Halesowen's rising unsigned star Eve Pitt talks albums and awards

So when 18-year-old Halesowen lass Eve Pitt took to the stage at the Birmingham Music Awards in May to pick up her Best Pop Act trophy it must have meant something big to her.

"It was very exciting - fantastic," she tells us. "I was also nominated for the Rising Star/One To Watch Award and out of about 15 people I came third in the public vote.

"On the night it was all hidden. They announced all the names and I listened to all the others and thought I didn't stand a chance. They called out my name and I was flabbergasted."

But it wasn't just a party for Eve that night at the Second City's Glee Club. No, the singer/songwriter had her business hat on and wasn't going to let the opportunities in front of her slip through her fingers on a night when one of our first Unsigned acts to feature - Sugarthief - took home Best Alternative/Indie Act.

"I had done some promo for the event, press launches and stuff. It was all about networking, getting people aware of the event and being a part of it. I was sat on a table with John Taylor from Duran Duran and we had a good chin wag. I spoke to Brian [Travers] from UB40 too, but mostly about football I'm not gonna lie."

It was quite a step up for Eve, who had just finished studying music performance at Stourbridge College and is now preparing to take on songwriting at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) campus in Digbeth.

"College was a blessing, I've got nothing bad to say about it," she says. "It was a fantastic challenge and the tutors were excellent and supportive. I threw myself into everything and I am more than grateful for the opportunities they gave me.

"My tutor Heather Young was in a band called DRAG [AKA Birmingham punk rockers DressedAsGirl] so she passed on her help. She was so supportive and honest, if I pitched an idea and she didn't like it she would say 'no'.

"But it worked both ways. I remember for one project we had to write a Christmas song and I wanted to go with a drum'n'bass sound. She said I couldn't do that but I did and to be fair she loved it and praised me for it. I had challenged the 'norm' and she appreciated that."

Eve has been writing for 'half a decade', meaning she was a young teenager when she first put her thoughts to paper. At that time of a person's life changes can come monthly, if not weekly. This month's must-have record could be next-month's coffee mug mat.

"Looking back, some of that is not anything like myself," she laughs. "I'm not ashamed of it, it shaped me as a musician, but some of it is pretty depressing and hopefully that remains under the carpet for ever.

"I do like to throw some of my early songs into live sets, just not all of them."

Style-wise, Eve points to The Streets, Lily Allen and Frank Turner as major influences, as well as being a massive fan of musician, activist and philanthropist Chance The Rapper.

"He's a huge inspiration, he's unsigned and does everything himself. He creates his music and gives a lot of it away for free. He's got good values and he's good to look up to.

"Covering songs is great but, long-term, nobody wants an album of covers. To excel you have to adapt to what is happening now and keep up. Covers have been my learning curve as my style has changed but I get far more of a buzz off my own material. It's more free and I can do anything.

"Like with my early songs. Some are still pretty active and when I perform them it's in a different style. I have changed so I can do whatever I want with them. I can rework the song and nobody knows what it sounded like before so it makes no difference to them."

With all these creative juices flowing Eve has taken to the studio and released her debut LP Animated Soul earlier this year, which led to the award win. Mixing piano, guitar, soft vocals and a spoken word approach to rapping it is fresh and looks at the world with a new pair of musical eyes.

Eve, understandably, was chuffed with it.

"It was really good and we did lots of promo," she said. "I decided to release it as part of my coursework, kill two birds with one stone as it were.

"For about four or five months before its release I was promoting it. You can release it and then promote it but I don't have a large fanbase so I can't really do that. I made posters, handed them out in restaurants while on holiday in France and Amsterdam. The support was good.

"It's onwards and upwards for me now," she adds of her future. "I just want more and more.

"When I heard about the BMA awards I just thought, 'what a time to be here'. The music scene is really going to boom over the next five years and I really want to be a part of that.

"It would be really foolish of me to move away - I can't wait to get studying in Birmingham."

Eve's LP Animated Soul can be heard by typing her name into Spotify or Soundcloud, while Eve can also be found on social media - her Facebook and Instagram handles are both @evepittmusic