genre pop

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While Naomi Scott has conquered Hollywood, starring in Aladdin and Power Rangers and delivering an Oscar-worthy performance last year as haunted pop star Skye Riley in Smile 2, her first love was music.

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That’s apparent in her October visit to the Billboard NYC offices, as the bubbly London native gushes about the array of artists currently filling her playlist — from Erika de Casier to Ariana Grande — and how proud she is of the journey to her long-awaited debut album, which is slated to arrive next year.

“It feels both emotionally honest, right, but also not completely a diary entry, autobiographical,” Scott, whose hair is freshly dyed a red pink, says of the album. “And one way that I wanted to also achieve that was a soundscape that I knew in my mind that I wanted to kind of build out that was cohesive, characterful and nostalgic, but also fresh.”

The 32-year-old singer-actress broke through in 2011 as part of Disney’s Lemonade Mouth, which produced a pair of Billboard Hot 100 soundtrack hits she contributed to: “Determinate” and “Breakthrough,” along with pop-rock fan-favorite “She’s So Gone.”

Over two decades in the making, Scott’s debut began to take shape in 2021. She struck gold during a trip to Norway when she DM’d producer Lido — who ended up being just five minutes away — on a whim. A FaceTime chat led to Lido (who’s also worked with Ariana Grande, Halsey and Jaden Smith) eventually becoming the album’s primary producer.

Homecooked meals with Lido’s parents and dips into the nearby fjord filled the gaps during recording breaks. The serenity of the small Norwegian town’s countryside brought a clarity to Scott and her team of collaborators throughout the creative process.

One of the songs that came about from the Norwegian sessions was “Sweet Nausea” — and the self-reflective track, which she describes as a “carousel of regret,” arrived on Friday (Nov. 7). “It could be a really big thing or a really tiny thing, but when that thing gets lodged in my mind that I said or I did, it’s like a scab that you have to keep picking, and you replay it over and over in your mind,” Scott explains of the single that was crafted in about 15 minutes. “Because you think that if you replay it enough times, it will change.”

Scott’s already set the table for the album with a trio of singles this year: “Rhythm,” “Cut Me Loose” and the alt-pop bop “Cherry.” She also made her festival debut with a performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago over the summer.

The multi-hyphenate entertainer will return to the stage on Friday for a show at London’s Moth Club, and then she’ll serve as an opener for Blood Orange, who’s a close friend and collaborator, on Sunday (Nov. 9) for his Alexandra Palace tour stop.

Dive into the rest of our interview with Naomi Scott below, as she talks about her upcoming album, her favorite artists and what playing Skye in Smile 2 meant to her career.

So how did we get here?

I’ve been making music for 15 years and kind of exploring and figuring things out. But that was at 27 — which, again, I think so many people go through a bit of an identity crisis [at that age]. Which sounds very dramatic, but it’s some sort of shift. It was kind of going back to basics. So before that point, I had been, you know, I was in L.A., I was working, I was in the studio. I was in kind of different pop rooms in that ecosystem. And I think it was very clear to me that I had to go back to basics. And to me, that is getting on a piano and writing like you’re 15 years old.

I started to build out what I felt like was subconsciously a bit of a theme in terms of the things that I was writing into. And so I basically wrote a bunch of demos, and I was like, “Oh, this feels cohesive in terms of what I’m tapping into.” Which is like an exploration into different versions of myself — not what we were talking about — which allowed me to kind of dip into something that felt intimate and have proximity to me, but also have a bit of world building aspect to it, and a little bit surreal. It’s a sweet spot.

The backdrop of this album sonically is things that I was listening to on my dad’s Windows Media Player growing up. It’s the music that brings me joy. I grew up in church. I grew up in gospel music, like pop gospel music. So you know, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Kim Burrell, those voices. [Michael Jackson] and Janet [Jackson] are probably the biggest sonic influences. A little Phil Collins — Kate Bush, to me, represents an artist who remains in such a childlike [state of] play, even in terms of what she writes about. 

When did the album start to take shape?

I started writing into this concept, subconsciously, probably in 2021. I can’t say it was like, “I’m gonna do this, and it’s gonna be this.” It was very much like, “Oh, I’m beginning to find that this process for me in writing is feeling more successful to me.” I like this seed, or the idea of it always being from me first — whether it’s a demo, whether it’s a fully written song on the piano, whether it’s just a chorus. So for example, when I’d done a couple of these demos, I’d got, like seeds of ideas, and then I was I had a session with two people who would be become.

So basically my so my main collaborators on the project, Daphne Gale and Goldwash… I came in with the chorus for “Losing You.” I came in with like, the first two lines of the verse and the sounds about a long-distance relationship — but also just the idea of the inevitability of feeling like something is slipping through your fingers and there’s nothing you can do about it. And we wrote that song, and I was just a bit like, “Oh, this feels like a cornerstone sound of something that doesn’t feel derivative, that doesn’t feel like I’m just kind of painting by numbers.” I think that’s what really excites me.

Was there anything you took from playing Skye Riley in Smile 2 for your own album?

So I’ve been working on the album for so long that it was probably the opposite way around. I mean, Smile happened. It came about so quickly, and I think I kind of purposefully ran in the other direction in terms of creating that character, and going, “Let me put on a voice and sing in an American accent.” I also think it’s because the things that I poured into Skye Riley that I would take with me were things that I already had before — because it was just me — and the things that I left behind are things that I wouldn’t.

Let’s talk about the new single “Sweet Nausea.”

So we were in Norway, so I’ll just add a little bit of a gap about finding that producer. I just DM’d this guy with a Dropbox. Literally, he hit me back and was like, “These are sick. You wanna have a chat?” We got on FaceTime, chatted about all sorts of nonsense. Turns out he was five minutes down the road from me. So that’s Lido. So he’s Norwegian. A lot of this album I made in Norway — which, by the way, you need to get to Norway. He lives in a tiny town, and his mom is still the head teacher of the local primary school. I love his parents. They are like my favorite people. I recorded a lot of the vocals there, because he has a setup in a studio. I’ve recut this album like three times, because I wanted to get it right. 

So this was me, Lido, and Daphne on this trip. I had this idea, and I’ve written a little nursery rhyme, and I write log lines of songs a lot. That’s such a, of course, she’s in the movies [thing] — but I do find it really helpful. So this was, like, the carousel of regret — you know, round and round we go. I don’t even know what it was, something sweet nausea. There’s something about, like, picking at that scab, and that feeling where it’s kind of this weird sensation. And I hate to be that person, but you know, when you’re like, “This song just came together in 15 minutes.” Yeah, this was one of those ones. And it did just come very quickly.

What are you listening to right now?

Night Tapes. On the plane, I was in my old-school bag. Obviously, Blood Orange’s new album, Essex Honey, which I’m on. Erika de Casier, Lifetime. That album, there’s one melody from that first song and I’m like, it just scratches an itch. It’s like Sade meets a little bit of electronic. My most played song this year is called “Promise” by DameDame*. ML Buch, which I love. I loved FKA Twigs’ album Eusexua. I’m an Ariana Grande fan. I’m an Arianator. That song “Supernatural,” I run to that s—t.  

Have you ever met Ariana?

I’ve not met her, but we’ve communicated. I’m a big Wicked fan. I think she enjoyed Smile. One day we’ll have a conversation about it. I’m a big fan — I would probably fan girl really hard… Naomi Sharon. You can just put her on, I call it futuristic Sade. Any early 2000s, if you think of Madonna or those pop girls, Spice Girls, it all comes from Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson. Amaarae, her pitched-up s—t scratches an itch in my brain. She’s always in the pocket. 

Are there plans for a tour?

Absolutely, I’m about it. I love performing.

We saw you perform at Lollapalooza. That was lit, you had a good crowd. 

It was surprising, I was not expecting that. The most important thing to me is hitting the goals that I want to hit for myself as a performer. I have a very high standard for myself. So for me, it’s more about making sure vocally, this energy is how I want to perform. Whether there is one person there, whether there’s 10,000 people there, so regardless, I just want to be the best I can be. Obviously, that was just crazy.

I played the album. And then there was the nostalgia factor with “She’s So Gone.” And it’s great because I love that song… I wanted it to feel within the set, and wanted to sing it the way that I kind of do in my tone of voice, not like a 16-year-old. It was an amazing moment and very cool. But I am absolutely going to be out there on stage. I honestly love it, because there’s nothing more real than that exchange; it’s like theater. It’s just nothing better for an artist than to be connecting with people who are f—king with what you’re doing.

I performed in a room where there’s more people in my team than there is out in the crowd. I’ve performed once for these two lovely girls. But again, I was like, “If it’s two of you, we’re doing this together, babes. It’s me, you and her.” The authenticity of that is more important, and I don’t want to skip any steps, and build and get better and put on a show I feel really confident about. 

What would you say the goal is for your album?

I am an artist in progress, and I want to remain curious, have fun. My aim is always I want to make things that I would want to interact with myself, that excite me. And then connect with people who are also connecting with it. And it’s like, the rest is not up to me. That’s not the exchange of art. I’ve been so meticulous with this album, and it’s been, just so much care and so much of oneself.

I think that’s also why I’ve not been releasing for a long time. I put out things decade ago, just kind of experimenting, exploring, but I knew the next time I do, I wanted to be really intentional about it. I just want to keep going and keep making, like, being creative. It’s not like, “This is my debut, and then that’s it forever.” I just want to go and continue growing and learning as an artist and trying to keep that exchange as pure as possible.

Did you want to be an actress or a music artist first?

Musician, because that’s where I kind of started. I was 15 or 16 and I started doing these singing audition. So I would randomly be taping myself singing and it landed me in a pop writing kind of place in Kent. And I kind of cut my teeth writing there, and they write pop in a really interesting way. [When I was younger,] I was just so excited about all these different ways of of me exploring my creativity that — you don’t really overthink it. I think I was sure, but I didn’t know how the hell I was going to get there. It wasn’t like, “I’m sure this is how I’m going to do it.” I’ve been making music this whole time, but when do I feel like it’s the right thing to put out into the world?

What are the similarities or differences in your approach to recording music or taking on an acting role?

If you’re on a set as an actor, the goal is always to get to a point of honesty and allow yourself to be vulnerable. And that’s kind of the same with music as well, because you’re trying to get to emotional honesty. You’re trying to get to something that feels potent.

However, they’re completely the opposite, in the sense that in a movie, you are a color in someone’s painting; they are using you how they want. In music, you are the painter — although you might have people coming in and you saying, “Do you mind just that thing you do really well. Could you just do that?” Because I’m not good at that bit. I feel very blessed to be able to make music with people I love, people that I think are amazing. It’s mine, and it also is me. And I think people have seen me in a lot of different contexts, but I’m always a color in someone’s painting, and this is mine.

What does Smile 2 represent for your career?

It’s my proudest [role], I think it’s so sick. I think it’s amazing. I love that movie. So proud of it, and it’s so lovely that people are still connecting and loving it. That’s vibes. Me, Parker Finn and that whole crew really did that. 

Do they let you keep anything you wear in the movie, like the 1986 VMAs shirt or the hoodie?

Why didn’t I get that hoodie? I really like that hoodie. That big jacket that I hide in, I’ve got that and I wear that all the time. One time on the tube, oh my gosh, it was so funny. I had it on and some guy — this is the coolest s—t — he just had out his Notes app, and he just went like this, and it said, “Great disguise.” And just left me alone. It’s so good.

What does the red hair mean for this era?

I have red hair now; it just feels like this era for me. Yeah, I love it. This feels like me in this moment. So because it feels both weird — you know how I’ve been talking about the album, it’s both kind of intimate, but then it has this characterful kind of production, and it’s like a world-building. So it’s kind of between those two things. It’s almost like this thing that I call grounded fantasy, which is me, but it’s also like having fun and playing and exploring, as opposed to, like me and my naturalistic state, or me putting on a costume. It’s like all of these other playful things in the middle are me.

And this is, as I said, like — I am very much a girl in process. Sometimes I’ll just do this, and I’m like, “Yeah, I like this today.”

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