Lindsey Stirling talks performing with Celine Dion and collaborating with Zedd on her new album

It's been a busy few months for Lindsey Stirling. 

As well as releasing her third album Brave Enough last month, she's performed on live television with Celine Dion and recorded music for the summer blockbuster film Pete's Dragon. 

"A lot of things have come together in the last few months," she told Official Charts when we caught up with her for a chat. "It’s exciting when that starts happening because you feel like you’re doing the right things and the stars are aligning for you. Working on the music for Pete’s Dragon film, the album coming together in the way it did, the Billboard Music Awards… it’s been an awesome few months."

Since uploading her first video showing off her violin skills to YouTube in 2007, Lindsey has seen her career as a performance artist take off across the globe; her dramatic visuals having racked up over a billion views online. We caught up with her to find out how she's taking it all in...  

The performance with Celine at this year's Billboard Music Awards seemed like a big breakthrough moment for you; has a lot changed since then? 

"Absolutely, and it came about very, very quickly. It was such an incredible moment that I’ll never, never forget. I very briefly got to chat with her and I have to say, she’s so kind. It was a special moment because she was singing The Show Must Go On for her husband that had recently passed away and her brother. At the same time I had just lost my best friend, so I had a moment to speak to her and tell her that, and we had this nice moment where we connected on something we could both empathise with.

"I was also blown away by how classy she was. At the same time though, she’s kind of quirky and cool, she kept pulling these funny faces and poses during rehearsals… it was cool!" 

As one of the first generation of YouTubers, your path to success has comparatively been quite an unusual one... 

"When I started down the path of social media, it was a new and uncharted territory at the time, which has made it such an exciting journey. People now know who ‘YouTubers’ are, but before that a lot of people just didn’t really get what it was. It’s exciting to be a part of this first generation of YouTubers and these artists and personalities that have come out of that space. It’s a very close-knit, family-like community because we’ve set the path and written the rules in a cool way.”

Why do you think people have connected with what you do on such a huge scale? 

"I think it’s just that it’s so unique. I guess that’s a cool part of my story. When I first started I was reaching out to agents and record labels and trying to share my art with people, but everyone kept telling me that while it was interesting, they didn’t know what to do with me or where to book me.

"I kind of like that the very reason I was told I wouldn’t succeed is the very reason I have – because it’s different, which was seen as a bad thing. The world is full of unique colours and that’s what makes it special. Whether it’s your personality or your art, being different and staying true and authentic to yourself… I think that’s why people are drawn to my work. It’s refreshingly different."

For your new album, you've collaborated with people from very different musical backgrounds, from blues and country musicians to EDM producer Zedd. How did that one come about? 

"I’ve been a huge Zedd fan for years and he’s been on my bucket list for ages to work with. In fact, a lot of people I managed to work with on this record were on my bucket list. I’d met Zedd several times and eventually got his number and just asked him directly. I couldn’t believe he actually said yes!"

Is the album’s diverse sound representative of your own tastes in music?

"It definitely is. On my current playlist are The 1975, Michael Buble, Zedd, Calvin Harris, Paramore, Pirates of the Carribbean soundtrack and lots of late '90s pop. As well as my current taste in music being broad, so is my history with music. I’ve done everything from being in a country band to playing the Celtic fiddle.

"I tried so many different styles of music as I searched for my own style. One of my goals for the album was the collaborations and aiming to hit on as many different genres as possible. There’s a country artist on there, a rapper, a classical musician and even a Bollywood track on there! The challenge was keeping it cohesive." 

Your live shows are huge spectacle; is there a stunt you'd love to try but haven't quite plucked up the courage to do yet? 

"On this new tour there’s something very much like that I’m very nervous about! On every tour I want to do something I’ve never done before and challenge myself. On the last tour I used a looping peddle and I learnt how to interact with the screens and projections. On the previous tour it was having dancers and choreography.

"I love the creativity of it so much. Being able to bring my art to life… the music is important, but it’s only the base – then I get to build these music videos and live shows. Just before this I was editing the videos that are going on the screens on my tour. I love coming up with the themes for each of the songs, the costumes… everything. I’m so overly involved - I lose sleep over it all because I get so excited about it!"

Lindsey Stirling's new album Brave Enough is out now.