A few months ago, we introduced you to an incredible all-female band from Cardiff called Baby Queens. Since then, Monique, Cara, Estelle, Vanity and Ruth have been rather busy. They released the first two singles from the album called ‘Tired of Love‘ and ‘Unite‘ and were crowned New Band of the Week by the Guardian and Breakthrough Act by the Sunday Times. This weekend, they celebrated the upcoming release of their self-titled album with a launch party in Cardiff. We sat down with the band to talk about the music video for ‘Unite’, their plans for the future and how hard it is to describe their style of music.
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us! Your album comes out in a few days, are you more nervous or excited?
CARA: We are all massively excited, we have put a lot of love into the recording of this album and really can’t wait to get it out into the world for everyone to hear.
For those who don’t know you, can you try and describe your style of music?
CARA: We usually describe our music as “fusion” this is because we mix so many different styles and genres to create our sound. We are a full live band, and every band member sings too, you will find each band member on lead vocals on different tracks throughout the album.
I guess you could loosely call us a live RnB/HipHop band but we mix in so many different styles to create our sound, it is actually really difficult to pin it down to one genre.
We heard Huw Stephens play your upcoming single ‘Unite’ on BBC Radio 1 this week, can you tell us a bit more about the song?
CARA: “Unite” is a song about infinite true love, it’s about a twin soul/soulmate connection, the kind of love that is so moving and life changing that it feels destined, spiritual, written in the stars, however recently we have found the meaning of this song is open to interpretation.
The music video for “Unite” was shot in Japan and tells the true story of Ken, an elderly Japanese man, who collects rock n roll and music memorabilia in his late father’s (who was a Samurai sword fighter) Dojo, which he has turned into an audio museum and café. When the earthquake hit Japan the audio museum/dojo was condemned leaving all his beloved belongings covered in dust for months, the video depicts him returning to the dojo to begin rebuilding and restoring it to its former glory. Within the video he goes through old photos and belongings of his father and this symbolises his loss of his father, but the hope of him one day uniting with his father, so it gives a different interpretation of the meaning of the song
When Baby Queen member Vanity, who has lead vocal on “Unite” spoke to him over Skype he asked her to sing for him, and when she did he was dancing to her song and became very emotional,Vanity said it was a very beautiful moment and was very moved by the experience.
Obviously you’re all very close to each other, how does that translate to your songwriting process? Do you always write together as a group or separately?
CARA: There’s no rules when it comes to songwriting with us, sometimes a band member will come to jam with an idea they have been working on and we all offer different creative ideas, other times the writer will have a strong vision for the tune which we will all follow and comply with, and sometimes we literally mess around together at a jam session and something kinda beautiful happens. I think our closeness and love for each other is key to our creative connection, that kind of magic vibe that happens when we are all jamming in unity and really feeling the music.
You’ve recently been featured as the New Band of the Week in the Guardian and as Breakthrough Act by the Sunday Times, what are your goals for the near future?
CARA: Yeah it’s crazy it still doesn’t feel real, we felt truly honoured reading these reviews, really humbled. With regards to the future, I guess the dream is to tour the UK and abroad, we’re also excited to start recording our second album, it’s a dream come true, it’s very very exciting!!
And finally: can you each tell us your favourite song from the album and tell us why it’s your favourite?
CARA: This is a really difficult question to answer as we all really love all of the tunes, but personally I would say “By the river” which Monique and Vanity take lead Vocals on. It’s such a nostalgic, beautiful, trippy, heartfelt tune, and instantly transports me to a hazy summers sunset relaxing by the water.
RUTH: “It Feels Like” as it relates to childhood memories and makes me remember. Never forgetting where you started and who help inspired us to keep doing music.
VANITY: “By The River”, “Melodi” , “Spiritualized” and “Unite”, I like them all, but I go through phases… it’s actually quite a hard question.
MONIQUE: If I’m honest, I love all the songs. It’s hard to choose a favourite as each song represents something special and meaningful.
Baby Queens will be released on Friday, October 28th. You can listen to the latest single ‘Unite’ below.