Michael FurlongerBritish singer Anne-Marie has been a presence in the music scene in her native U.K. since 2015, but U.S. music fans only discovered her in 2016 when she sang lead vocals on the Clean Bandit hit “Rockabye.” Now she’s got a hit in her own right — the Marshmello collabo “Friends” — and her debut album, Speak Your Mind, has finally been released. Anne-Marie says it’s about time, too.
“I’ve honestly waited for this moment for so long,” she tells ABC Radio about her album’s release. “It just feels quite surreal.” She laughs, “I actually thought by the time I would have an album out that albums wouldn’t exist anymore, so I feel very lucky that they’re still there!”
Anne-Marie says she teamed up with Marshmello on “Friends” because he’d remixed another song on her album, “Alarm” back in 2016.
“It kinda just made sense to work with him again and it just happened really naturally,” she says of the song, which is about keeping a guy in the “friend zone.”
“It took like three hours to completely do, and I love that song,” she laughs. “I feel like, it’s quite funny, it’s a really awkward situation to talk about!”
Anne-Marie’s a good friend of Ed Sheeran’s — the two co-wrote the song “2002” on her new album — and on Friday, she’ll join him on the road, opening for him on his tour of Ireland, the U.K. and Europe.
“I’ve been on tour with him before, [but]…they were quite smaller venues than these will be, so I’m a bit nervous,” she admits. “But his fans are very nice, so I feel welcome. And also just being his friend…it doesn’t feel like I’m actually a support act. I feel like it’s my show as well!”
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
