It’s Anne-Marie’s birthday today, and if we’re going by her comeback single “Birthday”, she’s probably going to do whatever she likes. But what exactly does that look like? To find out, 8list.ph spoke to English singer-songwriter Anne-Marie in a phone interview from London, just a few days before she turned 28.
(Anne-Marie’s answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)
8LIST.PH: There’s a lot of pink in your music video for “Birthday”. Was this your idea?
ANNE-MARIE: Yeah, I’ve been wanting to dye my hair for a long while because when I was younger, I used to color my hair all the time. When I was making music, it was blonde hair. I’ve been blonde hair for so long, I knew that as soon as I wrote the first single for the next album, I wanted to change my hair color. So, I even wrote it in the lyrics so my label or my manager couldn’t tell me not to do it.
And I think my friends would say, ‘if your hair is pink. Everything has to be pink as well. And I’m like, yeah!’ ”
8L: What’s a song you sing when you’re happy?
A-M: I would sing any song by 1975. I feel like every song they sing is very happy and has a very happy melody.
8L: Who do you want to be with on your special day?
A-M: My parents have to be there and I would definitely ask Ed Sheeran (to be there) because he is one of my favorite people in the whole world. Maybe Marshmello, Rudimental, yeah I’ll ask them.
8L: Who do you want to sing on your birthday?
A-M: Well, I wouldn’t mind if Ed (Sheeran) is already there. He can have little song if he wants. I mean, I don’t mind.
8L: What’s the first thing you’ll eat on your birthday this year?
A-M: I’m definitely gonna eat a lot of chocolate cake and spend time with my family. The cake is very important for birthdays. I think anything sweet because I’m such a sweet tooth. So, all the savory food can be out of the table but not chocolate and sweets.
8L: What’s the story behind your comeback single “Birthday”?
A-M: I honestly just love birthdays so much I love celebrating them. I love celebrating my friends’ birthdays. I just think it’s a really happy day that we can all come together and have fun so I want to recreate that in a song that people can listen to on their birthday and be happy.
8L: How did you write this song?
A-M: I always just wanted to write a birthday song because it’s one of my favorite days of the year. I told everyone “we’re gonna write a birthday song today” and … it’s a lot of fun and we ended up writing that in one day and that was it. Yeah, it was fun.
8L: If you could give your younger self a message, what would it be?
A-M: To my younger self, I’d probably say not to think so much about what people would think about you because I think when I was younger, I was always thinking, “Will people like me? Will they like my clothes, or my hair, or my makeup?” I think it really affected me. So, I’ll say to myself, don’t care so much about what people think and just love yourself and enjoy yourself and have fun.
Anne-Marie’s latest single “Birthday” is now available on YouTube Music, Spotify, and Apple Music.
