Alice Vol. 2 No. 3

ENTERTAINMENT
By Ellen Johnson
Sometimes teenagers and people in
their 20s need time to figure things out,
learn about themselves and discover
their world. But most don’t take that
path of self discovery after making an
album for Columbia Records. Charlotte
OC (given name Charlotte O’Connor)
is a different story. The British singersongwriter
made her debut album for
Columbia as a teenager in 2011, and
then temporarily stopped making
music to work a stint in her mother’s
hair salon. In 2013, she was back with
her EP, Strange, and a newfound fire in
her music. Her latest album, Careless
People, was released in March of this
year, and with comparisons to female
powerhouses like Sia and Lana Del
Rey, she’s one to watch in 2017. Alice
chatted with Charlotte about life,
influences and making music even in the
darkest hours.
Did you always know you wanted
to make music?
Charlotte: When I was 16 years old
I started playing guitar...I just had
the feeling, just incredible. It was a
really nice feeling and that’s when
I got the feeling I could do it. And
when I started writing that’s when I
got better and that’s when I realized I
[88] Alice May 2017
wanted to create something as a singer.
It’s another outlet for you in music
and It’s about creating. That’s the
moment when I realized I wanted to do
this forever.
You made an album for Columbia,
but it didn’t work out, and you
took a few years and worked in
your mom’s salon. How did this
experience shape you as an artist
and as a person?
Charlotte: I was so young. I wasn’t quite
proud of what I had done looking back
to it now. It’s not necessarily where my
head’s at. I think when I took two years
out I was grateful. I think I was losing
myself a little bit. I kept my head down
and tried to figure out what I wanted to
do and do all the stuff I was missing out
on doing when I was making a record.
When you’re that young and doing it it
kind of feels like you’re doing a chore,
and I think you need to take yourself
out of it to get back again and see. I
think being in music is fueled by being
hungry for it. If that hunger’s not there,
you’re not moving along.
Can you tell me about the
inspirations behind the new album
and how your hometown influenced
your music?
Charlotte: I’m from Manchester in a
town called Blackburn. It’s quite a
small industrial town. I grew up there.
It was boring in a way, but there’s also
this kind of folklore there — ghosts and
witches. [In my music] it’s not quite
home, but the idea of home and the
warmth to it. But there’s also a little bit
of coldness and a bit of quite majestic
about them and quite otherworldly about
them, which is how I see Blackburn: as
a warm place of my home, my parent’s
home. But there’s also this coldness of
being in a Northern town but also this
magical feel to it. I wanted my music to
be like that. I wanted it to feel like that.
Can you tell us about the songs
“Darkest Hour” and “Medicine Man”?
Charlotte: What I was going through,
being in a toxic relationship, I wrote
that song as a way for me to get my head
around it and for me to realize how I
felt about that situation. It was about
me evaluating it. It’s almost like a little
bit of a prayer. When things get really
bad you always kind of ask for help from
something or somewhere. “Medicine
Man” is about love. It’s about that
feeling of love for the first time. Love
is like medicine in a way. It’s somebody
there making it a little bit better.