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The
Straits Times and Sony Music recently gave students in Singapore
participating in the School Holidays Programme a chance to
hone their interviewing skills with Charlotte. Jocelyn of Team
Singapore was one of the lucky ones chosen to participate in
this very rare opportunity and she shares her experience with
us.
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| Charlotte
gives a world exclusive performance of "All Love
Can Be" from the upcoming "A Beautiful
Mind" Soundtrack |
Students
listen with great attention as Charlotte answers questions. |
Charlotte
answers a question from one of the fans in the audience. |
Charismatic
Church
by Jocelyn (Team Singapore)
 
The Straits Times together with a group of teenagers carefully selected for the holidays interactive, Charlotte Church Exclusive Videoconference,
gathered to have a friendly chat with the up-and-rising star, who was at London at that time. She just had her lunch and was seated by the table with a file,
pen, a bottle of water and of course, with her blue mobile phone by her side.
'Oh wow!' was the amazed reaction of Welsh sensation Charlotte Church, 15, when she came on the huge screen in the videoconference to see a
bunch of about forty people in the room. 'I've never seen anything like that before! Britain doesn't have it. This is really
wicked!' The bubbly, down-to-earth young teen giggled as she awaits her first question.
[The following questions and answers are not really translated
into script word by word. I'll try my best to recall what she
had said during the chat and what approximately the questions
are though I don't remember some of them.]
Q: Do you consider yourself a child prodigy?
Charlotte: No, I don't consider myself as one. A prodigy to me is someone who spends 6 hours a day practising singing. I don't do that.
Q: You collaborated with Josh Groban for the song 'The Prayer'
in your new album. What's it like working with him?
Charlotte: (Smiling) Great! In fact the song was recorded separately. I was
in Cardiff recording my part while Josh was in Los Angeles recording his. And the producer was somewhere in Denver. Anyway, there was once when I was
waiting backstage with Josh to perform the song 'The Prayer' and Josh became very nervous. His hands were shaking like this. (Pretends to hold a
mike and shaking both her hands. Then laughed.)
Q: You recently went to the New York City Movie Premier of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so did you enjoy the movie?
Charlotte:
(brightens up) Yes, I enjoyed it very much! I've read all the books! The movie was great though reading the book is much better as the
magic is there.
Q: And who are your favourite characters?
Charlotte: A lot of people like Harry Potter but my favourite character would be Albus Dumbledore, he is always a step ahead of other people. And I like
Rubeus Hagrid and Ron Weasley. My favourite scene is the table fighting scene between the two Weasley brothers, you can almost sense
the magic in the air in such a gathering and atmosphere. And another favourite scene is the table where all the food is laid out. I love food!'
Q: What are your favourite songs in the album?
Charlotte: 'From My First Moment', my friend played that one-day and I said 'I want that song to be on the album.' And she went,
okay. It's a beautiful song. I really love 'All Love Can Be' and it will be in the soundtrack of the new Russell Crowe movie.
'Habañera', 'The Prayer' and also 'The Water Is Wide'.
Q: Could you sing us a song?
Charlotte:
What song do you want me to sing? (when she got no answer) Come on tell me what song you would like to hear. (when she got no answer again)
Ok, I think I will sing a part of 'All Love Can Be'. I haven't recorded it yet so you guys will be the first to hear it. (pausing for a while) Oh no! I can't remember how the song goes. Wait! Hold on, let me concentrate. (Stared at the table as she tries to remember. She remained seated when she
sang the song. After which she got a warm applause and she grinned.)
Charlotte: I really love this videoconference!
Q: Any boyfriend?
Charlotte:
(perked up) I do have them in the past but not currently. The guys I met were really intimidated.
Q: Charlotte, your monthly allowance is 80 pounds, right? (Charlotte nodded her head) Then do you ever feel it is unfair in any way that you are not
allowed to spend as much as you earn?
Charlotte: No, I don't think it's unfair. It teaches me the value of money although sometimes I exceed it shopping it with my girlfriends! At
those times, I borrow from them! However, I am allowed to spend over that amount, if the request is reasonable. All the money goes to the Trust Fund and
I can get them out only when I turned 21. But if I wanted to buy a car when I'm18, I'm sure I'm allowed to get some money out to buy it.
BUT if it was like I requested to take a million bucks out to help my boyfriend, then the trust fund will say no.
Q: Do you do sports?
Charlotte: No, not really. But I like boxing though punching my dad was more fulfilling! (laughs) I enjoy squash and swimming too. I eat what I want,
I'm a chocoholic! I love pizza and coke. Besides I don't want to give a negative image of perfection to teens out there. (pinching her cheeks)
And I have these huge squirrel cheeks!
Q: It must be quite an honour to be selected to perform at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Are you looking forward to sharing such an emotional
moment with the world?
Charlotte: It is brilliant! My grandma loves the Olympics. I'll be performing 'The Prayer' with Josh and I think that would be the
perfect song for the Olympics, with those September 11 terrorist attacks and all. It's brilliant because all different nations come together for the
event.
Q: How do you feel about Becky Taylor?
Charlotte: She's got a beautiful voice. We both have the similar appeal; straight hair, jeans, sneakers but she's less operatic. In fact, I
don't feel any jealousy, I just wish all the best to her.'
Q: Do you plan to go into opera seriously?
Charlotte: I've got to work a lot harder if I plan to go into opera. But I might do 2 to 3 opera if possible. I would like to experience everything
in life.
Q: What makes you angry?
Charlotte:
My parents! (then laughing) Yeah, sometimes my
mum made me mad but there were times too when I made her mad. So it's kind of like a
double way thing. Here, I want you to meet my mum. (took some time to persuade Maria) Mam, come on! This is great! This is my
mum! (Maria smiled and waved hello then walked off)
Charlotte:
Another area is the marketing of stars. It's all about the image, not the music.
Q: What makes you happy then?
Charlotte: Things that makes me happy are simple things like reading, and hanging out with my friends. And when I hear a song that I love, music in
general.
Q: What do you think of Singapore?
Charlotte: It's a beautiful
place, my trip here was brilliant! I would like to go there again, maybe for a holiday. Singapore fans are great
because they are more accepting. And I love the Asian food they have there!
Q: Do you listen to boybands?
Charlotte: (pondered for a while) No but I like N'Sync. Elliot, my five year old cousin is obsessed with Five and was always listening to 'We
Will Rock You', on playback! (laughing with the rest of us) I like A1 too because they play their own instruments!
At last the session ended after 45 minutes with her. We were really fortunate to get such a long time to chat with the bubbly singer. Normally an
interviewer only gets half an hour with a celebrity. But before she go, we took a picture with her on screen in the middle. Photographer: Charlotte, raise your hands up like you're embracing them.
Charlotte: Like this? (she was clearly amused and started giggling non-stop)
Photographer: Would you like to stand up a little?
Charlotte: (stood up) Is this okay?
Photographer: Great! Excellent! We took a few shots and returned to our seats.
Sony representative: All right Charlotte, thank you for your time!
Charlotte: No, thank you. I'm going shopping now.
Everyone in the room: Shopping??
Charlotte: (laughing) Yes, shopping. Goodbye! (she gave a last great smile and a wave and walked away)
-
Jocelyn
(Team Singapore)
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