Charlotte Church is a girl on a mission to remind people that she is a singer and not a celebrity. When PopDash met up with her in London last week she was keen to stress to us just how important her music is to her and how, through a love of Jeff Buckley and acoutsic guitars, she has crafted her second album from her heart. Funded from her own pocket Charlotte has a lot riding on the success of 'Back To Scratch' but we left the interview feeling that if anything, what this album has given Charlotte is a sense of her true identity back. To read our conversation with a very, very chatty Charlotte take a look below.

PopDash: How did this album compare to the previous one in your opinion?

I think its very different. But then that seems to have been ,kind of every shift  of direction that I’ve had. From  the classical stuff ,which was obviously very different from “Tissue and Issues“. “Tissue and Issues”, I thought, was taken a little bit out of my hands- in terms of, I wrote a load of material and then the record company didn’t think there were any singles, so they banged on  like “Crazy Chick” and stuff- which was a good song, and served me well , to be fair, but wasn’t quite what I had intended for the album. I wrote most of it when I was 17 - well 16, 17, 18,  and so now when I listen back to it, although I’m really proud of it, it does sound really young - really young to me. So I think this is (album) a bit more experienced and  thought out and there’s a lot more love and care that’s gone into this one. Not that I didn’t  love and care for  the last one, but as I said, things were taken a little bit out of my hands towards the end, which  didn’t make it a complete product for me. Whereas,  this is kind of , definitely, the thing I’m most proud of I’ve ever done in my career, even at my early career, and that’s maybe because there wasn’t any record company involvement. It was all done on my own label. Then I had complete creative control, in terms of, you know,  how the writing went, picking  songs, how I wanted it all to look for the photo shoot,  which order I wanted the tracks to be in. If you’re in with a record company, then  you fought on which songs are going to be on the album, and you fought on the track listing, and every stage and so it has to be a collaborative process- which may be best in the kind of consumerism world, but in terms for actually making “art”  I think its really important that when people are buying an album of somebody, or a band, then it should be them and their ideas. That’s how it should be really.

PopDash: So, How long have you been working on this album?

I’ve been working on this album, probably for a year and a half  maybe two years. Yeah, probably about a year and a half. I started  writing quite early last year, and first of all I just wrote with people  just in South Wales, as I didn’t want to be too far away from my babies. Then, I went over to Nashville for a month, and wrote with a lot of different people, and wrote about 30 or 40 songs for it, and then whittled them down to about 20, and then recorded all of them with producers Martin and Sasha, but that was also very…I think with subsequent albums I might go even further, and not have a producer, or anything like that, and just strip it back even more. The less you make it for, the less you have to sell of it, but the more true you can stay I think. I would love for all my music to always have great commercial success- that would be amazing- but I’ve had it from when I was young, so, now, its much more about the music, for me, and being able to stay true to exactly what I want to do, regardless of massive commercial success. However, if that came with it- that would be great!

PopDash: Does the fact don’t necessarily feel the need to sell loads of albums, take the pressure off and make it a more relaxed process?

Ish - but this time around  its all my own money which has gone into it, so that’s very scary, because, you know, I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve managed to make a lot of money, but still, putting substantial amounts of money into it, is still a risk essentially. I’m not really sure how they’re going to take it,  whether people are going to like it, so,  this time round it would be great to have some commercial success as well. But, in terms of when we were in the studio, a lot of it was like, the drummer had input, the guitarist had input, I had a lot of input, the string players wrote the string lines as we were going along, and I’d say I don’t like it when you go to that note or that chord there- can you take it out, or do something else with it, but that was also kind of nice to be able to form what the sound would be. That, I think when I started writing for the album, was the main thing.  I just didn’t really know what the hell what to do. My voice is pretty versatile, so I can always sing a range of styles, and I just didn’t really know what I liked best, what I wrote best and what suited my voice best. So it was definitely a learning process to find a sound. My biggest influence is Jeff Buckley. I love him to bits. So, my  instrument of choice is guitar, any kind of guitar. But I think a lot of that isn’t’ shown on the album, as the producers wanted to take some elements of my classical voice, and wanted to bring some drama to it as well. Which was great, because I never would’ve thought to have done that, which is probably the point of having a producer! But, yeah, with subsequent albums I’ll probably just  go even more obscure until I end up like Kate Bush, a hermit who writes about washing baby clothes! For a while I was in Brides Major, which is 40 minutes form Cardiff, 30 minutes from Swansea, right in the sticks, had animals and stuff. Had a lovely time, brought my children up, gave birth to both of my children there. The photo shoot for the album was done five minutes away from there, in the forest by Bridgend , near where I lived.  Because there was so much imagery in my lyrics and for what I saw  everyday, and of what was around me, that I thought it was important to make it in the same place.

PopDash: You say how you maybe don’t need to do this, but you want to, so what is it that drives you to- especially  putting your own money into it as well - there must be something really making you want to do this?

I think its that a lot of people think of me in a way that isn’t me at all, the way that has been portrayed by the press. Now, I’ve been doing this for about 13 years, so people have kind of grown up with me, and people really  feel like they know me and they’ve watched me grow up - and to a certain extent, they have- but then with the press,  they’ve kind of made me into a caricature of  myself. I feel like a soap opera character. I’m rather more serious, and thoughtful and artistic than they portray me to be.  Essentially I’m a singer, I’ve always sung. I’ve sung since I was 3 years old, and I just  needed to sing again. I just wanted to sing, and write. I’ve always written- if it wasn’t songs it was poetry. I think if you listen to the album, some of it is quite sad, and serious. Because I’m not this bit of fluff chav who drinks all the time. I’m a person, and I feel, and I sing and I just had to start doing that again.

PopDash: Does it feel that your voice has been the one constant thing throughout your life, no matter what’s happened,  its always been there and that’s what you’ve clung on to?

Yeah, absolutely! In the industry nowadays, a lot of it is still based on how you look, on your body,  and how you’re going to sell it, and not a lot is really on the music. Well, not necessarily the music, but at least the voice. Because there are a lot of very clever computers nowadays that can make everything sound wonderful. But that was the one thing, if ever I had any criticism, bad reviews, anything,  I knew myself, that my voice, although it may be not everyones cup of tea, but I knew that I could sing and I could sing really well , and I didn’t need computers or this that and the other, Just give me a microphone and a live stage and I could probably do better than the records because its live and there is more feel to it, etc. its more dynamic, not so much pressure.  So through all of the pressure I knew that  that was the reason I was in the position I was in. But that’s definitely helped me keep my sanity and my integrity.

PopDash: You were talking about auto tune - how do you feel about that - as obviously you’re a classically trained singer, do you think it means  a level of artistry has been taken out of pop music?

Definitely!  And its sad, and I don’t want  to just slate the industry or whatever, there are some amazing people doing amazing things, but  sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper than  the mainstream, and just what we are force fed, and as soon as you dig a little deeper there are amazing artists to be found everywhere. But as soon as you hit that mainstream commercial level, artists aren’t allowed to be …it’s a whole business of people who  are just making a product and then the  music gets lost in amongst all of that,  and I’ve been in that, and I don’t want to go back there, as its soulless, and I don’t like it. For me. For me personally, that’s how I felt about the whole thing. But then some people just break through- like Mumford and Sons.  They’ve just been doing the rounds for years and years, and then all of a sudden there’s one song that just breaks them into the mainstream. That’s great, but coupled with that, there is 20 or 19 other artists or bands who have just been kind of “made”. Completely made,  and there is nothing real about it and there’s a lot of personal artistry , you know the record company industry is brutal.  You get to make one album, which is probably all of you and your musical ideas, and if that doesn’t work then tough shit, and so, it’s a really tough industry to be in. So I’m just kind of fortunate that I am able to do thing myself really.

PopDash: Can you  tell us about the new single, “Back to Scratch?

Well, I originally wrote if for my aunty. She is a little unlucky in love and a little picky, but then my situation happened, and me and Gav split up, and I then I kind of sang it for myself. But I love that. I wrote it with Jonathon Powell, and he kind of came up with this riff,  on the electric guitar, and we just sang around melodies, and then once we got the structure for the verse and chorus melody. Then we started writing lyrics. But I really love exploring where it can go, I hate sticking to the eight chords that are in use in general pop music. I like to veer off and vary the melody, and my voice is quite  rangy, and that enables you to go to loads of new places,  but then there’s always stuff to be said for completely simple song writing, that I’ll probably get to when I’m quite old, and when I can play the guitar myself, as I’m learning to play. I think its generally with age that is when you bring it back down to the basics, of just making a beautiful lyric with a lovely simple melody, but I think that’s a real craft in song writing.

PopDash: Do you  think addressing your situation (with Gavin) in a song, stops it from being forgotten, and you’re kind of keeping it in people’s minds?

Well, whether or not it does, it doesn’t really matter, as all I have to say is how I feel  about things is, is how I feel about things that I see, is all I can really write about. Just be honest and truthful and kind of talk about my experiences. I don’t think it does keep it in people’s minds. Because, I think people can relate to that track even better because they will read stuff about me and Gavin and then to be able to say, this is how I think about it, although it wasn’t written specifically for  that, it kind of ended up being so. But, it hasn’t kind of taken off , at all. But there is another single  on the album, called “Logical World”, which will probably be the second single, which is a much more commercial sound,. I kind of wanted to go with “Back to  Scratch” first, as I thought people would relate to it, and thing “Oh I see, I get it!” but it hasn’t translated, and I’m not sure why. I think a lot is due to perception problems, people have kind of forgotten what I do, what I was known for in the beginning, and I‘ve just become like one of the other celebrities, like a “WAG”. There are so many people who are famous for not a lot. So I’m just trying to reconnect with the general public. When I’m out and about, doing my shopping or whatever, people are lovely to me, but my only problem is the press, and what the press portray me as. Not that I’m going to try and vilify the press, as  that’s never a clever idea really. I’ve just kind of dealt with it for years and years. But I do think its getting worse. With all the magazines, and the internet, and its insatiable appetite for more and more  information.  Whereas, back in the day, when things were written about me, people would say not to worry as its tomorrow’s fish and chip paper. Its not., its all recorded on the internet,  for years and years to come. If a particularly bad or untrue story is written about me then I will take action, as I’ve got two young children, and I don’t want them to think I was some kind of  arsehole! So, yeah, I’m going to have to start taking a more active role in  the whole press thing.

PopDash: Where do you see yourself fitting in with the modern pop world? What role have you got to play inside it?

I really don’t know. A lot of people want to me to conform to that. Because that’s what  I did last time, and “Why can’t you give us some easily digestible, happy sunshine pop?” But I’m kind of pushing back against that kind of mainstream. But that’d not who I am, or who I’ve ever been really. The only reason I sold when I was younger was that I was a commodity, and I was completely different and new. Nobody had done that classical crossover this really,  since maybe Aled Jones or Pavarotti.  I was so small, singing this music, but I still wasn’t mainstream. When I tried to fit into the mainstream, that didn’t work either, so I’ve come back with something I’m much more comfortable with. I just hope people understand where I’m coming from, and like the music.  That’s all that really matters to me really. That they just think it’s a song with  lovely lyrics, great voice, great arrangement, great song. That’s all I that I want from it. But I do think it will be an uphill struggle, and I do think it will take a coupe of albums, as I keep going away from it. But, anyway, that’s my hope.

Charlotte Church's new single 'Back To Scratch' is out now. Her album of the same name follows this coming Monday, November 1st.