The first record I ever bought…

Corrine Bailey Rae’s Put Your Record On was the first record I remember wanting to hear over and over again. Mum had also got me the CD and the poster to go with it, which was great because me and my two older brothers would fight over who got to use the computer after school so it meant I could listen to it in my room. I would sit there playing the album making up dance moves to each song and then put on a show for the whole family. I was always that kid getting everyone together to perform.

My first memory of music…

I’d get in after school, get changed in to my comfy clothes and then watch the MTV Bass chart show. The one song that sticks out in my mind is Mary J Blige and Ludacris Runaway Love. I was weirdly obsessed [with it] and would create story lines in my head that were similar to the ones in the video.

The first person who inspired me…

When I was really young it was my parents. They were in a band together and I used to go to all their gigs, sit at the front and sing all the words. After that I was really inspired by Adele’s first album 19. I loved her colloquialism and the subtle little things that came through in her music.

The first gig I saw…

I saw Janelle Monae at the HMV Institute in Digbeth with my mum when I was about 12 or 13.

The first time I performed…

I did a load of open mics when I was super young round Leicester. Then when I hit 14 I supported Ed Sheeran at the Ballroom Birmingham and Emile Sandé at the Hammersmith Apollo in front 3000 people. I thought: ‘What the fuck? Why me? Sometimes my mates would take the piss out of me for singing but all of a sudden, I had 50 kids from my school screaming my name. It was a chance to show them all I was taking it seriously.

The first time I knew music was my future…

I think it was just after I met Ed Sheeran. I had started writing when I was 11 so but Ed said someone had sent him my SoundCloud. And I thought ‘if someone had sent it to him then maybe I should do this.’

The first time you realised you were good at your job?

I understood music in a way that a lot of my peers didn’t. My music teacher would do assessments and I was able to pick out the instruments and beats that others couldn’t. It was so nice to have something I was good at, at such a young age.

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