Amy Macdonald strikes back at pop culture on debut album

By Claire Ashton
Published: August 14th, 2008 | 10:20am

At only 20, Amy Macdonald has already achieved double platinum success in the U.K. with her debut album, This Is the Life, released in the U.K. last year. Luckily, the Glaswegian is every bit authentic as she is unpretentious.

The self-taught guitarist and self-proclaimed tomboy who cut her teeth on Michael Jackson’s Thriller submitted homemade recordings to music companies that advertised in the back of New Musical Express. Macdonald eventually secured a production deal, at nearly age 18, with London-based Melodramatic Records. She worked with Melodramatic head Pete Wilkinson, who landed her a publishing and record deal with Decca before producing This Is the Life in 2007.

As a dogmatic listener who says she hates being dictated to and being told who’s going to be the next big thing, Macdonald chose to avoid over-hyping her album overseas in favor of letting the songs spread organically via word of mouth. “We wanted to allow the music to speak for itself and let people have a sense of ownership over it,” she says via phone.

Released August 19 in the U.S., This Is the Life is an acoustic-infused pop album chock full of fire — it takes a bold stance against superficiality, celebrity, and authority from the youthful perspective of a wide-eyed troubadour who says she isn’t shy about telling people what she thinks.

Taking an unabashedly honest stance on topics like ex-Libertines frontman Pete Doherty and the reality TV show Big Brother, Macdonald’s material provides a refreshingly relevant critique of popular culture. “[Superficiality] is really in the forefront of British culture lately,” Macdonald says. “Shows like Big Brother have spawned this whole generation of people who just want to be famous. It’s just a bad shame that this whole wave of things is influencing the younger generation.”

With an album loaded with self-penned material, the unassuming singer with gutsy, crystal-clear vocals — tinged with a Scottish accent — uses her platform to deliver “simple songs about simple situations.” On the track “Poison Prince,” for example, Macdonald speaks to the drug-addled, tabloid-victimized Doherty. “’Poison Prince’ is a song basically to Pete saying, ‘Please forget all of the rubbish that you do now and go back and make some good music.’”

Macdonald has spent the past 18 months trekking across Europe, sharing the stage with a number of legends such as Paul Weller and Elton John, with great audience reception. Macdonald also braved a stint on the European festival circuit — “harder gigs” that she says were just as rewarding. “Festival gigs are not necessarily your own fan base,” she says. “But if you’re coming to the end of your set and you see more and more people clapping, you start to think, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve done a good job. I’ve probably won over a whole bunch of new fans here!’”

While sharing the stage with popular headlining artists has been good for her credibility and helped her to achieve an accolade-worthy platinum sales status, it’s a local performance in Macdonald’s hometown of Glasgow that she holds most dear. “I wrote a song on my album about The Barrowlands,” Macdonald says. “David Bowie said that it was his favorite place to play in the world. I was really excited to play there, and it was one of the best nights of my life.”

Swaggering vocals that pack a punch combined with what Macdonald describes as “upbeat music that you can tap your toes to” make her brand of earthy pop akin to KT Tunstall. “I’ve got quite a deep, distinctive voice, and I like to write songs that really anybody can relate to,” she says.

The bona fide songstress, who is a recent recipient of Silver Clef’s “Best Newcomer” Award, has been able to sidestep the drama that besets so many artists who attain celebrity status during their teens. “I have been really lucky in that I’ve had this success, but I have been able to remain normal at the same time,” Macdonald says. “Success hasn’t really hampered anything.”

Amy Macdonald Myspace