Paloma Faith stopped playing music for her record label upon her initial meeting.
The 42-year-old singer landed a deal with Epic Records in 2009 and has gone on to release six studio albums but explained that she thought it was “rude” that big bosses were just on their phones when she had her first audition.
Speaking on the ‘Great Comapny with Jamie Laing’ podcast, she said: “I told them, I wasn’t going to play any music until they stopped texting. Well they came for a showcase they asked me to do. And then he was just on his phone while I was singing. And then I just stopped. And I was like, he looked up and I said, he said ‘Why have you stopped?’ And I said because I think it’s rude. That not just me. But all these musicians are like playing to you. And we’re all doing it. And you’re just looking at your phone. I just find it rude.
“And you’re the one who asked me to do this. So I don’t need to be here. He went, Oh, okay. Sorry. And I said, Well, we’ll start when you finish your message. And then he was like, Okay. And I said I’m so sorry. But I’m gonna start from the beginning. And then he was okay, because we’d already done two songs. So I started the whole thing again.
“And then he was like, okay, he was a bit on the back foot. And then he said, you sound like Amy Winehouse. What are you gonna do about it? This was back then. And I said, well think about these and I named like six indie white boy bands. That all sounded the same to me. And I said, Well, there’s six of them. And they all look and sound the same to me.”
The ‘How You Lose a Man’ songstress added that she was “quite happy” in life at that time before fame and recalled that executives thought she was “full on” in trying to get her chance.
” So what are you going to do about that? And he was like, Do you want this? And I said, not really. I’m quite happy in my life. I was really content where I was at because I enjoyed the climbing. I didn’t just, I didn’t want to ever feel indebted like it’s me that I, I want to achieve it myself. I don’t want to feel indebted or dependent on somebody else helping me.
“So anyway, so he left and he was like, Wow, this girl’s full on. And then nine months later, he emailed me and said, I’m I’m, you know, just emailing you to say that I’ve seen so many bands, so many musicians in the last nine months. And none of them have been as interesting as you. And just your whole being like you’re a star and I want to sign you. And I just wrote back ‘sorry, who is this?’ But then that was the person who ended up signing me. My manager call was like, He’s called me and he said, You’re giving him a hard time. That’s amazing.”
‘Great Company with Jamie Laing’ is available on all podcast providers.