Call It What You Want
call it what you want
the universe look right place right time
or magic
i call it believing in yourself istanbul
2005
25th of may every liverpool fans dream
got answered that day
three nil down a half time we go on to
win the game in dramatic fashion after
scoring three in the second half
and winning on penalties that game
changed my life
and i wasn’t even there i was 12 sat
crying in a pub
with my family in liverpool after the
first 45 minutes
laying in the definition of a heartbreak
watching my team get destroyed
or praying for a miracle i get asked all
the time you know what’s the defining
time of my life
and when did i know i could go on to
achieve the things that i’ve gone on to
do
right hit records become grammy
nominated present tv shows play football
perform for thousands of people and to
be in the position i am in today and the
truth is
it was that game that game helped me get
here today without me even realizing it
because that’s the moment i believe the
magic the truth is
i guess we all need auto and kind of
magic um to achieve the dreams
that we want to achieve this talk isn’t
about how to get where i’ve got to or to
follow these steps to success
because i’m just as clueless as you i’ve
literally
winged the whole thing but today is
based on belief and having the ability
to believe in yourself
because i believe that 50 percent of
self-belief is the key
to success let’s go back
when i was nine it’s when i started
playing football i grew up with no
brothers or sisters
my mom actually went on to have my baby
sister when she was 40
and i was 16. that was a bit of a shock
what a good one
you know i used to spend a lot of time
playing football kicking a ball against
the wall and then one day
my granddad seen an article in the
newspaper for the ian rush soccer school
i was the only girl
i didn’t know who he and rush was but
everyone kept asking for a picture with
this guy with a mustache so
i followed and it turns out he was a
pretty good player
so um i’m glad that i’ve got that going
on the wall at some point anyway
you know call it what you want the
universe look right place right time
but i got scouted for liverpool that day
the summer camp was being held at the
same place
the liverpool team trained and someone
spotted me i went down the next week
you know i didn’t even own a pair of
football boots but i ended up signing
for liverpool under tens and i remember
it like it was yesterday
walking into the train and pitch and
seeing a sea of girls
all my age i finally felt like i
belonged
and you know i wasn’t strange for being
a girl who played football
fast forward i’m 16 i choose to leave
school
not continue education it wasn’t really
for me
you know i worked hard in school but i
preferred going on playing football
writing music playing piano and that’s
where i felt like my energy was best
spent and it made me feel good inside
school never made me really feel good
and
you know i’m gonna talk about listening
to yourself more in the talk but that
was the first time
i made the decision to listen to myself
when i left school
i had no money i played gigs on the
weekend i played for like 50 quid an
hour
and it was the first time i started in
and from something i loved to do
i started getting a bit of name for
myself in the city and more and more
people would start coming to gigs
you know the next thing that happened
was another one of them moments
call it what you want you know the
universe
look right place right time but i was
put forward from a teammate
at liverpool at the time shanice
williams shout out to you or left back
and it was a competition which if you
won would end up earning your six month
mentorship and studio time with a
liverpool footballer
ryan babel looking back i’m not sure
what reason i’ll wait the other the
chance to meet a liverpool player or get
in six months free studio time
but anyway i went on to win i believe it
was my destiny looking back
who else could the one it was a perfect
fit in my story
and the stars they land you know after
that
ryan went on to leave liverpool and we
kind of lost contact but i haven’t spent
that time laying in the ropes
i knew what a backup vocal was i knew
what a synth pad was
it set me up for the next phase in my
career
and that next phase was my first record
deal you know a sign i was 18
19 i signed a four album four album deal
i can’t even say it it’s crazy and but
for more money
than i’d ever seen i thought i’d made it
but this was the key part and everything
this talk is about believing in the
universe and also believing in yourself
but this was the part in my own story
when i stopped believing in myself and
started to believe in other people
and that was a huge lesson i started
getting told what to wear
how to look i should dance what my piano
was going to look like
how my album was going to sound and i
hated it
you know i spent a year making an album
making music i disliked
and i was put in a room with producers
who had big hits
or sold loads of records but i hated
everything about it
i look back now and it’s funny because
that was my first heartbreak the day i
got dropped
i remember like it was yesterday it was
two days before christmas
i cried for the whole holiday but it was
like looking back at
x and thinking what the hell was it
doing it wasn’t right but it was a huge
learning cure for me personally
and from then on i never relied or
listened to anyone if it didn’t feel
right for me
now i’ll listen to me gut in everything
you know if it goes wrong well
it’s okay but i don’t i can’t blame
anyone else but me and i learned a
valuable lesson
and a huge blessing i heard daryl
stinton say in his ted talk i learned to
use rejection as projection
and that’s what i’ve done a detour
happened then you know
i started writing songs so i got dropped
boohoo
nobody wanted to sign me or even take a
meeting with me i was 21 at this point
and i’d spent the remainder of my
advance and i was down to me last few
pounds my mum said if it didn’t get
another offer in before the end of the
year
i’d have to go and get a proper job this
was around october so i didn’t have long
and about a week before the deadline
i got a call from a manager he’d
scheduled a meeting with a publisher
called peter mcconnelly
and he was one of the best in the
business he had some people like craig
david the spice girls you know roast and
jamie scott
so we got on the train to london and can
you believe it
the train broke down it was the lathe an
hour i remember
running into the meeting out of breath i
looked awful and his first words were
like you’re really late i’ve got to go
i’ve got another meeting and i was like
okay well that’s the universe you know
it’s telling me
this isn’t for me i’m gonna have to
start looking for other jobs
um i think he asked me two questions
something like what do you think’s your
best song and
why do you want to be a songwriter the
truth is i didn’t want to be a
songwriter
i wanted to be my own artist but this
was the only option i had
at the time and i listened to my gut you
know
he left i cried on the phone to me
manager told him about the train story
um and the next day my manager called me
and said pete offered me a deal it was a
small deal
but you know it was the only one i had
on the table so i took it with both fans
it meant i could stay in music a little
bit longer
i sat down spoke to peter once we signed
the deal and i made it clear i was only
wanting to write so i could eventually
go on to release my own music he’s a big
liverpool fan
so he used the great analogy of being
like a youth club player on the subs
bench
or a new sign and i had to wait me turn
you know get the respect from the
producers and the writers again
in the industry because you know i had a
chance and it didn’t work out
which i understood reluctantly anyway
um my first ever session was you know in
copenhagen
and it was for kylie minogue i went on
to write million miles
and it ended up being track two on a
number one album in so many countries
and i thought amazing this is easy
but you know the funniest thing is i
didn’t feel jealous at all that my name
wasn’t
you know on the radio being mentioned i
was happy that i could now say i was a
songwriter
and it’s always funny looking back and i
would become a songwriter because i
really didn’t intend to be
but you know it happened i believed i
didn’t give up
and i took what i had in front of me and
it helped me go on
you know fast forward another year by
now i’ve wrote loads of songs
for a few people and all the record
labels started knocking it
you know knocking on the door again i
was i was hot and it’s crazy because i
ended up signing
back to the original label that dropped
me sony rca
for you know a lot more money and kind
of like paul pogba
and back to man united i was a bit smug
you know
um but i remember really believing in
the universe at this point
because i was like come on what are the
chances 18 19
year old me crying at christmas and edo
was welcome back into the face building
that broke my heart
on fire in demand it felt good you know
i released a few songs
which i loved the next time around
because i was in control
since then i’ve gone on to sign to tap
who managed to do alipa
lana del rey ellie gould and me mate
from soccer a danny kennedy
i’ve signed a sad project with ultra
records on the universal
under the name of vice versa and we’re
currently writing for the next single
that’s with two me best friends i love
that
so then we go into tv i mean before
music was back into a safe spot
this is also where football began to
creep back in for me and do a whole 360.
um when i was in between deals i had a
bit more time on my hands i just watched
the 2015 women’s world cup
in canada majority of the england team
were all my old team mates
from liverpool 11 tram yeah and i missed
football so i thought
you know i’ll do a bit of sunday league
but after the day of sending out the
resume
i had trials for west ham tottenham
fulham
and a few more and they all offered me a
contract and that again
with belief self-belief started kicking
in you know a sign for tottenham
spent a season there before dropping
down to play for fulham
where i was allowed more time to do
music tv
all this kind of stuff um you know i’d
go to the studio
and an artist would ask how did you get
on at the weekend
and then when i’d be playing football
all memes would be like
you know what who are you writing for
this week and i had an idea about a tv
show
so i was i call me mate amy meeveld
she’s at the bbc
she started because she wanted to do a
small piece on my life in music and
football
she thought it was pretty cool so i
called her with this idea
i just had a feeling again a good
feeling that i could work so she
commissioned three episodes and it ran
off football focus
they were no longer than three minutes
but it was amazing you never got to take
me music mates to football matches and
it just worked
that then led on to me becoming a host
for the women’s world cup
in june july 2019 in france which is
just incredible
um you know then i got the match of the
day x job
again crazy a bbc show on prime
time and at the time i remember my
record label hated that they’d say
things like well you can’t do all these
things
people won’t know what you are are you a
singer are you a footballer your tv
presenter
and i just reply why can’t i be them all
you know having a career in so many
things
might make it harder for me to be a huge
success in one field
but i believed i could go on and do all
of them
you know i’ve sold millions of records
as a songwriter i’ve signed many record
deals
many football contracts made successful
tv shows podcast shows radio shows
and i’m hungry for more in life you’re
going to find people who try and put you
in a box and we’ll try to make you
pick one thing but you don’t have to you
can do anything that you want to do
and i hope i can be an example of just
that you know i don’t think i’m gifted
or special
i don’t think i you know have any of
those things but i have a good
sensibility of believing in myself
i believe self-belief and never given up
literally is 50
of success now when i’m in a bar and
someone tries to chat me off when they
ask
you know what to do for the living they
wish they never asked i’m like i’m a
singer i’m a songwriter
footballer tv presenter podcasters the
radio host
take your pick um but this talk was
never about how to get when i’ve got to
like i said
or a step-by-step guide to success
and you know like i said it’s just call
it what you want
the universe look right place right time
all magic
but for me personally to get where i’ve
got to it’s been all about self belief
i hope i’ve inspired a few years good
luck with your journey and thank you so
much for having me