Apparently that’s Paloma Faith’s ‘life motto’ as reported in an interview in ‘The Independent’. I like the general sentiment of the comment — similar to lots of exhortations to hard work and so on — but I like the phrase mainly because a creative writing tutor once marked me down because I wrote a line in a screenplay where a female character (about Paloma Faith’s age) says the word ‘tw*t’ (only asterisking this out so it doesn’t get so easily indexed by p*rn websites). She said that a woman would never use such a word!
I’ve also bought Paloma Faith’s album — ‘Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful’ — which I really like. I particularly rate the title track. It seems like she’s being marketed as the next Amy Winehouse, which is always going to self-defeating. I don’t think the music or singing is that similar to Amy Winehouse either — it reminds me of the Mark Ronson ‘Version’ album on which Amy Winehouse does her cover of ‘Valerie’. It’s quite theatrical music, which is unusual. I also like the premise of the title track — a bit of the same conceit used by Fleetwood Mac in ‘Little Lies’ — as it goes to the heart of a lot of human relationships — do you want to hear the truth or something that’s more enjoyable. It could be said to define the idea of fiction too.
It’s a shame she looks so ridiculous. The photos in the CD booklet have her in ludicrous hairdos and costumes except for one which shows she’s actually rather pretty. I heard her perform live on Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 show when she did a short interview in which she sounded astonishingly stupid and inarticulate. The album shows that, in reality, she’s certainly neither. No one stupid could write a song like ‘Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful’.