(Muso's Guide, April 15, 2009)
Interview
Who knows what will happen next in the music business?
It doesn’t look good, with the reality show format that plagues our television schedules with its Cowells and Coles sitting in judgement on musical hopefuls.
For one thing, watching it is pretty soul destroying. There are people who have dreamed of winning, of getting their mythical 15 minutes and making it work for them - and then suffering the ignominy of spilling their disappointed guts to Kate Thornton or Zoe Salmon after their first encounter with “the panel”.
And then there’s the vast amounts of musical bile spilt by these programmes - past participants include, but are not limited to The Cheeky Girls, Hear’Say, Michelle McManus and Steve Brookstein.
So not exactly a breeding ground for musical brilliance.
Except… every so often someone walks in and sings and just… has it. It might be a look, or something in their quavering voice, but even when they’re voted off, you can smell the talent.
Enter Sarah Whatmore.
In many ways, it seems a shame that someone as talented and beautiful as Sarah should have been forced to go begging to Cowell et al for a record deal and a chance at stardom.
A common sense Mancunian, Sarah has grown up knowing that she wanted to make it in showbiz somehow.
“I didn’t start singing until I was about 12. I always wanted to be an actress, and then my mum and dad got me a karaoke machine and I was singing, “It must have been love, but it’s all over now…” every night!”
When her mum packed her off for lessons was when Sarah really got to understand the power of her voice - but she never felt able to use it even then.
“I was classically trained for three years, but I was never allowed to move my shoulders or my eyebrows or be expressive. It was very sort of staged, and I was a little bit like the rebellious child who didn’t want to be taught anything, I went the opposite way because I wanted to be more creative.”
After time spent writing and learning about music in a specialist school in Manchester, Sarah really got into creating her own sound.
“I was about 15 when I started writing music and lyrics - then I went to a performing arts college, the Ben Kingsley Theatre.”
For two years, Sarah honed her skills as a writer and performer and then… She went running for Cowell’s schill? Not yet, darling - not even close.
“I just gigged loads! I had a little Honda Civic, got my PA system in the back, and went to loads of different pubs to play, just to build up my confidence.”
That’s right - she worked her backside off, just like indie bands we know and love.
Sarah was determined to make it, because she believed she was truly great.
And great she was, but she just couldn’t get a witness. When Pop Idol came along, Sarah went because it was “just another audition” - a way to get her music made and heard. And after she appeared on TV rejecting Simon Cowell’s marriage proposal? How did she feel about what came next?
“I don’t mind it, it’s part of my history. While it was nice to be recognised, I didn’t expect anything huge. Then it turned into this franchise like McDonald’s where they bang out a different artist, or a bunch of different artists every year, and it kind of swamps the market. It takes away something special about people, but I think that’s the way the culture is - taking away the magic and seeing what goes on, seeing people that haven’t done so well and have done so well.”
Sarah released two singles off the back of her appearance on the show, even though she wasn’t sure of the direction she was going.
“It’s really hard to get out there, and Pop Idol is a way to get out there, and if you’re talented, you’ll do anything to get out there. The thing that I couldn’t get my head around was the fame - I could have gone down the road of doing all the magazines and being a celebrity, and I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that, but I just couldn’t connect with it. There was a dissatisfaction within my heart and if I was going to be honest, I wasn’t really being true to myself.”
Sarah freely admits that saying no to the trappings and success was tough - and she knows that people might find it hard to come back to her this time around.
“Some people probably listen to the first singles and expect me to come up with something that is like that. I can do that, that’s not a problem as a writer, but as an artist it’s completely different.”
Sarah’s the first to admit that her new sound is different - but she feels it’s much more “her” - and it shows in the pride she has when she talks about the album Time To Think.
“It’s not a happy album - it’s very optimistic, but lyrically and melodically and musically it’s quite… I love those melancholy songs that make you feel optimistic - like The Carpenters. There are warm vocals - I always thought that less is more in music, and that’s basically how I got to this point. Once people have heard it, I think they’ll understand why I went away and came back.”
To make her mark afresh is Sarah’s goal now, and with a record this open, it’s hard to see how she’ll fail. But she has her own measure of success - and it might surprise doubters to learn that it’s not the Kylie route Sarah wants to follow.
“I was being pushed as a sexy, Kylie-esque artist, which is in some ways great, but it wasn’t really who I was. I felt like I had more to offer as a musician and a singer. People are going to have their own opinion, but there are so many brilliant female vocalists. I love Joan As Police Woman. I am just obsessed with her. I listen to her every day. I absolutely love her - her music - I love ‘Start Of My Heart’. I love people who get up and don’t care about trying to impress, they just do what they do, go into their own little world, shut their eyes and just lose themselves. It’s so passionate.”
And passion is something that Sarah Whatmore has in spades. She is passionate about her music and her future in the business, and is brimming over with excitement about what might happen next.
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