POP legend Anastacia plays Cardiff’s St David’s Hall as part of her forthcoming The Ultimate Collection tour this weekend.
With over 30 million worldwide sales to her name, the 48-year-old US singer-songwriter will perform her greatest hits including I’m Outta Love, Not That Kind, Left Outside Alone as well as tracks from her latest album A 4 App.
The new record is a collection of non-album singles, b-Sides and unreleased tracks that will be performed live during the current tour.
“What I did at the beginning of the Ultimate Collection tour was create an app which ironically has now become a live album,” Anastacia recently told ANDY HOWELLS.
She continued: “All my stuff turns into this creative project which starts as a wild idea in my head and turns into one of the most amazing projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Through the A 4 App Anastacia has given her fans the chance to choose which songs they’d like to hear and to vote for a song 24 hours prior to each concert.
The most popular song each night is then added to the setlist.
“It’s exciting to have it all be that kind of thing and just to be able to share these songs. None of them are hits.
“I just did a survey on social media asking ‘I want you to hashtag favourite song and put what you want me to sing, whether it was on an album or a b-side or whatever’.”
The app has also allowed Anastacia to rediscover some of her older material.
“There’s seven or eight of those songs I’d say I never sung until I got on stage.
“I read the lyrics and go ‘Oh, what do I sing here? What’s the second verse?’
“There’s a brief memory of the song, I kind of remember it, but ‘wow this is really good!’”
“I have been a fan of many b-sides in my past that I’ve loved more than the single,” continues Anastacia.
“Sometimes when a record company chooses songs, they pick singles and it’s not something we necessarily understand as artists.
“The true artist in us thinks this is awesome but there’s so much character in it.
“That’s why the fans are guided to it as well.”
Last autumn, Anastacia, took part in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and announced a partnership with Cancer Research UK, making a personal donation to the charity during her time on the show to help fund more into breast cancer research.
Anastacia, who became injured during the rehearsals bravely demonstrated the ordeals women can face.
She recalls: “I was trying to raise awareness for women and breast cancer, just getting it out there and being a survivor myself having my own altered states of body, the best way to do it was to keep it real.
“That is my motto in life.”
Anastacia explained that she is glad to be back on tour, resuming The Ultimate Collection shows she began prior to appearing on Strictly last year.
“I chat to my fans we are fully engaged.
“I have fans who come over and over to each show and they remind me that never have they come to a show where I do the same thing twice.
“I don’t always stick to the set lists I may tell them about something that happened that day, it just adds to the show being real.
“I love what I do so there’s an absolute inner joy that comes from me even though I’ve been doing it for so long.”
Anastacia will be playing at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on Sunday, June 4.
She is being supported by British singer/songwriter Chloe Reynolds who released her critically acclaimed debut album, Broken Beautiful in September 2016.
To book seats, visit stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk or call the box office on 029 2087 8444
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