Wow, times flies. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Dido's multi-platinum debut, No Angel. Released in 1999 the album became a worldwide phenomenon a year later when Eminem sampled the refrain from the gorgeous "Thank You" for the smash "Stan."As a result of that push from Eminem, No Angel went on to sell 21 million copies worldwide, making it the second biggest-selling album in the U.K. for the 2000s (behind only James Blunt's Back To Bedlam).Dido followed that with the brilliant Life For Rent, a magnificent collection that mixed a singer/songwriter folk sensibility with sublime electronic beats largely courtesy of her brother, Rollo, from the acclaimed U.K. act Faithless.Life For Rent went on to sell 14 million copies worldwide and spawned a sold-out tour that took her to arenas in some markets, cementing Dido's status as one of the brightest new talents in pop music.She followed that with 2008's Safe Trip Home and 2013's Girl Who Got Away, both strong collections. Though neither had the same impact commercially as Dido chose not to tour behind either album.It's been 15 years now since she has toured in the U.S. All that will change in 2019 though as Dido will release a stunning new album, Still On My Mind, out March 8 on BMG, and follow that with a world tour. From the opening single, the ethereal, majestic "Hurricanes" to the rest of the 12 songs, the album is a much welcome and stellar return to form for the one-time music superstar.I spoke with Dido about the new album, how her long absences are unintentional, making music with her brother and why even though she never wanted to write a song about motherhood, that actually jumpstarted Still On My Mind.Steve Baltin: It blew my mind to hear it had been 15 years since you toured the U.S. Are there other artists who've had similar long breaks that inspire you?Dido: It blew my mind when I actually counted out the numbers. It was like, "Oh my god, it really has been 15 years." For me it's not an intention. Every album there's been quite a long gap and there's been a bit of living in between and then I end up writing more and it builds up. I'm a very unintentional person, I don't really have a big plan and I'm not very good at thinking past next week. But what happens is enough songs come together that I start feeling like, "Oh, I'd just love people to hear this." And then I put a record out (laughs). As far as other artists it gives me comfort that you see people who do it with such grace. They just put a record out, they sort of disappear and then they put another record out like Sade comes to mind. I thought Kate Bush coming back after all that time was just fantastic. But, from my point of view, I just feel really lucky that I still get to do this after all this time. That, to me, feels like magic.Baltin: I love the new material. It feels very contemporary but undeniably you. When did you know you wanted this to be an album?Dido: That's so nice to hear because not many people have heard it. Well, barely anyone has. But that's really lovely because I just have no idea if people are gonna like it. So few people have heard it and it's been made in such a small way, with my brother. How this album came about is I had my child and just wanted to hang out with him and that was a really natural progression. And then I was sort of writing with various people cause I always do. Then I just sort of woke up one morning and was like, "I would love to make a record, but I only really want to make it if it's with Rollo, my brother. And I don't want to make one if it isn't." I sort of wanted to go back to how it was at the beginning when music was almost a byproduct of me and my brother hanging out with each other. And that, to me, is why this whole thing started. I wanted to feel that again and that's what this album is. It's basically me and my brother hanging out and making music.Baltin: Was there one song that jump started this album?Dido: My dark album was the third album. I wrote that when my dad died and that was actually why I didn't tour the third album cause I realized when it came to it I couldn't really sing the songs live because it was so raw at the time. So this album is very different. I never wanted to write a song about having a kid. But I had a few ideas in my head and I almost felt like, "Get it out of your system, write a song about what you feel having a kid and then put it in the bin." Anyway I wrote this song, it's the last song on the album, called "Have To Stay." And I was so proud it and it so sums up how I did feel about being a mother and this unconditional love. And that sums up the whole record. Suddenly the floodgates opened and I wrote all the rest of the songs. That was the song that started it and that wasn't even really meant to be a song anybody ever heard. Everyone fell in love with it.Baltin: It's funny what you say about the third album. Look at a song like "See You When You're 40" off Life For Rent and I'd be curious to see how that song has changed for you being around 40. Are there songs from the catalog you are excited to revisit with your new perspective on life?Dido: I'm way past 40 (laughs). It's funny, I'm still not living by the beach and that is still what I want. I'm still quite not living that life. When I do actually listen to those songs and sing them again sometimes I'm like, "They're still really relevant to my life now." Obviously having a family it takes you into this whole other dimension and you're never gonna return. And it's a whole different world. And even just making music this time around I feel different. In a way it's more relaxed, it's very sort of natural and easy. The songs, some of them feel very young and I love that because it takes me back 20 years or so. But some of them still feel sort of relevant, like "Life For Rent," for example.Baltin: Have you been surprised by how they stay relevant to your life today?Dido: It's the way you feel things and if you write honestly about the way you feel things that probably doesn't change much. I was on tour for like nine years straight in the end. And I remember songs changing while the tour was going on. So one song that might've been more of a distant thing for me, then one day I'd be singing it and I'd think, "Oh my god, this is really hitting home." And sometimes when you met fans and met people in the street and they would tell you a story about how the song affected them or the particular story about where the song was relevant and that would bring a whole other level of emotions to it, which was sort of amazing. So, for me, my songwriting has always come from the same place, which is I don't write songs unless there's light and dark in it. There's no song of mine that's out and out happy and no song that's out and out sad really. For me songwriting is about finding those little moments of conflict in life, whatever they are. And that's what inspired me to write the song. So that's never changed. I wrote my first song when I was nine and that's never changed.Baltin: Who are those songwriters that capture the light and dark best for you then?Dido: I admire so many people and I look at people and think, "Wow, what a great songwriter you are." I look at Carole King, Sarah McLachlan, all these amazing people you just think, "Wow, I dream of the day I can write a song as good as they have done." The one that springs to mind is "Angel," by Sarah McLachlan, which is the most comforting song in the world, but then you realize it's sort of about drug addiction. It's the most beautiful song that wraps you in it, but it's actually quite a dark song. And that song will always make me cry.Baltin: After the long hiatus from the road are you excited about touring and does it feel almost like a new beginning?Dido: I'm excited, I have no idea what it will feel like doing it 15 years later. I'm excited because it feels like the right record at the right time. Third record wasn't the right record and the fourth record wasn't the right time as I had a brand new baby. So there was no way I was gonna go on tour. But it just feels fun and I feel, as a songwriter, I want to engage with people and sing songs with people in the room and it's an interactive thing. You can go so long as a songwriter sitting in the room on your own and then at a certain point you just want to share music with people and you just get so much inspiration from that. I do anyway. Whenever I'm actually playing with a band or performing for people it gives you this whole wave of new songs, of new inspiration. And it's also a great feeling. I've got bands full of friends and there's nothing better than that moment when you're in mid-song and it's sounding good and it's working. That's what it's all about, that's the high bit of the job.Baltin: And is the low bit the traveling?Dido: I love flying, I'm pretty excited. I feel lucky to be doing this. I love being on a plane. I've written a lot of songs on planes. There's something about the lack of oxygen, the cabin air pressure and the view out the window. I absolutely love flying.Baltin: You mentioned this being the right time to go sing in a room for people. How much has the tumult in the world influenced your music and that feeling it is the right time?Dido: You can't help have that feeling creep into things. It's funny, I've noticed, for me when the world gets more uncertain, chaotic or confusing, I get smaller. I start focusing on the really small stuff. In a way it's sort of good. I focus on micro moments anyway, but then they become really micro. It's almost like you couldn't even write a song about the bigger picture. I couldn't because it's too big. I take a lot of comfort at that point in sort of, and just life in general, when the world does get confusing, for me to focus on the small moments and the things that really keep you calm, make you happy, family moments is what I end up doing. And it's the same with songwriting. You go into more small moments, comforting place.Baltin: When you go back and listen to this album are there things that surprise you or stand out?Dido: When you put all the songs together and then people go, "Oh wow, there's a huge theme of this, that or the other." And you're like, "Oh wow, I did not notice I was doing that. But good point, there are a lot of songs about similar themes." And that's what you start noticing as the record as a whole has a feel to other people. To me, I'm so clear where my head is at when I'm writing the song and each part of the song. I'm a very visual songwriter, so even when I'm singing the songs I can still see exactly where I was when I wrote it or what I was thinking or what visuals were playing in my head. So I still hear the songs that way. There were a lot of songs to choose from and I ended up choosing 12 I thought went well together. That's when you start finding themes that you didn't really expect.Baltin: Is there one recurring theme you really notice on this album?Dido: I don't know. I think that's for other people to sort of feel. I don't think I'd want to think too much about what the theme is. It's sort of all is not as it seems is the sort of theme probably.
