Off Air... with Jane and Fi - Get off at Swindon before your arse starts to hurt (with Pixie Lott)

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

We're just a few days out from Fi heading off to strap herself to a ski jump zipline in Oslo, but there's lots to discuss before then! Fi and Eve cover buying miscellaneous items in TK Maxx, maternal sounds, melted hidden chocolate, and teaching your children about your younger self. Plus, The Sunday Times' Roya Nikkhah is presenting the live show with Fi this week. She speaks to pop star Pixie Lott about her new show 'Who Killed Marilyn?' You can check out our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@OffAirWithJaneAndFi Our most asked about book is called 'The Later Years' by Peter Thornton. If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: [e-mail] Follow us on Instagram! @janeandfiPodcast Producers: Eve SalusburyExecutive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greetings, everybody. In at number one. The Cheltenham Festival Appearance by Offair with Jane and Fee. This will be happening on... What an anti-climax. I've just realised, I don't know. No, so the only date that I could think of was the 12th of August, but that's today because we're allowed to announce this.

That's the one we're allowed to announce. Okay, you look up the date. I'm going to say, very slowly, but with great import, our guest will be none other than the relentless jumpsuit wearer, Annika Rice. Woo! Anika has a memoir out, which will be extraordinarily entertaining. I've got all of the time in the world for Annaika Rice, actually.

I think her professional story is really interesting. She was completely knocking through the glass ceiling, way before many other women managed too and she was terrific to watch on TV, all of that running around and then jumping in helicopters so, so mad. But then she did some extraordinarily good things with her fame, including supporting some causes that just weren't particularly fashionable at the time. So we've got that to talk about. She then had quite a few years in the wilderness. She would say this herself and she bounced back in and she in recent years has taken up stand-up. She has appeared sometimes on Times Radio. She's obviously been busy writing a book and she's just very, very funny and

self-deprecating about her own place in the world. But I've walked through busy places with Annaika Rice and she's still one of the most recognisable people in the country. And you forget that. You forget that. That actually she had proper, proper fame land on her doorstep, which have personal consequences as well. Have I bigted up and did that give you long enough to look up a date? So I've got in touch with our exact Rosie. Yes. I said, when is Cheltenham? in capitals quick. It is Thursday the 15th of October at 3.30.

Brilliant. There you go. Confirmed. Book your tickets because also we do this funny thing don't we where we will talk to Annika Rice for half an hour but then we will carry on afterwards because that's the time of our on-air show. So we

will do some pretty dynamic on-air junctions where you'll be part of the live show. if you're in the audience and then we'll carry on chatting to you as the Chelten audience afterwards. So it's got jeopardy.

It's very technically difficult. It's got everything, isn't it? Absolutely everything. Book your tickets now. It'd be really, really lovely to see you there. Oki-dokey, other things that we need to mention as well. I'm off next week. So it will be the, if you and I are the tugboat,

even fee, what boat do you morph into when Jane Garvey lands back in port? Well, quite a temporary dingy because I'm only there on the Monday. Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve. Where are you for the rest of the week? I'll be in Turkey. Oh, my gosh. Okay.

Right, I would like to hear from Eve's boyfriend's mum again. Because when you wrote in before, it's her name. Sophie. Sophie, I'm so sorry. Sophie, when you wrote in before, we felt that there was a mild bit of piss taking going on about Eve's addiction to holidays. But actually, it's problematic, isn't it?

It's problematic. You're going to Turkey. Going to Turkey with my family. When did you get back from Greece? Just to remind us. About 10 days ago. And then did you go to St. Marlowe after that? That was just before.

That was just before. I mean, it's easy to lose track Eve, isn't it? Oh my God. Right, so who will Eve? No, your Eve. Who will Jane? Jane. That's her name.

I'm joking. Who will Jane be doing the podcast with? So it will be me and Jane on Monday with a sprinkling or a big dollop of Robbie Millen. Yeah. And then it'll be Hannah with Jane Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Brilliant, okay. And you're off for two weeks.

I am, yes. So then Hannah will do it the next week with Jane for two days and then I'm back for two days. Well done. Where are you off to? No, don't try and chase conversation. Where are you going? Do you think that you'll manage to fit another little holiday

between September and Christmas? I've got Marseille booked. You've got Marseille. She's got Marseille booked. what's going on I hope HR are listening so I've got a diary let's cross off the days

that Eve takes us holiday oh 165 you say interesting so important to relax isn't it isn't it Eve oh good for you God I mean your 20s should absolutely

no they should be if you're lucky enough to be in work and actually some of that is like in your case it's obviously talent and hard work too thank you then no you should you should do all the things that you want to do why not have a great time thank you we are going to suffolk for a nice long weekend because me and the latent life one which you know what we just we really really love suffolk's quietness you have quite a suffolk affiliation we

have we're having a love affair with the big big blue skies of suffolk and in fact we're going quite near to dunwich which is where the terrible moorland fire was a couple of weeks ago so we will go and pay our respects it was part of a nature reserve wasn't it? They think that 25 species of birds might have been for a very, very, very long time

and that is truly sad so we're in Suffolk for a long weekend it's then my mum's very very octogenarian birthday. I never know whether mum wants her age put out there so we'll just say She's in her 80s, so every birthday is wonderful. And then we are off to Norway. Oh, yes, you continue your tour.

Our tour of non-scortio. Yes. E-E-S countries. What will the temperature be? It's about 1920 degrees. Wow, very civilised. Yeah, very civilised indeed. And it's the exact holiday that I tried to take my kids on

just before the lockdowns. So we had it all booked. We were staying in a lovely. Airbnb and Oslo is an amazing city. Have you ever been? I've never been. Eve, you should go. I don't know where you'd find the time, but you should go. It's embraced its modern spirit and its environmental spirit. So it's hugely pedestrianised. It's got an incredible harbour. You can get to the mountains, which have wolves in them, on the metro. It's just a very different city. It's a very, very different.

way of living. So I visited it for work. I made a documentary there actually about pedestrianisation. Stay awake, everybody. I do think it might be the key to happiness. Yeah, well, so many people were happy. They'd done this thing where they'd surveyed as many people as they could in Oslo, and forgive me if I get any of these facts wrong, it was quite a long time ago. And a lot of people had objected to the notion of pedestrianisation, but they put it in anyway. And something astonishing, I think, after three or four years of pedestrianisation, they went back to the people and said, actually, who would now like it removed? And I think 87% or something said no, we'd like it to stay.

So it's just one of those things that, of course, it feels like your liberty and choice is being taken away from you if someone says, get out of the car. But actually what you might gain from it is really, really wonderful. And you don't know it until you're in it. So, gosh, that went off on a terribly BBC World Service tangent. didn't it? The Peckham High Street, Rye Lane, is only open to buses and bikes.

So for some, it feels slightly more pedestrianised because the buses don't come down all that often. Yeah. So you do kind of, everyone's walking all about, and it is one of the reasons I really, really enjoy living there. It's not Oslo. People aren't quite set out in gorgeous cafes in the same way. But you are more likely to get there

and have that way of life if you take cars out of, you know, central areas. It's just a fact, isn't it? So, yeah, but we're going for the, we're going for the floating saunas. They've put a zip wire on their ski jump. So there was a Winter Olympics held in Oslo, so they've got a massive ski jump.

It's now a zip wire. How mad is that I'm going to do it? We need footage. Are you going to wear one of these little cameras on your helmet? I might have a GoPro. I might, I might. And I can't wait, actually.

When we had to cancel the whole holiday, I think literally we had to cancel it two days before we were meant to go as the lockdown's encroached upon us. So it's taken us a very long time to get back there. Long overdue. Yep. But I can't wait actually. So we will report back.

With footage of the zip. With footage. With footage of the zip. My kind of adult children, they cannot believe that I'm going to do it. Because my most favourite and often used maternal sound is, and they've had that their entire child is. They're like, you're going to do that. Yes, I am.

It's going to be an exercise sound by the end of the holiday. It will, it is. Right. Now, you made a very good point that we've had such lovely time just chatting on the podcast as we haven't done enough emails. We haven't got through many. So quite a few we are going to keep until Jane and I are reunited. So that is definitely going to include ones about hair loss.

And I think we'll include ones about hearing as well because that would be worth having a really serious conversation. conversation about two. So Joe is in Yorkshire and describes herself as a 57-year-old suggestible woman, always caught out by Instagram adverts and buying rubbish from faraway land. So when you suggest a book or TV show, I'm pretty much always in. We're knee-deep in mother-in-law, end-of-life visiting at the hospice and trying to keep positive as she's had a great 91 years. Well, we send love and thoughts because even though that is a great 91 years, it's still such a difficult time show, isn't it?

So after listening, Joe goes on, a few days ago to Feasasio found a great show that was really funny with Steve Carell in it. I thought it was help us unwind. Search for Rooster, found a show called Roosters, obviously thought they were the same, one season down and no sign of an American comedian. Husband said, I like this show, but the dubbing

from the Netherlands is difficult to hear. I still had a slight doubt as this show wasn't hilarious. It's about four men, open marriages, divorce and Tinder dates. So after a particularly hard day at the hospice I just would love to have been on your sofa show with you waiting for Steve Carell to emerge into this. After a particularly hard day at the hospice

I got home and googled the show to see where it was filmed and screamed, oh my God, I realised there was a show with Steve Corral set in America called Rooster. It doesn't have an S on the end of it. I've just watched one episode tonight after catching up on the other roosters. So now we've got two shows to finish.

we're emotionally tired and we now have two roosters to deal with and Joe goes on to say I was also one of those people who books tickets to Berwick on Tweed last year thinking it was closer to me and an easy day trip it wasn't but I made it and slept in a shepherd's hut somewhere in a field nearby

Joe says I need to listen better and take things slower well to be honest Joe it sounds like you're having the last laugh there but I am sorry about the roosters thing because yes that is that is very very different easily done Yeah, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about Rooster with Steve Corral when you're more than a couple of episodes in. I love the idea that Steve Carole might have been some niche character that makes appearance in episode five.

Suddenly, the group of Dutch men obviously experiencing some late in life curiosity. I don't know what that would be. Comes for us all. Another TV recommendation comes in from Judith. I'm dropping by to recommend the undeclared ward. Channel 4, 2 series, set in GCHQ. Jane went to GCSQ once. Did she ever tell you about that?

Only eight times. With some very interesting material on social media bots and manipulation plus hacking, a stellar cast and some beautiful cinematography. Huge thank you for reading my email last week. Sorry about the swearing. I don't apologize, there's plenty. It's very welcome here, actually.

I'm attaching a photo taken this morning of the Wildflower Meadow at King's College. being harvested as a pallet cleanser. It's being harvested by a horse and plow. Isn't that incredible? That is incredible. Yeah. Can I see?

Look, it's a very yoldy worldy. Oh, wow. In front of King's College, Cambridge has not had a good summer, has it even? No. I know. I'll tell you what it does. It makes you sing from the rafters if you've been to the University of Kent at Canterbury. And any other universities.

it's uh i mean yeah Cambridge will survive it it will survive questions definitely need to be asked bizarre dolls names listening to your chat on dolls names last week reminded me of a giant stuff panda that my dad won for me at a fun fair in about

1985 three year old me named him after my favourite celebrity at the time telewogan lovely emily absolutely lovely did I give you some other emails You did give me some. This one is from Joe, it's titled Chickens and Biscuits.

She said she's a fairly new but avid listener. This is my third email, I think, and I'm a bit behind with episodes. Apologies if I'm late to the party. Story of my life, I'm sure that's not true. I was interested to hear the listener who hit her favorite hobbly nobly ice creams. I think she means nobly bobblies under frozen veg in her freezer. With two grown-up sons living in my house, no snack is safe. So I have taken to hiding certain items, biscuits mainly, around the kitchen.

The problem is that A, my hiding places aren't very good and they find them, and B, I forget where I put them. The other day I found some dark chocolate in my spare oven glove, which was a bit of a surprise, albeit a nice one. My new hiding place is the glove compartment of my car. Yes, I know it sounds extreme, but as a perimenopausal woman of 53, I do need the occasional treat. If you haven't tried Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Chocolate Chip and Pistachio Biscuits, you should Keep up the good work I love your chats, all the best, Joe.

Well, I identify with that so much. I'd worry that something would melt in the glove compartment. Well, it does, but it doesn't make it any the less edible, I don't think. So I've got a couple of melted Tony's chocolate bars in the glove box of the car just in case I get caught in really extreme weather conditions, somewhere between Tolston and Islington. Worrying. And actually my son was in the car the other day

and he opened the glove box and found them and said, oh, I never realised that there were compartments in the car. Where are these kids being? Well, you have to be grateful because if he had realised it, that chocolate wouldn't be there. Yeah, but now he knows. Yeah. He knows where the Tony's is.

My mum used to drink Diet Coke out of mugs so that we would think it was black coffee because otherwise we would drink her diet coke when we were children and we probably shouldn't have been having it so that's kicked off my addiction but then we learnt that we could just smell it and figure out the difference.

And you'd be able to hear it as well It worked for a little while, yeah. Well, I admire her there. I mean, and also I don't, well, I mean, she wouldn't be the last parents to put something different in a mug in order to be able to have a That's a little bit of an old time at tea time.

Only after 6 o'clock, though, but it's always 6 o'clock somewhere. I had to laugh at your comments. This one comes in from another Jane about your trains from Bath to Paddington. Nothing wrong with, Bath, Bath, or even Bristle, for that matter, as a day out from London. But to say that the trains are comfortable, well, Jane disagrees, you must have been travelling in the large comfortable seats in first class. because come into GWR cattle class like the rest of us where the seats are generally known as bum numbers.

Sit in one for over an hour and your bum will be numb, I promise. That's if you get a seat. Jane is currently on a cross-country from Truro to Worcestershire Parkway and that is a journey and a half. Well, very occasionally I have done the weekend first. I'll admit that, Jane, if I'm taking a long train. But it is the same set of trains that I travel to get to Swindon. and maybe it's only 53 minutes to Swindon

if I'd stayed on for another seven minutes then my bum would be numb maybe I'm just getting in while the buttocks are still not so criminally put upon That's a good tip, get off before it gets numb Yeah it's just a well Do you know what the Swindon tourist board could use that

couldn't they? Get off at Swindon before your ass starts to hurt and you never know Very little has worked in order to get people to get off at Swindon for a day tourist attraction. The alpaca farm is glorious, and you've got the Jane Austen Engineering Works Centre as well

that you can visit if you really wanted to. I had no idea it was all going on in. You've got one of the most impressive, but overwhelming TK. Maxes that I've ever been in in my life. I'm yet to go in an un-overwhelming TK. Max. Even the small ones are overwhelming, aren't they? But the very, very big ones is just too much. It's absolutely too much.

I just, if I ever go into them, I just always come out with a black t-shirt that is the wrong size for me, but it cost £7.50, and some scented candles that I don't need or like. I mean, literally, it's like going to IKEA, which is also really discombobulating, and you just always come out with fairy lights. I often buy a coin purse. A coin purse. Brilliant.

How many you got? Then I just lose them or put them somewhere because I actually don't really use a purse anymore. more, but then I always see them and their selection and I think, I should get back to having a proper purse. That's brilliant. That is absolutely brilliant. I bet everybody has a weird IKEA purchase, which you just can't not buy. You know, that's probably how they're making their fortune.

Yeah. Yeah. But it is too much. And, you know, when you get to that warehouse bit at the end, by the time I get to the warehouse, I'm actually properly, properly scared. I always think everything's going to fall on top of me. It does feel like you've wandered into the wrong bit, like you shouldn't be allowed there. Very much so.

We're not supposed to be in... You can't reach in a world. No, I can't reach. Of course I can't reach. Literally, all of our furniture is just from the bottom shop of IKEA. And then you've got the 15 and under tills now, haven't you? Oh, God, have they introduced that? Oh, yes, they've introduced that.

And people get... Oh, wait, sorry. People get... I thought you meant... It was a teenager's to have a go. For all of the seven. year olds who've been in the crush for the whole of the summer holiday. That would be funny.

No. I've got them. I don't have a go. For the number of items. You're right. That would just be hell on earth. Actually, they might do it better than us. That's true.

But there's always someone who thinks that, you know, you've bought a four-pack of, of table mats and there's someone behind you going that takes you over the item number does it really would you like me to take out the individual dime bars? Yes, there's more than 15 in a pack, so. Doll family names

I've got crying tears of laughter a couple of years ago my then three-year-old daughter created seemingly out of nowhere the family name of Deberti for a number of toys and dolls I can't remember them all but

a de bertie, ba de bertie, have stuck with me. That's from Lizzie, Martha and the deberties. It's quite delightful affectation that, isn't it? Maybe we could all do that. We could just add dee to our title. Didn't Dawn O. Porter do that when she married Chris O'Dowd? She added an O in front of her last name.

Yeah, you're right, yeah, because she was just Dawn Porter. Yeah, she made a little Irish. She put a little Irish jig in it. Let's do the does. Because you would so, so suit, Linda Salisbury. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like that was what it was meant to be, and somebody's just dropped the duh over the years.

Feed a Glover. Feeder Glover. That sounds like a rap name. It does, doesn't it? And so it just sounds like feeder. Feeder. Yeah. And I do like to cook, but don't all come round.

Jane de Garvey. That's all right. Yeah, again, DeGarvie in the house. Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does sound a bit da. Yeah. Okay. We're on to something. Okay, so we've already established that there is a thing going on

in terms of us hiding stuff from the kids. And in fact, parents hiding their drinks from the children too. What's you got on that one? This is from Carla. This is a bit more of a positive and open mother-and-son relationship, generational love. I've really enjoyed hearing from Eve and Hannah recently. A couple of comments about learning things from them,

then previous conversations about how we know our parents as parents but might not ask about their pre-parent lives got me thinking about not wanting to be. just mum, and wanting to share more. The first bit of action has been to set up a shared Spotify playlist with my 25-year-old sum. We are both ADHD's, so we hatch the idea at midday, set it up by three, then two hours later we had five hours of music. There are now nine hours.

We've both been adding songs that we love. What a great mix. It goes from Blondie through Namibian Twist back to Seymour, then swerves into Ray and Caroline Loeb, I think. It's so lovely to do this. Any more ideas from the off-erers? Our playlist is public and called 2026 Matt's Mushrooms. He's a chef. We debated the missing apostrophe, but, you know, life's too short.

Love to you all, Carla. Brilliant. We totally forgive the apostasy. No, it's not important to us. We're not going to get our knickers in a twist about that. What a lovely thing to do. Such a nice idea. Really, really nice.

And it puts us to shame because we've slightly been slacking on off our playlist. We have, and we really meant to do one. didn't we for everybody heading off on their sun loungers, but we didn't quite get around to it. When you and Jane are back together, what are ways that you have taught your children about your earlier life? Well, I mean, I largely direct them to some earlier editions of the Daily Mail. I find they can catch up with quite a lot there, really.

All my wiki page. No, I don't do that at all. I really, really don't. The cat suit. The cats suit, yes. And do you know what we do, now they're of an age where they're going out and they're young adults. We do talk obviously so much more about places that I used to go to, places that they now go to. And the weird thing, because, you know, we are all living in the same London, is how much still exists.

And also on music, I mean, you listen to stuff from what I would say was my generation without thinking about it, don't you? in a way that I wouldn't have listened to what was my mother's generation because it just wouldn't have been available to me and I would have felt that music had moved on but my kids will listen and can sing along to every single belter that I ever sang along to in the 90s. It's extraordinary. So, you know, they love everything from blur

through to the cardigans through to more chiba. They couldn't believe Groove Armada were on the podcast. They love crowded house. I mean, it's just, I find it so lovely, so lovely to be able to share those things. Do you think it was because at that time there was such a renaissance happening, that it's kind of lasted that we're now still listening, like, did it have such a lasting effect? I think, yes, I think the sound of music changed more, didn't it,

between, let's say, the 1950s to the 1980s, which makes 1950s music sound very, very different. But from the 80s through to now, it's the same synthesise music, isn't it? Or maybe the same kind of rock music or whatever. But it's technology, Eve. Yeah. Because it's just there on the Spotify.

That's true. It's all accessible now. That's very, very true. But such a nice thing to do with, you know, the next generation. Because for me, anyway, other people might find it in sport or in, you know, hobbies and interests and stuff like that. But I have found that to be no more bonding experience. than to all be singing the same lyrics as we bob around in the kitchen or go somewhere in the car with no compartments.

And you do think, wow, this is just lovely, actually, really lovely. The thing that also makes me laugh is that, of course, your generation actually know the lyrics because they come up. Yes. Whereas in my generation, you didn't really, but you sang along anyway. You're finding out the actual words of the songs that you've known decades. I'm being corrected as we go. Which almost makes you uncool, but it's actually music from your generation.

I know, but there are many times that I just keep quiet and just internally, I just go, interesting, noted. As we bob along to the chorus. Right, we have loved your emails this week. Anymore on Bazaar Doll's Names, we've thoroughly enjoyed that one. and we would definitely take stories and experiences about sharing the generational stuff and maybe bridging that generational divide and I was going to say something

parish notices there but I can't remember what it was oh playlist well we should get another playlist yeah once Jane gets back together so it'll be a back to school playlist probably in that case when I think because it'll be a couple weeks actually I was looking through some playlists this morning this is just a personal cry

I would absolutely love one that's a bit calming. I've got quite a lot of big bang-bonging playlists going down. So something that eases our passage through this very, very turbulent world at the moment would be lovely. So on the summer merry-go-round that is the afternoon show, it means today I will be doing the show with Royanika, who is the Sunday Times royal editor. So the interview that you're about to hear is between Royneka and Pixielot, and I will leave it to riot to explain the rest. Pixie Lott has been carving out a career as a singer-songwriter since the age of 15 when she signed with Universal Music Group. Her 2009 debut album, Turn It Up, featured two UK number one singles and sold one and a half million copies. In 2016,

she played Holly Go Lightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's on the West End, and she's also been a coach on the Voice Kids UK. Now, she's back on stage portraying another Hollywood heavyweight, Marilyn Monroe. Who Killed Marilyn? Explores the true Marilyn Monroe or Norma Jean, the name she was born with beyond the glamorous facade. Pixie told me how the play challenges what we think we know about Marilyn Monroe. I think it shows a completely different side of Marilyn to what we're all used to. And it's just the whole story is from her perspective. But it just really shows how strong she is, how intelligent she is. she does flick in and out of being Marilyn Monroe,

but most of the play is told from her real self, her Norma Jean self. Why do you think history has portrayed her as such a sort of character who's a victim? Is it because a lot of the narrative around her has been retold by men? What is it about her that has sort of seen her portrayed that way? Obviously, the roles that she played in the films that we all know and love,

some like at heart, the seven-year-itch, etc. She's amazing on screen. There's no one else like her. So charismatic and she just glows. And she is incredible in those roles. But the footage and all the clips that we have of her from that time are mostly of her as Marilyn Monroe. There isn't much of her as her as her. herself at home. So more of that side, I guess, is out there for people to see.

I mean, this isn't your first appearance on stage. You, of course, played Holy Go Lightly in Breakfast of Tiffany's. You were in the Maiden Dagon and production at the Palladium. What's the difference for you when you go on stage? Do you feel what's the difference in the buzz kind of performing music as opposed to performing a play? I love anything live. I think that's what makes me the most excited because it's so in the moment, it's so pure, it's so anything can go wrong and it's all about, you know, trying to stay in the moment and connecting with the audience. The plays that I've done before, there's always been like a fourth wall where, you know, you don't know that the audience is there. When I do my own gigs, I'm very much, you know,

talking to the audience, looking into the audience, going into the audience. This play is, is a little bit of both, which is really interesting because it's Marilyn or Norma Jean telling her story and so she is talking to the audience so it's going to have a little bit of that you break the fourth wall completely

and then there's like anecdotes of her telling the story with the actors in the cast where you go back into that on stage moment. On your music, your latest single dance like no one's watching. You came to that in quite a different way to your previous music. You handed control over to your fans and asked them what they wanted to see and hear from you.

Tell me a little bit more about why and how you did that. It's like the ultimate request. Yeah, it was, I just felt like, you know, using polls and things online that get your audience really involved. has been really helpful and amazing. I feel like it just makes you, you know, connect with your audience. I mean, I'm making the music, hopefully for them to enjoy. So for them to say what they're up for hearing was amazing. And I kind of, I just put out a single that was more storytelling and more about juggling life as a mom and all this kind of stuff.

And then so for the next single, I gave an option of, would you like a storytelling song or a party party song? And I think as well because it was just before the summer had began, everyone was up for the party vibe. You put that question out there to your fans on Instagram. And obviously for you, social media and for lots of artists is a brilliant, very creative tool to get feedback from your fans to get your music and your work out there.

More and more social media is sort of coming on the screen. we've got this proposed ban for under 16s that the government's proposing. Where do you stand on that? Do you sort of see in your line of work that social media is a force for good or there are issues there? I think it has been really great for me, connecting with people and, you know, with music and it really helped me at the beginning of my career with finding my audience and I had MySpace and then I had Twitter, and it was a really big part of my early releases, for sure. And there's great things about it, like inspiration, you know,

but I do think the band for the under 16 is a great thing because I, you know, I'm always trying to find ways to not be on my phone scrolling, especially now I'm a mom and I'm looking after my two boys. I want to be outside in the nature, playing with them, even for myself, you know, how great you feel when you're, you know, not on screens and you're away from it. So I think anything that's in there to implement that and to help that and to take the pressure off and get people creating things and being outside and there's so much great stuff you can do away from it. I think, you know, you don't need to get into it too early. I think

the ban is a good thing. You started out, I mean, you released your first single, I think 17 years, years ago, what are the sort of key shifts in the music industry that you have noticed? Is it is it a better time now to be a woman in the music industry? Is it a worse time? What do you think? I think it's just a completely different time and you do have to go with the times. But I was very used, very used how I all started out with, you know, my first single. It was completely different how it worked with release schedules and promotion and like radio and downloading songs. And obviously it all turned into streaming and then social media changed everything as well. And that is the main focus really now, I think, for artists coming up.

There's pros and cons. I think, you know, now it's great that artists have way more control and, you know, you can release your song. You can write a song in your bedroom and release it the next day or the same day. and there's thousands of songs being uploaded every day to streaming sites. But the thing against that is that there's so many songs now being released every day. How do you cut through? Do you feel you have more control over what you release now?

And you talked about sort of before it was much more at the behest of the record companies, a schedule, touring. Do you feel you have more control over your output and your work and your art now? Yeah, definitely. I think just from, you know, I started out so young and I started making my first album when I was like 14 and signed a deal at 15 and just been doing it my whole life. Now I'm 35 and what I've learned and how I've grown and just like, you know, life experience and being in the business for so long, I definitely have more control now and just know more what I want to do and what I want to spend my time on, especially being a mum. as well and just like how I want to, yeah, prioritise things and what I want to do. So, yeah, it feels really great in that aspect.

And is the music industry accepting of that of you taking control and prioritising your life around? You mentioned you've got two young boys. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's becoming a lot more of an accepting place in that. Artists are taking back control. You know, you hear stories of lots of artists now. leaving their record labels or making their own ones and releasing. And then with that, it means you are literally calling the shots, making the decisions.

I can speak to my audience online and they say they want the party party song. Great, let's put one out. Before it would have had to have gone through so many different people. They would have had to have waited half a year for that production to go there. Then sign the producer agreement. It just goes like back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. you just have to wait and wait and wait and wait. Whereas now, which as a creative person,

when you're making, when you write a song and you're excited about it, and it's also a song about your life at the moment, you don't want it to come out six months later because you've moved on and you're not excited to do it anymore. So the freedom of now is great that you can write something, get excited about it and be like, right, let's finish it and let's put it out. That for me is really freeing and it definitely didn't work like that when I was growing up.

Your mum to two young boys, does mother change your approach to your work at all? Has it changed your voice at all or how you perform? It has, I think it's just changed my overall perspective on what I prioritise, definitely. I mean, logistics are definitely harder. I have to think of, you know, more people and, you know, stopping on the way or that anything could happen when they come to. festivals with me and we've got to make sure we pack me in offenders and we've got the, you know, the milk and the snacks on the rider and all this kind of stuff.

But that's got to be the most low-key rider ever, milk and snacks. Oh, we still have some fun stuff on there. Oh, good, good. But yeah, we've got to think of the babies now. But I think it's, yeah, it's just prioritising and it makes you even more, you know, want to do the things you want to do and say no to the things you don't want to do. You know, hopefully they learn that along the way as well. Roya Nika in conversation with Pixie Lott.

So even I will return tomorrow and we would love some more emails from you. Jane and Fee at times.orgia is the email address. Stay cool, everybody. If you're listening to this before the eclipse, I hope it was magical and also a bit weird because it's meant to be a bit weird, isn't it? I hope you didn't look at it directly. And if you are listening to us very early on Thursday morning, oh my goodness, we are predicted to be 38 degrees in London town.

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