December 2012 was a month in which various things happened in 'the world at large'. But how did these things impact A '*' M*E? Let's ask her.
In December A*M*E was included on the BBC Sound of 2013 longlist alongside Popjustice favourites Savages and Palma Violets.
What do you think these sort of lists mean to the general public?
Erm… To the general public? So people outside media and stuff?
Yes. Obviously the media are very aware of things like that, but does anyone else even know what the list is?
Exactly. It doesn't mean a lot [to the outside world]. It means pretty much nothing. I mean, people are pretty much clueless about it. Because when I told all of my friends that I was on the Sound Poll or whatever, they were like 'what is that? I didn't vote for that.' So sadly it doesn't mean so much. For online blogs and press it's like, everything. But the general public are like 'we don't care.'
Well the title doesn't mean very much if you don't have any amazing songs.
Exactly that, yeah.
The actual Pope joined Twitter. His opening tweet was: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart."
Do you remember what your first tweet was?
What was it? Oh my gosh, I tweet so much.
You quite like Twitter don't you.
Yeah, it's the drug of my life. (Laughs) It think it was probably "Hey, I'm new to Twitter, what's up everyone" or something like that.
Did you understand it at first?
No. I had no idea what anything was. It was like I was talking to myself!
Are you a fan of hashtags?
Oh, absolutely.
What's your favourite?
Thuglife. Hashtag thuglife.
How does one live an A*M*E Thuglife?
(Laughs) Erm, what's one of the Thuglife things that I do… Jumping in puddles! Or knowing that I'm wearing a tight dress on my birthday. Thuglife.
A handful of African news sites were taken in by a fake story about Mike Tyson having had a sex change and now wanting to be called Michelle. He was forced to issue a statement confirming he was still a man.
What would be the first thing you’d do if you were a man for a day?
(Sings) 'If I were a boy…' I would turn off my phone! And tell everyone it's broken. I would basically do what Beyoncé does in that song.
A monkey was found wandering around a Canadian branch of Ikea wearing a sheepskin coat.
Do you have the cranberry jelly when you go for the Ikea meatballs though?
Please, please believe that I have never in my life been into Ikea.
Why not? It's very reasonably-priced.
I know. Everyone's told me that it's got everything, like furniture.
An elephant sanctuary in Thailand started producing its own brand of coffee made from elephant dung in December. It costs £312 per pound.
What did you make of Alexandra Burke’s 'Elephant'?
Hmm, well I didn't understand it at first, 'cause I didn't understand the term 'elephant in the room'.
It's a bit of a concept isn't it.
Yeah. It's a difficult concept to grasp, but I think it's a good song.
Do prefer 'Elephant' to 'Bad Boys'?
Ooh, 'Bad Boys' over that.
Also in December, the word “lunatic” was voted to be removed from US federal law.
What’s the worst word someone’s used to describe you?
It depends how x‑rated you want to go with it! It would be a really horrible swear word. But apart from that I get called 'psycho' by my friends all the time, just 'cause I'm a little bit not-so-normal. You've got to be as an artist! No-one creative is normal.
That's true, all creative behemoths are a little bit crazy.
Exactly. So I just take it as a complement.
It was the twenty year anniversary of the sending of the very first text message. The message — a simple "Merry Christmas" — received no reply, which is sad.
How long is too long to wait to reply to a text message?
An hour. I like people who text back really fast, 'cause it just kills off the conversation otherwise. Especially when you're texting a love interest… Ugh, it's long.
According to the ever-reliable Mayan calendar the world was due to end.
[We were having this chat prior to the proposed end of everything, by the way]What do you have planned for your final night on earth?
Well my friend's having a massive birthday party, so I'll be partying like it's the end of the world.
Isn't that a song?
I think so. (Sings) 'It ain't the end of the woooorrrrllddd'
Romeo Beckham appeared in a Burberry advert, also in December.
At 10 years old, is he too young to enter the world of modelling?
I think that's for him to decide. I saw one picture of it on Tumblr, and I just thought that maybe Burberry was maybe a bit grown-up for him. Maybe if he was doing something for…
GAP Kids?
Yeah. Then I'd be like 'aww, that's sweet'. Burberry might be a bit mature for him, but then his Mum is Victoria Beckham.
You'd take advantage of that wouldn't you.
I guess.
Also in December, Prince William and Kate Middleton announced they were going to have a baby, which is nice.
What should they call it though? Ed Sheeran thinks it should be called Twig.
I don't think it should be called Twig. I'm not trying to be offensive, but royal names are all really grannified. So it's probably going to be called Margaret or something, or Henry if it's a boy.
But what would you call the royal baby?
I'd call it Lotus.
Like the Christina Aguilera album?
Yeah!
Were you a fan of that?
I haven't listened to all of it yet. I mean, it's okay. It's not my favourite Christina album.
Harry Styles started dating country chanteuse Taylor Swift.
But who should band frontman Niall date?
Isn't Selena Gomez available now?
Wouldn't you want to put yourself forward to the role?
No. Not with Niall, thank you.
What about Zayn?
Well, he's dating Perrie.
Haven't they split up?
Really? Shut up. Oh my god. I dunno, I'd feel quite bad. I've done quite a few shows with Little Mix and I like Perrie.
You wouldn't want to jump in there?
No. Justin Bieber however, I'd be like, 'yeeaahhhhh!'
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Well thanks A*M*E for that fascinating insight into your thoughts on the month of December 2012. We hope you had a satisfactory year and wish you all the very best for 2013.