Large Talks to Andrea Corr!

Andrea Corr, the famous Irish vocalist, will be releasing her new, widely anticipated album Lifelines at the end of this month. She spared a few minutes to update us all at Large on what it’s all been like.

After five minutes of excited chatter with Andrea I was instantly in awe of how benevolent and genuine she was, how passionate about her music she is and how grounded she seemed.

“I’ve been fully immersed into music for as long as I can remember.” Corr tells me.

Her parents, who were equally passionate about music, performed with Andrea even before she was born:

“They had a band and my mother sang live on stage with my father when she was pregnant with me!”

Andrea firmly believes that her parents are her inspiration for her music, impelling her to pursue her musical dreams and share her musical endowment.

Excitedly, Andrea gushes about the music she’s enjoying listening to at the moment; “I really like Anna Calvi’s new record, I’m listening to The Weepies, which are husband and wife, I love their songs. I also love, LOVE, Elbow, really love their music.”

Andrea Corr is the youngest of the Corr family, and the four-piece family band The Corrs. After deciding to go their separate ways a few years back, Andrea admits she still misses playing with her family.

“ I do miss playing with my family, it’s a lot more responsibility doing it on your own, but at the same time though its kind of different, we all flee’d the nest together in our twenties. It was amazing, we shared our dream and passion for music, but it was good for each of us to follow our own individual paths.”

Her astute knowledge of the music industry is admirable. The head smart musician remains completely grounded, partaking in charity work, theatre acting and balancing her solo career at the same time.

So what advice does Andrea have for aspiring artists?

“Remember it’s all about the music. These days it’s very intense and not very balanced on the whole celebrity thing, it’s a very extreme celebrity culture and I think that it’s the wrong focus. Always remember the reason why you got into it”

So with that in mind Andrea Corr is set to release her new album Lifelines, an album with a variety of music, which for the first time has not been written by her, including covers from a selection of different eras.

So what was it that made Andrea sing songs that weren’t written by her?

“I thought about how music is unique and it lets you revisit memories when listening to the song and time travel back to certain times and what you were going through.”

Hence the name of the album. Andrea wanted everyone to be able to relate, like she did, to the songs on the album.

“The idea that music makes you feel less alone - which is a wonderful thing for everyone.

One of the most flattering things a person can say to you is ‘your song helped me through something’ and I thought about that in relation to me and moments in my life.”

So with her new album tantalisingly close to release, Andrea is set to tour the country, performing live at festivals such as the Isle of White festival, and will be gracing the city of Manchester next week, which she admits to being very excited about:

“I love Manchester. I’ve been many times! I played there a lot with the Corrs, but I haven’t played there by myself yet so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m excited!”

The album consists of soothing tones, heart-warming songs that bring out the vocal talent of the Irish beauty.

A really good album is one where you can listen and enjoy every single song. Luckily for us, Andrea has nailed it with this one.

By Kelly Greene