We caught up with Little Boots to talk about her new ‘Burn’ EP, and to discuss women in the music industry ahead of International Women’s Day 2018.

Little Boots burst onto the music scene almost a decade ago, with many important institutions and influencers immediately taking note. Since then, the artist has released three full-length LPs, all of which charted highly in the UK and US, and an acclaimed selection of mixtapes and EPs. She performs as a DJ and a singer, drawing on her own back catalogue, and curating selections from artists she admires.

Her new Burn EP is scheduled for release on April 6, with lead single ‘Shadows’ available now. In the run-up to the release, Little Boots has been singing the praises of the female talent she has worked with on the EP. All of the producers are female, as is the mixer, as are the art and video directors. As well as being a collection of stellar tracks, the EP sends a very important message to the music industry at a crucial time—women deserve to be heard. It doesn’t take a magnifying glass to find talented women in music, across the entire spectrum. Male-dominated festival lineups and awards nominations have no excuses.

Tell us about ‘Burn’. What should we expect?
‘Burn’ is the title of my new EP, and the first new music I have released since my third album in 2015. I collaborated with different female/femme producers on each track (Joyce Muniz, Lauren Flax, Planningtorock, Cora Novoa) and it’s mixed by Marta Salogni who just mixed the recent Bjork record. It was really inspiring to work with women across the project, even through to the art and video direction. The sound is more left field and dance orientated than I have ever gone before, with elements drawn from classic house layering electronic beats with pop melodies, pianos, synths and strings. I wanted to bring together two big sides of what I do: DJing and writing/performing pop music.

You’ve been balancing DJing and producing/performing for years now. How does each discipline differ, and how has doing both informed your artistry?
They definitely both inform each other; I’ve been hugely inspired by DJing when writing and structuring some of my songs, from the way the crowd reacts to a build up and break down to the beats that are driving it. Likewise I always am drawn to vocal and melodic dance tracks for my DJ sets, and often think of the decks and mixer as synths or instruments and try to play from a very musical place. I love both, they are very different but two sides of a coin, and both have become as important to what I do and how I define myself as an artist.

You’ve managed to turn initial hype into a long-term career, when some artists burn out. How did you do it?
The early attention was difficult as it was very fast and intense especially in the UK, and riding it out into something more long term and sustainable has often been a challenge. But music is what I do and what I love, and being able to continue to do that and keep creating has always been more important than initial hype. The music industry has changed so much since I started, and you have to choose to adapt or die. Being flexible and able to switch from performing to DJing or from pop to house is essential in surviving as an artist. More than ever I owe it to my fans for their loyalty and support over the years; I feel like they really understand me and will follow me through different evolutions which means the world to me and enables me to continue.

The EP and all its related materials were created by women. What can we do to make sure female producers, designers, etc. get more attention?
It’s been an interesting year for discussions around sexism and gender imbalance in creative industries. There has been a lot of talk, but I am a big supporter of action, and I’m hoping we will see more of this in the future. My choice to make an EP with women was an entirely reactive move to address the gender imbalance I felt in the producers I worked with over my career, 99% of which had been men. I hope the industry embraces a positive and active stance and makes similar decisions and displays of their choices when it comes to diversity and imbalance.

Little Boots’ ‘Burn’ EP will be released on April 6. The single ‘Shadows’ is available now.

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