Ella Henderson's new album Chapter One: The singer reveals her five favourite songs

The singer talks through her five favourite songs on her debut album Chapter One with Official Charts.
ella_henderson_2014.jpg

“My favourite song on the album changes constantly, depending on what mood I’m in,” Ella Henderson told us when we had a chat with her about her debut album Chapter One.

So rather than put her on the spot and make her choose a favourite, we asked the X Factor breakout star to talk us through her top five tracks on the LP, ahead of its release next week (October 13).

Empire

“I worked with producers TMS (Little Mix, Emeli Sande) on this song. I can remember writing Empire… I’d got to a point on writing when I thought I wanted to write this huuuge song and there was something about the word Empire that I just loved. It’s something that we build on and love is involved with it.

“It’s about dreaming about bringing up a family and building their home and their life together. The idea was to bring that into a massive song that makes you feel like you’re on top of the world when you’re singing it. I wanted it to have this tribal feel to it as well. I’m not sure where that came from, but I was definitely in a very happy place when writing this one.”

Mirror Man

“This is about the most self-centered person I’ve ever met. I think everyone has experienced a mirror man in their life in some way. It’s about the kind of person who loves themselves before anyone else, which is something I have definitely experienced before!”

Ghost

“I had pretty much finished the album last Christmas. I had written with some amazing songwriters and producers, but I didn’t have a feeling about what my first single was going to be. People kept telling me that you just know when you have it and you just get that feeling, so we extended my writing time and I said I wanted to approach Ryan Tedder. Unbelievably, he replied!

“Within 20 minutes of meeting we were sat around a piano writing this song called Ghost. It just happened so instantly, and I immediately knew this was going to be my first single. He knows how to right a hit song, but he also completely understood who I was, my personality and where I was coming from. It was an absolute honour and privilege to work with him.”

Billie Holiday

“I had a lot of fun recording this one. It’s a song we wrote over an old sample – there were a lot of people in the room at the time and there was such a great energy in the studio. I remember it was pouring with rain outside but there was such a positive attitude in the studio.

“I worked on the song with (producer) Jimmy Napes –and I remember telling him that Billie Holiday’s God Bless The Child was one of the first songs I fell in love with as a child. He found that interesting and we just gave birth to this song that started there and ended climaxing on this really cool hook. In fact, finishing every song felt like giving birth! I love the vibe of that song though – it’s very old school.

We also recorded it with a London gospel choir, which was insane. It’s on the deluxe version of the album, and all the extra tracks on there – including another called 1996 - are about me as a young girl. Hopefully it gives my fans an even deeper insight into who I am.”

Yours

“It’s very stripped back and minimal song. I wrote it with Josh Record, who is a fellow singer-songwriter. We met up for a session and went to his place for lunch to see if we could write a song together… and we did!

“We sat down together at the keyboard and wrote this beautiful song about something I’m experiencing at the moment in life. I just fell in love with it – it was the final track added to the album just before it went for mastering. I like that the album really is about my life right up until this very moment.”

Ella Henderson releases Chapter One on October 13. The album is streaming on iTunes now. Click here to pre-order.

Related artists

Join the conversation by joining the Official Charts community and dropping comment.

Already registered?

Log in

No account?

Register