Unlike her contemporaries, Katie Melua isn’t prancing around in her Parisian hotel lobby in a tabloid-friendly outfit, nor has she bleached her hair blond. She has rather an old-school rock chick attitude, the spiritual child of Chrissie Hynde and Joni Mitchell. Dressed in jeans and sneakers and “A Hard Day’s Night” Beatles tee, her dark hair framing her face, Katie Melua looks the very picture of a folksy rock songstress.

Unlike many other female singers of your generation, you don’t provide fodder for tabloids. How do you keep yourself together and protected when you’re famous at such a young age?
I think it’s probably because I never really wanted to be famous. I always saw the negatives of fame. It made me cringe seeing people just want to be famous. But I did always want to be a musician, I always wanted to make music. So there was always this struggle of how do I get the music there and not the fame? And so I made the decision at the start to control it with the type of interviews that I did basically and the marketing. My producer and record company were understanding when I told them I didn’t want to do an interview for Hello! Magazine, and I’ve always just told them that I want to sell my music rather than my personality.
I think when you start off at the beginning like that, it’s easier to maintain that.

This is your third album. Does it get easier with each album or do you feel the constant need to challenge yourself ?
I think the second one, actually. It gets easier in some ways. It gets easier in the fact that you know how to approach things and you know how to ask things or get a sound. But it gets harder because you have to try completely different. Sometimes you have to take yourself out of your natural place. So I think it gets harder and harder. And the pressure becomes harder with every album.

How so?
People often expect you to fail. They always say, “Oh that was just a one album thing.” And with the second album, “Oh, it was a two album thing.” With the third album, hopefully they’ll say, “You’re successful.” But I think it’s important not to think about that or care about it. It’s probably fine to think about it, but you can’t let that dictate your life.

Does growing up and making music at the same time feed your work as well ?
Oh absolutely. I mean, you live more, don’t you? You have more experience and that definitely influences you.

I like the lyrics and some of the song titles, like “Mary Pickford”.
That was written by Mike Brat, my producer. He’s an amazing lyricist, he’s really good. He had this little calendar that had different facts – one for each day - and one of the facts was “Mary Pickford used to eat roses.” He thought that was a good song title. So he wrote that song, “Mary Pickford”.    

In a “Perfect Circle”, you sing: “Even when I’m walking straight, I always end up in a perfect circle.” Do you mean that life is one big déjà-vu or am I analyzing too much ?
Actually, I wrote that song with Molly McQueen and we wrote it for her, because I’m trying to write for other artists. But unfortunately, her album didn’t work out so we ended up putting it on my album. But yeah, we actually wrote it for her acne ‘cos she always scratches herself. She’s addicted to it! So to me, “Perfect Circle” is kind of about an addiction, and that addiction could be about biting your nails, drugs or being obsessed with a TV program. When you try to straighten out and change your habits, you still always seem to go back to it. It’s a bit of a hopeless song, isn’t it? (Laughs) But why did you like it?

Because it made me think how life itself can be a vicious circle.
Yeah, it is actually. 

You cover Leonard Cohen’s “In My Secret Life”.
I have to stay my strongest point as a writer is my music, so I tend to rely on others for lyrics. I mean, I will guide people lyrically, but it’s not my strong point. And in that song Leonard Cohen put into words what I haven’t been able to and I just absolutely love them. You know how you spend most of your teens being idealist and quite naïve and wanting to change the world and be different and not conform and not live in a money-based society. But everyone does, everyone sells out and lives in a very money-based society. And that’s what the song is about to me: you buy what you’re told… It’s frustrating but it’s nice to be able to admit to it.

You mentioned that you’d like to write for other artists. Do you have any projects coming up ?
Well, a lot of them are my friends. I’m starting out. It’s not like I’m approaching Celine Dion!

Is there anyone you’d like to write for, maybe Celine Dion ?
Um, probably not Celine Dion! Well, Joni Mitchell would be amazing but I don’t think I’d be able to write a song for her. If we’re talking about a vocalist, maybe Beth Gibbons from Portishead. She’s really great, an incredible voice.

You’ve worked with Brian May of Queen and Prince even sings one of your songs live.
Yeah, he sings “Nine Million Bicycles” in his set. He and I were going to do something, but I don’t know what happened to that. I got to meet him and he’s very wacky! (Laughs)

You’ve also embarked on a movie career. Or was that just for fun?
A movie career? I wouldn’t call it that! (Laughs) If you’re talking about “Grindhouse” – it was tiny, tiny part. I took part in it because it sounded so cool and I love horror films. It sounded like a really incredible project to be part of. But I’m not planning on going into acting or anything like that, mainly because I think people sometimes underestimate acting. It’s a skill that takes years to develop and it’s a wonderful talent. It would be selfish of me to think that I could do it.

There are a lot of singers who have ventured into acting.
Yeah, there are, but then they always end up being quite crap, don’t they? (Laughs) It’s so annoying, just like actors who suddenly take up singing because they’re just famous. That’s why I wouldn’t do the same.

You said you liked horror films. What are your favorites?
I like Japanese horror. I like “The Ring” and “The Grudge” – I like that. American films – I like psychological ones, like “The Others” and “The Sixth Sense”. What else? “Halloween”.

Why do like horror films?
I don’t know. My favorite film when I was a kid was “Alien”, so it started when I was very young. I think why I like it: it’s the only film genre where you get to feel what the actors feel. For example, you watch a scary film and the actors are scared so you feel scared. So if you watch a romantic comedy, you don’t fall in love while you watch the film. Horror feels like an honest genre of films and that’s why I like it.

Do you read horror books as well?
Yeah, I do, but not as much as I’d like to. I think that I would get a bit too freaked out if I did. With a film, you can turn off the TV if you get too scared. Books exist in your head and they’re not as much under control.

I read a book called “Ghost Story” and it freaked me out so much that I could only read it in public places.
Who’s it by?

Peter Straub.
Can I write that down? (Writes down title and author of book) Not a very original title, is it? (Laughs) Thanks for that!

You returned to Georgia this summer. How often do you go back?
I try to go back every summer.

Will you tour there?
I hope, early next year. I played there once but I just wasn’t happy with it, because it was only two songs. 

Are you well-known there?
Yeah, I am. The music industry isn’t big there. I’m known there because I’m from there and I’ve made it over here. For them, it’s a big deal.

Do you feel English or Georgian?
I feel English in my head and Georgian in my heart. It’s a bit cheesy! When I went back to Georgia, it felt so amazing. It’s like going back to my childhood. It’s very cool.

Would you live there?
Probably not, but I’d probably spend more time there in a few years.

You played an underwater show last year. Weren’t you freaked out?
No, it’s a huge thing so you don’t get claustrophobic. And it didn’t feel like you were underneath the sea because you were in a building and when you looked up, it went up for ages. You couldn’t see the roof. It was worth it!

So next time you’ll go up in space!
Yeah, if someone offers it!

You’d actually go up?
Yeah, I would! Absolutely! 

Une diva si discrète