Guest Author - Lorna London Sloukji

Who's thirteen years old with a musical soul and tons of talent? Meet Faryl Smith, a teenage UK artist with similar sounds to Charlotte Church and Sarah Brightman. Discovered on the televsion show Britain's Got Talent, Simon Cowell called her "literally one in a million". Check out this exclusive interview with Faryl as she shares some of her insights into her music and the industry with Bella readers.

What was it like being on Britain's Got Talent?
It was a great experience being on Britain's Got Talent and I had so much fun and made lots of new friends! I try and stay in touch with everyone but we're all quite busy at the moment so don't often get to see each other. It's really helped me with my confidence; I never would have thought I'd be coming to America though!

After the show, how did you make your decisions as to which music label you would sign with? What kind of advice did you receive that helped you make your final choice?
My family and I made all the decisions together - we decided to go with a UCJ as they were primarily a classical label and I really look up to a lot of the other artists they look after like Placido Domingo.

Describe your music.
I wanted to make classical music that even people my age would want to listen to. One of the songs on the album called "River of Light" is to the tune of the Blue Danube which has never even had lyrics put to it before!

Who are your biggest musical influences?
I love listening to loads of music, but I mainly listen to music that is in the charts at the moment like Pussycat Dolls and Beyonce. I'm not sure if that is an influence on what I sing really, but I'm not always listening to classical music as some people might think!

Where do you find inspiration?
Because I like listening to so many different kinds of music, I think I get inspiration from lots of different people. I idolize both classical icons like Jose Carreras as well as Beyonce! My granddad definitely inspired me to do the track Calon Lan as he taught me to do it!

What can listeners expect from your debut album, Faryl?
Well, there's the River of Light (to the tune of the Blue Danube) and also an old Abba song called "The Way Old Friends Do" which has had the lyrics changed by Bjorn from Abba himself! I chose some of the songs like Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square as my singing teacher sings it really well and again Calon Lan as my granddad taught me it himself.


How do you balance music, school, and a social life?
My family and friends are really supportive of everything I've done so far. When I go home I don't really talk about anything I've been doing with my friends as they know I've been talking about it all week! I have a tutor and I get extra tutoring at school to make sure I don't fall behind.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Hopefully I'm still in the music industry. If not though I think I'd like to be a singing teacher...definitely still doing something with music!

Faryl's self-titled debut is released May 5.