Rumer, aka Sarah Joyce, first emerged in 2010 with her debut collection Seasons Of My Soul, a warm hug of an album that landed her two Brit Award nominations and a meeting with Barak Obama (she gifted him a box of Marks & Spencer biscuits, obviously).
Following the album’s success, Joyce retreated from the limelight and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and ADHD.
In 2012 she released a covers album as a way of stepping quietly back into the public eye and released her second album of original songs Into Colour – led by disco-tinged first single* Dangerous* – earlier this week.
Outspoken, refreshingly honest and unflinchingly frank, we had a chat with her about taking her dog to award shows, how the Government could do more to help UK arts and how damaging celebrity culture is.
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Hello to you.
Hello.
How are you?
Oh, you’ve got a lovely posh voice.
Have I?
I like your accent.
I’m actually not that posh. Just well-spoken.
People think I’m posh and I’m really not.
Do I call you Rumer or Sarah?
It’s up to you. Rumer doesn’t feel like a fake name or anything because both names came from my mum. I don’t mind, whatever you feel comfortable with. Rumer isn’t a persona.
Last month you took your dog Alfie to the Q Awards. Did he have a nice time?
He had a nice time. He wasn’t into the chicken when it came out.
Chicken?! Was it ‘bring your animal to an awards show’ day?
No, a roast chicken dinner. Suddenly, his nose sort of shot in the air when he smelt, basically, four hundred chicken dinners wafting around the room. He got a little bit of chicken. There was a soft, mushy carpet so he just fell asleep under the table.
Did he get to meet any famous faces?
He met the guy from the Manic Street Preachers and Sandy Shaw. Plus, loads of pretty girls from magazines or record companies, all of the pretty girls he had a snuggle with. He was delighted with himself.
Does he like your music?
If I’m not around, Rob (producer and boyfriend Rob Shirakbari) was telling me that if he’s in the studio and the music’s playing, Alfie will come down and listen because he can hear my voice. He recognises my voice but I don’t think he really likes Rumer.
You’ve said that Alfie’s helped you through some difficult times of late. In what way?
Alfie’s just a beautiful love vibration. He’s full of love and his face lights up whenever he sees you and you can’t help but be happy around that. Dogs are amazing creatures because they can really heal. Just in general, the anxiety I have around being a performer, he helps me with that and he helps me not to be scared about things.
You’ve spoken quite openly about your mental health issues. Do you think there needs to be more of a public discourse around things like ADHD, bipolarity and depression?
I think it’s a lot better than when I was first talking about it. It’s definitely less of a taboo subject now, especially with the Robin Williams suicide because that really shocked a lot of people.
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Even with that, people were saying, ‘Oh what’s he got to be sad about? He’s a millionaire, he’s famous’, which is obviously a very damaging way of looking at depression.
I’ve got a song called I Am Blessed on my new album, which is about that. You don’t need to tell me I’m lucky, I know that not everything’s the way it’s supposed to be. People will criticise because performers and actors and singers perpetuate this image of this kind of effortless lifestyle, of luxury, when actually it can be difficult and involve long hours, sacrifices, gruelling schedules. It’s all relative.
At the moment there is zero provision for people with mental health issues. Unless you’ve committed a crime because you’re mentally ill, you don’t really get much help. Unless you’re so mentally ill you’ve come to the attention of the police, you’re not going to get much help. If you got to the doctors and say you feel ill, they’ll give you some drugs or get you to fill in a form and then they give you a list of services that aren’t quite right. There’s no help.
You’ve said a lot of the issues were exasperated by the success you had around your first album, Seasons Of My Soul. Were you worried about returning to the spotlight again?
Yeah, because it’s not easy for me to be visible. I like the radio and obviously I love music, but I don’t like being on TV or people seeing me. I’m not the prettiest girl at the party and I’m not trying to be. I don’t want to play that game. I don’t want to be seen, necessarily.
Did you ever think, ‘Oh sod it, I’m just going to live in a caravan and not bother releasing music’?
I did. I was thinking about what else I would do. Should I do hairdressing? Should I work for an animal rescue charity? I still get those career advice emails that I’ve signed up to at certain points.
There’s a song on the your new album called Play Your Guitar about the lack of investment in music at a grassroots level. Why’s that so important to you?
Well, because we all know people who are talented but who don’t get opportunities and it’s hard for them to keep going. Talent is coupled with vulnerability and all those things, so it’s important to have champions and have encouragement. Artists need to be helped and I don’t think the Government does anything to help musicians, despite the fact that we contribute a lot in tax.
It’s a genuine career, why shouldn’t it be? You’re making a product that’s exported to other parts of the world, it’s very popular, look at Adele and Ed Sheeran and all these big stars who bring millions of pounds into the country. I wrote to my MP about it but I haven’t had a reply yet. What does the Government do to honour that industry?
Are you quite a political person?
No, not really. I don’t really feel political but I believe it’s important that we’re activists. Especially now when there’s so much to do in the world. We are one living organism and if we don’t live and work as one, we’re all going to be affected. We can’t live in a bubble. Our dark side will catch up with us if we don’t work together.
Let’s talk about You Make The World A Better Place. What’s that one about?
It was written in response to our obsession with vanity and people who do nothing, basically. I don’t know why we’re so obsessed with celebrities, maybe it’s to knock ourselves out. Like valium. I find it entertaining too, all that mindless crap, but the real people who do the real work, they’re not the people who get on the cover of the magazines and billboards. The doctors, nurses, charity workers, the single parents, foster parents and all these wonderful people who do amazing things everyday. So that song is about those people.
Do you think our obsession with celebrity is damaging to young women especially?
Oh God, yeah. They can’t help it, they’re a product of their own environment. They’re all trying to have skinny legs and thigh gaps and all that kind of stuff. Young people have got a lot of problems with social media and seeing too much.
You know how you’d go round your friend’s house and look in their cupboards and see what kind of sweets they’ve got, it’s like that but on a grand scale. Being able to see what other people have got, so there’s a dissatisfaction with young people and young girls especially. Vanity’s not an aspiration, you know.
This has taken a serious turn. How can we bring it back to a happy place for the end?
We could start again?
Don’t be silly, it was enjoyable.
There’s just a lot of stuff that needs to be done. To leave on a positive note, the album explores a lot of personal damage and some dark subjects, such as loneliness, betrayal, depression and the state of the world and being concerned about that and about how it’s hard for artists to survive – but there’s a silver lining in every song. There’s hope. It even ends with the word ‘hope’.
And you can dance to the first single, Dangerous!
You can. I can’t, but hopefully I’ll learn.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.