ANNE-MARIE has a knack for making unforgettably catchy pop songs – and for her forthcoming second album she has enlisted the help of someone else who knows plenty about creating chart-toppers.
Close pal Ed Sheeran has penned several songs for her after they got back in the studio together.
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She supported Ed on his Divide Tour in 2017 and 2018 and the pair wrote Anne- Marie’s global hit 2002.
She said of their reunion: “We just had to. Also, it will have happened anyway, because that was a great song, wasn’t it?
“I don’t know how many we’ve written. But there’s going to be more.
“He’s great. I feel like he’s the only person I ask for advice outside of the professionals in the industry.
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“He would always have my best interests and tell me the truth, which is what I need.”
Anne-Marie released her debut album Speak Your Mind two years ago and has had her songs streamed a massive ten billion times – but she insists her new record will top her previous efforts.
She said: “I think it’s ten times better than the first music. I love Friends and 2002 – they’re my favourite songs I’ve written – so it’s the next step from them.
“I thought I had written the second album in January last year and I said to my label, ‘I’m ready, let’s go, we’ll put this album out and then we’ll write the next one. What are you waiting for?’
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“They were like, ‘Anne-Marie, just keep writing.’ I was like, ‘What the f***?!’ I was so angry.
“And then I wrote Birthday in October and I was like, ‘Maybe I should listen to you guys a little bit more.’
“But I spoke to Ed about it and he said he always goes through the same thing, where he feels like he’s ready and then he ends up writing, for example, Shape Of You, and that changed everything about that album.
“So yeah . . . The next album should be called You Should Listen More, or Take The Advice.”
Dishing the dirt in song
WHEN it comes to looking back at failed relationships, Anne-Marie admits she has not always taken the moral high ground.
She said: “I’ve written a song about that.
“You know if someone does you dirty, you feel like you’re going to be the bigger person?
“But I’m not. I was going to completely lie there, but I’m still a b**** sometimes.
“I don’t know how many songs I’ve written about exes. But do you know what, it’s been nice writing songs that haven’t been about love, actually.
“When I’ve written songs before, I feel like I’ve had to always be in the moment to write about it.
“But what’s been the evolution of my songwriting is that I can now think of other subjects other than just love, which has been a breath of fresh air for me, to be honest.
“There’s loads of different stuff in there.”
‘Psychic told me to give up cheese for Gouda’
ANNE-MARIE’s future looks bright. At least, that’s what a psychic told her.
The Essex-born singer joined me in Bizarre HQ to take over my column for the day in celebration of her new single Birthday, which is out on Friday.
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But it may never have been released in the first place if it wasn’t for the psychic who told her the brilliant tune would be key to her return.
The clairvoyant had a warning for her, too — she should not eat cheese.
In Anne-Marie’s first major interview in more than a year to mark her return, she explained: “I went to a psychic reiki woman in LA and she lays you down and dongs things over you.
“She has music playing and she puts her hands over your chakras and everything.
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“She’s done that for half an hour and I sat up and she went, ‘Anne- Marie, all I saw was cheese and then a big X, saying don’t eat it’.
“I was like, ‘Thanks. Is that it?’.”
During the trip to Los Angeles last October, Anne-Marie wrote Birthday as well as two other songs which she plans to release as her next singles.
And she feels even more confident in them since the medium told her the songwriting sessions there would be momentous for her career.
She continued: “We went over to the tarot cards and she was like, ‘All I see next year is your career and your life just being a massive roller coaster. It’s going to go insane. This trip has been very important to your writing. Whatever you’ve done on this trip has been so important to your career’.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my God’. It freaked me out a bit.
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“I don’t know if it’s real or not but it definitely helped me psychologically.”
In the past, Anne- Marie has been rumoured to be dating Rudimental’s Kesi Dryden, but when asked if she is seeing anyone now, she merely screamed, then added: “That’s all I’m going to say. A scream. Please put that in.”
In fact, it doesn’t look like her love life is on the up.
Recalling the fortune teller, she said: “I was like, ‘Is there anything about love?’ And she was like, ‘No, it’s all career’.
“I was like, ‘Great! This year is going to be about my career’.”
I can’t see into the future, but even I can see she will have no shortage of offers.
Addicted to Philly
THE singer’s warning from the psychic against eating cheese may have had a good reason – as she is meant to be vegan, so dairy products are off limits.
Unfortunately, she is addicted to Philadelphia cream cheese and gets regular cravings for it.
Anne-Marie said: “It’s so hard because it’s so good, isn’t it?
“Well, I’m vegan, and I obviously can’t eat cheese now, but there’s some days when I need some Philadelphia, and that happens, and then I get a bad belly.
“That’s the Lord Jesus Christ telling me that I shouldn’t eat cheese, then she confirmed it, so I scrapped it completely. I’m not doing it, I’m vegan now.”
It meant Anne-Marie couldn’t try the birthday cake I bought her to celebrate her tune, so I sadly had to eat it all myself.
Other foods upset her tum, too. She added: “I can’t eat pineapple, avocado, almonds, bananas, gluten, garlic . . . although I still f***ing eat garlic because it’s the best.”
Moon tattoo eclipsed by nan
ON comeback song Birthday, Anne-Marie sings about getting a tattoo to celebrate – which is something she has done herself.
She’s got 18 inkings, but during her visit she revealed she’s getting a crescent moon one on her finger removed.
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She said: “I was just so gassed that I was getting a tattoo – I got four done on the same day.
“Then I realised everyone has got a moon on their body, so I’m getting it removed.”
But Anne-Marie will replace it with some wise words from her nan.
She said: “My nan used to write us letters all the time and, at the bottom, it would say, ‘Always and forever, Nan’.
“So I’m going to get the words ‘always and forever’ tattooed on me somewhere.”
Biz meter birthdays
HER new single is called Birthday, so Anne-Marie recalls her best parties…
- “I LOVE fancy dress parties and one of my favourites was a Fifties-theme one for my friend Hayley. So I did all the curls in my hair and everyone got dressed up in some cool outfits. I love dressing-up parties, so whatever dressing-up it is, I’m there. Adele is great at dressing-up, I need to one-up her.”
- “THERE was a karaoke one which was our Christmas party with all my friends. Karaoke is one of my other favourite things to do. We always end up paying more to stay there longer. They were like, ‘Can we have a picture, instead?’ And I was like, ‘No, we will pay’. We didn’t even notice until right at the very end that there was a box full of all the props, so we got really quite annoyed.”
- “BASICALLY what I’m planning for my birthday this year is a psychic party. So I’m going to get psychics there to do our readings. I think that’s going to be my best birthday ever. And then I’ll have my own song on repeat. That’s the best thing about writing this song, I’ll have an occasion to play it every single year.”
- “INSTEAD of normal promo, I’m going to be inviting fans to birthday parties around the world. We are going to be hiring out mad places. We found a place in LA where you can decorate your own cakes, so we’ll be doing that. We’re going to be in sweet shops, we’re going to be in karaoke, bowling, everything like that. I think the best birthdays are yet to come.”
No Lil Mix in the mix
LITTLE Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock poses in a bikini from her own In’A’Seashell brand – but Anne-Marie sank rumours of them recording a song together.
Last month, fans were hoping they had a new tune lined up together called She Doesn’t Need Him. But I’m sad to confirm that’s not true.
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However, Anne-Marie did say they could work together in the future after the pair hit it off at gigs in the past.
She said: “Leigh-Anne looks amazing here, she always does.
“I love the Little Mix girls. We’ve hung out a few times and have a WhatsApp group.”
She better get scheduling a studio session, then.
bizbit
- TIME off in December has her raring to go with her new music. She said: “Although at some points I hated it, I think it was so worth it. So now I just feel like a new person. I’ve got new hair, what more can you say? That’s all I needed really.”
- SHE is eager to go on gap year-type travels just like pal Ed Sheeran did before his last album, although not quite yet. She said: “At some point I will do that. I was travelling but I was working, so it would be nice to do what he did.”
- WORKING at home in the UK is impossible for her. She said: “Whenever I’m in London I’m like, ‘I want to be in my house’. So when I’m in LA, I’m totally out of that mindset. All of the songs on the second album were written in LA.”
