"Aretha is another phenomenon. The thing I love, now that we have YouTube, is watching the divas talk about one another. There seems to be this real respect for one another, and a real hierarchy! Every diva knew that Aretha was the queen, and she would give her blessing to the others. I love that there was this order! ""Aretha – she’s amazing – with her roots in gospel music. That was such a big influence to me. I loved listening to her gospel album, and you can really see where the freedom that you hear in her pop songs comes from. They’re riffing and she’s letting the Spirit take over her, and she’s so good at playing piano that it translates into the keys as well, similar to how it did with Nina. There are lots of different versions of “Amazing Grace” out there, but I really felt like the lyric had this new gravitas once I’d heard her sing it. ""Recently I went to see the movie Amazing Grace, about the recording of her gospel album. To actually see footage of her giving that performance was pretty mind-blowing. She’s just in the moment; sweating from the energy she’s giving the crowd, and the choir! It was a beautiful moment to watch, and Aretha will forever be a massive influence in everything that I do. ""My Dad is Zambian, and when I go and visit, my aunties and my Grandma and cousins often sing together. The harmonies and the ensemble gives me the same feeling as when I hear gospel music. If you’re ignoring or suppressing emotions, this music and these sounds will just pull everything up and give you this incredible cleansing. ""There’s something about gospel music. When I was younger and listening to the divas, I hadn’t really heard much gospel music. My Dad played me a Kirk Franklin album, and for me initially, it was just the crunch of the chords that the choir was singing and this mass of people singing so perfectly in such unusual harmonies, and then on top of that, these are people singing with belief they’re singing to God. ""When I step inside a church, I feel different. I think it’s just the energy and the intention that people are singing with and have come together in. Whatever faith you have, I think that makes a world of difference. Gospel music is just such a special, higher form of music for me, and it can really make me so emotional. It’s such a great thing that, regardless of your beliefs, we can still come together through music and vibrations of love."

"I loved the lyric in 'Angel of Mine', and I loved how simple and poignant it was. Eternal was actually my first concert I went to – I just remember learning all these ballads of theirs. I was completely Eternal-obsessed from eight to 12! Maybe it was that they had elements of gospel in their music, and it was still in the pop scene. ""There weren’t many black women on the TV when I was growing up – there were maybe one or two, not people I could look up to and say, ‘Oh, that’s me, that’s who represents me. I have a chance of being on TV one day, and I could be a singer.’ ""When Eternal came along, my mind was blown on so many levels. I thought they were so beautiful, and they had so many hairstyles that I thought were amazing. Then, on top of that, they could truly sing ­ – they’d come from the church. Instead of always looking at American singers, they gave me a British option – something more relatable and close to home. ""Now, there’s so much [black British media] coming out – the actress Zawe Ashton has just released a book, and it was so amazing to see her take account of her [experiences]. There’ve never been any people on TV that show any products for her hair, just this dream that’s sold that you’re going to have this amazing glossy hair! I felt so touched by that chapter, ‘cause it just reminded me of myself as a kid. You forget once you’re an adult, and you get to move somewhere like London and have access to all of these things. As a kid it can feel very lonely and you feel very different. I feel very grateful for the progress we’ve made as a country, to prevent that feeling as much as possible."" ""I try my best to take on that responsibility, though thankfully I think there’s so many more people of colour on TV – including black women. The culture has so much more of a voice from when I was growing up, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about social media as well: you can see yourself in so many places, and you can choose where you look. When I’m on TV, though, I definitely think about that. I think about me as a kid, and what that would have meant to me. I’m proud of stepping out there and doing my best to represent in the best way possible. I feel very grateful to have had that opportunity. It’s so important for children’s self-esteem and sense of belonging."