“I ALWAYS ORDER MY BURGERS WITHOUT PICKLES”
ANNI B. SWEET. A 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Málaga. The crystalline girl-with-a-guitar pop of her album Start, restart, undo has been one of this year’s big surprises. She has also covered the band A-ha for a McDonald’s TV commercial.
What are you up to these days? I’m recording songs that have been going around my head for a few months now; they’ll be for the next album, which won’t come out for another year or so. I still have a lot of touring to do with the previous record. Taking it to Taiwan, Germany, Argentina…
Not bad for a poor girl from Fuengirola… Not bad at all. I wasn’t expecting any of what’s happening to me right now…
How would you sum up what’s happening to you? I came to Madrid to study Architecture and didn’t even know how to play guitar. I always loved singing, so I tried my luck at a couple of bars and people loved it. I learned to play guitar in four months, since I couldn’t find a band I liked… I put my music online…
And architecture? I got as far as third year. I had to give it up once the concerts and the promotion started. Either you commit to music or you commit to architecture. The music thing only happens to you once…
What does your family make of that reasoning? At first they were scared. Now they’re very happy.
What do you write about? I love philosophy. I tend to write when I start asking myself questions about this and that, about death, about existence. Or from a dream.
How did you end up singing an A-ha song for a fast-food multinational? I liked the song, it reminded me of when I was little. I started playing it, a creative from the brand came along and liked it for a commercial…
How do you order your burgers? Always without pickles…
Does it bother you when people compare you to other girls with guitars, especially Russian Red? I find it convenient. It’s like looking at two buildings only from the outside and saying they look alike.
Which album would you move into? Kid A, by Radiohead. It would be strange, but fun.
By Iker Seisdedos. Photography by Óscar Carriquí · Source: El País Semanal no. 1734, December 20, 2009.