Paris Adams, founder member, lead vocalist and main songwriter of The Adelaides, is launching her solo career with the release of her single ‘Gold’ today (17th February).
‘Gold’ was written with Tim Prottey-Jones and Jake Morrell of First Time Flyers and recorded in Nashville with Grammy winning producer Femke Weidema. Paris will also follow the release by performing a slot on each of the three days of the C2C Festival at the O2 next month. We were thrilled to talk to her all about it.
Thanks for your time today, Paris, it’s great to see you releasing music again and back on the bill at the C2C festival. With your own appearances and the ones you made with The Adelaides, you must be one of the most prolific UK performers at the festival?
Really? I haven’t really thought about that. I know The Adelaides made a fair few appearances at the festival in multiple guises. I’m now playing four times next month as I’ve just been added to the Song Suffragettes show that’s on early on the Sunday morning.
No late night for you on the Saturday then?
Well! That will be interesting. I’m not anticipating being back that night till about 1am! (laughing) Then I’ve got to get back into London for 9.30am.
What would be your favourite memory, so far, from your previous C2C appearances?
Gosh, my favourite memory might well be when The Adelaides did a smaller performance in one of the side rooms at the O2 arena, maybe The Blueroom or one of the Bluebird Cafe shows. We did this smaller, exclusive performance in the morning and it was absolutely packed. It was so intimate it felt like we were singing to our friends.
Who would you recommend people check out at C2C this year. Who would be your favourites on the bill?
I’m the biggest Lady A fan. I love seeing them live. Their harmonies, their stage presence, everything about their live show is fantastic. I love Hillary and Charles’ voices, they work so well together.
On the pop-up, festival stages the first artists that come into my mind that people should see would be First Time Flyers. I know Tim and Jake very well and massively support this new project they are doing, I’m excited for them.
Lots of people know you, for now, as being part of The Adelaides. You played some huge shows with them. British Summertime, C2C, CMAFest in Nashville. What’s your favourite memory from your time with them?
We had loads of great shows and times together but my favourite would be the British Summertime show we did in Hyde Park in 2019 supporting Celine Dion. From start to finish this was such a special day. That day was just perfect. Everything went so well and we just loved the whole experience. We accidentally came close to meeting Celine as well as we were loading all of our stuff in when she arrived! She said a quick high and moved on but that was cool.
I also loved the Royal Albert Hall show we did with Charles Esten. What a bucket list venue and Charles was so amazing too. He’s one of the kindest people you could ever hope to meet.
Are you still in touch with Alicia and Abi from The Adelaides or have you gone your separate ways now?
We’ve sort of drifted apart now, I guess. I know they are doing a duo and singing at weddings right now I think. I’ll always support what they choose to do. I hope they like ‘Gold’ when they hear it.
You spent a lot of last year writing songs, both here and over in Nashville. What’s life like for you when you go out there?
I went out to Nashville twice last year. I was in New York on holiday and whilst I was there I thought I would pop down to Nashville! (laughing) I caught up with some friends and did a bit of writing with people, including one with my producer on ‘Gold’, Femke Weidema and one with the very cool Liz Rose!
We ended up writing a few songs and recording a few demos. My manager heard them back in the UK and sent me back out to Nashville to record them properly. I love Nashville. My favourite bar on Broadway is Margaritaville, which will be a surprise to some people I guess? The reason why is that because when I first went to Nashville I was only 20 and wasn’t able to drink and Margaritaville was the only bar that allowed me to sit in and watch the music as most kick you out at 9pm if you don’t have ID.
Why have you chosen to launch your solo career with ‘Gold’ above any other song? It must mean a lot to you?
I wanted a completely fresh start. I’ll always take my experiences of The Adelaides with me wherever I go – they helped to shape me as an artist and as a performer. Myself, Tim Prottey-Jones and Jake Morrell wrote this song for that reason. It’s about never giving up. When The Adelaides broke up I was devastated, I didn’t see it coming. At that point I wasn’t sure about what to do. Do I even do music anymore? Do I go solo? Do I join another band? There were some many variables.
I was lost for a little bit and not sure what to do but there was always this voice in the back of my head telling me not to walk away from the industry. I couldn’t imagine not recording songs or playing live ever again. That’s what we wrote ‘Gold’ about.
The message in the second verse of ‘Gold’ – the strength and resilience – could easily be about someone in a relationship. Which is why it will be so relatable to people even though it’s really about you not walking away from music.
The whole song stemmed from my feelings of leaving The Adelaides. It’s very personal to me in one way but I hope people can listen to it and interpret it in terms of what is happening to them. It’s a song about strength and about not giving up. We all need that at different times, right?
We wrote the song together quite early in after the band’s breakup.
There’s a lovely Fleetwood Mac meets Country meets Folky feel to it which suits your vocals very well. Are we going to hear the other songs you’ve got recorded this year and what are the vibes and feel of them?
All the songs sound so different to each other! I talked to my producer out in Nashville and was honest and said that I wasn’t sure what sort of sound to aim for. I love Country music and I love the sound of The Adelaides but I don’t want to be just pigeonholed as a Country artist. I’m a big Maren Morris fan and she’s got all sorts of influences in her music, from Country to Soul to R&B, that’s my aim too, I kinda want a bit of a mix of everything.
Some of my new songs sound like Fleetwood Mac, some sound like Miley Cyrus. I’ve got a song called ‘What If I Fall’ which is more towards the Bluesier, Chris Stapleton end of the spectrum too! People tend to release more singles these days which I feel can make artists more experimental with what they choose to release because if one song doesn’t work you can move onto another one quite quickly.
‘Gold’ is probably the most Country sounding song of all the ones I currently have.
Is the song you wrote with Liz Rose likely to see the light of day this year?
I hope so. We’ve only got a demo of it at the moment. I have 4-5 songs fully done, ready to be released, that we will hopefully dropping throughout the year and then we’ll see what the response is.
And then will it be tours, festivals and shows too? How did you enjoy supporting Caitlyn Smith late this year?
She’s an outstanding artist and a lovely person too. She was so supportive of me. I never thought I would get the support slot for that tour! The Adelaides had a song called ‘Leave’ which was written by Marcus Hummon (legendary Nashville writer) and he asked Caitlyn to do the vocals on the demo for it so we already had kind of a connection. Caitlyn is just so, so so good.
If you could get yourself onto any festival over the coming summer, which one would you choose?
The Hyde Park British Summertime shows, for sure. I would love to play Glastonbury one day but having played Hyde Park before I know how special it is. I went last year to see The Eagles and Robert Plant. It is such a cool gig. I’m manifesting it right now.
Paris Adams’ new single ‘Gold’ is out right now on all formats. Catch her at the C2C festival in March – Tickets Here.
