Style & Substance: Linda Harrison

XWHY bags a chat with songstress and feisty female Linda Harrison.

Harrison has 1 million YouTube hits, a fashion line and an album recorded when she was 16 to her name, and collaborations and connections from Cutfather to Perez Hilton. But this seemingly glitzy start is the result of fierce independence and self-belief. Her upbeat pop songs are rooted in emotional hardship and solid experience gained from Edinburgh to LA’s slums. Vulnerable, but with a steely stubbornness, she is a pop star paving her future her way.

We met the lovely Linda at SXSW festival in Austin TX, where she was performing some of her new material. And we caught up with her a few months later to check up on her latest projects.

I enjoy myself best when I’m playing the revengeful villain, Madison Lee (Charlie’s Angels) style. It’s empowering.

I want to be a Ziger (a zebra-tiger).

I work on dance songs one day, acoustic folk the next, and then blues rock the day after that. I’m not into boxes and I choose not to fit in them, spheres are my thing and I round myself with all genres and styles.

That poor dude (Alex MacQueen) was a friend I knew from nursery. He knocked me off the climbing frame when I was shouting “King of the Castle”; I retaliated by shoving fireworks in his mouth and exploding his mind.

I’m actually a very gentle person…until you try to share my chocolate, and then it’s “I’ll cut you into a million pieces and rewrite Slim Shady’s ‘KIM’ about you.”

I’m worried where this interview is going, am I going to end up in jail?

#1 was obviously meeting you guys!

#2 performing on 6^th St.

#3 was Lady GaGa’s keynote.

I was waiting for a bus one morning and a Tito’s bus came round the corner; in other words “The Vodka Bus!”. I hopped on and was given unlimited drinks and sat down next to a stranger. He asked me if in Scotland we had roads and electricity - he was shocked when I told him we did.

Following that he asked “but surely you don’t have busses?”…I told him we lived in caves with no electricity and he seemed much more satisfied. He then offered me $3000 for 3 x nudey photo shoots. Bizarre.

I think the launch party for “Overexposure” was some of the most fun I’ve had.

The room was packed and the stage was tiny. I kept knocking the equipment over and ended up performing on top of a table to avoid pulling the entire rig down.

The crowd were amazing.

Sadly I think it’s negative at the moment because the majority of our most famed female pop artists base their brand around promiscuity and beauty.

We need our young people focussing on self-improvement, community and politics; but so many are distracted and competing for beauty and male attention.

Our male pop stars need to support our girls too, but too often they choose to sing/rap about surface attraction and one-night-stands over intelligence and respect.

It’s not all negative, I think artists like Lorde are inspiring young females in a healthy way and hopefully she’s a symbol of the future pop world.

I’d recommend the doc “Miss Representation” for everyone.

I’d like to hear more of my own songs on the radio! I would also love to hear “Hit Me” - Dirty Loops.

Pugs or Drugs?

Rugs

Punk Idol:

Gwen Stefani

Book That Changed You?

A Peaceful Warriors Guide To Life by Dan Millman

More likely to run away to the circus or get married by Elvis in a Vegas wedding chapel?

Get married in Vegas.

Check out more of Linda Harrison’s rugs, quips and tunes HERE.

Photo Credit: Clare Knight