AMANDA MAIR IS A SWEDISH SINGER OF SONG  YET SHE'S ALSO ABLE TO TALK IN A NORMAL MANNER ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE SPICE GIRLS, TURNING 18 AND MAKING HER CLASSMATES JEALOUS, AS YOU CAN SEE BELOW

Complete this sentence: “Hello there, I’m Amanda Mair, and I am…”
A normal girl from Sweden that loves singing. I dunno, that was kind of boring.

It was a bit. In your video for ‘Sense’ you hold up a sign saying ‘The Future Is Me’, but what is the future for Amanda Mair?
Honestly, I don’t plan so much for the future. I’m kind of spon­tan­eous. But I really want to continue working with music and start writing songs and having shows around the world.

You mentioned that you want to write your own songs but at the moment you don’t, which is obviously fine. Literally who cares. But at the same time the songs sound so much like they were written by you because of the way you deliver them. How did you select the songs you wanted to sing?
When I first met Johan [Angergård] from Labrador he asked me if I wrote my own songs. I said: "No, I don’t." So he started sending me demo songs and I picked the ones I thought I can relate to and I can feel like ‘this is my song’ even though I haven’t written it.

What’s your favourite song on the album?
I think ‘Doubt’ and also ‘You’ve Been Here Before’. I feel like I can relate to them. I feel like I can relate to all the songs on the album. But those ones feel like me.

There’s another bit in your video where you claim not to know who Kate Bush is and that you prefer the Spice Girls anyway. Who is your favourite Spice Girl?
Today it’s Geri. But back in the day, we had five girls per­form­ing the song ‘Stop’ and I was always Melanie C. I don’t know why. Maybe she’s sporty and I’m sporty.

What kind of pressures do you exper­i­ence as a 17-year-old popstar?
I try to not think too much about what people say and what they write, so I can feel no pressure. But it’s also hard because people always have something to say about everything.

The music you make is quite grown-up sounding and some of it is a bit mel­an­choly. It’s not exactly Rebecca Black, let's put it that way. Would you like to do something a bit more fun that people could dance around to at some point?
Yeah, maybe. I've been asked about this before and it’s not like I want to make the songs sad, it just happens. And I think that’s my thing. But I was on my first tour last week and I had a gig in Stockholm and during some of the songs people started dancing and singing and they knew the lyrics. It was so fun. So maybe I want to do some songs that people can dance to but not like Rebecca Black songs [laughs].

Get David Guetta involved perhaps?
[Stops laughing] No, I don’t think so.

You made a comment about looking forward to turning 18 so you can get rid of your parents. Are they really embar­rass­ing or are they cool and let you get things pierced, drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes?
[Sighs] In the middle. My mum can be a bit embar­rass­ing. It’s good for me to have them around. Before, when I played alone – now I play with a band, and also alone – but before I always played alone. It was only me. So it was nice to have them with me. But I want to be on my own and do my own thing. But it’s not like they’ve ever said ‘you have to do this or that’.

How do your parents react if you’ve got an Amanda Mair groupie that’s interested?
When I had my gig in Stockholm people came up to me and started talking and then my parents said [stern voice] "okay, so we have to stay here and not talk with strangers because now when you’re playing and people get to know you, you have to be careful." I was like: "okay, yeah, I know." So that kinda stuff.

You’re still in music school. Does having a Top 20 album and being named ‘Big Breakthrough of 2012’ in Sweden make things a bit awkward with your classmates?
In the beginning it was kinda strange. People were like: ‘oh so you’re recording an album, okay’. But now they know what’s going on. They know what I’m doing so I feel like they support me and they’re happy for me.

Do you think they get jealous sometimes?
Yeah, maybe. I would be jealous if someone was recording an album. But I haven’t had any negative, jealous things.

Your album is released here three days before your 18th birthday. Are you having a party?
Yeah. I will, def­in­itely. I will just invite a lot of friends and hopefully it will be summer and warm and I’ll have a party outside in the garden.

What kind of music will you play at the party? Amanda Mair?
[Laughs] No, no, no. That would be kinda awkward. ‘So everyone, here’s my new album’.

What regular teenager things do you like to do?
I like to shop. Shopping and drinking lattes with my friends. I have to study and do homework. Just hanging out with friends and partying.

What are your hopes for the album?
Of course I hope people like it and listen to it and not be like, ‘oh it’s mundane’. I want people to feel something when they’re listening to the songs. Not like, ‘oh this is just a song that I’m listening to now and I don’t know what the song wants’. I don’t want to build up too many expect­a­tions for me. I really like the album so it’s not like I don’t think the album has a chance. It’s more for myself, so I don’t get dis­ap­poin­ted. I hope for the best.

Have you got a popstar that you’d like to reach the same level of success as?
The whole thing is so new for me so I haven’t figured it out what I really want to do. I just love to perform live, so I dunno. At the moment I’m listening lots to Ane Brun. Do you know her? She’s from Norway. And also Bon Iver [CLANG], I really love him.

Thank you Amanda for this lovely chat. We hope you enjoyed London.
Yeah, it’s my second time in London. I got in at 10am and I’m leaving at 8pm. I’ve got school tomorrow.

'Sense' is released on April 9 and 'Amanda Mair' is released on June 11. So there you go.