Paloma Faith onher new political voice

She’s talking Brexit, being left-wing and popstars using their bodies to sell music...

Paloma Faith first appeared on the musical radar in the wake of Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele. Amy succumbed to her demons, Duffy has drifted from project to project in recent years making little impact on the public consciousness while Adele may have a larger disposable income than many countries’ GDP.

In the meantime, Paloma Faith, though hardly quiet, has become an arena-sized musical attraction, given credible acting performances in TV dramas and films and started the almost obligatory clothing line while finding time to be a judge on the UK version of The Voice for a season.

In December of last year, she became a mother for the first time. She is loath to reveal her daughter’s name and has spoken of a wish to raise her child ‘gender neutral’.

Motherhood, she confesses is partly the reason why on her new album, The Architect, she reflects on the inequalities she sees in the world. So, I ask, the 36-year-old Londoner is this Political Paloma? Perhaps Faith on the Frontline?

‘It’s political with a small “p” maybe, but I think it’s more about trying to give a voice to marginalised people throughout the world,’ she says. ‘It’s social commentary; about displaying kindness and showing empathy. It’s about love but in a non-romantic way.’

Thus, you may listen to the single Guilty and think it is an above-average Winehousesque piece of soaring soul but Faith’s inspiration is the subject occupying most Brits’ minds at the moment, and we aren’t talking about who is going to win Strictly…

‘I wrote that song after Brexit and was trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who had voted Brexit and then felt they were missold the idea,’ she says.

‘I’m not saying that everyone who voted Brexit regrets it. I’ve met people who voted for it and still feel it was the right thing to do. The whole record is me putting myself in the shoes of someone who thinks a certain way and I’m trying to empathise with that emotion or stance. It comes from a good place, a kindhearted place. It’s not meant to be antagonising or patronising .’

Faith says she is left-wing in her views. And among the guest appearances on the album, including by Samuel L Jackson (who does a spoken word intro to the album) and John Legend, there is an interlude featuring socialist writer and journalist Owen Jones. The album is good, great in places, and works because the messages she feels compelled to impart need to be sought out in the lyrics rather than being forced upon the listener.

‘I get a lot of people talking to me on social media who think there is no way we can see eye to eye because I’m left-wing and they’re right-wing. That shouldn’t be the case,’ she says.

‘I have friends who are rightwing in their views but we’re still friends. I think that the recent harassment cases in British politics have caused women with all shades of political views to come together to speak out and say that it is wrong.’

In what might safely be called ‘the post-Weinstein era’, I tell her almost every woman I’ve spoken to has said she experienced some sort of unwanted advance or harassment. ‘Almost every woman?’ she says incredulously. ‘You said “almost”, well I haven’t met one who hasn’t experienced harassment or abuse in their lifetime.

‘But I’m not sure it serves the cause or the debate, to look backwards into time and name and shame people who said inappropriate things by today’s standards, that were acceptable culturally then. Physical actions are an exception, I don’t think there should be a limit on that. Everyday sexism is still such a problem today that we shouldn’t concentrate all our energies on tackling views and attitudes in hindsight.’

Perhaps more controversially, the singer thinks that female artists should pay more attention to how they present themselves.

‘I think women have a responsibility to not use their bodies to sell their music,’ she says.

‘I don’t buy into the attitude some artists have who say it’s an empowering thing. I think that’s just an idea that has been fed to them by men.

‘It’s not what they’re wearing that I’m concerned about. It’s a combination of things. It’s not saying either that women have to be fully clothed. I myself have appeared naked in a video. The video I was naked in was for the song Just Be and I wanted to portray myself at my most vulnerable. I wore no make-up for that same conceptual reason. I was exposed in the true sense of the word and not gyrating, or trying to emulate a porn star.’

I ask her would she differentiate between, for example Beyoncé dancing in a leotard in the video for Single Ladies with Miley Cyrus in a video naked atop a wrecking ball. ‘I think they’re both pretty similar,’ she says.

Say hello to the new Polemical Paloma. Paloma Faith – The Architect was released on Friday. Faith plays the 3Arena Dublin on Saturday March 24, 2018

‘I’ve met people who voted for Brexit and still feel that it was the right thing to do’