Pop With A Purpose: How Natasha Hamilton Built a Record Label That Cares

In this special episode of the We Are PoWEr Podcast, Simone Roche MBE is joined by Natasha Hamilton, formerly of Atomic Kitten and now Founder and Mentor of Morpho Records.

Natasha and Simone talk about how a muddy founders festival and a giant cube sparked a new kind of record label and why leading with duty of care can reshape pop. Natasha opens up about bias, mentorship and turning past experiences into a healthier model for artists.

• Morpho Records’ purpose and artist-first model
• Letting go of the corporate persona and being yourself 
• Early missteps, rebuilding and resilience
• Navigating bias as a female founder
• Lessons from Atomic Kitten’s highs and lows
• Mental health, therapy and returning to music
• Family, hustle and being the glue
• First signing: Pop artist Kai Bosch

Inflatables Company mentioned: MegaFlatables

Find out more about We Are PoWEr here.  💫

Transcript

Welcome And Why We’re Here

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, hello, and welcome to the We Are Power Podcast. If this is your first time here, the We Are Power Podcast is the podcast for you, your career, and your life. We release an episode every single Monday with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice, and key leadership insight from amazing role models. As We Are Power is the umbrella brand to Northern Power Women Awards, which celebrates hundreds of female role models and advocates every year. This is where you can hear stories from all of our awards alumni and stay up to date with everything MPW Awards and We Are Power.

unknown 0:39

Never imitated, never singularly wonderful. Everybody's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Welcome today. I am joined by singer, entrepreneur, and just an amazing all-round role model. Natasha Hamilton. Welcome. Welcome to the park. And do you know what? This all started with you and I in a field and a big inflatable cube. Discuss.

Ideas Fest And The Giant Cube

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Do you know what? That that cube gave me some stress, you know, because it was like a it was a really late idea for the festival. We were at Ideas Fest, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

So a female founder, oh sorry, no, a founders festival down in Tring in Hertfordshire. And it was my first time going, and it was your first time going, going, what the hell is this? In the middle of a muddy field. Like a Glastonbury for founders and entrepreneurs, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Kind of uh it was. And and it was it was bringing all the different business worlds together in a more relaxed environment, basically in a really wet and muddy field, because it did rain. Oh, it's probably the muddiest, wettest festival I've ever been to. But it was like a last-minute thing. It was like a week before the festival, I was like, what about if I get an giant inflatable cube with our Morpho Records logo on one side and a Q on QR code on the other side, and just have it like massive blown up in the middle of a field. Well, it worked. It worked. But try try and get one made in a week.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

It was a even on Tamu, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah, but I did find company, they were great. I'd love to shout you out right now, but I can't remember your name.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Thank you. I'll put that in the show notes, but it was brilliant. So that's where I was going from one conversation or one stage to another, and I'm like, and I was drawn to it. I was drawn to the cube. And I'm like, that's Natasha Hamilton, because I knew you were going to be there. So it was a brilliant festival. It's bonkers in many respects. Big shout out to Frankie, who's the organiser of that festival. But so do you know what? I thought it was so friendly.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

That's exactly what I said to my husband. I've never- Franklin Northern. Yeah, because it is a you know, it's a networking event, essentially. But everyone was really approachable, really friendly. I think it just took the edge off it. Nothing was sterile or business-like.

Networking Without The Ick

SPEAKER_01 2:56

There was a lot of, it was just quite chill. And it's hard, isn't it, sometimes as a um a working parent as you are, a five, by the way. Can't believe it, can you? Um, but you're a single songwriter, entrepreneur, as I said. But it's really hard that four-letter word in our world, or two of them that are the worst things in the world, time and busy. We don't have enough of one, and we use the other a lot. But making time to go to that, which you clearly did last minute, same as me, thinking, oh, I don't know whether I can, and it's a hike, and there were tube strikes and all that kind of stuff. But it was, it was really good. And I'm still, it's still processing, isn't it? What you do with that?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Um, because you were there, because you know, I got a lot of contacts and connections from there. And instead of just being in like these sterile rooms going, hi, I'm Natasha Hamilton, I'm the founder of Morphora Records. It was just like a really easy talk and point to have this massive cube, and I'd be like, hey, and like there was there was um mobile toilet. Portaloo's right by where we were. Yeah, good spot. No, by the way. But just went and stuck like some QR code stickers on the door and was kind of just loitering around the toilet a little bit, but it was just the perfect way to just go, hey, oh, would you do you mind scanning QR code? Um, I've just launched a record label. It was just really informal, laid back, and it probably gave me more confidence to now go into those more sterile situations because I had so many relaxed conversations about the label. It built my confidence up a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And that's interesting, isn't it? You know, you are singer, performer, you performed in front of thousands of people. People will know you for atomic kitten, right? You're now an entrepreneur, yet even you can be a bit like, oh, I don't like icky.

From Stage To Startup Nerves

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, I don't like public speaking. You know, that kind of really corporate way of talking isn't natural to me. So sometimes when I'm in a room full of suits, and this has happened, I did my first like investors event back in last December, and you know, there's a whole room of corporate investors. Um, and I'm stood there shaking with cue cards and a PowerPoint. Now, I'm like I left school when I was 15 and got into atomic kit, and I've never done a PowerPoint in my life. So this was just so weird for me. And I basically did my talk and presented Morpho, and as soon as I left the room, I was like, that is everything I will never do ever again. I was like, that is not me. I don't know why I tried to be this corporate version of me. If people like people will warm to me for just me being me. Um, so I I kind of edited myself a little bit, and afterwards I just thought, nah.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Well, that's interesting that like, you know, and again, it people will listen and watch this and think, oh my gosh, that is Natasha from Autobic Hitten, but how can you possibly feel nervous? In that and and and I'm doing something I haven't done before.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Like I am very good at my job, which is being a singer, songwriter, entertainer. Um, if I could sing my pitch, it'd probably be so much easier. But no- I'm memorable, by the way. It's slightly weird though. Yeah, yeah. I put so many people in the room often, right? Maybe I just sing the intro to like calm myself down and then go into it. But yeah, it's just this whole new world that um I'm a part of now, and I'm probably 18 months in. And I think in the early days of setting up a business, you do all the things, you go, you think, oh God, why did I do that? I'm I'd never do that again. And how do you intro yourself now? So I'm Natasha Hamilton, founder, mentor, and artist at Morpho Records.

unknown 6:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

But it's so if you could, you know, you talked, you went back and you would edit yourself, you edit yourself in that. What would you do if you're doing it again? I still say sing it.

Ditching Corporate Persona

SPEAKER_00 7:05

One, like get rid of the cue cards. I think also being a woman of a certain age and having like going through perimenopause. You had a fan. Yeah. I think there's always that fear that I'm not gonna find my words because there are times I'm having conversations and my brain just goes blank. And I think, oh God. And it's the fear of looking unprepared or unprofessional. And you know what? I'm a little bit of a messy person anyway. I'm running around the house every morning looking after the kids, I'm dropping them at school, then I'm rushing back home to my desk to do my work. I'm doing a million phone calls, a million emails, I'm trying to be creative, I'm trying to um carve out a whole creative arc for my EP in the new year. I am juggling so many hats and so many plates. And that's just who I am. So show that to people. Like be real. Be real. And also, I think I had a fear of I'm going into an industry which is a record label run by a woman, which obviously is not really heard of. And it's a very male-dominated space. So I felt like I had to be in this like male energy, this male energy version of myself. Whereas actually that doesn't suit me. Like I can bring the male energy when I need it, but but just be yourself. You don't have to know all the answers and know every working of every cog. That's what you build your team for, you know. So next time I do an event, I bring the team in, they answer the questions about the roles that they do. I'm kind of the glue that holds it all together and the vision.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

But that's been a leader, right? Yeah, yeah, it is. And what have you learnt most about yourself in that last 18 in last 18 months?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Chill out, honestly. Just breathe. Because I think after the first say six months and things weren't going great, I didn't have the right team. There was a lot of uh decisions made that were wrong. And I just felt really overwhelmed and I felt like a failure and also a little bit traumatised from the experience because of things that were happening around me. And I thought, no, it's not for me. I just stick to the simple life. But fundamentally, it's my baby. I set up Morpho Records because of the experience that I'd had and wanting it to make make it better for the next generation of pop artists coming through the industry. Like I've worn the t-shirt, talk the talk, walk the walk. I've been through all the experiences the records industry can throw at you. So, who better a person to be able to kind of head that and front this label? And the duty of care that I bring to the artist on our roster is uh uh not seen anywhere else. And I only know that because of the young people I'm talking to who say no one speaks about duty of care. You're the only record label that says, you know, what do you want or we offer a mentorship? So when our artists come in, it's a non-recupable mentorship, which means we pay, they don't. It's an eight-week intensive course, it covers music business, artistry, stagecraft, vocal coaching. So before we've even taken anything up from them, we're giving back. And it's just unheard of. So I feel like once Morpho gets the reputation it deserves, people will go, I want to be with Morpho because they actually care and we get something back. And I feel like giving young people that at the beginning of their journey will only make them more robust, stronger, more excited, more ambitious to what they want to do in the future.

Early Missteps And Resets

SPEAKER_01 10:59

I can feel the electricity now from that. And it's it's safe to say I've come across in 11 years and multiple decades of kind of coming across amazing kick ass, quite frankly, female founders and leaders and whatever. It's the person, it's the purpose, and it's the passion. Didn't mean that to be all the peas, but you know, but it's that that makes the successful businesses because otherwise you go back to your simple life, right? Which I imagine isn't simple anyway, at any point, but but but but it's easy. It's easy to sometimes go, I'm gonna go there because I'm safe there, I'm comfortable there. But the fact that you you ride the Knox and you ride the bull, the BS, like, and you go, no, I'm doing this because I've got a reason. So at what point, where was that moment that you went, I want to do this, I want to create this because this isn't just an idea to have a record company. This is about changing the whole landscape of the music industry and our and future talent and their well-being. Yeah, it's beyond music.

Why Morpho Puts Care First

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I think strapline there. It is, it is beyond music. It's a mammoth task, but someone has to do it. And I've just decided, right, well, I'm gonna do it. But it wasn't so much a one moment where I went, I just have to do it. I had the pause, I had that moment of, do you know what? Let's just calm down from this bit of trauma I've been through, connected to the business that I'm doing that wasn't comfortable and wasn't fun. What lessons have I learned? What do I want to change and how do I move forward? And I want more from life. I want that legacy, I want to give back, I want to come out of my comfort zone. My job that I do for me, that I've been doing for 26 years, is easy. So I want to push myself and challenge myself and my brain. You know, I I want to, I want more, uh, not just for me, but for the artist, for the the the music industry. So taking the pause allowed me just to uh go back at it with less fear and more passion. And then I started meeting people who were the right fit for Morpho because of what I'd learnt beforehand. Before I knew it, I was building a team. And then we were looking at artists, and it just I was like in this um, I was just in this flow of ease from what had been previous, like it was like grind and everything was just hard. All of a sudden, it it was just happening, and I was like, okay, so the the universe was gave me a lesson there, and I'm and I feel really thankful that that lesson came at the beginning of Morpho. Yeah, and I know I'm gonna have a million more lessons, but it was a really profound and important one that I had to learn quick from, and it really was. Well, what way are you gonna go? It was that sliding doors moment, and and I chose to to go with it, even though I know it's not gonna be easy. But I I just feel like, and and I want to say this to people out there, listen, if your heart's in the right place and you're coming from a place of love and care, do it. Like, what have you got to lose? Like it it might work, it might not, but at least you tried.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

And where have you gone as this, you know, as a female founder? Which can be a lonely business at times, even with a big family around you and a great friendship group and all that kind of stuff. It can still be pretty lonely when you're trying to make those decisions of going, I've no idea how that works.

Mentorship That’s Non‑Recoupable

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Where's your were or who are your go-tos? So I'm really lucky. My husband is a business founder anyway. He's been in he's been doing business for many years. So I'm quite lucky that I do have him to lean on, especially when it comes to like the investment financial side of things, because in my head, I'm the creative, you know, I've got all these ideas and any kind of has to make the magic. He helps me. He does help. And we had a conversation before we walked in, and it's really as being a female founder of a record label. Sometimes I feel like people don't take me seriously or they poo-poo it because I'm a woman.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Um you don't know the industry, uh, how it works behind the scenes. Yeah, you may have to be a few more.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

When I have other people who've got nothing to do with music trying to tell me what the music industry is with that, and they don't, it's maybe they've read a few articles. I just think you wouldn't speak to a man like that. And I mean, I've been spoken down too, like I'm nothing. Um so in certain situations, I'm he take he will take the lead in certain roles where I just know as a male, you will be listened to and taken more seriously. And I hate that, but that's the truth.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

But then if you can lead a map and go, right, I'm doing this because I want to create this. Basically, I'm just telling him what to do. Yeah, I'm still a boss. But of course you are, but but it it seems crazy in in 2025 that that is the case. And this isn't, I've heard this year on year on year. Oh, I've had to do this, or I've had to put a man on men on my board. And we're all about the good guys, right? You know what I mean? Like you just met Northern Pound Man outside, you know, my husband. Like, without you need we need the good guys, the good guys are part of, you know, sort of what we do, etc. But it doesn't seem right that there has to be, you've got to have that.

Purpose, Passion, And Perseverance

SPEAKER_00 16:32

And it's it's it's frustrating to say the least. Uh it's probably the most frustrating part of the job. But I need to figure a way of getting around these hurdles, and so I am lucky that I do have my husband there to kind of fit in as and when needed. What do the kids think? What age, what are you just so at home? I've got Alfie, who's 15, Ella, who's 11, and Kitty, she's two. Um, so Kitty hasn't got a clue, to be fair, what's going on. Um, I just think I do know the kids are very proud of mum. They see me hustle, they've seen me hustle hard. You know, I've had times in my singing career when, you know, it's flourishing, and other times when it's quiet and it's and being a mother and a provider and not always being in a marriage. You know, I've been a single parent many a time on my journey through life. They've seen mummy hustle, they've seen me pivot. I have done every job going in in a sense of you know, if if I need money, I will, I will just pivot. I've been in the wellness world, I've been in the coffee world, I've been in the restaurant and nightclub world, I've been there's so many worlds that I've been in, but music is where the fire ignites the most. What's the scariest world you've been in? Nightclub. Oh, don't do it. It's yeah. I I stumbled into that by default. I won't even I can't even go into it, but by default, I ended up with a nightclub, don't ask. Yeah, and it's just as a when you're a mum and you're a family person and and but you've also tried to juggle this nightlife world, it's really difficult. So I wouldn't that's something I would never attempt to do.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

And if you had you talked about, I think one of the things that when you talk about the the record label, it's 100% front loaded with support with the mentoring. No give back, no anything. This is what we're giving you, because we want to set you up to succeed. Did you benefit from mentoring a part of you know, any of your adventures, whether it be in, you know, the performing world, whether it be in the you know, um, the TV world, whether it be in any of your businesses? No.

Finding Support And Facing Bias

SPEAKER_00 19:00

So, no, not really. And this is why that's what this is what's you why, right? Because I know for a fact if when I was a young kid, bearing in mind, I grew up in Kenny, just up the road, very humble beginnings. I left school at 15, almost 16, went into performing arts college for about four months, and ended up in a Toma kitten. So I hadn't experienced life or the real world. I didn't know anything about financial advisors or life coaches and therapy, and these are all things I needed and I never got. So it's like, how can I uh put this into a little uh uh package that puts the artist on the best trajectory that they can, don't get me wrong, they can continue. I hope I hope from the eight weeks we give them they realise how important it is and they continue it themselves. Because for me, if I saw Atoma Kitten as a business, if we were really uh championed for it to be a business and taught about what business is, it would have been a longer, more fruitful journey and a more enjoyable journey as well. But you know, if you keep a load of kids dumb and tell them what to do, they won't answer back. It's not important. And that's why at Morpho we won't sign anyone that's under the age of 21. Okay, because for me, I feel it's important for young people to experience life and have a really good sense of who they are as a person and where they want to go in life. And I don't think you can tell that to someone they have to learn that themselves.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So we're sat here in a couple of years' time. What are we raising a glass of something rather nice to?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Oh, I mean, I would love Morpho to be a huge success and the new home of pop music. When people think of pop to go Morpho, they come onto our channels, they come into our communities, they really get behind the next wave of UK pop artists and support them. And maybe I'll have had a nice little successful solo career as well, which I'm gonna do. Gonna release an EP next year, so that'll be yeah, it'd be nice for that to make a noise. Yeah. The next chapter. It's chapters, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yeah, it is. It definitely is all for the book. Yeah. All for the next book. Going back to your atomic kitten days, you talked about, you know, talking with the kids about having these immense highs and then times where it was a bit like what did you learn about yourself in those days? Did you sound a daft question, but were the highs always high?

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

The highs were incredibly high. How would you explain it to someone who is has no creative performance skills at all? I know, surely not, you would say, but I have zero. Although I did pay the drums, I did a drum in masterclass at Ideas Fest at 8am in the morning. Love that and kept in time. So you know what I mean. Still winning, still winning. Love that. In in menopause. So, you know, that's a whole thing. That's the next, that's our next podcast, by the way. The men. But what um what would you what would you say uh were the with the kind of those what did you kind of gain most from those those times?

Hustle, Pivots, And Family Life

SPEAKER_00 22:25

I mean, the highs were just you know, you're living in this world of it's just a pure adrenaline. Everything is fast, fast, fast. Like nothing is relaxed. I mean, maybe when you're getting your makeup done, that's the only time you chill. But the highs were insane, you know, you're getting number ones, you're traveling the world, you're living the high life, you know. You we we we flew in private jets to like places where we'd have a butler. And I'd be like, I'm from Kenny. I'd be like, mate, you need to go home. And he'd be like, No, this is my job. And I'd be saying, I'm not comfortable being in this penthouse suite with a butler. I can go to I can make my own drink, I can open my own door, like honestly, and you know, I'd go to the record label and say, I'm not comfortable with this. And they were like, if he leaves, he'll get sacked. Like, this is his job. So, like, you're gonna have to make it work. Like, they they and butlers have a little room off your like big room. This is crazy, like honestly, it would used to. I was like, I don't like this, but you know, we we're living this mad life, we're going in Elton John's parties, and we're like doing shows with Destiny's child and Mariah Carey, you know, it's like ah, you know, and then you come home and it's the adjustment period.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

How did you do that? Because you were saying that there's you know, was this pre-kids?

SPEAKER_00 23:56

This is pre-kids. Yeah, the adjustment phase was probably drinking too much, I'd say. So excess. Yeah. We would come home and it'd be because we our work schedule was crazy. I'm being mad, you know, we're under 20. Most people are in like college and uni going up with the mates, and we're we're like doing these incredible shows, but we've also got a lot of pressure on our shoulders, and we're living in this like legal world, got lawyers meetings and accountants and all that, and it's like, whoa, um, a lot of pressure on our shoulders to be the role model. So then when you go home, it's like drinking the wine, you know. And and you're never off, are you? Like if you're public, you're never off. So to to come down, I suppose you're like, you know, you you're kind of drinking and things like that, and then figuring out how to live in the real world, which you don't really know what to do. And I think that at the end of Atomicitten, when it all ended, for me, I mean I had a baby by then, but I didn't have a clue how to function in the real world. I was like, so uh I've I've I've had a schedule every day for five years telling me what to do. I've had someone pick me up outside my house. I've been driven or flown all over the world. I've had someone pick me clothes, stylist, I've had someone choose my hair, hairdresser, someone paint me face, be a makeup artist. What do I do? How do I function as Natasha at the month? And you're on your own then, right? Yeah. My parents lived still lived in Liverpool. They were bringing up my sister. Um and yeah, I was just lost. And then you you spiral, you know, your mental health deteriorates pretty quickly. So how did you get back to your family therapy? Um I I'd already left the band anyway because of postnatal depression. So I was kind of battling that, but then on top of that, it's battling and a world where probably then you didn't talk about that. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Because everyone does it all over the world, so what are you going on about?

Lessons From The Nightclub World

SPEAKER_00 25:57

It's that. So 20-year-old girls were never known for having postnatal depression. Postnatal depression was very much a like a I'd say mid to upper class woman who's had a baby later in life. She's a stay-at-home mum, you know, and she's like lost herself a bit. That was kind of what postnatal depression was. It like there was no science, there was nothing about the brain or or like the hormone imbalance. So I suffered in silence for I think nine months. So uh and then in that nine months, I suffered a lot and and alone. I I I was terrified to say I'm struggling because look at the life I've got. I've got a beautiful baby, I've got a home, I've I mean at all my career, number number one girl band in the world. No one's gonna listen to me, they're gonna think I'm ungrateful. So, you know, I I did suffer in silence, and then that just all come to a crescendo, and I did end up getting the help that I needed, and ultimately made the decision that I had to leave because that was the the healthiest option for me. And then a grieving process I can imagine, or can't imagine. I don't think I grieved it. I don't think I've ever really grieved it, if I'm being honest, because so much happened. Um and I think that's why I'm I've come back to music.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

It's like I mean your work's not done, right? My work isn't done.

Missing Mentors And A New Model

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Yeah. I think a few of the other girls maybe just aren't interested because their path had been they they they walked their path, but mine kind of finished abruptly burning in mind, it's all I ever wanted to do. Like I've sang in every pub, club, theatre, labour club, docker's club, workman's club in Liverpool. They're probably not even there no more, but you know, I did the rounds before even getting into the band, and I knew exactly what I was doing. You were younger then, right? I was 16 when I got in the band, and I was singing in the pubs and clubs from 12. Yeah. It's probably illegal now, but honestly, they they made me so hungry for not fame, but just a good life singing. I wanted to go on the cruise ships that you know. I grew up in Kenny. I was like, I want to get I want to get on a cruise. I want to be cruising around the Caribbean, I want to be living in the sun and and singing and dancing all day. Like, wow, what a great job. And obviously I got a tomber kitten, so I can't complain, but but what an adventure.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

What an adventure. And you when you look back and burning mind, it strikes me that you're back here again doing this for 16-year-old Natasha, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Probably, yeah. But do you look but also treating it like a business and making the kids I say kids, I hate saying that sorry talent younger people, because they're not kids, you know, help I just given them the vision I wish I had because I know it'll help them so much.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

But when you look back at that whole experience, number one girl band in the world, with everything thrown into the mix, the highs, the lows, the middle, where do you sit? Do you look back nostalgically as in, oh my God, I'm like so proud of that? Do you look back critically? Do you look back at all of the above? What do you look back at?

Age Limits And Artist Readiness

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Uh definitely not critically, because I think what we had, we milked it for everything it was, you know. And don't get me wrong, we had a great time, we had a laugh, um, so many fond memories. It's got to a point now it almost feels like it never really happened because we're so many years out. And I think, God, when I'm an old woman with all my grandkids running around, will it just be a dream? I mean, I know I've done it, but how how will I be able to remember it? Um, but I think there's some there's a lot of Core memories in there that'll never be forgotten. Um and people always go, God, would you get back together with the girls? And I think I'm the only one that goes, Yeah. You know, yet it was traumatic and fabulous in equal measures, but to come back at it as women would be different. I mean, it would be a total different energy and perimenopausal women, right? How would that look like? Slower, slower, more calmful show.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Maybe less words. Maybe less words because of the brain fogs as it happens.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Key changing, I like that. I like the thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Not as high heels, maybe. Although Definitely not three inch max. What advice would you give to your 12-year-old just starting to do the clubs, Natasha?

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Oh god. Do you know? Oh, that's difficult because you know, I was so focused. Did you have that self-belief at 12? I did. You know, funnily enough, the self-belief I had as 12 was probably a million times powerful than what it is now.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

And what enabled or empowered that? Because we, you know, you you watch our young girls, don't we? And they're brave as a lion, aren't they? They brave, brave, brave, and then all of a sudden bravery gets lost and the courage can go.

Hopes For Morpho And Her EP

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Well, life experiences and setbacks and upset and let down, I think knocks chips away at that confidence. And when you're 12, not a lot of I mean, don't get me wrong, it was like a fight for survival growing up in Kenny. Thank God I could run fast. That's all I'm gonna say. Because I did a lot of running. Um I don't I I just believe that I was good at singing because when I sang, people stopped and and listened. So I knew I was onto something because I wasn't naturally really academic. Like my friends were really brainy, so that pushed me. But it was the one thing I did where I feel like I got praise. So it was like I'm gonna latch onto that, and that's what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Talk to us about I'm gonna have to go quick fire now. There's so much to cover. Um, and I love your just vulnerability and authentic. The Real Housewives of Cheshire, that showed a different side of you as well.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Um, it do you know what? It I think it's difficult doing a TV show because you're not gonna get all the sides if it's main And how it's added to it. If its main issue and main reason is to make people argue. But I knew I knew I needed to stick up for myself. Look, I was bullied a lot as a kid. And to the to the point where it was really bad. And even when I think about it now, it makes me go, ooh. And I vowed as an adult I would never allow anyone to bully me, ever. And then when I went into this environment, it very felt, it very much felt like people are trying to bully me. Whether you saw that is a different thing, but there was a a patriarchy and a hierarchy within the women, and I think because some of them didn't really know a lot about me, they thought they could disrespect me and talk down to me. And I just thought, absolutely not, I'm not having that. Like, I don't care who you think I am or what I've done, you treat everyone with the same respect. So I think the side you got from me was my fiery side, but that was me sticking up for myself because I knew if I don't stop this now, my whole season on this on this show is gonna be hell. And you know what? No one come at me for any shit after that.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

So it's almost defend yourself, people. No, but it's also it's different than the same than also being in that boardroom as well. It's this sometimes it's like, come on. Well, how would you describe yourself in three words?

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Feisty, ambitious, loving.

The Highs Of Atomic Kitten

SPEAKER_01 33:59

What's your superpower?

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Probably all of them three rolled in together. I'd say my superpower is being the glue because I've got a busy life. My husband is busy, you know, the kids go between two houses. I've got two older sons that live away. I'm the glue. I'm the one constantly getting everyone back together and showering them with love and planning nice things for us to do.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Oh, you're the magic maker.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

That's what you are.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

With sprinkles on. Um, and we were chatting. I always love a fun fact. And uh you did Panto, or you've done Panto, haven't you? And I love the fact that you did Panto with Henry Winkler. Now, this might fuck some of our younger watchers or whatever, but Henry Winkler, right? Google him, chat GPT him, the Fonz in Happy Days. One of the childhood memories I had, right? He came to your house for Christmas dinner. He came to my house.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Google the Fonz for Christmas dinner. Because we were doing, we were doing Peter Pan at the Empire, and his daughter was just about to have a baby, so he's American, and his wife was like, I can't come over for Christmas, and he'd stay with the the daughter because she might go into labour. So I said, So what are you gonna do for Christmas? He said, Oh, I'm just on my own. And he was like put up in these nice apartments in town. And the thought of Henry Winkler eating Christmas dinner on his own, I was just like, No, you're coming to my house. And you know what? He was like, Thank you so much. Did you wear a hat? Did you wear a Christmas hat? Well, do you know what? I actually bought him a Pringle flat cap because I know he likes hats, and I thought, you know, what's a British hat that I could give him? And he absolutely loved it. Yeah, and even my parents were like, I can't believe the phones is in the house.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Yeah, and it was crazy. And you say you have nine lives in your career, right? What is the tenth?

SPEAKER_00 35:53

What's what is the tenth? Yeah. Is that not retirement? Selling the business and living on the beach, sipping pina coladas. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

I love that. Now, our last act for you is to reach into our power jar. So this is the jar that our previous guests will pop a question in, unknown to you. Some may call it a lucky dip, okay? Um, and we will ask. Someone's gonna get a Natasha Hamilton question in the coming weeks. So, what have you got on your question?

SPEAKER_00 36:27

What's the one failure?

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Oh, cheers, Pina Collard is already.

Coming Down And Mental Health

SPEAKER_00 36:33

What's the one failure you're actually grateful for today? Oh, great question. I'd love to have come up with some of these. I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I suppose we touched on it a little bit earlier with the label. Like, I that there was a first re I first incarnation of Morpho that I had to just leave behind and start all over again. So I'm glad it f I failed there because it made me really think about what I wanted for my future. And like you say, it was at the start. It was at the start, and I'm not naive to think other failures, you know, won't happen. Of course they will. But everything is a lesson, isn't it? Everything's learning, it's all a lesson.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

And what is the one thing that you would ask for more for right now? Anyone watching future emerging talent who are thinking I want to do that, why would they come to you, Natasha?

SPEAKER_00 37:36

I mean, as I say, our duty of care and our nature for the artist is our main priority. Um you got the back, right? One million percent got the back. Like, for me, I'm not just it's not like, oh, you get eight weeks and that's it. Like, I'm here. I I'm a mentor. You are not just for Christmas dinner. I am not just for Christmas dinner. So we have just signed our first artist, actually. Amazing. Get the pinnacle artist, Jasmine. Yeah, amazing young man, queer pop artist called Kai Bosch. So keep it space. Watch this space. He's been doing incredible things off his own back throughout summer. Um, his last single was called Summer of Love, and he's just in now recording his next EP under Morpho Records. Um, yeah, and I said, Look at you, proud mama. This is just like I sent him a nice bottle of Fortnite Mason's champagne with like a little welcome to Morpho on and a nice little candle. Because I'm like, oh, I just want to send him something nice. We're gonna go out and have some nice dinner, you know, we're gonna we'll probably go shopping and do some styling. You know, it's not all like hard work, there's a lot of fun that comes in this industry. Um, but I'd wish him all the success. He's an incredible singer, songwriter, and producer. Um, great things are gonna come from Kai.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Well, I wish you all the best. I wish you all everyone you sign because they're gonna be wrapped in love. Uh, never mind the glue, they're gonna come with well, they'll be stuck with you with glue in a really good way. Thank you for caring, thank you for looking out for our next gen of talent. I wish I had talent because I'd join myself a little bit too. I could just be in the maturity stakes, but thank you so much for joining me. Um, I love it, and I'm so glad we met with our wellies on in that field. Same time next year. Same time next year. No, you're coming the awards, don't forget. Thank you so much, Natasha. Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review or follow us on socials. We are power underscore net on Insta, TikTok, and Twitter. We are power on LinkedIn, Facebook, and we are underscore power on YouTube.