London, Jan 26: Rumer loves Aretha Franklin so much she wrote a song about an imaginary conversation between herself and the Queen of Soul.
The song, titled “Aretha,” is from Rumer's debut album, “Seasons of My Soul,” out this week in the United States and already a success in the United Kingdom.
“I think that the story I'm trying to tell in the song is about a little girl who goes to school everyday listening to Aretha Franklin on her headphones and her mother's got problems, and she doesn't really fit in in school, and so she finds solace in Aretha Franklin,” Rumer explained.
Rumer says she chose to highlight Franklin because the singer embodies the definition of a strong woman and “all those things that I suppose is lacking in the child's life.”
“Seasons of My Soul” is platinum in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 3 there; it has reached the Top 10 in Belgium, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Rumer says the album is somewhat a reaction to the death of her mother, who died from breast cancer in 2003. Rumer also said her mother was a fan of British author Rumer Godden, and that's where she discovered her stage name.
“My mom died and she left this list of books to read, and I lost the list, and I was really, really upset. For about a week I was so upset with myself and I used to go to sleep and think, ‘What was on that list?'” she recalled.
“And all I could remember was the word rumer. Rumer, rumer, rumer. I found the list, and the name ... it spoke to me. And it was in her writing which was really nice, you know. I sort of felt like she gave me my name Sarah, but I feel like she also gave me that name as well as a kind of christening into a new era,” continued Rumer, who was born Sarah Joyce and grew up in Pakistan and England.
Rumer was nominated for best british breakthrough and brest british female at last year's BRIT Awards.
She says she is “suspicious” about her U.K. success.
“(I'm) like, ‘Really? You like me?'” she asked with a laugh. “I'm still a little bit suspicious. You know what I mean? Like it's all going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight. It's all going to be taken away from me.”
