New look, new sound – and a new order in her private life. It’s amazing how Kim Wilde has changed!
Until a few months ago Kim Wilde was always made up in a refined way and her hair was done in an arty way, her clothes were a bit lackluster – jeans, boots, t-shirt. Now suddenly the opposite: she leaves the manes wild, hardly uses any makeup and shows herself in leather costumes, deeply cut clothes and mini skirts. “It’s not a new image ordered by the record company”, says Kim. “I have never been ordered around by anyone.”
For Kim Wilde the changed look is merely an expression of a deep inner change: “I believe that every girl goes through this phase, in which they suddenly become more selfconfident and cooler and finally puts the inhibitions down, which one has since the beginning of their teenage days”, says Kim Wilde. She acknowledges: “I may be a bit late at 22, but I was always a late bloomer.”
Only now Kim Wilde can speak of the hard times of the beginning of her career: “I would have preferred to send my voice on those travels alone if it were possible. I had panic attacks when I had to show myself before people or do photoshoots. I always thought that people would look at me with x-ray eyes and clothed myself in a very unfeminine way because of that.”
What has prompted the sudden chage? “Different things came together. The career with all its fireproofs has made me more selfconscious. And also the relationship with Gary Barnacle started. He is the first man, with whom I can talk about it all, like I used to do only with my family – through Gary I finally made the move out of my parents house, and that is a lovely, free feeling. For the first time I feel the security, that I can live my life alone and without the help of others.”
Although Kim Wilde could have moved out earlier, she has moved to an apartment in London from her parents’ house in the provence of Hertfordshire only a few months ago. But also professionally she has taken her fate into her own hands: “On my next album ‘Shoot to disable’ I have not just sung, but I’ve also co-produced, chosen all the songs and lyrcs myself and even designed the cover myself. I believe it all shows my character, temperament and my style – in a matter of speaking, this is Kim Wilde nr. 2, the real genuine one!
How is she really? How does she see herself?
“I am the complete opposite of the character I sing about in the song ‘Love blonde'”, laughs Kim Wilde, “I am may not be the most intelligent one, of course I am feminine, but not sexy and not as vain as everyone seems to think. Impatient, moody and disputatiousness are my main faults!”
When Kim Wilde’s new single ‘Love blonde’ rises in the charts, she will give the first live concerts in Germany in November. The singer, who was on tour only ones during her two year career, has put aside her dislike for travelling by now: “Because my boyfriend Gary is in the band I don’t have any fear for the long evenings alone in the hotel room anymore!”