Shaznay Lewis: ‘I lacked self-esteem to go solo after All Saints’

The last time Shaznay Lewis released a solo album, Friends had just aired its final episode, Facebook was sending its first friend requests, and Mean Girls was introducing the world to the concept of “fetch”.

It was 2004, and there were big expectations for Lewis’s solo career.

As the driving force behind All Saints, she had credits on era-defining pop songs like Never Ever, external and Pure Shores, external.

Her album, Open, boasted collaborations with Primal Scream and Basement Jaxx – but listeners expecting the sass and bite of All Saints’ biggest hits were left disappointed.

This was a more laid-back, sensual record, inspired by the funk and reggae Lewis grew up listening to.

Instead of late night Bootie Calls, external and morning after Black Coffees, external, the singer had penned love-struck odes to her fiancé on breezy ballads like Never Felt Like This Before, external and You, external.

Critics were harsh. Dotmusic called it “frustratingly ordinary”, while the Guardian said the album’s songs “vanish from the memory, leaving virtually no trace”.

It’s since been reappraised as an overlooked gem – but the record’s troubled genesis was explained in a song called Don’t Know What To Say.

Included on advance copies but cut from the commercial release, it found Lewis dealing with writers’ block, sitting paralysed in an expensive recording studio as panic set in.

“Wishing, hoping, praying, words will come easy / Well, not today,” she sang over an anxious beat.