In November 2003, at the age of 19, Melua released her first album, Call off the Search, which reached the top of the United Kingdom album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months of release. Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date has gone platinum four times. Melua released her third studio album Pictures in October 2007, which has been announced to be the last of her albums in collaboration with Mike Batt. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua has a fortune of £18 million, making her the seventh richest British musician under thirty.
In the summer of 2003, aged just 18 and still studying at the Brit School of Performing Arts in leafy Surrey, no-one, least of all Katie, would have predicted what the next few years would hold for the teenager. Four years later, Katie has sold more than 7.5 million albums becoming, in 2006, the year’s best selling British female in the world along the way.
Georgian born Katie relocated from Tbilisi to Belfast at the age of 8 due to her father’s profession as a heart surgeon and 5 years later moved to South East London. After her GCSEs Katie joined the Brit School for Performing Arts where she undertook a BTEC and Music A-level and discovered different styles of music including Queen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Irish folk music and Indian music. On hearing an Eva Cassidy song Katie was blown away and when she discovered that Eva was no longer alive wrote the song ‘Faraway Voice’ as a tribute to her. It was this song that attracted the attention of the composer and producer Mike Batt. Katie signed to Batt’s record label Dramatico but stayed at the Brit School to complete her studies – she graduated with distinction in July 2003.
During the summer of 2003 her debut single, ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’, attracted the attention of British station BBC Radio 2 and upon its release entered the charts at number 10. Released in November, Katie’s debut album ‘Call Off The Search’ hit the UK number 1 spot in January 2004 and has subsequently scored top 10 positions throughout Europe. The album has since been certified gold in Holland, Hong Kong and Switzerland, platinum in Denmark, New Zealand and Australia, 2 x platinum in Germany, Ireland, Norway and South Africa and received the IFPI Double Platinum Award for 2 million European Sales. In March 2005 ‘Call Off The Search’ hit the number 1 spot in Denmark, a year after its initial release and became a top five album in Japan. Katie was awarded Best International Newcomer at Germany’s ECHO Awards in April 2005. In Britain, Katie was the highest selling female artist in 2004 – ‘Call Off The Search’ has now sold 1.8 million copies and is 6 x platinum (in Britain alone) and worldwide sales exceed 3.5 million.
Katie joined the line up for the Band Aid 20 single to record a new version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’. As an ambassador for Save The Children this was particularly poignant for Katie. In March 2005 Katie was invited by Nelson Mandela to perform at his 46664 concert in aid of Mandela’s AIDS foundation. In addition to performing a full live set, Katie joined Queen on stage to perform a moving version of ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’. Katie flew from South Africa to Sri Lanka where she experienced the work that is being done by Save The Children, particularly with child soldiers.
In August 2005 Katie and her family swore allegiance to The Queen and became British Citizens following a ceremony in Surrey, England. Katie was asked to perform at the Royal Wedding of Prince Pieter-Christiaan in Holland and at the Norwegian Royal Gala Concert in the presence of the Crown Prince Of Norway. Continuing the royal theme, the American TV show ‘Good Morning America’ broadcast live from Buckingham Palace and Katie was invited by the show to perform ‘Nine Million Bicycles’ and ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’. Katie performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Norway.
In between her overseas travel Katie recorded her new album, ‘Piece By Piece’, which was released in Europe on September 26th 2005. The album comprises more self-penned songs including the title track as well as a cover of the 1987 Cure hit ‘Just Like Heaven’ that Katie recorded for a new DreamWorks film starring Reese Witherspoon. The first single, ‘Nine Million Bicycles’, preceded the album release and gave Katie her highest UK single chart entry at number 5. One week later and Katie entered the UK album charts at number 1 and Europe swiftly followed with the album reaching #1 in Norway, Denmark and Holland, #2 in Ireland, #2 in Iceland, #3 in South Africa, #4 in Poland and #2 in Germany giving an overall chart position of #2 on the Billboard European Top 100 Chart.
Katie was nominated for two Brit Awards in the “Best Female” and “Pop” categories, for the “Best International Female” at the Edison Awards in Holland and was awarded “Best International Female (Rock & Pop)” at the Echo Awards in Germany. Once again Katie was pronounced the highest selling female artist in Britain in 2005 selling more than 1 million albums.
It is fair to say that 2006 was yet another extraordinary year for 22 year old Katie. In addition to the awards nominations, Katie had a Dutch tulip named in her honour, toured America coast to coast, raced at 160mph round Grand Prix circuit Silverstone, flew a plane, launched Save The Children’s ‘Rewrite The Future’ campaign, made the headlines with a Guinness World Record for the deepest concert when she performed 303 meters beneath the North Sea in the leg of a gas rig and was awarded the World Music Award for Britain’s Biggest Selling Female. Whilst in 2004 and 2005, Katie was the greatest selling female artist in Britain, in 2006 Katie was the highest selling European female artist in the world selling more than 3 million copies of her second album ‘Piece By Piece’.
Awarded the Golden Camera Award for International Pop Artist at the start of 2007, Katie was presented with the Echo Award for International Female Artist in March 2007.
October 2007 saw the release of Katie’s third album ‘Pictures’ – a record which has delighted her legions of fans, confirmed Katie’s status as a unique and remarkable vocalist, and revealed the third chapter in what is destined to be a long musical career.
Katie’s fourth album, “The Katie Melua Collection”, is a musical summary of the 24 year old’s journey so far and is being released to coincide with Katie’s arena tour in October and November 2008.
www.katiemelua.com/
The House
Katie Melua Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh
Oh
Who is in that house?
I opened the door to see
Who is up the stairs?
I'm walking up foolishly
And at the end of the hall was a door
And I got pulled in by a sound
But I wish I'd never found
In the privacy of your own room
Where flowers in the wallpaper bloom
Where I just don't understand
In the privacy of your room
Look away now, look away now
At the moon
Oh
Is somebody watching me?
You really shouldn't see
Why did you climb that last stair
You found me unaware
What I'm doing now it's my own
And I don't want it to be known
And it has to just remain
In the privacy of my own room
Where flowers in the wallpaper bloom
Where you just don't understand
In the privacy of my room
Look away now, look away now
At the moon
Puzzle me now with mystery clothes
These apples I love, these apples I loath
And always forgive the future to come
For stealing the light from the sun
Oh
The song "The House" by Katie Melua is a haunting and mysterious piece that explores themes of secret desires, privacy, and the unknown. The song begins with the singer questioning who is in the titular house, and proceeds to walk up the stairs foolishly, only to be pulled in by a sound. The privacy of someone's room is explored next, with the flowers in the wallpaper blooming, and the singer not understanding what is going on. The song's protagonist then asks whomever is watching them to not see, and expresses regret for climbing the last step, as they have been found unaware.
The next verse is the singer's response to being watched, talking about how what they are doing in their room is their own, and they do not want it to be known. They mention that it has to remain a secret, and to look away at the moon. The final verse brings in surreal imagery, with puzzle mystery clothes and the singer loving and loathing apples. Finally, they forgive the future for stealing the light from the sun, ending the song on a melancholic note.
Overall, "The House" is a vivid exploration of the private and mysterious parts of someone's life, hinting at an unsettling air of secrecy and mystery.
Line by Line Meaning
Who is in that house?
Katie wonders who is inside the house.
I opened the door to see
Katie opens the door to peek.
Who is up the stairs?
Katie wants to know who is upstairs.
I'm walking up foolishly
Katie walks up the stairs carelessly.
And at the end of the hall was a door
Katie finds a door at the end of the hallway.
And I got pulled in by a sound
Katie is intrigued and enters the room after hearing sounds.
But I wish I'd never found
Katie regrets entering the room.
In the privacy of your own room
The room provides privacy to the person inside.
Where flowers in the wallpaper bloom
The room has wallpaper with blooming flowers.
Where I just don't understand
Katie doesn't understand what's happening inside the room.
In the privacy of your room
The room provides privacy to whoever is inside.
Look away now, look away now
Katie tells the listener to look away from the room.
At the moon
Katie points out the moon for the listener to look at.
Is somebody watching me?
Katie is paranoid about being watched.
You really shouldn't see
Katie doesn't want anyone to watch her.
Why did you climb that last stair
Katie questions why the listener climbed the last stair.
You found me unaware
Katie was caught off guard by the listener's presence.
What I'm doing now it's my own
Katie wants to keep her actions private.
And I don't want it to be known
Katie doesn't want anyone to know what she's doing.
And it has to just remain
Katie wants to keep her privacy from being invaded.
Puzzle me now with mystery clothes
Katie asks the listener to confuse her with different clothes.
These apples I love, these apples I loath
Katie has mixed feelings about apples.
And always forgive the future to come
Katie has hope for the future and forgives it in advance.
For stealing the light from the sun
Katie metaphorically refers to the future stealing happiness from the present.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Katie Melua
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind