just came out like vomit. Straight after we (me and the producer Fabian) recorded the songs and the same way I came to London, I flew straight to Los Angeles to promote it and to get over this guy! I hitch hiked to music summits and just turned up like “yo I’m Scarlette – check my shit out!” They started playing it in few clubs and we hung out in 5 star hotel pools with my new friends and crashed movie events!
Talk us through your coming to London. It must have been scary for you!
Yeah at first…I was not sleeping at night for about a week before the flight. I didn’t have a job, didn’t know anybody and I had saved up like £100…just put cool clothes in my bag I picked up the previous day from a Salvation Army store. I had so much crazy fun in here working on my demos! I got a job for a couple of months in a conference company. It was so funny, I went through the doors every morning with all the suit people staring wearing ripped jeans, messed up purple hair and black eyeliner.
You include in you influences strong women such as Gwen Stefani, Marina from Marina and the Diamonds, and Marie Fredriksson from Roxette. How important do you feel it is to be a strong woman in today’s music industry?
It’s necessary! If you’re not strong people will let you down, tell you how things should be done and try to use you. So you must be in control all the time…Think about Adele; She said her desire is to never to be slim, and they will measure every inch of you. She doesn’t care!
What would you change about yourself, and why?
I wish I was more patient…but nope! 😉
Explain your music to our readers who may not be familiar with you.
It’s a mixture of different genres like they are pop records mixed with dubstep and club vibes. ‘Alpha Female’ is angry rock/pop/dubstep track and ‘Merciless’ is bit more urban. ‘Wasting My Love’ is a dance track – that’s my new single!
Who would your dream collaboration be with?
Skrillex – We would make some crazy noise! Also Madonna!
What advice do you have to anyone wanting to get into the recording industry?
Great music! There’s so much manufactured music out there and people want real artists for role models. You have to be real and work hard.
What does the future hold for Scarlette?
I’m really really excited about this single release in couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to releasing my full album 2015 with tour dates!
Scarlette can be found online on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.