Shaznay Lewis: 'I lacked the self-esteem to go solo'

The last time Shaznay Lewis released a solo album, Friends had just aired its final episode, Facebook was sending its first friend requests, and Mean Girls was introducing the world to the concept of “fetch”. It was 2004, and there were big expectations for Lewis’s solo career. As the driving force behind All Saints, she had credits on era-defining pop songs like Never Ever and Pure Shores. Her album, Open, boasted collaborations with Primal Scream and Basement Jaxx – but listeners expecting the sass and bite of All Saints' biggest hits were left disappointed. This was a more laid-back, sensual record, inspired by the funk and reggae Lewis grew up listening to. Instead of late night Bootie Calls and morning after Black Coffees, the singer had penned love-struck odes to her fiancé on breezy ballads like Never Felt Like This Before and You. Critics were harsh. Dotmusic called it “frustratingly ordinary”, while the Guardian said the album's songs “vanish from the memory, leaving virtually no trace”. It’s since been reappraised as an overlooked gem – but the record's troubled genesis was explained in a song called Don’t Know What To Say. Included on advance copies but cut from the commercial release, it found Lewis dealing with writers’ block, sitting paralysed in an expensive recording studio as panic set in. “Wishing, hoping, praying, words will come easy / Well, not today,” she sang over an anxious beat.Two decades later, Lewis is back with a fresh sense of purpose. “I've always been confident in my lane, but there was a lack of self-esteem,” she says. “I think that's probably why stayed in that bubble of being in a group for so long. I felt I was only useful in that situation. I didn’t have the self-esteem to do anything else.” The transformation began with a song called Missiles, the opening track of her new album, Pages. Over a commanding, imperial R&B groove, Lewis shakes off the nerves that plagued her last record. “Take note of every single word I speak,” she demands. “I got revenge set in my sights.” “I wrote it at the back of my garden – and I just remember being so excited to get into the studio and record it,” says the singer. “Just from that melody alone, I knew that I wanted to start some sort of project. I wasn't even thinking [about making an] album, it could have been a neat six songs, but I hadn’t felt that excited in a long time.” When she played it to friends, they agreed.