Frances interview: 'I enjoy the sense of expectation - it makes me work harder'

The BBC Sound of 2016 nominee chats to Jess Denham about her Carole King-inspired debut album, spending her first night on a tour bus and wanting a redhead collaboration with Ed Sheeran

Frances releases her as-yet-untitled debut album later this year

With BBC Sound of 2016 and Brits Critic Choice nominations already on her CV, pop newcomer Frances is riding a musical tsunami of expectation.

The 23-year-old singer-songwriter has been racking up millions of streams with a string of catchy hits from “Let It Out” and “Don’t Worry About Me” to recent radio favourite, “Say It Again”. Buzz is growing ahead of her as-yet-untitled debut album, due out later this year, but Frances has been too busy playing festivals around the world to let the pressure get to her. This summer alone she has played Coachella, Glastonbury, T in the Park and Lollapalooza, to name just a handful.

We caught up with her over the phone during a brief gap in her schedule between playing festivals in Germany.

How have people been responding to your music at the festivals?

I’ve done some really big ones with just me on piano. I didn’t know what the reaction would be, how many people would come to watch me but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at each one. Especially in America, I didn’t expect people to know who I was, but I spotted a few people singing along in the crowd at each gig.

How surreal was it spending your first night on a tour bus?

It was so weird. I was lucky because we managed to get this tour bus really cheaply. Usually you all sleep in bunks but in this particular bus they’d converted the back lounge into a double artist bedroom so I was living the life. Everyone else was in the little bunks and I had this double bed but I’m trying not to get used to it!

Millions of people listen to your music every month on Spotify. How does that feel?

When you see it as a number on a computer you think “Oh, it’s probably not true” but then when you go to places and people tell you that they discovered you on Spotify it’s like, “Oh, you actually exist!” It’s slightly nerve-wracking but so exciting that people are actually listening to the songs I’ve written. It’s crazy…really crazy.

When can we expect the first album?

There’s no release date yet but we’re in the final planning stages. It’s just about finished. I’ll tour the UK and Europe with it first and then hopefully go across the pond. I’ll probably do a few smaller dates before the album’s out just to keep things going.

How ambitious are you about breaking America?

I’ve always been really ambitious, so breaking America is something I’d absolutely love to do, like any artist. But of course it’s so huge and so different. We have a few main radio stations here but they’ve got hundreds, and you have to pay attention to all of them. I love the American audiences and I love spending time there, so just to be going over and playing at their festivals is amazing. It’s exciting to see where we could take it really.

How do you deal with the pressure of expectation?

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I feel the pressure but it’s good pressure, I really like it. I enjoy that sense of expectation, it makes me work harder and want to do the best thing that I can. The feeling that people are waiting, or are interested to hear what music I make, is encouraging and makes me really want to do well.

Have you always wanted to make a career out of music?

I was one of those kids who was kind of "fine" at everything, bar maths which I was rubbish at. My school was quite academic so I think everyone felt pressure in some way, but because I had music I could get away with being average at everything else. I could just say I was writing songs. I started the violin when I was eight, the piano when I was 10 and started writing songs when I was about 12. I continued playing the violin until my late teens but by then I was more interested in writing songs, or playing pop songs and singing. I just enjoyed it more, I was drawn to it. I could share it. If I wrote a song I could play it to my friends and we could sing it together. That, to me, felt more like real music, rather than standing up and playing something that someone else had written. That’s beautiful and amazing but it wasn’t really what my thing was at that time. I knew I couldn’t really do much else because I spent all my time doing music. I didn’t have another option other than being a music teacher so yes, I was always going to do something with music.

Have your family and friends been supportive?

My friends and family were so supportive and my school was academic but also inclusive – they nurtured talent well. There were kids who were amazing at sport and they accepted that they should probably just do more of that instead of getting the top grade in French. Some of them have gone on to play national netball or something. They were good at encouraging us to do what we enjoyed and what we were good at. My parents were also really supportive which is strange because they’re accountants. They don’t know anything about the music industry and aren’t hugely creative people on the surface but deep down they are. My dad loves painting and my mum loves singing and dancing. They just didn’t end up doing that as a career.

Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

Adele is a really big one. Carole King is one of my idols. My dad used to listen to loads of indie bands – Radiohead, Beck and Coldplay – so I listened to a lot of that growing up, along with lots of classical stuff. I couldn’t go to Carole KIng's Hyde Park gig because I was playing a festival that day but my mum went and she loved it. It’s her as a singer and a songwriter, her album Tapestry, most of those songs have been hits with at least one other artist. I think they sound their best when she sings them but they’ve also been Motown classics. It’s the songwriter aspect that I love so much. The musical is amazing because it takes you through all these songs she’s written and the impact she had on music.

Carole King is one of Frances's biggest inspirations (Rex Features)

Your lyrics are very personal and often touch on love, will we be seeing more of this on the album?

I’ve always wanted to write about personal things because if something makes sense and means something to me then people are more likely to relate to it. Most of the songs are about love because everyone can relate to it on some level, not just romantic relationships but family and friendships too. There are a couple of songs that are about other things and not about love at all. There’s one song called “The Smallest Thing” which is me reflecting on those times when you walk past a homeless person on the street or see someone fall over but are so wrapped up in your own world that you don’t do anything about it. Then, later on, you realise that actually you could have done the smallest thing and it would have meant a lot to them.

You didn’t always want to sing your own songs, did you?

When I first started writing I didn’t really think about it at all, it was just something I liked to do. Then when I thought about potential careers I fancied the idea of being a songwriter, going to shows and watching someone else dance around the stage while I hid in the audience and watched the money roll in. It was completely unrealistic. Then I wrote a few songs and was singing them and it felt really natural. I never considered that I could just sit at a piano and sing. I thought it had to be more contrived and manufactured than that. I wanted to see if I could give it a go just being myself and doing that and it’s working. It was a lesson in being myself a bit more.

But are you still open to writing for other artists?

Yes, absolutely. One of the things I’m really looking forward to is other artists hearing my album and hopefully wanting to write with me. That would be awesome. I’m excited for the other doors that releasing an album could open for me as a writer as well as an artist. I’d love to collaborate with Ed Sheeran. I’m saying that in every interview so it has to happen. I have so much respect for how hard he works. He’s an amazing songwriter and he’s done it all on his own. It’s the coolest thing. He plays guitar and I can’t really play guitar, he can rap and I definitely can’t rap, so it could be a cool little mix.

You wrote one of the album tracks, “Borrowed Time” with Howard Lawrence from Disclosure.

Yes, it was really cool. We’d tried to get in the studio for ages but obviously they’re busy. Howard’s got a lovely studio in the garden at his house and we just did “Borrowed Time” in one day. It came out quickly and naturally. We started it around the piano. He’s amazing to work with, so talented. We’re under the same management which was helpful in organising it but a year before that when I was thinking about people I’d love to collaborate with, Disclosure was right up there as I was obsessed with their first album. It’s going on the new album as it’ll be really fun to play live.

Do you like your songs being remixed?

Before I was writing for myself I’d often get tracks from DJs and producers and top line them, write the melody and the lyrics, but I never thought my voice was suited for that. I’d say “Obviously someone else would sing this but…” and they’d say that they loved my voice and wanted me to sing. I think that’s why I love remixes now because it’s really interesting to hear my voice in that different context. It also introduces my voice and lyrics to people who probably wouldn’t enjoy my music but love electronic music.

Are there any featured vocalists on the new album?

There are no featured vocals on the new album as of yet but I’ve written with Jimmy Napes who wrote lots of Sam Smith’s album with him; Greg Kurstin whose based in LA – he’s really good…crazy good; Howard Lawrence obviously, there’s been a few. Then half the album I wrote on my own, so it’s been a nice mixture.

Do you prefer writing on your own or with others?

The processes are so different that I can’t really compare the two. I tend to get a mix of songs as I’m a different writer in both scenarios. The rawer, more emotional songs I write when I’m on my own but I think an album full of them would be very heavy, too much. Having said that, a couple I’ve written on my own are a little bit more up-tempo and they’ve made it onto the album. It offers variation – if there’s someone else in the room I can’t just write a lyric and think it’s great and put it down. They might tell me that I could say it better, which gives me a challenge.

You’ve been compared to the chart-topping likes of Adele. How does that feel?

It’s a bit weird because I haven’t even released my first album yet. It might be rubbish and then no one’s going to compare me to Adele because she’s amazing! I don’t think it will be rubbish, I think it will be OK, but it’s so cool to be compared to her. She’s the queen.

Lastly, what’s on your agenda for the rest of the year?

Festivals, album, touring the album, that’s going to keep me pretty busy!