[image]
[title]There’s a ramp on Old Kent Road. Every time I drive over it, I get a strange feeling of nostalgia. It reminds me of being in the car with my dad, listening to ‘Has It Come to This?’ by The Streets for the first time. I’d never heard anything like it before.
During my childhood, we’d listen to every type of record you could imagine: Kate Nash, then a Trojan compilation, then Roberta Flack. When young people ask me for advice these days, I tell them to listen to everything. The larger your palette, the more you can be influenced by.
Whenever my dad and I finished our shopping at the big Tesco, we’d buy candy sticks and call them fake cigarettes, then people-watch from the bench at the end of the checkout.
One time, we bought ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ by Arctic Monkeys and blasted it from the car with the roof down. Back then, I didn’t think it would be possible to have a career in singing. I never went to music school, but those car journeys gave me a musical education. Now, I’m a musician and I’m driving that same car down Old Kent Road. It feels very full circle.
Joy Crookes is the ambassador for Timberland’s ‘My Community, Our Nature’ campaign. Find out more here.