Katy B: post your questions as the singer returns

Back after a five-year hiatus, the chart-topping south Londoner will take questions about anything in her life and career

Continuing our new series of interviews where readers ask the questions is one of the most vivacious British pop stars in recent memory: Katy B, who is returning to music after a five-year hiatus.

Raised in Peckham, she trained at the star-minting Brit School but cut her teeth on the London club circuit amid the UK funky craze of the late 00s, guesting on tracks including As I by Geeneus. Soon signed by former pirate radio station Rinse FM and firmly embedded in a dance scene where dubstep was also flourishing, she drew different sides of nocturnal London together on her debut album On a Mission (2011). The Benga-produced single Katy On a Mission, with its distinctive police-siren vocal riff, championed the jaw-jangling dubstep sound, while Lights On with Ms Dynamite used the nimble rhythms of UK funky – it was an astonishing one-two punch that launched her into the mainstream, each track going Top Five in the UK.

Another Top 10 hit, Broken Record, showcased Katy’s gift for crying-on-the-dancefloor tracks, continued on chart-topping second album Little Red with one of her defining songs, Crying For No Reason. She scored her first No 1 single, though, with a celebration of pure hedonism: Turn the Music Louder (Rumble) with Tinie Tempah and producer KDA in 2015.

Third album Honey was ambitious – collaborators included Major Lazer, Four Tet and Kaytranada – but failed to make as much of an impact, and Katy went on a lengthy hiatus. She retreated from years of hardcore touring, built a studio in her basement, and eventually returned with a remix of UK jazz star Moses Boyd earlier this year, followed by her own new solo single, Under My Skin. It’s an atmospheric track – somewhere between R&B and Afrobeats – about a deceptive partner she can’t shake the feeling of. Her gift for yearning vocals is undimmed.

It features on a new EP, Peace and Offerings, out on 5 November. To mark its release along with the recent 10-year anniversary of On a Mission, Katy is joining us to answer your questions about anything in her career. Post them in the comments below, and we’ll publish her answers on Friday 5 November.

Contributor

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

The GuardianTramp

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