July should be a good month for Ella Henderson. The British pop starlet is tipped to take the UK No 1 with her next single, Glitterball. Appearing as a featured vocalist on a Sigma production, Henderson's track isn't officially released until July 24.
But the song is already setting alight radio playlists and streaming services, prompting speculation that it will earn the 19-year-old former X Factor contestant her second top spot, following last year's summer smash, Ghost from her debut album Chapter One.
What you might not know, however, is that UAE-based dance duo Hollaphonic were invited to contribute their own authorised remix to the package, which adds a hardier, clubbier approach, and is available to stream now.
Fresh off the road from an arena United Kingdom tour with what’s left of Take That, we caught up with Henderson, a star on the verge of superstardom.
We’re speaking to you from the studio in London. Is Chapter Two in the works already?
I guess so. I'm not really putting any pressure on myself to name it anything – I'm just getting back into writing and the whole creative process. I've been working with quite a few people from last time around [on Chapter One] – Ryan [Tedder, of OneRepublic], the TMS boys, and I did a bit of writing with Danny [O'Donoghue] from The Script, which was really good. We wrote two songs and it was a lot of fun – he's so, so talented.
Ryan Tedder appears to be something of a magic maker.
He is – I told him I'd spent two years writing my first record and I still hadn't found my first single. I said: "I'm not eating, sleeping, I'm getting bogged down." And he said: "You're haunted," and that's how we grew on the concept of Ghost. There and then we wrote a chorus in the space of 20 minutes.
Where do you get the lyrical inspiration for a song like that?
Most of my best songs happen when I'm singing in a very strong or heightened emotion that day – whether that be anger, sadness, or really happy – I just go to the piano and let it all out. It's my form of therapy. So if I'm angry, a song like Mirror Man happens, or when I was so frustrated, Ghost happened. When you're feeling something very strong it can all be thrown into a song.
Any chance of a UAE gig soon?
I can’t wait to come to the Middle East. I’ve never been before, so I’d love to come and work, and then maybe have a week’s holiday as well. I’m sure it will happen in the near future.
Let’s go back to The X Factor. How traumatic was your controversial exit from the 2012 series?
I wouldn’t say it was traumatic – it was one of the best experiences I had, at the age of 16, to get a sense of what the music industry could feel like – it was like boot camp. I knew what I was getting myself into. It’s an entertainment show, at the end of the day – not the be all and end all. And I think that’s the biggest mistake a lot of people make when they go on those shows , [they] treat it like it’s life or death.
How did it feel to have the likes of Adele, Simon Cowell and Stephen Fry speaking out in your support?
For someone such as Adele to know my name – to even know that she watches TV like the rest of us – was crazy. I was speechless at the time.
Another X Factor alumni are One Direction. Do you think their time is up?
Those boys have always got to make sure they’re happy with what they do. They’re so talented and they’ve worked so hard for years, so whatever they choose to do is their decision. I don’t reckon it’s the end at all. I definitely think there will be a day when 1D are all together again.
The big question – if you'd never found that first fame on The X Factor, where do you think you would be today?
I’d probably be renting a flat with all my old mates from college and doing a nine-to-five job, but I’d also be playing in a bar or gigging as much as I could at night. I’d [also] be writing. My [original] plan was that by the time I turned 21 or 22 I would head into a record label, sit down, play them my songbook and – fingers crossed – get signed as a songwriter. So to actually find my deal at 16, I almost see it as a five-year apprenticeship.
• Chapter One is on sale through Sony Music Middle East. Hear Hollaphonic’s remix of Glitterball on YouTube now
rgarratt@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
