Her meets Anne Marie to talk inspiration, self discovery and freedom ahead of third album release ‘Unhealthy’

Sophie Collins

“I let go of everything and wrote music and that’s what the album to me is, it’s just like pure freedom”

Unhealthy is the third album to reach our ears from pop singing sensation Anne Marie and it promises to offer a sneak peek into her “imperfectly perfect” world.

Fans can get their hands on the album from today (July 28th) and let us be the first to tell you; it does NOT disappoint.

The new album takes the listener on an epic journey of self-discovery, growing through the chaos of former relationships to land in a pure state of contentment.

The 32-year-old revisits “raw emotions” from past relationships, and leaves them behind as she evokes a new, positive outlook on life through music.

We sat down with Anne Marie ahead of this latest release to find out exactly how and why this album could be considered her best yet.

Inspiration

Speaking about the inspiration for her new album, Anne-Marie said she “felt totally free, which is rare.”

She also admitted that within the music industry, there is “a kind of pressure” and a constant need “to strive to be better” which brings “a lot of stress” alongside the enjoyment of creating art.

Chatting about her last two albums [‘Speak your Mind’ & ‘Therapy’] and how the experience of writing past music led to the creation of ‘Unhealthy,’ she said: “So with the past two albums; the first one, I was so new to it, so I didn’t really know what I was doing.

“The first one is kind of like a mess and then the second one is like lockdown, therapy had a lot of like figuring out what’s going on in my brain.

“The third one [Unhealthy], it was kind of like okay, so I’ve learned everything that I’ve wanted to learn from therapy and I don’t want to be like too logistical in my brain like I know how to deal with that emotion now because sometimes it’s good just to cry your eyes out, do you know I mean?”

Anne Marie went on to explain: “I don’t want to be like oh, I feel like this because of this, so I just felt like I learned what I wanted from therapy and I still want to feel emotions deeply so this is just an album of letting everything out.

“I feel like when you get older you try and find your purpose and you find out who you really are and I just I felt like I was trying to find myself so much so then I thought fuck it.

“I’m just gonna lose myself. So I let go of everything and wrote music and that’s what the album to me is and what it’s always going to feel like in my brain, it’s just like pure freedom.”

Where it started

After revealing the raw life experiences that have inspired the stories behind the music featured on ‘Unhealthy,’ the 32-year-old admitted that the original inspiration was far from the confines of emotion.

Chatting about the initial planning stages for ‘Unhealthy,’ she said: “It was weird because I started the session off with it being about food.

“I was in LA and it’s like the best food ever there, and the portions are just like the best and so I went in and I said I can’t get the word ‘unhealthy’ out my head.

“I can see a picture of me eating a burger and smoking and eating a donut and ice cream and just grease dripping down my chin and then I started speaking about my relationship with food and how I’m like just impulsive and I can just eat one meal like I just kept going over and over that and they [management] were like right, but how do we make that relatable to people?”

She then explained that she wanted to keep this theme as the pinnacle of her inspiration, but had to make amendments to ensure it was relatable to her fans. Anne-Marie explained: “I think I wrote in my phone if this is what being unhealthy means, then I don’t mind being a fat c*nt. Like I literally wrote that in my notes.

“And then we were like, you know when you say to someone; ‘Oh, I want a pizza’ and they’re like ‘Oh you know you’ve got that party coming up you might want to like not,’ and you’re like for f*ck sake.

“Or if you meet someone and you introduce them to your family and they’re like ‘they’re just not good enough’ and your friends are like ‘no don’t,’ it’s like everyone always tries to have an opinion on your life and you do listen to them because they are friends and your family.

“Then you get to a point, well I got to a point, where I was like I don’t care anymore… if I feel like I want to do something I’m gonna do it.

“So I’ve been eating a lot of pizza,” she joked, “and just like doing whatever I want to do which is a place I think we all need to get to.”

The 32-year-old songstress was quick to clarify: “Obviously you don’t want to like intentionally hurt people and like upset people but if you want to do it because it makes you happy – even if it is the wrong decision in the long run – you will learn from it. You just have to do whatever you want to do.”

Lessons in Love

With the personal nature of her songs and the lessons in love she shares with millions, we asked Anne-Marie has she ever written something and thought ‘I can’t release this,’ to which she joked: “Yeah all the time, and I’ll still release it.

“Honestly every song I’m like ‘oh sh*t’ because when you’re in the session, it’s such a safe space, and you just tell everyone everything and you know it’s not going to go beyond that room even if the song isn’t used.

“They’re not going to just start telling people your business because it’s your friends. And then you show it to other people which is also scary and then they’re like this is really good and you’re like ‘Oh damn it’s actually going to be heard by the world.’”

Referring to other artists who aren’t afraid to release music that contains their inner-most thoughts and secrets, Anne Marie went on to say: “It makes me just remember like Pink and Eminem and all these people that said stuff in their music that they definitely never thought would be heard, you know because they’re like so personal about what they’ve been through in their lives and it makes me think how else could I make music?”

“I don’t think I could make it any other way. I couldn’t make something that just didn’t mean anything to me or I didn’t feel. So even though it’s scary about personal stuff, I think that’s the only way I can do it.”

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The process

Many fans across the globe will wonder about the process of hit-making and the secrets artists hold in the almighty creation of their music.

So, Anne-Marie revealed: “Every day I go into the studio, I come up with an idea in my head, so it’s very fresh.

“It’s rare that I go to my phone and I find a note from half a year ago. It’s normally just as I’m going through it you know.

“And I also don’t like to leave the room. So like some people will say I should get some fresh air and I’m like no we have to stay here and finish it.

“I just feel like my attention span is so short that if I go outside, I just won’t carry on doing whatever I was doing before.

“I’m quite known for just wanting to stay in the darkroom for hours until I get it done.”

Irish Goodbye

One of the hits making its debut on this album is a song titled ‘Irish Goodbye’ – the act of leaving somewhere without saying goodbye – and we’re all guilty of it.

Taking inspiration from this, Anne Marie said: “You know when you see someone but you don’t meet them, so you see someone on a train and you’re looking at them and you’re like I’m actually in love with you and you don’t even know I exist.

“That’s what I thought about because I’m thinking, sometimes when you look at someone you’re like all right I’m gonna say hello and then we’re gonna get married and then we’re gonna have babies and then you plan your whole life of this person, then they just get off at the next stop and I’m like ‘wait wait’ we were supposed to have babies,” she joked.

“So that’s what I wrote about. It’s basically planning a life with someone who doesn’t know you exist and they just get off and go.”

The fans

Finally, we had to chat about her love for the Irish fans. After an incredible recent performance at Longitude in Marlay Park, Anne-Marie described the electric atmosphere of the crowd.

“I think I can just see how much music means to these people.

“It’s like you grow up and it’s like hanging around with Ed he’s just like this guy just goes to the pub just to sing music.

“It’s like it’s all about music and when I was there and I was nervous [to perform after a DJ had hyped the crowd] and I was like ‘are they even gonna want me there and then as soon as I just looked out the crowd, they were just screaming, and I was like ‘ok I’m okay’ because they’ve made me feel okay.

“So it was like a really special moment of like ‘Oh, they’ve comforted me’ and also they were just so loud. I couldn’t even believe it, it was crazy.

“It was the loudest crowd of the year so far.”