QSC Aspiring interview: Sydnie Christmas on winning BGT & debut album My Way

Vocal powerhouse Sydnie Christmas, the winner of this year's Britain's Got Talent, has released her debut album My Way, named after the track which captivated millions during her semi-final performance on the talent show.

Christmas saw Britain’s Got Talent as her final chance, having experienced a run of unsuccessful auditions, and felt that it would be an exciting opportunity to end on. Little did the vocalist know when she signed up that she would go on not only receive the Golden Buzzer from judge Amanda Holden, but win the show.

Hailing from Gravesham in Kent, having studied at the D&B Academy of Performing Arts, Christmas made her ‘off West End’ London stage debut in Lazarus. The ex-gym worker also had stints on cruise ships where she performed in productions such as Grease and performed in Starlight Express in Germany.

Getting onto the West End stages proved to be a hard battle for Christmas, so she decided to give it one last shot when applying for Britain’s Got Talent. Upon winning BGT, she became the first female singer to win the show, and stands on the precipice of what promises to be a remarkable career.

What has life been like post BGT?

It's been very busy. I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect all of this, so I made an album. I've got a tour coming up in February and I've had a couple of live gigs, which has been great, because playing live is what I love. 

Now the album's done, I'm preparing for the tour. There's really exciting things coming up. I've got panto this year, which is amazing, because I get to come home for Christmas.

How did you come to choose the songs on My Way?

I put these songs on the album because every song on there has something to do with my journey. Every song is on there for a reason, whether it be for a family member or it reminds me of a time in my life. Also, I'm a lady that loves many styles of music. I love old school funk. I love reggae. I haven't got reggae on there…this time, but if I have another album it will be on there [laughs]. I've got so many different colours in my voice that I wanted to show, so that was the thought process with the album.

My Way is an album of covers; do you aspire to write your own music in the future?

Yeah, absolutely. I used to be the songwriting little bean growing up, but I thought they’d never see the light of day. It's so funny…now, maybe they will. I just need to figure out what I want to write about. I wanted to get music out quickly, because that was also important, so I have something to sing when I do my live gigs. Also, going into hiding and making an album takes a long time. 

I would love to sit there and get creative and figure out what type of songs Sydnie would make now at this point in her life, because there was a time that I didn't write, and the past five years I haven't really written any songs. I'd really like to start doing that again.

You considered Britain's Got Talent to be your last shot at the industry. Why did you feel this way?

I was auditioning for musical theatre my entire performing life just because I thought that was my only route. I had worked out of the country. In the past 10 years, I've done 10 jobs, to put it into perspective. Then I had a lot of years working in pubs. 

All of us in the industry are working whatever job that we can get just to pay the bills and hoping that when we have an audition, they'll let us have the day off. The amount of jobs I've lost having to say, ‘I'm sorry; I'm not coming in. I've got an audition,’ and they're like, ‘WTF? Fired’. Then I'm like, ‘I didn't get the job,’ and then I'll go back. I'm 29 now. I was 28 when I auditioned. I was like, ‘I can't do this industry anymore; I need to start getting some stability, because my body clock is clocking, and I want a family at some point of my own, so I need to start preparing for that’. 

I've been going for BGT on and off for four years. This was the first time I got accepted. I was usually pulling out of the process because I was quite frightened. This time I was like, ‘Sod it, let's go. Let's have it. Goodbye to the industry. Let's just see what I can do and just have fun with it,’ which maybe took the pressure off. That was where I was at with BGT. 

I just went for it and tried to be authentic and take it all in. Then that really amazing, unbelievable stuff happened. I'm a lucky girl.

Talk us through the audition process…

It helped having my boyfriend with me, because Max performs as well. He's in the industry, and I can panic. I can be a little bit of a warrior and put a lot of pressure on myself wanting to sing perfectly. Max was just like, ‘Babe, chill. It's just an audition’. So I got up, got ready and did my warm up. I had to be at the Palladium and I was one of the last to go on, so I didn't go on until about half nine in the evening. 

I was stuck in a little room and they would take the contestants and do a little bit of filming and you just had to wait for your fate. I tried to listen to everybody around me saying, ‘You can do this. It's not deep. Just go and have fun’.

What was that feeling like when you got the Golden Buzzer?

That was a weird, crazy, amazing feeling. I just couldn't believe it. It's just one of those moments that you're like, ‘Is this real?’ They hit the buzzer and it went bang, and it was so loud you can actually see that it made me jump, because it literally erupted on the stage. I dropped to the floor out of fear and the golden flakes came from above, so it took about four seconds for them to come down. 

So I was just there like, ‘What happened? Nothing's around me,’ and then it was all right. When I realised, I picked up loads just before I went off and put them in my pockets. The thing is, those little golden flakes, they're such a good gift. I give them to kids. Whenever I meet children, I always give them a golden flake!

Why did you choose Tomorrow as your audition song?

I didn't have a clue what else to sing! It was the first song that I was known to sing when I was a kid. I was singing that from the rooftops. I was known for it. Then when I heard Marisha Wallace's version, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I've got to sing this song’. 

It just seemed like the perfect song for me. It presented itself to me when I needed to hear it again. That version speaks to me as an adult in a very different way than it did when I was younger.

Walk us through the BGT final…

The final was all the emotions wrapped into one. The anxiety of it was crazy. Counting down from 11 seemed like forever. It literally felt like an hour. It's so scary. You got everyone in the audience, also knowing that you've got millions of people through the lens of the camera. I felt watched. I'm sure we all did. It's scary stuff. 

When they said my name, I just couldn't believe it. It was the best moment of my life, for sure. It wasn't just my win, it was all my family's win. I looked around and I saw all my family being happy – I've never seen them happy like that. It was a very surreal, emotional experience. Every time I see it, I get choked up.

You've got the Royal Variety Performance coming up at the Royal Albert Hall. How are you feeling about that?

When I won BGT, the first thing that I thought about was, ‘I get to perform in front of the king’. That's just mental. That's such a big thing. I watched last year, not realising any of this would happen or I would be performing in it the next year. It's crazy. 

I am singing Believer, which is on my album; it's my cover of an Imagine Dragons song and it's amazing. I've tried to make it very Bond!

Now you have won BGT, what are your goals?

That's the beauty of it. I have no idea! If you'd have asked me five years ago where I saw myself, I wouldn't have said here. Hopefully working my little bum off – that's where I'm happy: performing, singing, but working hard, and I will be the happiest girl on the planet. As long as opportunities keep coming that I can wholeheartedly tackle, then I'm happy.

What does the phrase Play Out Loud mean to you?

Play out loud can mean so many things: live anything – poetry, scripts, singing, anything! That's what I take from that.

Christmas will kick start next year with her debut UK solo headline tour in February, performing at some of the country’s most prestigious venues.