Shura (Arabic: شورى shūrā) is an Arabic word for "consultation". The Quran and the Prophet Muhammad encourage Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with those who will be affected by that decision.
A recording of a moment in time, where I was physically there, and it's now in a song for all eternity, in a way. It's really weird. I had written the song, but I'm also physically there in a way I'm physically inside the song, because I've recorded something that's in there.
Pop music often deals with subject matter like breakups, or you have songs that are like, "I will love you forever," or "you're so hot right now," or "I really feel you," or "We should be together. " There aren't that many songs that are like, "I just walked into the room and now I have nothing to say because I feel so awkward because I fancy you so much. " There's not as many songs that deal with that awkward bit about love; about how you can really have such a huge crush on someone that actually is completely disabling.
One of the amazing things about pop is that it's there to make people feel confident and empowered.
Obviously I think it's really important to look back at your history, and that's why I think things like Pride are important. It's not necessarily about your experience of life, it's not about whether you find it difficult to be gay; it's about the fact that people have fought over hundreds of years for this to be okay, and also that there are many countries in the world where it's still not, and it's very dangerous to be gay.
Your debut record, in terms of lyrical content, can be about the last couple of years of your life obviously, but your first record into the world is also about everything else that you've ever experienced in your life until that moment.
I would feel really dishonest writing a song that was really sassy, or really confident, because I'm not a supremely confident being. I think that's what people find interesting about what I do; it's very different lyrically.
To a lot of people, my job is really fancy, so they're like, "Oh, whoah, you're a musician, wow!" Some people go to you, "Oh my god, you're a journalist!" And some people go, "What, you're a therapist? That's incredible!" So everyone, to a certain extent, has other people that you get impressed by, without even having a proper conversation or getting to know them. You're just like, "Oohhh, they're a bit fancy!"
The past isn't real because it's history, and the future isn't because it hasn't happened yet. I like it, it hints at virtual reality, which I think is how we sort of feel about life sometimes.
People think I'm cool - it's a virtue of my job! In real life I'm absolutely not cool, but I think if you have the courage of your convictions, and you're confident in yourself, people will maybe think that you are even if you're really a massive dork. Everyone has a different job where, to someone else, your job is really fancy!
The fact that I can ever be open about my being gay is amazing! It's great that I don't have to hide it, but also it would be really nice if, in twenty years, it's not even a thing.
It's different obviously with a song when you're talking about narrative, you're talking about the verse leading into the chorus or whatever it is, but you have to have a sensibility of how something would flow either way.
I really want to continue what I've already started with found sounds, but start borrowing from my past as well, so that it really spans me growing up.