Music Q&A:
Little Boots

Little Boots, aka Blackpool-born electro singer-songwriter Victoria Hesketh, topped the BBC Sound of 2009 poll and released her top five debut album Hands the same year. Her long-awaited follow-up Nocturnes hit stores earlier this month.

It’s been four years since Hands. Were you nervous about how Nocturnes would be received?  

Of course. You worry if people are still going to care and whether the fans that liked me back then are still going to reconnect with me now. On top of that, the whole industry has changed. It’s tough out there and it’s a very different climate.

Why the wait? 

I wanted to do something different so there was a lot of trial and error involved that took a lot of time. It also took me a while to process what was happening with electronic dance music and figure out where I fitted in that and how to make electronic pop that you could dance to without it being this David Guetta thing.

Where do you fit into the current music landscape?  

I guess [my peers are] people like Hot Chip and Hercules and Love Affair – cool interesting pop music that has got character and personality.

Does that make it hard for people to define and categorise you? 

Definitely. Labels used to say me: “You’re too cool for pop and you’re too pop to be cool.” Now I say: “Great. Be confused.” That’s what defines me and makes me like nobody else. I’m a lot more comfortable in my own skin now and I don’t feel like I have to live up to someone else’s idea of what I should be. People [used] to say: “You’re the English Lady Gaga.” No. I’m not, actually. I’m nothing like that. And I’m not going to pretend that I am any more. I’m just going to be myself.

What are your plans? 

I’m just trying to do everything that I can really. I feel really free and liberated and empowered.

RICHARD SMIRKE