Popdash Meets Example

2010 has been undeniably the year of Example. The man whose mum calls him Elliot Gleave has owned the Summer season with every festival, party and holiday bouncing to his tunes including Popdash anthem ‘Kickstarts’. in the week he released his new single ‘’, we caught up with him to chat all about his amazing year, his plans for a new album and just why it is he said Jedward were ‘shit’ and Alexandra Burke is ‘terrible’.

PopDash: How would you describe the past year in the life of Example?
Example: It’s been a bit of a circus really. Non-stop madness from one day to the next. It’s been non-stop touring, festivals, I’ve released four singles and I’m releasing another at Christmas then starting work on my next album so I’ve never stopped really. I’ve had no time to reflect at all.

PD: Have you got a holiday planned for when it’s all over?
E: My next day off is on Christmas Day.

PD: What’s been your highlight of everything so far?
E: The festivals have been amazing. Playing to that many people and everyone enjoying it and coming up and saying how good it was afterwards is pretty incredible. When I wrote ‘Kickstarts’ I knew it was a potential hit but for it to stay in the Top 20 for fourteen weeks was incredible. That’s probably my highlight actually, having that sort of song of the Summer. People come up to me and tell me it’s their Summer anthem, or it’s their holiday romance song and that’s just amazing.

PD: Do you feel accepted by the world of pop or do you feel like a bit of an outsider?
E: Well obviously my first album came out on Mike Skinner’s label and it wasn’t a pop album. It got a bit of radio play but it didn’t chart highly and didn’t sell all that well but now I’m selling the amount of albums pop stars sell. Having said that I don’t feel like a pop star as much because I’m not working with the same writer and producers those people do and I don’t perform or act like them, I’m quite outspoken too. Everyone else is too safe, I speak my mind and nobody else will do that because they’re too scared.

PD: Do you regret anything you’ve said about people in the past?
E: Not really. I think people expect people in the public eye to have no opinion on what’s going on around them. If you go to your local pub or hang around with your friends I guarantee there will be people there who’ll tell you Jedward are shit or that the new Alexandra Burke single is rubbish yet when I say it people chastise me on the internet and say I shouldn’t be so rude. Quite frankly I think if other people aren’t going to say things then I will.

PD: Why do you think pop stars are scared to have opinions or be outspoken?
E: I think it’s because they’re not in control if their own careers. They have a lot of people making decisions for them, they have people writing their songs and styling them and creating their artwork. It’s all done for them. I do everything myself so it doesn’t matter if I slate people as long as I keep delivering big songs.

Read the FULL interview on Popdash here