Express - 7 novembre 2013

'All I could hear was The Wiggles!' Dido reveals perils of writer's block after having son

DESPITE having a career that spans 15 years, and now being the proud artist of her Greatest Hits album, Dido revealed she hit writer's block after having her first child.

The British singer/songwriter said that following the birth of two-year-old Stanley, all she could hear in her head playing on loop were children's jingles.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Express Online, Dido explained that even husband Rohan Gavin began to question what the future held for the White Flag songbird.

Reflecting on the gap between her third and fourth albums, Dido, 41, said: "You always think you're making music, then suddenly four years has passed.

"Obviously I had a baby, and I was doing various things, then after Stanley came along I didn't do anything pretty much for the first year. I just hung out with him.

"I couldn't write anything anyway, all I could hear in my head was the jingle to The Wiggles.

"I remember my husband saying to me, 'I don't know how you're ever going to write another song again.'

"You find yourself singing these nursery rhymes all day, then you're sitting at the piano, and you can't clear them out."

She continued: "It's strange now, juggling motherhood and my career. It's like balancing two completely different entities.

"Before Reading Festival [Dido made a guest appearance during Eminem's set], I was on late, so had a lovely day with Stanley, made his dinner, played, got in a car, then went onstage.

"You do have to flip, but that is what's so lovely, everything means something now.

"Years ago, I might have been doing the biggest gig ever and everyone's singing along, and it's the most amazing thing in the world, but you don't necessarily feel it.

"Whereas with Stanley around, I feel it. It's hard to explain and sounds really naff, but he's changed the way I look at life.

"The little things mean so much now. And it also makes me really efficient with time.

"I used to sit around in the studio for days and days, just meandering on an idea, and it didn't necessarily get me anywhere any faster or better."

The BRIT-winner added: "I showed him the footage of Reading, and he doesn't really know what's going on, he just goes, 'Mummy, singing!' And that for me makes it all make sense."

Another reason Dido struggled to get her ideas down on paper was because she was, essentially, too giddy with happiness.

She revealed that being inspired to write songs usually requires a situation that's "conflicted", but she simply couldn't feel this way after having her son.

Dido said: "Lyrics can't just be happy, or just be sad. If it was just sad, it would be so miserable.

"I really noticed this when Stanley came along, as I just don't feel conflicted about him in anyway. I just love him.

"It's the purest feeling, but you don't want to write about it, there's no darkness to it.

"What a track needs is dark and light, loneliness, and maybe a solitary feeling within it.

"But you never feel lonely again when you have a child, I've definitely reassessed how I write.

"Sometimes I can use emotion from someone else's story, as I feel things quite deeply that others do. If I love someone and they're hurt, I feel it."

Dido, who is to release her Greatest Hits compilation on November 25, confessed she was surprised when Sony approached her about the record.

But as she began to piece it together, as well as the remixes, she became heavily involved in the process.

She said: "I ended up pulling all this memorabilia – photographs, old passes, original lyrics – out of storage I had forgotten I owned. It became this amazing diary.

"Songs bring back such clear, true memories, compared to the muddled hazy version we think we remember.

"So when I listen, I remember exactly where I was and how I was feeling when I wrote the song. It was an emotional roller coaster.

"It definitely feels like a celebration of the last 15 years. I enjoy listening back, I never think I should have changed that or that.

"I toured for so long, and you get so used to playing songs live in a certain way, that when you listen, you forget how the record sounded, which I love."

(Source)