Amy Pearson - Butterfingers
Amy Pearson is pumped - with very good reason. The Birmingham-born, Sydney-residing singer/songwriter has evolved in every way; a thumping, infectious new sound, a sultry, styled-up look, and an infectious attitude and exuberance, matched by her first single of her as yet untitled second album. Cheekily titled "Butterfingers", the up-temp0 track is unashamedly, undeniably pop.
"After the last album I had some down time before I started writing and it became a new dream for me to hear one of my songs in a club."
It was while belting out numbers from her first album - "Don't Miss You" and "Ready to Fly" - she realised that new fire in her soul, to swap sweet ballads for dance-floor burning tracks, was one she wanted to quench.
"It was in the forefront of my mind to make an actual dance track that wasn't just a remix of another one of my songs. So I immersed myself in all kinds of dance music I love; artists like Calvin Harris, Passion Pit, La Roux, Rhianna, Beyonce and old school stuff including Ce Ce Peniston. When I'm in the clubs dancing, they're the people I relate to, the people getting lost in the music. And so I wanted to create music to relate to them too, not just sing ballads all the time."
Jetting off to LA for three weeks, Amy hooked up with Jimmy Harry (he's shared his talents with Pink and Britney Spears), who became her co-writing cohort over a few creative, fruitful days in the studio, the result of which was "Butterfingers". The music maestro is renowned for seamlessly incorporating a wide array of musical aesthetics to produce left-of-centre pop. Other huge highlights during Amy's LA jaunt included working with The Heavyweights and Rodney Jerkins.
"When Jimmy and I were in the studio I said, `Let's just do something that's going to make people go a little crazy, and let's have some fun with it.' It was a really cool afternoon; it was just two creative minds getting together. I really wanted to make a party track!"
With the EPs of La Roux and Little Boots on constant iPod rotation, Amy played these tracks to Jimmy and once he started "messing around with some sounds and I wrote some lyrics" both were very happy with where the track was heading.
"Basically, the vocal that's on there is my demo vocal. Every time we made up a part of the song, I just jumped in the booth and sang it; then we'd continue writing the next part. The song is just so tongue in cheek! I remember earlier that day, Jimmy and I had put on a bit of Calvin Harris and Passion Pit. While I was in LA, there was a gym in the place I was staying at and on the treadmill I'd only listen to stuff I wanted to be inspired by, and I'd later share this music with producers. I have an English iTunes account so I like to download stuff that's not reached Australia yet. I like to keep my finger on the pulse and keep that UK edge."
Her musical influences are as eclectic as what is on her iPod. Growing up on a diet of rock (from her dad) and Motown and pop (from mum), Amy immersed herself in bubble gum pop during her school years, then developed a crush on R `n' B and Hip Hop. Then she discovered Mariah Carey and fell under her multi-octave spell. After being spotted by Gary Barlow (from Take That), Amy wrote her first album and savoured that success. The last year has been spent nurturing her new found passion for upbeat pop music...music that will make the listener want to dance all night.
"Butterfingers" is an infectious mish-mash of synthesised vocals, up-tempo electro-pop and unashamedly joyful hooks.
"For a 24 year old, especially living in such a party town like Sydney, dance music is just going to infiltrate your personality a little bit. There are still those really honest, ballad style songs on my new album, but "Butterfingers" is a song where I wanted to say, `You know what, I'm living my life, I'm having fun, and I want everybody on the dance floor to relate to me and have a great time.' I want to spread some of that fun."
