Frances - The music that made me: "People assume I only listen to Kate Bush"

Rising star Frances has reached the point on her road-to-stardom trajectory where things are getting very busy for her. "It’s funny, because I’ve actually been doing lots of promo and show abroad," she told Official Charts when we phoned her up for a chat last week. "But I’ve definitely noticed a bit of a change and increase of pace in how quickly things are happening."

Things started to take off the Oxford-born singer-songwriter earlier this year, when she was shortlisted for the Brits Critics' Choice prize and the BBC Sound of 2016 and caught the attention of the public with tracks Don't Worry About Me and Borrowed Time.   

Her current single Say It Again is easily her most radio-friendly offering yet; a gentle yet wildly infectious slice of mid tempo pop helmed by Greg Kurstin - the man behind hits for Adele, Sia, Kylie and loads of others megastars.  

"He is just incredible," she told us of working with Greg. "He’s just like a normal guy. You’d think he’d be this mad scientist man, but he’s just a regular guy who like music – except in a session he can pick a bass, a guitar, the piano... he made me feel so useless! He was fascinating to watch at work."

Her debut album - the majority of which is self-written/produced - will be out in early 2017, so in the meantime, get better acquainted with the star as she reveals to us her musical DNA... 

The first ever gig I went to

“I went to see Coldplay at Crystal Palace when I was 10. I couldn’t see anything. I remember my dad having to lift me up for the entire thing. I remember freaking out because it was so amazing. It was a proper rock show.”

The first album I became completely obsessed with

“It was Black Eyed Peas’ Elephunk – the one with Where Is The Love on it. That was when I had pocket money to afford an album. Before that, I bought a lot of singles, like Cher, Billie Piper and Vengaboys.”

A song that will get me up on the dancefloor no matter what

"September by Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s just a classic, isn’t it? You can’t go wrong."

My ultimate guilty pleasure

"It’s weird because I’m into a lot of stuff that I think people wouldn’t expect. People see an emotional singer-songwriter sort and assume I only listen to Carole King and Kate Bush, but I also love what’s in the charts. I listen to Drake, I love Justin Bieber – I don’t think he’s a guilty pleasure anymore, is he? There’s nothing in the charts at the moment that’s not worthy of being in there. There are loads of great songs out at the moment, apart from that Panda song.”

A song that reminds me of my first love

“Use Somebody by Kings of Leon. When we were 16, he was like, ‘maybe this could be our song,’ and it never really was, but the fact that he said it means it reminds me of him when I hear it."

The weirdest song on my playlist

“[Laughs] Oh god, there are so many! I’ve got Barbie Girl, loads of Vengaboys… lots of weird stuff, but great stuff. I’ve got a few classical tunes on my iPhone, which sound weird when they come up on shuffle. I have a bad habit of when I play DJ with my friends and I've had a drink, I buy loads of random music on iTunes.”

The first song I ever wrote

"It was called Unbreakable and it was about my friend who was being bullied at school. I did sing it to her once, but I don’t think she knew what it was about. She’s got Aspegers so she’s a hilarious friend to have because she doesn’t quite recognise the full spectrum of human emotions, so she’s wonderfully and brutally honest. A lot of people didn’t quite understand her, but I thought she was great."

The song I want played at my funeral

Ok, that’s dark! Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder would be a great one. Also, that traditional song Guantanamera. It’s my mum’s favourite song, so I’d like to have that played too.

Frances' new single Say It Again is out now.