Alexandra Burke

Our Little Chat with Alexandra

On May 14, 2012 we filmed Alexandra Burke talking about her favourite shoes for Javari's Shoe the Keyhole series (stay tuned for the video we'll upload very soon) and managed to leave the shoes aside for a few minutes to have a catch up with the X Factor winner.

What we learned...

The song she most enjoyed recording: "I loved Hallelujah because it was my first ever solo song and my song from the show. They gave me four hours to record it and I did it in two!"

What music has influenced her: "When I was little I was really into soul and Motown, and listened to the likes of Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. My mum was in Soul II Soul and brought a lot of music into the home so I listened to what my mum made me grow up with. My mum used to make me listen to everything; soul, rock, pop, so that I could get into anything. She said she wanted me to respect and appreciate all different types of music, and so I was encouraged to listen to the radio and sing along to Limp Bizkit! She used to sing, and then say 'now copy what I’ve done', there's no way I could!! I would listen to her CDs and she gave me Whitney Houston CDs too, I'd listen in my bedroom then come out after trying to learn them and then perform them. As I got older I liked the Spice Girls, Five, Take That and Destiny's Child and these influenced me in different ways."

She started performing from an early age: "I totally put on shows at home! I'd have all my teddy bears, my granddad, and my mum sitting in the room, and my brothers and sister were the band and obviously I was the lead singer!! I was a perfectionist. If there was one mistake made, I’d stop the whole show and make us rehearse again. I wish my sister would continue in music as she’s very talented. My brothers work with me, and my sister cares for my mum, my sister is good at being a manager. We'll be one big team!"

What makes her want to dance: "Michael Jackson's "In The Closet" gets me on the dance floor as do all his songs. Before a show all I’ll listen to is the Number Ones album, Nothing else, not even Beyonce, nothing, only Michael Jackson can get me going before a show. I just listen to the one album! Whenever we go out, even if I'm drinking water I'm the life of the party, dragging my girlfriends out. I know when to work and when to play, and then I play hard!

How she's inspired: "As long as I’m in the studio, I always find something to be inspired by, it's who you’re surrounded by. Magic can happen anywhere. I recorded Heartbreak On Hold in the UK, US and Europe. It was great to be so involved in so many aspects of it, not just writing, but concentrating on getting everything how I felt it should be, whether writing by yourself or with other people. I was more involved in this album, and it was challenging but I wanted to be more honest to myself."

Her guilty pleasure: "Holler" by Spice Girls! Such a tune, still to this day, though you forget about these songs. I saw Emma Bunton in a restaurant the other week and I said 'when I was younger I was you, you were what I wanted to be'! My sister was scary spice!"