Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991 in London, England) is an English pop singer, songwriter, dancer and actress, as well as the occasional model and fashion / product designer.
Born in Kent and attending the prestigious Italia Conti stage school until she was 18 (where she received roles in stage productions The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), she first came to prominence in mid-2009 with her debut single "Mama Do", which was the first time a British female in the Turn of the Millennium who was not from a Reality Show or Talent Show scored a debut number one. She released her debut album, Turn It Up, in September that year. It peaked at number six on the British albums chart and eventually went two times platinum. She released her follow-up album, Young Foolish Happy in November 2011. As of 2012, it has been certified Gold.
She released her third, self-titled album on the 1st of August 2014.
Though she is known throughout the UK, Europe and parts of Asia as being a popstar, in North America she is better known for her role as Judy in the Fred movie (her film debut).
After releasing her third studio album and finishing a run as Holly Golightly in the West End production of Breakfast at Tiffany's, she has taken a break from music to focus on modelling and running her own stage school (a subsidiary of Italia Conti).
She is now married to Oliver Cheshire and they have a young son.
Discography:
- Turn It Up (2009)
- Turn It Up Louder (2010)
- Young Foolish Happy (2011)
- Pixie Lott (2014)
- Platinum Pixie (2014)
Tropes about this musician and actor include:
- 419 Scam: Her official site and her Facebook page are constant victims of this trope, especially the malware part. Her Facebook page was not recommended to visit from late 2010 to 2013 as you may have gotten malware from it.
- Album Title Drop:Turn it up, turn it up for the people that say/we're moving on and we'll be okay...
- Ambiguously Bi: In late 2009-early 2010, when Pixie was still single, she said something along the lines of "keeping her options open" and "seeing boys and girls" in a couple of interviews. Then there is this photo
, where she kissed a female friend in a nightclub to the delight of many male onlookers. - Ascended Extra: A backing dancer from the "What Do You Take Me For" video had people wanting to know her identity. In any case, here's her photo◊ (she's the one with a somewhat mardy expression and cropped black hair).
- Audience Participation Song: "Rolling Stone" is this by design, with its middle eight full of na-na-na-s.
- Back to Front: The music video for "Can't Make This Over".
- Beach Episode: The video for "Won't Forget You" (which seemed to test the waters for a potential comeback).
- Blind Without 'Em: She wears contact lenses, and once told of an incident when she left them behind while holidaying in Europe. When she's "off-duty", she wears normal glasses, as seen here.
- Break Up Song: Being a pop artist, she has quite a few of these: "Cry Me Out" (which is more of a Take That! to her former lover), "Jack", "Broken Arrow", "Catching Snowflakes", "Dancing On My Own", "Turn it Up", "Without You", "My Love", "Everybody Hurts Sometimes", "Black as Rain", "We Just Go On" ...
- She even has a song with this trope verbatim as the title! As for the content, well, it's Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- B-Side: "Mama Do" had "Want You" and "Use Somebody" where "Boys and Girls" had "If I Changed". All of her other B-sides are either acoustic versions or remixes.
- The Pixie Lott era has seen her do proper B sides again. "Nasty" has "The Point of No Return", "Lay Me Down" has "Cry Baby" and a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You".
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For someone presented as a fashion-loving, not-too-bright popstar, she's actually very industrious. She's only ever cancelled one show proper, and that was due to the death of her nan. Unfortunately, her promotional tour of Australia in 2009 suffered due to a bad case of the flu.
- The Cameo: Stevie Wonder plays harmonica in "Stevie on the Radio". Working with him was definitely a fangirl moment for her.
- Cat Girl: Had a penchant for wearing cat ears before it became the signature look for Ariana Grande.
- Celeb Crush: Has admitted to having ones on Zac Efron, Robert Pattinson and Russell Brand.
- The latter also apparently flirted with Pixie in 2009 before he met Katy Perry.
- And let's not even go into how many celebrities have admitted to having a crush on her...
- The latter also apparently flirted with Pixie in 2009 before he met Katy Perry.
- Celebrity Endorsement: For Nokia, Baby G watches, Guitar Hero, Citroen, Samsung and of course Lipsy and Rock 'N Rose. Her participation in an advertisement for Shell is proving to be her most controversial endorsement, for obvious reasons.
- She also recorded a Cover Version of Shanice's "I Love Your Smile" for Colgate.
- Cloudcuckoolander: For much of her career. Her Twitter page once contained a lot of references to "catties" with added "wowops" and "agagas". Her supermodel partner of almost a decade, Oliver Cheshire, wasn't immune to it either.
- Changed for the Video: “Turn It Up” (the song) got a brighter-sounding remix for the music video.
- Charity Motivation Song: Recorded an anti-bullying track called "Get Weak" at the age of fifteen. However,
the song wasn't properly released until late 2010. She also featured on the song "I Got Soul" for Warchild. - Christmas Songs: "Silent Night" on the first re-release of Turn it Up, "I Got Love For Xmas" on Platinum Pixie.
- Cover Version: Does this a fair bit, mostly with acoustic covers. Her most famous one is her cover of the Kings of Leon track "Use Somebody", which actually charted at #52 on UK iTunes around the same time "Mama Do" debuted at number one.
- The Cover Changes the Meaning and The Cover Changes the Gender: Of Bruno Mars ' "When I Was Your Man" as "When You Were My Man". The song was changed from a guy lamenting his breakup to a girl iterating what he did for her to break up with him.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: The video for "Mama Do". They just start randomly doing an intense patty-cake dance out of nowhere.
- Darker and Edgier: Pixie's third album was this in comparison to her first two.
- Dating What Mama Hates: Basically the whole point of "Mama Do".
- Death Song: “Nothing Compares”, “Cry and Smile”.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The video for "Cry Me Out".
- Dramatic Wind: In the video for "Broken Arrow".
- Dumb Blonde: Averted. She was a straight-A student in school, but couldn’t finish her studies due to her singing career taking off.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Eagle-eyed fans of Britannia High may recognise Pixie as one of the auditionees for the show in a behind-the-scenes video.
- Even the Girls Want Her:“Most of the propositions I get are from girl fans. They go mad for me... they turn up at gigs and signings with banners and say, ‘Can you go on a date with me?’ There’s loads of them.”
- Everyone Loves Blondes
- Face on the Cover: The cover of her debut album sees her looking up to her left and wearing a big, chunky necklace. The deluxe version of that album also features a closeup of her, but instead wearing a chain-type necklace. Her third album features her looking straight into the camera, biting her nail and wearing a pink, fluffy head piece.
- The Fashionista: So much so she has even contributed designs to high-end UK fashion label Lipsy and accessory chain Rock 'N Rose.
- Genre Roulette: The album Turn It Up is a perfect example of this. She switches from soul/R&B ("Mama Do", "Cry Me Out", "The Way the World Works") to electronic dance music ("Here We Go Again") to straight pop balladry ("Nothing Compares", "Hold Me In Your Arms") and pop-rock influenced songs ("Jack").
- Gorgeous Period Dress: Dons a feathery, 1920s-style ball gown for a few scenes in the "Gravity" video. She also has a '20s Bob Haircut for those scenes.
- Grief Song: Pixie has stated that "Nothing Compares" is meant to be this.
- Gospel Revival Number: “Raise Up”.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Her image flip-flops between this and the "Sexy Popstar".
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Despite her supposedly family-friendly image, she's prone to being this. Her official biography even stated at one stage that she was "still buzzing from the novelty of being able to go clubbing without her older sister's ID." However, like her "sexy" image, she gradually toned it down between her second and third album.
- Hotter and Sexier: Subverted. She was already 'sexy' when the video for her debut single "Mama Do" was released, though oddly enough she chose a more conservative look for her subsequent videos (although she was, and still is, notorious for wearing hotpants, even in winter). The video for "What Do You Take Me For" goes back to her 'sexy' roots, and
even pushes the boundaries of her usually family-friendly nature.- Considering she references very clubby themes in "Doing Fine (Without You)" and "Here We Go Again" as well as Young Foolish Happy containing two songs with blanked-out curse words, she's definitely not as kid-friendly as what some people think.
- And let's not forget that FHM spread she did at the tender age of eighteen. Not exactly Age-Inappropriate Art as she was legal, but still...
- She seems to have played up this trope again in the video for "Nasty". It already veers into stripperiffic territory with her dancing in a bralet and short-shorts, but there are also scenes where she is topless and holding a pink handbag in front of her breasts.
- How We Got Here: The videos for "Can't Make This Over" and "Broken Arrow".
- Important Haircut: Went from having long golden locks during the Turn It Up era to a cropped hairdo while promoting Young Foolish Happy, possibly to signify some sort of change in her image.
- In Da Club: Much of the video for "Nasty".
- Intercourse with You: Implied in "Coming Home", "Kiss The Stars" and "Perfect". Made especially blatant in "Nasty" and “Ooh La La”.
- Listing Cities: In "Want You":I could be stuck in L.A, you might get a late call from New York... I could be off to Tokyo, ATL then Paris then back home...
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Played with in the video for "Mama Do". She starts out in a completely white atmosphere, portraying innocence, before being "dragged down" to a more seedy world.
- This is also played with in the video for "Nasty", but to a far less noticeable degree.
- May–December Romance: This video (a recreation of a sketch originally performed by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren) pairs her with Rowan Atkinson.
- Melismatic Vocals: She lists Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as her vocal inspirations, and plays up this trope whenever she can.
- Mistaken for Servant: Was mistaken for a Leeds City Council employee at one point in 2010-2011!
- Mistaken Identity: Early in her career, people often mistook her for Little Boots. The fact that they are both blonde electropop singers called Victoria doesn't help matters... She's also been mistaken for Mollie King.
- Ms. Fanservice: Most of her wardrobe utilised this trope (especially at the time "Mama Do" was released), though the fanservice gradually waned over the years.
- Mood Whiplash: In Young Foolish Happy, from the soul/R&B-influenced "Nobody Does It Better" to the electropop "Kiss The Stars", then back to the soul/R&B in "Stevie on the Radio".
- New Sound Album: It seems that Pixie isn't proceeding with an album proper at this stage (2018), but rather a string of songs which serve to test the waters for a comeback. If "Won't Forget You" and "Baby" are anything to go by, she's going straight for the heart of pure EDM-infused dancehall pop instead of continuing her old-school soul-pop schtick.
- Nice Girl: Seems rather grounded, and has never been in involved in a showbiz scandal, except maybe the occasional Wardrobe Malfunction. She's also been known to smile a lot.
- Non-Actor Vehicle: Arguably what Fred: The Movie and her appearance in George Gently were.
- Odd Friendship: With Rihanna (who she toured with at one stage), the lads from boy bands JLS and One Direction, and even David Hasselhoff.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Pixie's mum is "Bevsta" to everyone. Even her own kids. Well, sometimes.
- Pixie as well. I mean, who's ever heard of Victoria Lott? Outside her fanbase, of course.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Pixie often flip-flops between singing in a "standard" Mid-Atlantic (ie, general American) accent and her natural Essex accent - even during a song. She seems to prefer singing in her own accent in more recent years. Also, Judy in the Fred movie is meant to be Southern, but Pixie can't maintain the accent especially well.
- Pet the Dog: Agreed to marry a random fan who proposed to her at a festival, rather than turn him down in front of many onlookers.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Quite often kicks off her shoes for a performance.
- Product Placement: The video for "Broken Arrow" features a Citroën and a Samsung MP3 player.
- Questioning Title?: “What Do You Take Me For?”
- Reality Show: Was as a judge on The X Factor in 2010 during a turnaround of celebrity judges filling in for Dannii Minogue while she was on maternity leave. She was an early favourite to win on Strictly Come Dancing.
- Record Producer: Worked with a rotating set of producers on Turn It Up, including the then-omnipresent RedOne, but after the success of that album she mainly stuck to Mads Hauge, Phil Thornalley and Toby Gad.
- Retraux / Genre Throwback: She was initially marketed to cash in on the Soul Revival with songs like "Mama Do", "Boys and Girls" and "Cry Me Out". Now the Soul Revival's died down, she's being marketed as a straight pop artist.
- In 2014, she returned to the Retraux aesthetic. The videos for "Heart Cry" and "Lay Me Down" had a vintage look to them, and the whole of Pixie Lott sounded like a soul album that could have been recorded in the 1960s or 70s.
- Scandalgate: Was never involved in one herself, but has often been a pundit on such things.
- Sequel Song: Her feature on the Tinchy Stryder song "Bright Lights" was recorded first, but released after Young Foolish Happy, which contained "Bright Lights Pt II". This undoubtedly confused many listeners and critics.
- Silly Love Songs: Has a lot of these. Some include "Love You to Death", "Gravity", "Hold Me In Your Arms", "Perfect" and "You Win".
- Singer Namedrop: Pixie and Jason Derulo do this for each other at the beginning of "Coming Home".
- Also, Pusha T does this at the beginning of "What Do You Take Me For?":
Pixie Lott, Pusha T, Rusko, what's it gonna be? - Singing To Herself: The Sims 3 version of "Mama Do", where she creates a Sim version of herself and later duets with her.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: Pixie's thick Essex accent often takes people, who are used to her soulful vocals, by surprise.
- Spelling Song: "N-A-S-T-Y, you nasty / but baby, I don't mind..."
- Stage Names: Her real name is Victoria. She got called Pixie by her mum as a little girl because she was supposedly a very cute baby.
- Statuesque Stunner: Is 5'8" tall.
- Stock Rhymes: Too many to list, and there were enough on her first album for it to be a reason why her detractors found her derivative.
- Surreal Music Video: "Kiss The Stars" — which looks a lot like Katy Perry's video for "E.T", except the majority of the video is just a creepy rendition the visual motifs in that video.
- This Is a Song: “This is our break-up song, but can’t we just get along for the night?”
- Title Track: "Turn It Up" for, well, Turn It Up. Young Foolish Happy was also meant to have one before it was cut.
- Also, the song "Young, Foolish, Happy" was originally on the album-of-the-same-name's track listing, but it was cut in favour of adding another song called "Love You to Death".
- Also, the song "Young, Foolish, Happy" was originally
- Three Minutes of Writhing: "All About Tonight", "What Do You Take Me For", "Mama Do", "Nasty", "Won't Forget you", "Baby".
- Took a Level in Cheerfulness
- Unlimited Wardrobe: The video for "Lay Me Down", which takes place at a fashion shoot in the South of France.
- Unplugged Version: Acoustic tracks of both covers and original songs are not uncommon.
- Virgin in a White Dress: She's this in "Mama Do" before switching to a leather-clad Good Bad Girl image.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: She's never had one proper, but she's had a few near-misses.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: In "What Do You Take Me For", "Dancing On My Own" and "Bright Lights Pt II".
- Wolverine Publicity / Advertised Extra: She gets a "feature" credit in the Selena Gomez song "We Own the Night" when her "feature" is her singing backing vocals with the occasional ad-lib.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: The title of a song that was once free to download on her MySpace called "What U Do".
