Rebecca Ferguson, singer
I'm still on the post-X Factor rollercoaster . . .but that's a good thing. I always knew that it was going to be this way – the travel, the hotels, the publicity. A lot of people can be disillusioned by being a performer, especially with the work that goes into it, but I'd been singing for years before X Factor. I'd always mixed in music circles, so I knew that it was hard and constant work.
The perception is that it's such a glamorous lifestyle . . .which it can be but the main work is the stuff that most people don't see. Incredibly hard work goes into making music, making an album, from not just me but also the people behind the scenes. The lifestyle suits me because I always seemed to be prepared for it. I feel blessed – because you don't know how long it's going to last you have to enjoy it.
One of the reasons why I insisted on co-writing every song on my debut album, Heaven . . .is that from as far back as I was a kid I'd always been involved with writing songs. It just didn't make sense to me that other people would write the album. When I perform songs that I've written I can feel them far more than songs written by other people.
I have a grounded approach . . .that is definitely inspired by coming from Liverpool. It's one of those places where you don't get treated any better than anyone else, and I love that. Everyone is so proud of who they are, no matter what. People have been great about my success, of course.
When it came to making Heaven . . .it was made with a free-flowing approach, going into the studio and seeing what happened on the day.
When I insisted on co-writing all the songs for the album . .. there were no heavy disagreements from the record company. At the start, the music had already been written for me, but in the end the writers realised I could actually write songs. One in particular, Eg White, who has written for Adele and Duffy, really got what I was trying to do.
Would I recommend people to go on X Factor? . . .if you are sure of who you are, go for it. The problem is that some people go on, they're told to put a red wig on and they put on a red wig. They do this because they don't know who they are as an artist or a person.
When I was on X Factor . . .if I was asked to do something that didn't fit with me, then I didn't do it – and they were my decisions that the producers always. No one forces you do anything.
Rebecca Ferguson performs at the Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin, on Tuesday, March 6th. Her new single, Too Good to Lose, is released on March 4th.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
