Kamille has established herself as one of the most successful women in the music industry.
As an Ivor Novello, BRIT and Grammy Award winner, she is behind some of the biggest hits of the last decade, working with the likes of Little Mix, Dua Lipa, Stormzy, RAYE and Kylie Minogue and in 2017, released her own debut EP – ‘1. my head’s a mess’.
But now 2023 has been a year of metamorphosis for the 35-year-old - otherwise known as Camille Angelina Purcell – who is spreading her wings as a solo artist with her new mini album ‘K1,’ a personal process especially since she was pregnant with her first child while working on the project.
“I'm still juggling right now between making music and being a mom and everything but it's just a beautiful, crazy time. I'm loving it,” she told Indy100 about her simultaneous solo music and motherhood journey.
Upon chatting to Kamille on the phone last month, it was clear to hear her excitement about the approaching September 8 release – an eight-track mini album that includes notable features from Chic legend Nile Rogers and R&B belles Tamera and Bellah.
When she asked for my thoughts on the album (which is a bop), I mentioned the second track and second single “Options ft. Tamera and Bellah” as one of my favourites.
The empowering R&B tune is the ultimate girl's anthem, created entirely by women to empower those currently in a relationship who are being treated like an ‘option’ – a predicament that’s “probably happened to all of us in some contexts.”
“I'm happy with my husband. I'm happy in my friendships, but I think I've learned to walk through life like I am the main option. I'm the lead character in my life and so should everyone else be and that's what this song is all about,” Kamille said.
“[It’s] Just a reminder, like don't let anyone treat you like an option. Never ever, ever. You're always the first choice to have a first pick.”
The R&B influences, synth-pop production, and catchy chorus all contribute to the song’s memorability, as Kamille discussed the sound she created.
“Oh my gosh, I don't feel like I found it [the sound], I think it found me,” she said, with a laugh.
“I've loved 80’s music all my life. It's what I've grown up on and been inspired by and I don't know it just made me feel so throwback when I was playing around with some of those sounds,” with the song reflecting the Motown Classics and funk hits she listened to with her parents growing up as her artistic influences such as ABBA and Pharrell.
“It was giving me like Gloria Estefan when I was playing synths that are on ‘Options,’ and added it gave her the “nostalgia that [she] wanted across the whole album.
The musician also described how a lot of the songs she made for the album, “felt quite collaborative,” and explained the creative process for this particular track.
“I'd written a chorus verse which was ‘Options’ but I was very early on in the stages and I was like, I feel like this is giving me like girl anthem, like girl empowerment but and I was like, I need to reach out to R&B Queens for this because only they can make it right.”
All it took was a slide in the DM’s for both Tamera and Bellah to be on board.
“And then next thing you know, we were all in the studio and it happened really fast. Just finished it off together and it is what it is; it's just become this crazy thing.”
Since ‘Options’ was released back in June, it became BBC Radio 1’s Track of the Week which Kamille called “incredible,” as well as the “lovely feeling” to receive messages from fans saying they’ve heard the song on the radio.
“I have a Telegram account specifically just to speak to [fans], I can go in and we talk every day we're like besties.”
Another highlight from the album is ‘The Sun,’ a touching tribute from the singer to her son whom she was pregnant with when making the album last year she described both experiences as a “labour of love.”
“‘The Sun’ is actually about my son, which is really cute. I love that he's got a place on the album because he definitely inspired the whole thing for sure,” Kamille said.
“For me, it’s a standout song just because I remember writing it or thinking about him and I didn't even know I was having a boy at that time I wrote the song about feeling like shining like the sun but now it's tending to like the sun so and in my mind.
She added: “It's so weird how that worked out. But yeah, hopefully this is back and remembers how much I loved him in that process even though he was giving me all kinds of help.”
If you’re wondering whether there are any similarities between recording an album and having a baby, Kamille would say so.
She explained how making music is “very similar to when you have a baby - you don't remember the pain.”
“You remember the fact you now have a baby - it's a weird thing, music and babies are very similar.”
Becoming a mother has also reinforced the artist’s passion and “hunger” for success in her music career.
“It definitely kind of switches things up a gear for you as a human being you want to provide for your child and I think in any aspect you'll just want to work even harder for them so I definitely noticed that when I'm in the studio.”
Going into her solo mini album, Kamille had quite the C.V. working with Little Mix – described as their unofficial ‘fifth member’ – as well as Dua Lipa, Stormzy, RAYE, and Kylie Minogue and more, all artists she has been “inspired by” and that contributed to discovering her own sound.
“Being that close to [those artists] has only been a benefit to me because we set the bar so high,” she said describing this influence.
“I think it's just made me feel even more that I can achieve it for myself. So yeah, it's been a beautiful thing to be so close to such successful artists as those and only just want to try and get there myself as well.”
When it came to her own album, Kamille had a hands-on approach, using her experience to write and produce the album herself and working with “prolific” mixing and mastering engineer Manon Grandjean who is “mixing probably every pop record you can think of at the moment.”
The collaboration on K1 was a “full circle moment” for them after meeting years back when they worked on Stormzy’s music and then continued to work together with other artists.
“It's been beautiful having just women across the production side of my projects,” Kamille said and she hopes to “inspire other women as well.”
There is no denying the disproportionate gap when it comes to women’s representation in music.
Only 18 per cent of headliners at the UK's biggest festivals this year are women a Sky News study found, while behind the scenes, less than 5 per cent of audio engineers are women too.
Kamille believes there is “so much more that can be done,” to address this issue.
“I make it so people know that I've produced my music. I love that when people, for example, go on Spotify, and look at the credits. They just see my name there,” and she hopes it can “point to other girls that you can do it as well.”
Last year, she alongside producer, singer and DJ Fred Again– otherwise known as Fred Gibson – ran a workshop called ‘Next Up,” from the nonprofit organisation She Is The Music where only female producers for a whole year went to their music studio every month, attended workshops, and got their songs heard by the two musicians.
“Me and Fred love doing that so much because we've seen how much they developed just from having that help and advice from us and it was incredible,” she said and is keen to do another program with Fred this year.
All in all, listeners can expect K1 to be a moment of fun with the tracks bringing “good vibes and positive energy,” something that an “empowered” Kamille is radiating at present.
But the hard work doesn’t stop there as she admitted new music is always on the horizon.
“There's so much more to come. I mean, I'm making music all the time,” she said.
Kamille has also announced her first-ever headline show at London’s Omeara on Thursday, 12 October where you can hear K1 live.
“It's been a really long journey and I think people are just now probably starting to find out more about me and my music and that it's so incredible for me, and I'm just very grateful for anyone who has been touched by anything I've written for others or for myself,” she concluded.
“I just want to say thank you so much and there's so much more to come as well.”
'K1' TRACKLIST
- Muscle Memory featuring Nile Rodgers
- Options featuring Bellah and Tamera
- Don't Waste My Time
- The Sun
- Time To Kill
- Fancy Wine
- All My Love
- Manifesting - Part 1
Kamille’s debut mini album ‘K1’ is out now, get tickets to her headline London show here.
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