Ella Henderson joins The Rebecca Judd Show on Apple Music 1 today to discuss her new album 'Everything I Didn't Say'. She reveals that she wrote over 400 songs for the album, reflects on the reasons for the eight year gap since her debut record, shares the inspiration behind tracks including 'Thank You For The Hell' and 'Ugly', why she thought Tom Grennan was the perfect fit for 'Let's Go Home Together', wanting to empower the younger generation and more.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music About ‘Thank You For The Hell’ & The “Toxic” Parts Of Her Relationship...
I wanted to pick a song that was written more towards the end of the process of the album and also a song that I think probably a lot of people can relate to, but ultimately just a song that I think I'm super proud of…If you haven't gone through a breakup by the way, then you're really lucky. And if you haven't, you probably will at some point in your life and this will be a song that you're going to need to listen to at that time. I think when I reflect back on my previous relationship, I used to think of all the bad, all the rottenness and just all the toxic parts to it. And this song is when you have gone through the hurt, you've gone through the pain, you've gone through the anger and all these emotions. And you get to this other side where you finally see the silver lining and you actually reflect and you're like, "Thank you actually, for all of that stuff you put me through because without it, I wouldn't be stood exactly where I am today." I just think word for word, lyric for lyric, this song is the literal story of what happened to me in this process.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music That Her New Album Explores Every Emotion & Is "Constant Word Vomit"…
I don't think there's any emotion that I've not included or not felt in the process of making this album. Track one on the album is called ‘Emotions’. And the reason I put that there is because the whole album opens up with me saying, "By the way, this whole album's about to be me just letting loose of everything that's gone on." So I suppose it's everything, but it's constant word vomit. It's a lot of therapy and it's just like a journey, I feel or a body of work that I hope to God that at least, if I was to pick an individual to listen to this album, they can relate to at least one of the tracks. And that's where my head is at now. I just want there to be at least one song for someone on there that they're like, "This is my song from the album." They are stories. They're not just rhyme for rhyme words.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music About Releasing Her New Album Is Like Giving Birth…
I feel like I've just given birth to something that obviously hasn't come out of me, but has had so much of my sweat, blood and tears. Do you know what? This has just been such a long time coming for me. So I'm just so excited to finally have the album out and to share it with the fans and to finally just share my stories and all these songs that I've had for some time and written.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music About The Gap Between Her First & Second Albums…
I never anticipated to leave it this long. I didn't even make a conscious choice. It was just, this is what happened and life happened and so much has happened in between then and I think with my first album and those younger years of my... The first stages of my career, I had so much success at a young age. So I think actually having a bit of time to live and experience real life, because otherwise I'd have had nothing to write about. And that's technically what this album is. It's my life over the last seven to eight years and bringing everyone up to speed. I don't know, I feel ready as well. Not just musically, outside of it all. In my life, I feel ready to open up and talk about it and you've got to be like that.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music About Feeling “Lost” After The Success Of Her First Album…
For three, four years of my life, from the age of 18 to like 21, all I knew was getting on a plane, promoting a record, promoting a record and traveling around everywhere. And then by the time I got back to London, I had a flat, but it didn't feel like home. I didn't know where home was. Because I'm a Northern girl at heart. I'm from Lincolnshire. So it just felt really weird. And I can remember not having a sofa, not having a TV. Everything just felt like this bare place. And I didn't know where my mates were. Everyone had fled to uni. So I felt a little bit lost if I'm honest at that age, because that's the time of your life where you are meant to make mistakes and figure out who you are. So that's exactly what I wanted to do, but in my own time and also whilst still creating this album and it was always in the back of my mind, but it was never this pressure cooker thing that I think you can often go into doing with album two.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music She Wrote “Over 400” Songs For Her Album…
I did have a lot of songs to pull from. I think I've written nearly over 400 songs for this album. The funny thing is though I always have my standouts. There was always a selection and a handful of songs that I knew were going to always be either single worthy or on this album. And then I think when it came down to actually deciding the track order and the track listing, I was like, " I want every single song on here to tell a different story and to tell a different part of my life." So there's no point in doubling up on the same thing. I feel like there's this whole new part to me and my songwriting, even on this album, where I talk about myself a little bit more. It's not just about me in a relationship or me with another person or me and my friends. There's a lot of, you hear my self journey on it, which I think is... When I listen to it now, sometimes I need them songs to just remind me that, "Yeah, it's fine. Today's just one of those days, Ella."
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music That Her Co-Writing Sessions Are Like “Therapy”...
I treat it like a therapy session. I open up, I either cry, laugh or whatever happened that day or what that week is what they're going to hear about and help me put it into a song form. And we all come out with something that never existed the day before. And I always find that a fascinating process
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music About ‘Let’s Go Home Together’ With Tom Grennan…
Rebecca Judd: How was it working with him on that song?
Ella Henderson: So much fun. Obviously this song I wrote years back with James Arthur and unfortunately James wasn't able to be a part of it just because our diaries collided. So when came the discussion of... I think at first the label was like, "We'll get an American artist." And I was like, "No. It cannot be American. This song has the most British sense of humour going possible."... I was like, "It needs to be full on Jack the lad. Yes, crappy tattoos and smells like fear." And the only person I could think of was Tommy. So yeah, I sent him the track and straight away he loved it. He was like, "Let's get in the studio." And as I helped him vocal it down and just hearing him put his own spin on it and it just fell into place. And again, that just felt like a magic moment as well. And I think the timing of when we released it was perfect. I think obviously, socialising was at a minimum because of COVID and the pandemic. And we just wanted to bring the pop back to the people. I think everyone was missing it so much. We always say it's like a modern day version of like the fairy tale in New York, the pubs. That's exactly how we wanted it to be. Just everyone having a pub lock-in, good times and remembering the good times to know that there's good times to come really.
Ella Henderson Tells Apple Music About ‘Ugly’ & Wanting To “Empower The Younger Generation”....
‘Ugly’ is one of my favourite tracks from the album. And simply because this song is a song that I've had for some time. And I just think the journey that I've personally gone on to then listen to this record lyrically. I just think it stands for everything I believe in and everything that, as a role model, in my role with a platform now, I want to say something that inspires and empowers the younger generation coming through. And I feel like this song is that song on the album and also it's me on a daily basis. Some days I wake up and I think I'm too, too everything. On some days I'm like the most imperfect person in my beliefs, but to someone else it's like, "You did that amazing."
So just sometimes we can be our own worst enemy, is what I'm trying to get at. And one of my favourite lyrics of the whole album is in this song and it's in the second pre chorus of Ugly. And it says, it's time to have the time of our lives. And I think that just really resonates with this day and age. I think we stress so much over things we see on social media and we compare ourselves to things and filter everything. And we just end up feeling like we've got to become something that we're just not. And I think knowing that you are enough, knowing that you being in your own skin makes you the individual that you are and makes you unique. That's the message of this song. And I love the fact that as well, it's called ‘Ugly.’ I think normally you hear the title track being something more positive. But I love that I'm taking the word ugly and putting a spin on it and making ugly be... Well, actually it's just a word. So what does it actually mean?
