What’s changed most for you over the past five years?
My whole life. Having got married and had a baby [Stanley, 18 months], I don’t think of myself at all any more, which, although it sounds clichéd, is actually quite liberating.
Does it make songwriting harder?
It does because you don’t have time to wander around and think big thoughts, but my songwriting is still the way I see the world.
Your last album was released in 2008, do you feel the pressure of a comeback?
Not really. I know for everyone else it feels like I’ve been away forever, but there’s never been a break from music for me. It’s not intentional that there are four years between each album, it just makes me look quite slow.
Do you still speak to Eminem?
No, I haven’t spoken to him for years, not for any reason other than we’re not pen pals.
How did he first get in touch with you?
After ‘Thank You’ I got a letter out of the blue when I was in New York with a CD and a note saying: ‘I love your track, I want to use it, and how does this sound to you?’ I put it on and it was ‘Stan’; it just sounded amazing and I was beside myself with excitement.
You’ve called your son Stanley, is there any connection to the song?
No connection. Stanley has always been my favourite name.
Your music is very serene, was it strange hanging out with rappers?
At the time I’d been touring around the States as part of an all-female festival and then I went straight into filming the ‘Stan’ video with Dr Dre and going on the Anger Management Tour with Papa Roach. It was very surreal but they were all very gentlemanly.
Your ‘Dido flip’ haircut was nearly as famous as Jennifer Aniston’s ‘Rachel’, have you got another look in the pipeline?
No. It really freaked me out when I saw a Wikipedia page devoted to my hair.
Dido’s new album Girl Who Got Away is out on 4 March
