S Poddar
Sixteen years after her win, Alexandra Burke reflects on how things have changed. In preparation for her first television drama role, she fondly recalls the making-of moment when her mother – Melissa Bell, who is a key figure in the British R&B scene through her leading position with Soul II Soul – told her to stop acting altogether at just 16. “I was devastated,” the 22-year-old admits. “I think now, though, that my mum was actually rather sensible to do so.”. Bell died in 2017, at which time she was just 53; that was close on a decade after her daughter started her tumultuous career trajectory—Burke not only won the record for the biggest-selling first single, but also became an acclaimed West End star. Burke says her success is due to following her mother’s motto: “She told me, ‘You’re going to be a singer, and the rest will follow once you’ve had some success.'”
On October 10, Burke will be on screen for the first time in six-episode drama series Curfew on Paramount Plus. The story is based on a divided United Kingdom where men are given huge penalties for staying out past 7 PM.
The plot will surely raise several questions, and Burke confesses it already sparked debates in her own family. “Personally, I don’t think a curfew would work in our world. You cannot paint every man with the same brush.”. I have many male friends and brothers, and I would feel awful if they were locked up from 7 PM till 7 AM because of something they just did not do. Yet, she does bring out the urgent cause of security for women. “We’ve heard about so many situations where women have been hurt in unprovoked attacks. You think to yourself, ‘Well, why weren’t they safe? Why weren’t they protected? What can be done to protect women in the future? We’re all someone’s child.'”
Even as she claims not to be in favor of a blanket curfew for men, Burke concedes to the prevalence of fear that makes her worry every time that women are more likely to encounter attacks: “If I’m honest with you, I don’t really go out, and I’m not talking because I’ve got children. I’ve got a lot of anxiety around women being out after a certain time, full stop.”
She says, “I’m always quite anxious going out by myself or being alone.
I take London transport, but I don’t take it at night at all. I’ve taken it during the day to go to work, and I’ve been fine, but at night, you wouldn’t catch me. If I am out, it’s with my partner or someone I feel safe with.”. I have all my friends on Find My Friends—always—because it’s just, sadly, the world we live in.” In Curfew, Burke plays Helen, a teacher who defends the contentious nocturnal curfews imposed on men, which becomes clearer as the story unravels.
Despite her fears about playing the character, Burke shines in the acting with seasoned leads in Sarah Parish, Larry Lamb, and Mandeep Gill. I am not a trained actress, so when you walk around and see all these people you have admired on TV then you’re in the same show as them, that’s daunting and overwhelming, she admits, even downplaying her achievements over the last several years. Burke is anxious about her performance but she claims that is what drives her-the opposite of what most people would want. “There is always the fear that I might not be good enough, but it makes me work harder. It makes me more determined to deliver the best, so I don’t see that as a negative because my mum always said to me, ‘If you’re nervous, it means you care.”.
She continues to be humbled by answering, “I’ll never walk into something and go, ‘I’ve got the job.’ I’ll always get a good feeling about something, and sometimes I might be wrong, but I always believe that you should be seen in the room.”.
I’ve never taken a job because someone said, “Oh, it’s Alexandra Burke, so maybe she’ll put some bums in the seats.” No, you audition me and if I’m not good enough, tell me no. I need you to believe in what I can do. She’s grateful for that journey, for any of it. Including the fear sometimes that comes along with it. “I wouldn’t have my life any other way, including living with that fear.”.
Her working has kept her relevant, which is a rare phenomenon among X Factor winners. It has now been 16 years since Burke clinched the top prize of that edgy show, with fans still fresh in their memories her major performance with Beyoncé during the finale. Since then, she has released three number-one singles and a number-one album and starred in Sister Act, proving herself time and again in this entertainment line.
Talking about her strength of will, Burke puts, “My gut’s never failed me.
If there is something I don’t want to do, I won’t do it.” She lays down stress on her professional dedication, which hasn’t impeded even at the time when she had two little ones. “I went back to work after both babies after two months, and that’s unheard of.”. After the next one, I am going to take a lot more time off, but I love my work and cannot let kids take that away from me. I never worked so hard, and there’s still so much more I want to do, and it’s because of those kids. But even as she looks forward to many more of these occasions for television and film, Burke is itching to make more. “If this opens up more doors to do more TV dramas and movies, please. I pray that the universe gives me more,” she said.
