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Photo: Eloise Parrry

A shapeshifter, a vessel, a fully inhabited explosion of feeling and its consequential art, there’s not much Naomi Scott hasn’t already become.

She’s played many characters in her time, starring in the beloved queer-coded Lemonade Mouth, carrying Disney’s Aladdin, and delivering one of horror’s most affecting performances in the last decade in Smile 2. Yet, at the intersection of perfect timing and a new identity, the only character Scott is now tasked with playing is herself.

F.I.G, Scott’s debut album, is an atmospheric alt-pop ride that flirts with nuance and a lover’s true capacity. Featuring production from Dev Hynes, Lido, Goldwash, and Daphne Gale, the project is kaleidoscopic and alive with color. Scott was willing to take her time figuring out exactly what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it, and the result is a uniquely paved lane and thrillingly fresh sound.

OnesToWatch got a chance to catch up with the East London songstress ahead of F.I.G’s release to explore how her inner world translated into the project.

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OnesToWatch: What’s distinct about your music is the fact that you are able to really pull from inside of yourself while still keeping it so poetic and hauntingly vague. Is songwriting a form of catharsis for you?

Naomi Scott: That's so observant of you, I love that you said that. My intention very much was that. At the core, there's always an emotional truth to my songwriting, but it's not diary entry, autobiographic type of writing. I love tapping into an emotion that's very real and building a world around that concept. That's very observant of you because that is something that I'm actually very intentional about in my songwriting. I like to play with the idea of storytelling, but always delivering the emotional truth and allowing oneself to be vulnerable. Poetic lines coupled with things that are a little bit more direct and literal. Things that feel a little bit closer to me, things that are drawn from me, but then coupling that with something that's outside of myself. Some of the songs on the album I just wrote on the piano by myself, like “Bliss,” for example. That was actually the first song that I took into Lido, my executive producer. My demos were very purposefully raw because I didn't want anything to sound too clean. I wanted to remain in that haunting space. I think you can only capture that when things aren't so polished. 

You communicate such palpable emotions not just through the lyrics, but also through these incredibly immersive soundscapes. I know Blood Orange played a role on this project, I’d love to know how this came to be. 

I mean, Dev is the North Star. Someone has asked me about my five favorite British albums and I was like, “If I’m being really truthful, three of them would be Blood Orange albums.” I can't produce like Dev, I can't play the cello, I can't compose like he does. He is far beyond genius in my mind. He's one of the greats. There are so many things, like his approach to music and the way he protects his creative process, that I take. His melodies, his actual songwriting, it's basically like he's classically trained. He has this amazing ability to write pop songs and add this very signature percuss percussive production. For “Cut Me Loose,” for example, we needed the post chorus and I was literally like, “We'll get Dev to do it.” I hadn't even asked him yet. But in my head, I was like, “Dev will do this.”And he did. A year later, we made it happen. It just makes the song come together. He's just incredibly generous, and he's just one of my favorite people.

Music has been in you since the beginning, but you’re finally releasing your debut— why now? 

It's never something super conscious. My journey has been figuring it out as I go along and knowing when it's not right. I released some EPs, I had been in a lot of pop rooms, I'd been in the studio within a different kind of ecosystem. That didn't quite feel like me. I don't feel like I knew exactly what I wanted to say and who I was as an artist in that moment. So I think it was more of knowing when not to and wanting it to be very, very intentional and really specific. I knew that I wanted to create a a soundscape that felt so me and couldn't be anyone else's. It couldn't be a song that so and so didn't want. I wanted to go back to the girl who just wrote songs on the piano not knowing if it was cool or not and not caring. Just writing songs and not thinking about what it sounds like. The melodies that came out were very nostalgic to me. I was leaning into it and then finding the right team, the right time, the right mathematics, how I wanna write lyrically or how I want the songs to be composed and what I want it to be about and then the soundscapes. That's why it's the right time now, because I felt like I found those things. Now I'm excited because me and my collaborators, we can build upon something that is specific to me. I have all the dreams of doing choreography and being the vocalists, doing all of it.

That’s why there's so much buoyancy in the music— your inner child is playing a very forward role. It gives it such a vibrant hue. Was that a conscious choice, to make sure that your inner little girl was the first critic?

Oh, that's a really nice way of thinking about it, that she was the first critic. I love that. I used to be someone that, when something is ideation phase, I wouldn’t expose it too quickly to outside opinions. Not to say that certain opinions aren't very valuable, but ultimately, it truly is just if it hits for you. I do a time test. That's why I'm really glad that I was able to sit with the songs for such a long time and recut the songs so many different times because I wanted to get the vocals right. You are the only one who is going to be performing these songs live. You have to love them, because you are the messenger. You have to believe it, man.

I find it so fascinating that so much of your journey as an actress also really called for you to be able to step into your role as a singer at the same time. Now, in this moment in your career as a singer, have you felt called to enlist your skills as an actress?

I think that's a really good question because often when one is a vocalist, a real vocalist, you can do so many things with your voice. It’s an interesting relationship that I have with that because, for example, with Smile 2, I fully put on a voice. I did the a white pop girl thing. That was sick for what it was, and I loved and enjoyed that. But, ultimately, that world and the type of artist that Sky is, it's a different ecosystem and a different world to what I do. It’s a blessing thatI was able to do those things to my voice in that way. But, ultimately, it's always been using my voice as a tool for a character. It's never been this is me as an artist. What's funny is the only song that I actually love the most that I've ever done in a movie is “She's So Gone.” Like, to me, that song still bangs. That's actually just a really well written song that's giving, like, Kelly Clarkson deluxe. When I was like, “Oh, should I sing ‘She's So Gone’ at Lolla,” we decided that a few weeks before. I didn't realize it was gonna be such a thing, but it felt really nice on my voice. The other songs, like Aladdin songs, are very musical theater. When I listen to “Speechless,” for example, I'm hearing the strain in my voice and how thin my voice sounds. I grew up listening to pop gospel music and Janet Jackson being one of my biggest inspirations was like, that's where my voice naturally wants to live.

This project truly feels like an extension of you. Are there any nerves that come with knowing it's going to belong to the world soon? Or just excitement?

I'm totally excited. The reason I don't feel any nerves is because I'm not in the studio going, “How can I make something that's for everyone?” That's not art. We have to constantly remind ourselves that as an artist, your job is to not think about the audience. You can think about the experience of someone coming to a show. That's why I work so hard to get my voice in tip top shape so when I'm performing because it can sound like the record. But not thinking about the audience in terms of a reaction or will people like it. Because maybe a person won’t. If you met that person, you probably wouldn't have the same taste anyway. Ultimately, it's just the beginning for me. I am so excited that I get to do this my way and that I've created what I do feel like is my sound, and I know it's just the beginning for me. I'm not nervous about it. I don't fucking look at numbers. Numbers don't reflect the real connection the people have with your music anyway.

Well, you're royalty to the girls and gays.

Oh, girl. I'm just living in East London. I don't know shit. I try not to read comments but my manager was like, “I’m sorry. I just have to send you some of these comments.” They're so funny. The gayer the comments, the better. That's all I want.

You have an army who will go to war for you at any moment, but that’s because we recognize a diva. Closing out here, I’m absolutely blown away by “Gracie.” I’d love for you to dive into the context of that song because it feels very particular to girlhood.

So Grace is my second name. There's this conceptual thing around the album of, like, falling to grace. Grace kind of represents these different versions of my life. Then Gracie is this kind of, personified version. I am really a people pleaser. Even still, I'm getting better. But sometimes I see people or I see a woman, and I'm like, “I fucking wish I could be way more disagreeable.” There are moments when she comes out. But I wish I had more of Gracie in my veins is, I wish I had more of it in my bloodstream. She represents that, someone who just really doesn't care about what people think or her natural disposition is to do what she does anyway. I liked infusing that into a song. This is more like me and me to myself.

Last question: what would you say is the biggest lesson this chapter is teaching you right now? How has it changed you, who are you coming out of this as?

I’m gonna say the most basic thing that everyone says is not true. The lesson I keep learning is trust yourself more and more and more and more and more. Back to the whole Gracie of it all, it's, like, constantly questioning, “Oh, is this? Should I?” It's like, no, girl. Dev gave me the best advice, he was like, “If you are in a place where you don't quite knknow what it is yet or you don't know what the direction is, stay with yourself.” It was the best advice. But, yeah, I think honestly, having trust in myself. And having continuous fun. I just feel so blessed. I've got a really great team. Music is where it's at right now, and there's all sorts of things that artists have to be and have to navigate, whether you're in whatever type of label situation. I’m in a good partnership in terms of the independence that I do have signing with an independent label. We’re all doing 10 jobs, but I also wouldn't have it any other way. I’m just excited for the worlds that I can create.

Pre-save F.I.G. below: