I’ve made my very own fairytale in life
Photos: George Alexandrakis Photography
From lyrical singing, where she started her music career in an English-speaking band, she now decides to delete everything and start over, this time as “Fiona”, a mature artist from a musical as well as an artistic point of view.
She is having her picture taken with such ease and confidence that it feels like she already knows her upcoming album, her first album as a solo singer, will be heard and embraced.
Well, so do we, especially when we listened to the songs “Free” and “I have the right”, an ode to freedom of choice. She is our favorite new singer and we’re hoping she’ll be yours too.
How did you come to the decision to switch from lyrical to pop-rock sounds?
A very big and important chapter of life, regarding my evolution and education as a musician is now closed. I have been devoted and disciplined but lyrical singing calls for a particular lifestyle that took a toll on me at some point. I needed a more rock ‘n ‘roll kind of lifestyle…
After all, blues and rock music have always been the source of my big music loves. So when I got the creation – the composition – “bug” it was impossible to resist. It was fate!
Have there been any technical difficulties?
There are some objective difficulties regarding the different techniques required. However, the hardest part is expression. There is no safety net in rock music.
The greatest difficulty I’ve ever had to face was my academic background and the constant effort to protect my voice, something that I no longer have to do. Now I focus on the intensity of the emotion and on the passion of the expression. I am overwhelmed by passion, without thinking about exposure.
Moving from the discipline of lyrical singing to rock music’s freedom of expression, what did you gain from your pre-rock era?
It is clear that freedom of expression is something that not just musicians, but all human beings in general constantly seek. My experience in lyrical singing gave me the confidence and the knowledge so as to control my voice and use it now to express myself in an out-of-the-box manner. It’s not as easy as it sounds, it’s a process of constant exploration and reversal.
I believe that “Free” is a song that puts you in the position of confronting your very own, deeper self. It’s as if you want to delete anything that takes you to the past and reach the state every man should be in: the state of freedom.
“Free” was written in a state of intense emotional frustration. In moments like these you need to manage your feelings. Some do therapy, others do yoga… What I do is I look within myself, I write songs and I sing.
I felt a really strong urge to sing a song that would tell the story of breaking the bondage of stereotypes and of the human need to confront the things we don’t dare to say out loud.
Our magazine’s motto is “Look inside you”. What is your life’s motto?
My focus is on self-acceptance and self-exculpation. You are whatever you want to be.
You went from being the front woman in an English-speaking band, to suddenly deleting everything to start your solo career from scratch.
I don’t waste time on anything that has done its course, now is what counts. And now I’m in a brand-new stage in my artistic course which I’m very enthusiastic about. I was just born today and my name is Fiona.
Any fears or unspoken thoughts about this new beginning?
There have been, but I felt ready for this change. The time was just right. It was a very creative process. A process of artistic and personal re-definition.
Meeting and working with Nikos Antypas had a lot to do with that. He was a gift to me. I knew his work, I admired it and I could always tell the rock influences in anything he did. I met a generous man, with whom I share the same taste and a man who did me the honor to arrange and produce the songs in my new album.
I feel really lucky that in this new step of mine he contributed his aesthetics and his strong influence. In this process, I choose to work with talented, passionate and courageous people.
Albert Panagiotopoulos has written the lyrics of every new song and has composed many of them, some we wrote together and some others I composed myself. Albert is a composer whose artistic intentions I trust completely and I also love the innocence with which he sees the world.
We totally identify with each other and that is practically magic. I feel really blessed for working with both men.
How do you begin, in what terms?
I feel very good about myself. I know that, whatever I do, I do it in my own, unique way and what I want is to find the people I share the same aesthetics with, the same point of view. I’ve made my own fairytale in life.
You have experienced violence, does a person’s image matter more than what he can offer as a useful member of a community?
There have been moments – in a quite younger age – when I asked myself why people react with such violence to anything different. We are what we are…and we all have different characteristics, different preferences, capabilities, needs.
We are all wonderful creatures, capable for both the best and the worst. Reconciliation between all creatures and acceptance of the fact that we’re not the same but different, is the only way to achieve balance and to live in harmony.
“FREE” – New Digital Single
Music:FIONA | Lyrics: Albert Panagiotopoulos, Arranged & Produced by Nikolaos Antypas .
Label: Cultural Action/EMSE