One of our favourite kweens, Róisín Murphy, is back with a new album – well, it’s coming soon – and it’s called Hairless Toys.

To celebrate we thought we’d go back to when we awkwardly interviewed her for her second album, the masterpiece that is Overpowered. The interview wasn’t the smoothest we’ve experienced. We asked some rubbish questions – we were new to the game and Róisín wasn’t exactly the warmest. But like we give a shit, we don’t always want our divas to act like they’re eternally twelve. Here are the most interesting-bits-slash-the-bits-we-can-still-find.

Your first album, Ruby Blue, felt like it had the makings of a pop album, but ended up being more ‘artsy’, right?
Well, when I listen back to that first album, there are quite a lot of things that sound like pop music to me. But I really didn’t set out to make an avant-garde record. I just started to make a record with Matthew Herbert and we had fun. It wasn’t like we were sitting round thinking, ‘Alright, now we’ve got to sit around being really arty.’ Although some of the things we used to make that music were a bit out there.

What was the strangest instrument?
The day before we went into the studio he rang and said, ‘Bring an object into the studio’. I didn’t really know what he meant, so I brought in a box of old cuttings and collages which I use to help me write. I also brought in an article about ‘The Long Now’ by Brian Eno. It’s about how we’re really stuck in a short-term history, we keep reviewing short periods of time and that’s all we seem to do anymore. So, he was putting this clock into a mountain that was going to count time for 7,000 years and that’s what it was all about. So I showed it to Matthew and said, ‘This is very interesting.’ But he said, ‘Yeah, go and shake it by the mic, bang it on the microphone, rip it up and make sound from it.’ Then he made a synth sound from those noises.

Did you have more creative input on Overpowered or Ruby Blue?
I’m a collaborator, so I collaborated with Simon Henwood on the cover and all the videos for Ruby Blue. Then I collaborated with a guy called Scott King on Overpowered. Scott used to be the Art Director at i-D and then he was Creative Director of Sleaze Nation. I worked with him there. He put me on the front cover in the back of a van being shagged by a roadie. (Try as we might, we can’t find this image online – did it ever make it to the cover?)

You worked with some amazing artists on Overpowered. How do you choose which songs make it on to the final album?
I wrote like thirty songs that were all good, because I work with good people. Actually sorting out the best ones was kind of a tricky thing. I worked with Richard X and then Seiji from Bugz in the Attic. He really broke the back of it for me. He warmed me up. I wrote like six songs with him before I went anywhere else. Then I went off and did stuff in America. I wrote with people in Sheffield, I wrote with Parrot and Dean from All Seeing I too.

**Editor’s Note**
After writing the song ‘Off and On’ with Calvin Harris and Cathy Dennis, she decided not to use it. Fair enough. Calvin called her a ‘twat’ but Róisín was feeling generous, so decided to allow Sophie Ellis-Bextor to use it. Sophie headed off to the studio, to record her own vocals and video but wait, what’s this? Róisín reportedly had a change of heart and just decided to leak her own version anyway! Ha!

What about Calvin Harris?
No comment. It’s not very fair on him to have stuff said about him.

He called you a ‘twat’ on Popjustice.
Yeah but he’s young. He shouldn’t have. I’m not going to blame him for it.

How was shooting the ‘Overpowered’ video?
Well, all the stuff I’ve done is mad outfits in mundane situations like, ‘The world is a stage.’ But it’s surprising how little attention you get in London, people just don’t want to get involved. They cross the road.

What’s the craziest outfit you’ve ever worn?
The one on the single cover’s pretty mad. I’m walking down Woolwich High Street wearing a Viktor & Rolf dress, and inside the dress it’s attached to my body. It juts out about three foot above my head and there’s a big lighting rig. It’s scaffolding with lights on it, the lights point in on me, the dress is pinned up on the collar and there’s a really big pin on the lighting rig. So, it’s like a really huge stretched dress on a massive lighting rig and I’m inside. I almost died! It was like a sail, so I nearly got blown over several times. If I had fallen over I would have broken every bone in my body and I wore these clogs with 2x4s nailed to the bottom to make them high heels. They were like Size 12 as well. Proper ones that you would have put plants inside of. People had to hide down behind things in case I started looking wobbly so they could just run out and catch me. I’m just walking down the street with a Happy Shopper bag.