Kamille wrote bangers for Little Mix and Dua Lipa. Now she’s writing bangers for herself

The former stockbroker first made a name for herself behind the scenes of some of your favourite pop headworms of the last decade. Now in the midst of a run of solo singles, she tells Nicole Vassell about finally stepping out into the spotlight

‘I feel like this country is so much more accepting of Black women in music’ (Danika Magdalena)

Take a look at the songwriting credits of some of the biggest pop earworms of the past decade, and you’ll likely find Kamille. Dua Lipa’s “Cool”. Mabel’s “Don’t Call Me Up”. Fleur East’s “Sax”. Her contributions to much of Little Mix’s back catalogue – from “Black Magic” and “Shout Out to My Ex” to “Break Up Song” and “Confetti” – are so extensive that the band once dubbed her their secret fifth member. Songs she’s worked on have surpassed 6.8 billion streams on Spotify alone. She has five UK number ones, 20 Top 10s and a Grammy under her belt. As a songwriter, Kamille has made other people’s hits. Now she’s making her own.

“I remember I told my managers quite early on that I wanted to release music, but they kind of all felt like I wasn’t ready,” she remembers. “To be honest, I felt like I wasn’t ready. I actually felt like the industry wasn’t ready, because quite a few years ago there weren’t many Black women in this country making music in the forefront.”

We’re chatting at London’s esteemed recording space Metropolis Studios, where Kamille – born Camille Purcell – spends a lot of her time. She’s sipping from a mug of hot chocolate, being careful not to spill a drop on her white crop top. With pink jogging bottoms on her legs and perfectly straight, long brown hair that she habitually flips back and forth, Kamille gives both an air of glamour and casual relatability. It’s what you’d imagine of meeting a rising star off duty.

Only recently has she felt comfortable stepping out as an artist in her own right. It’s only in this present moment, she says, that women that look like her have achieved the kind of mainstream success she’d always wanted. “I thought, ‘Would I be supported if I did put out music?’ So I just felt like writing for others was the best way for me to learn and figure out who I am in the process.”

Despite a childhood filled with singing and writing poetry, she put her performing dreams to the side in her late teens and followed the more parent-friendly route of an economics degree. Kamille worked as a stockbroker for a couple of years, but she knew the corporate world wasn’t for her. One day, she walked out of her job with only one thought: “I have to do music.” Her dad was worried about her choices, but he did set her up with a friend at the London recording studio Rollover so she could get some experience. After speaking with some of the writers that she met there, it didn’t take long for her to dust off her old poetry skills. When her first attempt at songwriting – for “What About Us?” by The Saturdays – ended up getting to No 1 in early 2013, she realised she was onto something. “I was like, OK, yeah, this is what I want to do.”

While Kamille primarily stuck to writing bops for other artists over the succeeding years, she also dipped her toes into the recording artist pool herself. She started with a featured vocal on Avelino’s “Body” in 2017, before heading into a more electronic direction with Gorgon City for 2018’s “Go Deep”. “One More Night” – with GRM Daily, Wretch 32 and WSTRN – bounced between R&B and dancehall in 2019, while last year’s “Move” saw her work with Kingdom 93 and Goldfingers and dabble in dubstep.

‘I will definitely reach for the pain’ (Danika Magdalena)

Bit by bit, she’s been gaining the momentum to be seen as her own artist. The success of Black British female stars such as Ms Banks, Stefflon Don and Cat Burns in recent years, plus the anticipation for Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s solo work post-Little Mix, has helped her believe it’s now possible for her, too. “I feel like so much has changed and I feel like this country is so much more accepting of Black women in music,” she beams. “It just feels like an amazing time to really go for it.”

Regardless of genre, much of Kamille’s work revolves around themes of empowerment, self-respect, and triumph over insecurities. She’s like a musical guardian angel, peering over your shoulder to say: “No worries, you’ve got this.” In that respect, her latest single “Weight Loss” feels quintessentially Kamille. Over a drum and bass-infused chorus, she celebrates the end of a relationship. It’s as if she’s shed a kilograms’ worth of stress.

It’s not a track that’s representative of any recent situations in her life – she is happily married to house music producer Tomi Adenlé (otherwise known as Tazer), and their wedding last year was captured on the Channel 4 reality series High Life – but years of writing for others means that she can tap into different emotions at the drop of a hat. “I will definitely reach for the pain,” she laughs. “It’s very easily accessible for me.” “learning”, a more downbeat single from earlier this year, was an exercise in Kamille writing herself out of her depression. “‘Cause the things I fight, they’re all in my mind/ Gonna look at myself, and say something nice,” she sings softly, as a refrain tinkles away in the background like a music box. It’s incredibly raw, hinging on a feeling of genuine emotion that sticks with the listener.

For Kamille, being vulnerable and honest is a big part of the magic of writing for herself. She wants her words to connect. “I just love the way I feel when women come to me and they’re like, ‘Kam, your song got me through depression’, or, ‘your song helped me break up with my ex who was cheating on me’.” She nods her head. “That’s why I write music.”

As of right now, there are no hard plans to transfer her single releases to an album – she’s happy testing out the process with individual tracks. “I don’t necessarily think an album is always the way,” she explains. “I think sometimes it’s about [finding] more creative ways of dropping bodies of music. I’m still investigating what that is for me.”

If the demand’s there, though, she’ll have no trouble preparing a longer project. “The minute people are, like, screaming for an album from me, I can be ready in a week,” she says with a finger snap. “But I’m just enjoying the process of making music. That’s what matters to me.”

‘Weight Loss’ is out on 12 August