Famed for hits such as "Not That Kind" and "Paid My Dues", Anastacia may have sold 30 million records globally and enjoyed the success of five top ten albums in the UK but it's been a while since we've heard any new material. Now, having reunited with Sony, the label she was with during her late-Nineties, early-Noughties boom, the 47-year-old is making a comeback. We tracked down the singer to talk returning to the game, why she's actually "never left" the nineties and what we can expect from her latest record...
Well, I'm back with Sony so for our first project we felt that it [was best] to highlight the music that I have done. It just seemed the right way to reintroduce me.
I think in terms of loyalty it would be "I'm Outta Love", it was my first song, it was my breakup song and still to this day I absolutely love the energy it brings to a room and I love the energy it makes me feel when I sing it. But, it's not easy because I love "Left Outside Alone" as well…
Hello! I never left!
I still wear it all, that's the funny part… I still have the same hair, I still have the same glasses, I still wear the crop top and everything. I feel a little odd wearing it at my age but I'll sport it in a few TV shows and I'll wear it just because I can. I think I could probably wear the same outfit and people would be like "you look the same".
It's difficult, I think it's a combination of people I've worked with and having an outer body experience when I'm on stage singing with them. When I was singing "I Ask Of You" from my first album on stage with Pavarotti - he was singing it in Italian and I was singing it in English and I was like "what?". I also sang "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" with Elton John at Madison Square Garden andhaving stared at his records as a kid on my living room floor and danced around as they played, I was just so fascinated by how wildly he dressed and his array of glasses. I was just in awe and when I got glasses I was just so excited, I was like "oh my god. EJ and me. I'm the female version".
We have two brand new songs on the collection as well as things that I don't think my fans knew I was singing at the time - I was on the Chicagosoundtrack, I did a song for The Fantastic Four, I also did a covers album of all men's rock songs. I did Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Oasis - just really brilliant songs that I felt connected to. So there's a lot of other songs that are on there along with [my classics]. It's not necessarily a 'greatest hits' because not all the tracks were singles and they weren't necessarily hits but they are in their own right. It's a good body of work - looking at the set list I'm like "oh my God, this is so much fun!"
The Ultimate Collection is out now.
