PinkPantheress is 100% sure she wants to be a pop star

PinkPantheress exploded into 2021 with a series of charming and inventive singles that paired her high-pitched, husky vocals with uptempo beats built around instantly recognizable samples. It was as if the English singer and producer was trying to immerse herself in pop music history while sitting on her laptop in her bedroom, which is exactly what happened.

In 2023, her song “Boy's a Liar Pt. 2”, created in collaboration with Ice Spicepeaked at No. 3 on Billboard Hot 100; a few months later, she included the song on the soundtrack to Greta Gerwig's hit filmBarbie” Last year she went on tour as the opening act for Olivia Rodrigoand now she's nominated for her first two Grammys: a dance/electronic album for this year's “Fancy That” and a dance-pop record for the project's opening track, “Illegal.”

With nine songs in just 20 minutes, “Fancy That” bolsters the early TikTok-era economy of PinkPantheress. It's also full of samples from Underworld, Basement Jaxx and Panic! at the Disco is perhaps one of the reasons the 24-year-old singer describes it as a mixtape rather than an album. (The accompanying “Fancy Some More?” remix set includes appearances from Basement Jaxx, Kylie Minogue, Sugababes, Ravin Lena and Groove Armada, among many others.)

However, “Fancy That” also showcases an expanding emotional palette—it's alternately funny, wistful, angsty, melancholy and underwhelming. She talked about it over a match in Los Angeles, where she lives when she's not at home in London. “If you're a musician, this place is sold as the place to be,” she says of Los Angeles. “I didn’t like it here, but I really like it.”

You enjoy the city despite yourself.
I think for me it was just a case of: when I'm comfortable somewhere, I don't like research. What I know is safe is where I stay.

Why?
It's something about the way my brain works—I don't think it's my choice. My brain associates change (different environments and travel) with fear. This is the reason I don't go on vacation. This is very difficult for me because I really don't feel safe. It doesn't matter where I am.

What are you doing in Los Angeles?
I'm hanging out with friends. I'm getting food. I do all the usual things. But it took me years. When I first came here, I didn't think: Oh my god, the Hollywood sign! It was like: Let me find my support. I think getting my house was when I was okay. I don't like the stress of going out and worrying about how I treat people.

If you're in a restaurant, it's hard not to think that someone might know who you are.
Sometimes, if I'm not well disguised.

What disguises?
I think I'll stop wearing my hair in public.

So, is pop fame nice or not?
It's absurd, as everyone says. But this is 100% what I always wanted to be. So now I can't complain.

I mean, you could.
But I won't.

Would that be bad form?
I firmly believe that my words influence everything I do in the future. So if I feel comfortable complaining about my job – when I worked so hard to get here – then it will stay with me and show in my behavior.

Do you drive a car?
I love driving. That's another reason I like it here: I can drive a car.

Do you enjoy driving here more than in London?
I have a better car here. Well, actually, I don't have a car in London anymore. The police took him away.

Why?
Don't know.

You should know.
I really just don't know. I literally got there and he disappeared and I thought: Great. It was so cheap – about £2,000.

What kind of car was this?
And Peugeot 208.

IN recent interview with Zane Lowe, you named the people you called your blueprints: MIA, Kelela and Tinashe. Everything is fine–dear pioneers, but none of them, I would say, are pop superstars. It got me thinking: do you want to be at the top?
I feel that in order to be at the top of my game, I will have to compromise on my creative choices. However, if post-“Brother” the era has taught us everything about music, which is that you can actually be as experimental as you want, and if it translates, it will translate. So it's actually not necessarily as formulaic a recipe as one might think.

Do I want to be on top of popularity? I think it might be too much pressure. I don't like explaining myself and I worry that because I'm big I'll have to explain a lot about myself. However, I want to be respected. I want to be influential. And I don't want to worry How well will this go? It's not so much about the heights of popularity, but about having very loyal fans, which I value above all else.

I spoke to Lord She recently told me that she really wants to be understood, although she would like it that way. You said you don't like to explain yourself. But do you feel obligated?
I would say that I definitely didn't explain myself enough at first. And, unfortunately, it was a serious mistake, because – if I had explained my music and my musical thinking from the very beginning – perhaps now I would be perceived more as a producer. But because I haven't, and because of the way I present myself, I really think people perceive me as more of a shallow pop girl, which I'm not – in fact, I'm totally an art girl, like all the women I've mentioned.

So I kind of went from not explaining to explaining too much. I hated it too because then people asked me more questions. Now I don't want to explain anything anymore.

Your remix album features the Sugababes. An excellent example of an act that is loved in England, but cannot be arrested in the States. Why do you think some British acts overlap and others don't?
If you have someone on your marketing team who prioritizes America, then I'm 99% sure you can always do it. I don't think Americans are put off by Britishness – I don't think the music is too crazy for them to understand. The reason I succeeded in America was because I used a platform where the majority of users are American.

You mean Tik Tok. Did you use TikTok because it was a platform you were good at or because you knew it was the platform with the widest reach?
I had no idea how it worked – I just thought about what had the most reach. I'm a child of the Internet. I've always been online.

What's wrong with the Internet?
There was a time when I wouldn't have said anything.

At what age?
Sixteen is even older, to be honest. This whole onslaught of generated things made it so incredibly unusual. When I was on the Internet, you didn't have to question any message you saw.

Now you have to wonder if something is real or artificial.
Is this propaganda or not? This is bad.

Is TikTok still interesting?
I'm not on social media at all, so I don't know.

You just publish your posts –
And take a plunge. Or I communicate with people who help me in my craft. I like people who make fan edits, so I will communicate with them. But I don't really scroll.

Did someone tell you, “Listen, you need to stop scrolling”?
No. I don't really have any vices, so I didn't have a problem with it.

Everyone is addicted to scrolling.
Hell no, I'm not like that. If I want to stop something, I can stop right now.

Are you drinking? Smoking weed?
I can't take any drugs. I get drunk once or twice a month and that's my limit. I'll definitely consider this.

Why are there no drugs?
I'm a hypochondriac.

What are you afraid of?
Dying. Besides, I just don't like it. When I get drunk, it's the best chaos I can experience within myself.

Dying?
Too much coke can kill you – cause heart arrhythmias. And, as I said, if I'm afraid of something, I won't take a step towards it.

Who said no to being on a remix album?
Nobody said no. But I don't ask people who I know will say no – I just refuse to ask them. There was one person who said, “Oh, I saw it too late.” [makes “Yeah, right” face]. And one person did not answer. Perhaps two people did not answer.

Were your feelings hurt?
No. Yes. May be. As for the features and all that, I understand very well – I understand how the singer’s mind works. I think people who have suffered may not put themselves in their shoes.

Surely at this moment you told people “no”.
It's a terrible feeling. And I try to make it work as much as possible. But sometimes it just doesn't make sense. Vibrations are disabled.

Have you heard Lily Allen's album?
Yes.

Thoughts?
Really good. And seriously.

She's just posting all her business.
She's British – that's what we do.

Are the British actually serious?
I think there's something extremely serious about our music. That's why right now you have someone like Adele or someone like Ray. You can feel them bleeding. They bleed onto the stage, bleed onto pieces of paper.

Apart from what we talked about, I know virtually nothing about your personal life.
Exactly.

But I know a huge amount about Lily Allen. What do you think about this urge to throw everything out into the world?
What I love about Lily Allen is that she has always been very honest from day one. She's an open book in interviews, she's an open book about everything. This works for her because it makes her very personable and makes her music even more enjoyable because we feel like we're really experiencing her as a person.

I wish I could be that serious. I just don't think I've been through half of what she's been through in her life. Because I'm so afraid, I don't get into very exciting or controversial situations, and it can feel boring. But I wouldn't say that I was a boring person. I enjoy the mundanity of interacting with others and the excitement of being myself. I'm actually obsessed with myself. When I'm with my best friend, we have so much fun together. Other people are like, “What the hell?”

Are you on Coachella next year. You've talked about how festivals aren't your ideal place to perform.
I'm definitely better now, that's for sure. Two years ago I was pretty happy…

What did you learn from the tour that just ended?
Oh, a lot. I learned that I was in control of my body. I realized that I was in control of almost every element when I was on stage. One thing I realize as I talk is that the reason I don't like drugs is because I like total control. When I'm on stage, for some reason I always feel like I'm going to lose control – I'm going to have to faint or run away. I don't know why, but this is my biggest fear before performing, and that's why I was always very nervous.

But this tour made me realize that I can choose whether I want to have a good time right now. And I decided to have a really good time – it was a really fun experience. I'm still learning to dance. I'm still learning how to look good on stage. I think I have a pretty funny build that makes me look long. And when you have a long figure and long limbs, you dance poorly.

You're taller than I expected.
Every person says this.

Why do we all think you'll be shorter?
My voice is quite high. I also feel like I'm shrinking—not so much physically, but in the way I portray myself. I'm not like that [shouts]”I'm here!” I'm more like [whispers]”I'm here.”