Andrea Corr Interview

60 Seconds: Andrea Corr
By ANDREW WILLIAMS - Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Andrea Corr sold 30 million albums with The Corrs. Now, with the lead singer's siblings taking a break from the music scene to spend time with their children, Andrea is soldiering on with her debut solo offering, Ten Feet High. She hopes to better her last single Shame On You with her current release Champagne From A Straw.

How’s the solo career going?
I’m thrilled with the record. I look at it more as a solo project than a solo career, so I’m happy. It is a bit weird doing it on my own, though. I’m out of my comfort zone. All my life, I’ve worked with my family, so doing it on my own was strange. This time, it wasn’t a democracy, it was all my own decisions. I wrote it because I wanted to write – with no record in mind. So perhaps I was a bit more daring with what I wrote. When you’re in a band that has sold so many records, there’s an expectation that your sound should be the same every time so I was totally free of those restrictions with this.

The single Champagne From A Straw is about the excesses of celebrity life. Is it based on first-hand experience?
No, it’s just a story centred on the things we all see in celebrity magazines and on TV. I don’t hang around with celebrities. The song is about someone who is famous just for being famous. I don’t mean to be judgmental, it’s just an observation. I like having a normal life and don’t like being paparazzi’d. I don’t court it or put myself in those situations, it’s just not me.

When did you realise you were famous?
In Australia with The Corrs, we had no idea people knew us or that they’d been into the first record. I was drying my hair in the hotel and I heard the man on the radio say, ‘Andrea Corr is in the country,’ which was weird. We then went into the rainforest in Cairns. We were just your average tourists but the other people on the tour were saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s The Corrs,’ which was strange.

You’ve been called the most eligible woman in Ireland. Have you got a queue of suitors banging on your door?
No. I don’t think of myself in that way. I’m just myself. I don’t pay attention to things like that – but it’s flattering.

What’s the weirdest thing you had to do to promote the band?
We had to take part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. The whole of America watches, so the record company was very excited. We were supposed to go on the parade and then sing two minutes of Breathless outside Macy’s at the end. We got there to discover we had to ride through the parade on a huge turkey. And we were on it for two hours. It was horrific. When we came to perform the song, all I could do was laugh – it was ridiculous.

To read the rest of the interview, go to 60 Seconds: Andrea Corr.

Andrea Corr chats to I Like Music

ilikemusic caught up with Andrea Corr to talk about her new album, working with Nellee Hooper and her time in The Corrs.

"I Like Music because… it romanticises every little simple moment." ANDREA CORR

ILM: Your debut solo album is released on June 25th. Which track did you have the most fun laying down in the studio?

ANDREA: That's kinda hard because they were all quite fun, because they're so story-based so Nellee would come up with very different ideas for each one. Champagne From A Straw was fun because we had the whole Moriarty band type thing happening. I Do was fun because it was so magical with the music box and Hello Boys was fun in a totally different way. We had a good time.

ILM: It's produced by Nellee Hooper, with Bono at the helm as executive producer, what did you learn from those guys?

ANDREA: Nellee produced it all. Bono and my friend Dan Friday are executive producers on it because they set me up with Nellee. But Nellee… I learned so much. Why he was really perfect for the project… and I really wanted him on it, I loved him from Bjork's debut album, which is one of my favourite albums. I'd heard him described as more like a director of movies than a producer, and the way the songs are, they're so story-based so, in a way they're like little films, and that's the way both myself and Nellee saw it so that's why the album is quite eclectic, there's a different feel the whole way through to do with the different stories.

To read the rest of the interview, go to Andrea Corr chats to I Like Music.