Abbe May: 'Rock Chick Is The Most Offensive Term'

It's been quite some time since the 'Girl Power' moniker reigned supreme. Think The Spice Girls circa '95. There have, of course, been those pseudo-feminists – carefully crafted record label sweethearts who proclaim to be 'all about the music'. You know the ones. Thank God then for Abbe May. But tread carefully lest you should mention the dreaded 'rock chick' term around the raven-haired artist.

“That is just the most offensive term,” says May, who's rocked up an hour early to our interview pleading to use the toilet. In tights, cut-off denim shorts and a near see-through floral blouse, May is Queen of the effortlessly chic brigade and as friendly and warm as the best friend you wish you had.

Despite her heavy, darkly-addictive, passion-laden pop sound, May is open and breathtakingly easygoing. Her latest release, Kiss My Apocalypse, was born out of a cocktail of heartache and happiness – both ingredients May insists were essential to the album. “I started writing after a break-up. The writing started out quite angry and upset and there was this bitter thing that kept coming out [in the lyrics] that I felt I needed to spit out. Then, halfway through the album my first niece was born and it just changed me quite a bit and I kind of realised how silly it was to get so wrapped up in my own emotion.”

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