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Carla-Marie Williams: "People didn't expect someone like me to write for Girls Aloud"
Posted at 3:35 PM, 27 February 2010 -

The latest issue of Flavour Magazine has an interview with Carla-Marie Williams, formerly one of the three top-line songwriters at Xenomania. Over the past 18 months, she has achieved five top 10 hits, including BRIT-award-winning number one single "The Promise".

Carla-Marie also contributed with guest vocals on Crookers' "Put Your Hands On Me" and sang with Neil Tennant on Pet Shop Boys' "The way it used to be".

She has now set up a joint venture production/management company called Big Mouth Entertainment, with Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee. They are currently launching a new girl group named Ruff Diamondz (RD).


In the interview, Carla-Marie talks about songwriting, the Xenomania system and more. A few quotes from the interview:
«At Xenomania we do it differently compared to probably everyone else within the industry. The idea of it is that every part of the song has to be a hook. Whereas other people build into hooks, we take the best of everyone's different melodies and make the strongest song. For me what makes a good song is if you can pick up its melody straight away, and also having a great concept.»

«I write a lot in my sleep. I wake up and I've got my Dictaphone by me at all times. My brain doesn't stop - it just keeps going - so I'll wake up and record melodies. Naturally, I'm quite an emotional person, so a lot of the songs I've written prior to being at Xenomania were emotion-led.»

«I want young people to know that you can still be cool and maintain "being black"... I mean, people didn't expect someone like me to write for Girls Aloud. So I'd like to inspire others to show them it's all about how you conduct yourself. You don't have to change.»

«I was prepared at 26, I wasn't prepared at 20. If I wasn't prepared in terms of the experience that I've had of all those years of trying to write songs, I probably wouldn't have got through the doors.
It's also about building relationships. I'm quite a strong person and quite direct. I don't do that two-faced thing.... (...)
«Pitching songs is probably one of the hardest things to do, so if you can try and put together your own product - as in artists, or work with them directly, this will be a vehicle for your songs.»

List of Xenomania songs co-written by Carla-Marie Williams:
  • Girls Aloud: Can't Speak French, Fix Me Up, Fling, Love Is Pain, Revolution In The Head, Rolling Back The Rivers, Sexy! No No No..., The Promise
  • Alesha Dixon: Cinderella Shoe, Cos Of You, The Boy Does Nothing
  • Mini Viva: Left My Heart In Tokyo
  • Sarah Harding: Too Bad

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