T2 and Addictive

Interview with T2

T2 is a British garage record producer from Leeds. He has been mixing since he was in his teens and began releasing tracks in 2004. T2 is signed to management team NVA Management, owners of record label 2NV. In 2007 his single ‘Heartbroken’ featuring Jodie Aysha hit number two in the UK singles chart and the video which featured some footballers became popular amongst football fans, receiving more than 2 million hits on YouTube.

How did you get into producing music?
It is just something I have wanted to do since the age of 13. I had so many ideas floating around but I didn’t know what to do with them, so I started downloading music making software onto my computer and played around with music all the time. It wasn’t until I was 18/19 that I got in touch with records labels.

You have worked with some big names…
I’ve worked with a lot of people including Craig David, Kate Nash and more recently T2. I like building relationships with these artists and taking things from there. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United and England) is in the music industry and he’s played a major influence in my career; we are also managed by the same people. His brother Anton (West Ham) featured in the ‘Heartbroken’ video, as did Micah Richardson (Manchester City and England); they are good friends and all of us want to be seen as positive role models.

You rewrote the song ‘Heartbroken’ in support of Ricky Hatton’s boxing match against Floyd Mayweather – how did that happen?
I was an amateur boxer for three years when I was younger and I wanted to support Ricky in some way in his big fight; I came up with the idea of the re-record and it was approved. I was really chuffed.

What do you have lined up this summer?
I am going to be touring the holiday hot spots, performing and showcasing my music. I don’t know if I will get time off but relaxing is for when you are older. I love my job; I don’t’ drag my feet on the way to work. I don’t ever want this to stop!

What are you looking forward to most about the Trust Thamesmead Community Festival?
The crowd! Big crowds are a beautiful thing; it is a dream come true.

Interview with Aisha from Addictive

Addictive is made up of 21 year old Social worker Aisha Stuart and 20 year old fruit and veg shop worker Louise Bagan, who had chart success with ‘Gonna Be Mine’ and will be living every girls dream this summer.

How do you and Louise know each other?
We met 10 years ago; Lou’s aunty lived next door to me and we met through the garden fence. We always got along well; when we were younger we used to dream of performing on Top of the Pops and CDUK, so we started performing at open mic sessions and three years ago, around Christmas time, we sung a Gospel song at an open mic event and everyone said we should go for it and get a record deal! I already knew the management company we are now with and things went from there.

How did you get involved with T2?
Louise and I are really into bass line, rave and dance music. We were up north when we first heard his stuff and when we came back to London we got in contact with him via My Space. One and half years later our management team set up a meeting with him and we started working with him soon after.

‘Gonna Be Mine’ was a hit for T2 and Addictive, how did that come about?
T2 gave us some beats to write to; he had so many, it was hard to choose but the beat to ‘Gonna Be Mine’ really stood out as it had a samba/Mexican feel. We love it!

What do you have lined-up for the summer?
July is going to be busy for us; we’ll be in Ayia Napa and Malia playing Pa’s and ‘living the dream’, as well as performing at the Trust Thamesmead Community Festival. We can’t wait! It will be a real privilege to be a part of such a huge community event. There aren’t many out there. It also gives us a break from our every day work; social work can be really stressful but for me, performing is a stress buster.