Something a bit different this week.
is a writer and a comedian from North London and we’ve been friends since our days on the London open mic circuit about (gulp) ten years ago now. Ariane has just released her debut pop album ‘Better’ (listen or buy here), which sounds a bit like Saint Etienne, Dubstar and early Magnetic Fields, topped Ariane’s own warm human touch. Enjoy - lengthy introspection in crystalline prose will be back next week.So Ariane. Tell me how we know each other. Did I meet you at an open-mic night?
Yes! We met at the Monday comedy night you ran with Andy Quirk and some other guy whose name I’ve forgotten (sorry Random Guy). I want to say it was in Arsenal…?
It was The Gunners pub in Highbury. And the guy was Nick Purves.
Speaking of pervs... Your early musical material as ‘The Lovely Electric’ was much ruder. Is that phase over now?
Yes. I think it would be too confusing to put out both comedy songs and serious songs, so I’m doing the latter, at least for the next few years. I’m actually off to Stratford this morning to busk in the town square, so it’s good that my songs are clean. I dread to think what the good people of Stratford would make of my comedy songs!
Which brings us to your new album. Tell me about it.
My album is a world away from the comedy songs I was playing back then. It’s clean and innocent and pure, as each of the 12 songs is a letter to my 12-year-old daughter. Some of them are about struggling with mental illness while parenting, some are about my hopes and dreams for her, and all are about how much I love her.
It's an album for my wonderful daughter, Lily. She's about to turn 13. They're all about how much I love her, but they also cover more difficult topics: My mental illness and suicidal ideation when I was pregnant, my traumatic childhood at the hands of my violent dad, my anxiety and how I struggle to hide it from her. When I was in A&E with a suspected heart attack back in October (which luckily turned out to be a false alarm), she was devastated, and one of the things she wanted most was to have access to this album. I'm so pleased that it's out and she'll be able to listen to it forever, even when I'm gone (which hopefully won't be anytime soon!)
I wrote, produced and performed all the songs myself in my home studio, with the help of a guitarist on one track. I learnt that I still love making music and I'll never stop. I'm gonna be like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, working well into my eighties!
Right. So what are your ambitions with this particular record? We've had a laugh before about trying to break into pop in middle age...
I’d eventually like to make a living from a combination of music and writing. If I could make as much from music as I do from writing each month, I could cover all my bills and have fun in the process.
What do you think are the problems with trying to do things across different forms such as writing and music? Is there a risk that people follow you for one thing and don’t want to hear about the other?
Oh, it's problematic, for sure. One problem is that you spread yourself thinly across the two disciplines, rather than focusing on one and giving it your all. And you're right; my fans follow me for the writing, not the music. Some of them probably don't even like music, yet they have to hear me bang on about it! But they're all wonderful people and have been incredibly supportive - most of them have bought the album to support me, not because they necessarily like it. At some stage, I'll start doing Facebook advertising for the music, where you can target people who like certain bands, in my case, Pet Shop Boys and Saint Etienne. These people will be most likely to enjoy my music.
How does Lily herself feel about the album? I imagine I'd be vaguely terrified if my Mum recorded an album for me, particularly now I'm in my 40s and she’s 76.
Ha ha. She’s really pleased. She also said that starring in the video for the first single, ‘Secret Asian’ (video below), was fun.
She got to embrace her Indian side and wear a shalwar kameez (South Asian trousers and tunic) with a dupatta (scarf) and jutti (Indian slippers). She was worried that she ‘wasn’t allowed’ as she doesn’t look Asian, but I pointed out that this was the point of the song!
Don’t worry, we’re big into cultural appropriation here at SUQ, particularly when it comes to dressing up.
I’m interested in this theme of motherhood. Isn’t there a problem here that making an album about how much you love your kid isn't as universal as, say, an album of love songs? I mean some people don't have kids and want them, or the other way round, which is even worse. Or some people at least want a break from their kids when they listen to pop music!
Oh, absolutely. But she inspired me so much that I had to get the songs out there, not least so that she knows exactly how much I love her. She's an amazing kid and has had to put up with so much in life: I left her dad when she was 17 months old, and we have 50/50 custody, so she's had to travel between our houses her whole life. Her dad and I also moved house seven times between us by the time she was 11, which she refers to as her 'house trauma'! And she developed hygiene OCD during Covid, so became very anxious about washing her hands and sanitising everything. Despite all this, she's the most loving, kind, independent, smart, hilarious and fierce kid. I'm so grateful to be her mum and that's why I wrote all these songs. The album's a labour of love, I don't think it's going to trouble the charts, despite it being very melodic, mainstream and commercial.
Well, we do have 'Dad Rock' as a genre so about time 'Mum Pop' gets its due.
To quote a guy who interviewed me, “It’s the mother of all mummy albums!”
On an unrelated note, I know you’re a big fan, like me, of 1990s’ Eurodance music. If you could collaborate with a ‘90s Eurodance artist, who would it be and what would the song be called?
I'd invent a genre called Realistic Eurodance. Collab with 2 Unlimited on a song called ‘There Are Limits’, and with The Shamen on ‘Move Any Molehill’.
And presumably Haddaway with ‘What is indifference?’
Baby, do hurt me, I don’t particularly care?
I still know you first and foremost as a writer. Indeed, I have a very strong memory of reading you in The Guardian in my flat in Berlin years before we met. Tell me a little bit more about your current writing venture, your Substack ‘Thoughts From a Small Brown Girl’.
My Substack is about everything from writing to sex and relationships. It’s gone reasonably well: I have 30 paid subscribers a month, for whom I’m very grateful but that number has been the same since the end of last year and I have no idea how to grow it. I think I write fun, interesting pieces, I just don’t have the reach to find new followers. Maybe this piece on your Substack will help!
I greatly enjoy Substack as it gives me the freedom to write exactly what I want, rather than writing on a topic an editor chooses and having my writing edited into what they do want. It doesn't pay as well as traditional journalism yet, but it could do one day, that's the main thing. Last week, I wrote about what it was like to busk illegally on the underground; this week, I've written about what it was like to be a petite model. I doubt any newspaper would be that interested in publishing those features, but my readers have found these subjects fascinating.
I can certainly recommend it your music and your writing. Could you, before you leave, share a humorous memory of me with my readers?
This isn’t a specific memory of you, but it did make me laugh: it’s from 2017, when you asked me to perform comedy songs at your wedding party. Your wife translated them for her mum, who is Chinese and doesn’t speak any English. I did wonder how she was translating the lyrics to my comic song ‘Don’t Have Sex with a Goat’.
Well, given she's a trained interpreter, I’m sure she translated it faithfully. Good luck with the album and the Stack A!
Ha ha, thanks Jim. Always a pleasure!