Exclusive Interview: Tich Makes A Stand Against Bullying
She’s previously supported Olly Murs and James Arthur on their tours around the United Kingdom but Tich is now showing her support for a charity close to her heart. The 20 year old singer-songwriter tells Mark Willis exactly why she’s standing up against bullies!
Tich, originally born Rachel Furner, has revealed that her strong feelings about bullying originate from some of her very own personal experiences growing up. Being teased has made her a stronger person though and Tich has used her tough past creatively to craft the lyrics for some of her tracks. This includes the songs: ‘Unkool’ and ‘Sticks and Stones’.She said: “All the songs I write are from my own experiences, so both of those songs were written about my own troubles! Unkool is a song which is basically putting two fingers up to any bully and saying, ‘I love who I am and nothing is going to change.’ Sticks and Stones was about not really being able to cope.”
The Diana Awards even used Tich’s track ‘Sticks and Stones’ as the official anthem for their Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme in 2011. Alex Holmes, the programme manager for Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, said that having Tich on board to record the track was ‘fantastic.’
He explained: “We had a lot of young people do their own versions and videos to ‘Sticks and Stones’, which was great. I think having the support of high profile and talented individuals like Tich makes a huge difference and ultimately Tich is a great role model to a lot of young people.”
As well as recording the charity programme’s official song, Tich has also helped out in many other ways too. She’s worked with Anti-Bullying Ambassadors every year since 2011 and has hosted workshops to thousands of young people. Alex described what happens at the workshops:
“Tich works with the children in a session and they do a creative response to bullying. The kids either come up with a song or cover a song that is about standing up against bullying and then perform that in front of the whole conference.
“The idea is that music can form an important part of the student’s anti-bullying campaign so when they go back into schools and become anti-bullying ambassadors, they can use those skills that they’ve learnt with Tich in terms of music to help spread the campaign and make the campaign exciting and fresh.”
Tich has also visited several schools to carry out some fantastic anti-bullying work and she’s helped present awards to young people at special events too. Her involvement definitely helps increase the visibility of the charity as a whole but we asked Alex how it personally affects the children.
He said: “When they see Tich displaying those fantastic qualities of kindness and looking out for others, being brave and speaking out, that sends a real positive message to all of the thousands. We’ve got 11,000 anti-bullying ambassadors and they really do look up to her.
“I think it also helps if some of those high profile ambassadors have also experienced bullying because it sends a great message to young people. You may have suffered bullying but you can still be successful and it’s not necessarily going to stay for the rest of your life. It sends a very strong message I think.”
The Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme is run by the Diana Award; the only charity to live on as part of the late Princess Diana’s legacy. It was founded in 1999 and since then, they’ve trained thousands to become anti-bullying ambassadors.
They’ve made some pretty amazing achievements over the years and other celebrities who’ve helped out include: Jodie Marsh and Vince Kidd. Tich explained why she got involved with Anti-Bullying Ambassadors;
“I have worked with this amazing charity for around 6 years as I had my own hard experiences at school, like I think we all do/did in some way! We go to schools talking about bullying and the modern issues with cyber bullying and try to help raise awareness to as many people as possible! I am honoured to be a part of it!”
We celebrate national anti-bullying week every November here in the UK and the aim of the week is to help highlight all of the positive ways that we can tackle bullying. Despite these campaigns and charities, bullying is still a huge problem and this is why more awareness needs to be made.
In their most recent report, the NSPCC revealed that 44,766 children and youths contacted Childline for support in regards to bullying in 2012/2013. That’s an 8% increase since the NSPCC released their previous figures and cases of cyber bullying also saw a massive 87% increase. A total of 4,500 young people sought help for problems about being bulled on social networking websites in 2012/13; with 12 – 18 year olds being the age group most affected.
Talking more specifically about different characteristics of bullying, Tich revealed that ignorance is the one thing that she would change about the world if she could. She explained: “I think a lot of the world’s problems come down to too many people being narrow-minded and ignorant towards others’ views and beliefs.”
Tich first rose to fame after posting several covers of popular songs on Youtube and since then, she has brought her own music to many live audiences. She’s gone from performing in her front room to singing in pubs to performing at arenas.
Right now, Tich is preparing to release her debut album. The record is expected to hit shelves later this year and for people who haven’t heard her music before, she describes herself as a ‘singer-songwriter injected with fire and lots of piano-fuelled, emotion-led songs.’ We reckon that’s a pretty accurate description.
Her latest single ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’ is far more stripped back than her first two releases and it really does highlight her incredible vocal range. Interestingly, Tich co-wrote the track with Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers.
“I loved working with Nick. He’s such a talented guy. It was just luck we bumped into each other and started to write! I loved writing with him – watching him put his talent to work in the studio together was amazing!”
The album, which is yet to have an official release date confirmed, will also feature Tich’s first two singles: ‘Dumb’ and ‘Obsession’. Her debut single ‘Dumb’ was super catchy and it managed to peak at number 23 in the UK singles chart on the week of its release. I’m sure you will agree that 23 is a pretty good chart position for an artist’s first single.
Over the years, Tich has worked with many of the world’s biggest stars. As well as writing a track with Nick Jonas, she also supported Justin Bieber at one of his gigs in Paris. We asked her how she compares supporting artists at their gigs to completing her own tours. She said: “All tours are the same in the sense you get to perform (and in my case be extremely nervous for weeks on end!) which is a dream but they were very different in terms of atmospheres.
“I love the variation, and the different crowds you get at each show. Being the support act often means you have to play to people who don’t know your music so it’s interesting to see their reactions!”
The pop sensation’s fan base definitely seems to be growing and her headline tours are continually getting bigger and bigger each time. When Tich isn’t on stage performing or in the studio recording though, she enjoys catching up on some much-needed rest: “Sleeping becomes a massive hobby as you never get much on tour! But also going to the gym every day became a necessity for me to keep the nerves at bay!”
Tich has been song-writing since she was just 11 years old but if she took a different career path, she revealed that she would possibly have considered entering the world of catering:“I would always love to stay in the creative field, I would say being a cook, the new Nigella Lawson maybe?”
Tich will continue her work with Anti-Bullying Ambassadors to help encourage people to embrace who they are and stand up against bullies. It’s a campaign that she’s clearly passionate about and we think it’s great that Tich is using her fame to raise awareness for such a good cause.
Her final message to her fans and anyone reading this would be to: “Love yourself, believe in yourself, try your hardest in life and you will achieve your dreams.”
More details about the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme can be found here.
You can find full contact details for Childline and the NSPCC on their website here.
