Live4ever Presents: Gabrielle Aplin


gabriella-aplin

She has more YouTube subscribers than the Beatles, attracted over a million listens on her social networking sites – and has achieved all of this before her 18th birthday. The statistics speak for themselves.

Gabrielle Aplin is a singer-songwriter from Bath in England and has been learning her trade since the age of 14, a refreshing discovery in this age of the fame-hungry X Factor generation. It is her cover of the You And Me At Six song, Liar And The Lighter, that has helped amass a colossal following on her Myspace page, echoing a route to success made by other recent successful female musicians, namely Kate Nash. Gabrielle may be best known on the internet for her cover versions of other peoples songs, including Oasis’ Wonderwall, but she also dabs her hand at original material and has been a keen songwriter ever since she wrote her first track ‘Reverse’, the same year she picked up a guitar for the first time.

Gabrielle conveys a very grounded and bright individual with a good ear for music, citing Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell as some of her favourite artists, which bodes well for what we can expect from her forthcoming song releases. She is certainly an exception to the rule that most teenagers have terrible music taste with aspirations that don’t spur beyond becoming a ‘celebrity’.

The last five years have been a golden period for female artists in Britain. Amy Winehouse seemed to open a door that many others ran through in quick succession; Lily Allen, Amy McDonald and Adele to name a few. So what better time for Gabrielle to make her mark on the music scene? ‘Overnight success’ is a term thrown around far too often, but things are certainly moving very fast for Gabrielle. She has a UK tour planned for September and is releasing a 5 track EP to coincide with the dates. So, is Gabrielle the real deal? Well, a million people can’t be wrong. We caught up with Aplin and wanted to know for ourselves:

L4e: Hi Gabrielle, hope you’re good.

When did you discover your singing talent? is it something you were aware of or did other people notice first and encourage you to embrace it?

Gabriella: I honestly can’t really remember! It’s something I have always kept as a hobby, as I really love the creative/writing side of it, but I have never been constantly told that I’m good. I think it was the encouragement from friends and family that made me want to try and see if people enjoy what I do.

At what age did you start learning to play the guitar? did you teach yourself or take lessons?

I got my first guitar when I was around 13, but didn’t actually pick it up until I was 14! Since then I’ve been teaching myself by ear, and by learning chords.

When you write a song, what usually comes first, the melody or the lyrics?



Most of the time, the music usually comes first, but sometimes I do have lyrics written out that I’ll try and put music to.

What are the main themes in your lyrics? what inspires them?

My lyrics are always about things that have happened, and have affected me or someone I know in some way. I find it really hard to write about something I don’t know much about.

What was the first record you ever bought, or was given?

The first CD I was given was ‘Look Sharp’ by Roxette. It was my mum’s and I listened to it so much she just let me keep it eventually!

Who are your favourite artists at the moment?

At the moment, my favourite artists are Lisa Mitchell, Ellie Goulding, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell.

Which musicians would you like to work with?

I would love to work with Ellie Goulding  or Matt Corby. I personally think their writing skills are amazing and I really like what they do.

How valuable has MySpace been as a medium to promote your music?

Myspace has been very valuable! I think all social network sites work together really. People will find my music on Myspace, and automatically search for me on YouTube, and it’s the same the other way round. It’s a good way for sharing music and news on my YouTube and Myspace profiles, as well as on my Facebook and Twitter pages.

How would you feel about people downloading your music for free illegally?

At the moment, my songs aren’t up for payable download so I don’t really mind that much. My EP will be released in September, to coincide with my UK tour and I definitely don’t like the fact that some people may be downloading it illegally, but at the same time I can’t really stop it, and I just have to be grateful that some people are loyal enough to pay for music they like.

There has been a resurgence of British female pop stars dominating the charts in the last few years; Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lily Allen, Florence And The Machine and Kate Nash to name a few. What do you think has caused this movement?

That’s such a hard question! I think it may be because the charts have been dominated by males for quite some time before, and I guess people may have just been excited to hear the same kind of work coming from a female.

It is both admirable and inspirational to see a young, talented person such as yourself writing songs, what do you think of the reality show culture that manufactures pop stars?

Thank you , I think publicity-wise, it’s an amazing way to gain exposure, but in the real world is never that easy. I think by taking part in things like that, it takes away the creative and fun side of creating music and you miss all the great things along the way. You probably don’t learn much about the industry either as you wouldn’t have the experience of working hard to get contacts and exposure.

It is quite impressive to already have the 81st most subscribed channel on YouTube, how does it feel?

It’s absolutely wonderful! I’m very grateful. The best thing about it is that it’s purely down to random people all over the world who have gone out of their way to say ‘I like what you do’ and like me enough to subscribe, because it proves that they want to hear more. That’s what really makes it so great.

You’re going on tour soon, do you ever get nervous before going on stage? What’s the biggest crowd you’ve played to so far?

I usually get scared if I’m a support act, because 90% of the time the audience aren’t there to see you, and you never know what the reaction will be. If it’s a show I’m headlining I know people are there to see me so I get more excited. The biggest crowd I played to was about 5000 when Nicholas Cage turned the Christmas lights on in Bath. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that nervous because there were so many people I couldn’t see their faces!

aplinWhat are your long term career goals?

At the moment, I honestly don’t know. I definitely want to work somewhere in the music industry but at the moment I’m more interested in learning about all the different career paths rather than focusing on just one. Clearly I love to write and perform, but I’d also like to write for other people.

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote? What was it about and how did it sound?

The first song I wrote is called “Reverse”. I wrote it when I was 14 and it was about how things literally change so much as you get older and how you start to see the world differently as you get older. Musically, it definitely has a folk feel to it but the lyrics and melody were quite soulful and free.

How do you feel about the prospect of becoming famous?

Honestly I have lots of different views on it. I think you need to be famous and you need to have people knowing about you to be able to be successful, but I don’t like how the media almost picks on famous people and invade into their personal lives. I don’t think it’s fair at all.

You have several cover versions of songs on your YouTube channel, which one are you most proud of and why?

I’m most proud of the ‘Liar and the Lighter’ which is originally by a band called You Me At Six. The cover has already been viewed over 1 million times on my social network sites and it seems to be liked most by my followers.  I have a lot to thank it for.

If you were unfortunate enough to be stranded forever on a desert island, what five albums would you like to have with you?

Probably, John Mayer – Continuum,  Enter Shikari – Take to the Skies, Lisa Mitchell – Wonder,  The Beatles – Love and Joni Mitchell – Ladies of the Canyon. J

When can we expect a full album release from you?

Haha good question! I honestly have no idea, I am going on tour from September 11th to September 18th around the UK (Manchester, Plymouth, Birmingham, London, Bristol and Bath) and will be releasing an EP to coincide with that first. But hopefully I will be releasing an album in the near future!

Thanks for your time Gabrielle, I wish you the best of luck with the EP and tour.

Thank you

Tour dates:

11th September – Manchester – An Outlet
12th September – Plymouth – B Bar
14th September – Birmingham – The Flapper
15th September – London – Islington Academy 2
17th September – Bristol – 02 Academy 2
18th September – Bath – Moles Club

Tickets cost £4 and can be purchased via Gabrielle’s Myspace page: www.myspace.com/gabrielleaplin

You can also visit her YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/gaberrz

Matt Humphrey


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