‘I want people to hear my music and think, “This is a tune!”’
Reality star Paige Turley on her exciting career plans, moving to a new city with her Love Island boyfriend Finn Tapp and getting screamed at by fans!
When we last caught up with Paige Turley, she was holed up in Scotland with her family and boyfriend Finn Tapp with lockdown having just been announced. But what a difference a few months can make! The winter Love Island winner has now moved to Manchester with Finn, 20, and she’s also just released her new single.
Paige, 22, wowed us when she sang Show Me Love in the villa back in February – and it seems like the music industry took notice! Just a day after moving house, she went to the recording studio to lay down her vocals on a remix of the dance track Movin’ Too Fast with The House & Garage Orchestra.
We caught up with Paige to chat pop star status, living with Finn and getting recognised in the street…
Hey Paige! You and Finn have just made a big step, moving in together…
I think because we were isolated together in Scotland with my family, we had a good run of it so we discovered each other’s annoying habits and now we’re used to them. At my mum’s house, I’d go on at him for leaving towels on the floor, but now we’re in our own place he’s turned into a housewife! It’s so nice.
Who’s doing the cleaning and cooking?
He does a lot of the cooking, I can do breakfast and lunch stuff but he does dinners. He finds changing the bed sheets a chore, so I do that – we’re compromising.
What are the good things about living together?
I think it would have been really hard for us not to have isolated together, it brought us so much closer. He got to see my life and I got to know his family over Zoom, so it was lovely.
We’ve seen you guys have enjoyed a date night!
We couldn’t wait to get dressed up, go out for dinner and have a couple of drinks.
Do you know Manchester well?
Not at all. I came last November for a night out and loved it and once we left the Love Island villa, we came to Manchester for work and we just really enjoyed it, we really liked the vibe so we decided to move here. It’s halfway between our families [Finn’s family live in Milton Keynes] and I’m from a small village so I think London would have been too fast-paced for me. Manchester is a nice mix.
Were you nervous about the move?
No, just excited. We’d had to do all the shopping for the flat online, so to see the kettle in its place and stuff, it was exciting. Obviously, I was sad to leave home.
Tell us about the single…
I couldn’t be more excited. It was such a quick turnaround. We moved into our new flat a few weeks ago and it was the day after that I went into the recording studio. Literally, we have been listening to it on repeat – we have Sonos speakers and every time we put music on Finn just plays it over and over.
Is this the sort of music you’re interested in?
Aye, dance music has always been a big thing for me. I’ve always wanted to have a song that people will be like, ‘Oh, this is a tune!’ That’s the ultimate goal.
What’s the one song that always gets you up on the dance floor?
It would be Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton. Not a typical dance track but it never fails to get me up.
Do you write your own stuff?
Yes, especially during lockdown with all the time to play with. Finn asks me what I’m writing about and he loves it. He always says, ‘Oh, you’re writing songs about me, eh?!’ I’ve had so much to process with what’s happened in such a short space of time, so I’ve got so many ideas floating around. I fell in love and left home so my writing is a nice mixture of that.
Has it always been the dream?
Yeah, before Love Island I sang at weddings and things, but even from a really young age I was always asking to go to theatre school.
Was Love Island a way for you to break into the industry?
I did it for the experience, it all happened really quickly. It was a month-long turnaround and in between that you do auditions and health checks and then they suddenly say, ‘OK, you’re flying to South Africa on January 1st.’ I didn’t have time to process it, I didn’t really think about it until I was on the show!
‘I’m so excited about the single – we’ve been listening to it on repeat’
Do you worry that people might not take you seriously because you’ve been on a reality show?
I understand how people could think that, but I have a musical background.
Like Britain’s Got Talent when you were 14!
I feel like a different person to that