Paloma Faith is on the move. “I’m in the car on the motorway, going to my friend’s wedding,” she explains, “so if it cuts off, I’ll jump back on again.” And if a dodgy signal weren’t enough for her to contend with, I can hear a baby – her third child, just nine weeks old – in the car, too. All in a day’s work for the queen of multitasking, who posted to Instagram about pumping milk in the loos at the Baftas last week.
As a new mother myself, I’m in awe of her juggling. Does it get easier, I ask? “Obviously the first one’s filled with anxiety because you don’t know what you’re doing, and you’re shellshocked,” Faith recalls. “But I found having this baby super healing, [because] I’m [doing it] in a different set of circumstances, with a) experience, and b) knowing that it does take a village,” she says. “There are so many variables, and we women blame ourselves – but you need your partner to be involved, and if they’re not, then other people need to step in. If they don’t, there’s a reason why you’re floundering and you’re stressed and you’re sleepless.”
At one point, Faith breaks off to confer with her baby’s father, the music venue director Stevie Thomas, as he administers a dummy – “He’s bleeding from the sacrifice!” she jokes, referencing the overzealous praise heaped on men who contribute to childcare. “We need to abolish the word ‘help’ when it comes to dads,” she scoffs. “They’re not ‘helping’ [by looking after their baby] – they’re doing what they’re meant to do.”
