Cynthia Erivo reveals she has been influenced by Blur and Oasis on new album
The 38-year-old singer said her second studio album is also influenced by the likes of Enya, the Spice Girls and Brandy, while speaking at a preview playback event for the record.
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Erivo said: 'What's happened is, by accident all of the things that have sort of influenced me musically, and all the things I've been listening to since I was a little girl, sort of just came out.
'Whether it's listening to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers on the radio, because Magic FM will do that to you.
'Or listening to Enya with all of like the stacking and the vocal padding, or listening to Brandy for some of that, that R&B, that's in there because she's the bible, you can't help it, I was listening to her my whole entire life.
'Or it's listening to Kate Bush, and so you hear some of the higher sounds, and I have a really, really eclectic history when it comes to music that some of it just comes out.
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'There's a couple of moments on there that felt really Britpop, like replay feels very Britpop, and it's Blur and Oasis on the radio the whole time, what can you do?
'Those things were sort of a mix of what my household sounded like, and then those bigger moments, it's like Aretha (Franklin) and Diana Ross, there's so many ingredients that make the art, the make-up of this album because of what I've been listening to my whole life.'
Erivo will release the album on June 6, having released her debut solo album Ch. 1 Vs. 1 in September 2021.
Erivo credited Oasis with influencing part of her new record (Zak Hussein/PA)
The singer went on to say that she did not set out to make songs inspired by the artists she namechecked, but that it was 'what they became'.
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The London-born singer added: 'Instead of going back in and going, 'oh, let's change it and make it like this', I just went with what was there.
'There was a song that was actually, in the instrumentation, I want to bring out my Nigerian roots, and so that ended up coming out just because of the way it was orchestrated.
'But I love film music, I love the sort of wash of an orchestra, and so that's why we have a live string orchestra on it a lot of the way through.
'And because I've grown up singing live music and being on stages and doing clubs and all of that, you have all of the drums and guitars, and everything, all those instruments are live, because that's what I'm used to singing to, and that's what I like hearing.
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'So it's just all of those influences that have sort of naturally found their way out and onto the page.'
Erivo shot to worldwide fame playing Elphaba in last year's Wicked film, which explores the friendship she has with Glinda, played by US pop star Ariana Grande.
She will return for the Wicked sequel Wicked: For Good, which is set to come out later this year, and is directed by Jon M Chu.
Her other roles include playing 'Queen Of Soul' Aretha Franklin in the series Genius: Aretha, for which she was Emmy nominated, and abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet.
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But I'm living a life I'm incredibly grateful for. I feel very, very lucky.' But at what cost?
