Keep It

1. Shake
2. Lonely
3. Dat Du Dat
4. She Wont Say Much
5. Being Your Woman
6. Mercy Train
7. Fire Truck Man
8. Rest Up On Me
9. When Its Time
10. Fuck Your Soul
11. Tender
12. Grace Baby

Welcome to the wired and wonderful world of Paris Wells.

KEEP IT is the album she was born to make.

As early as twelve Paris was secretly studying the credits of her NWA, Janet Jackson and Snoop Dogg albums. But it was when she sung a Janis Ian tune ("The Come On, a really depressing song") in school one day that she saw the effect her voice had on people.

"I thought, I really like doing this, I might give it a go. Until then singing had been really private. I was never one of those eight year old kids singing on the dinner table."

Her love of `70s icon Janis Ian came from raiding her parents' record collection; their passion for music soon rubbed off.

"They'd start the weekend listening to disco, by the end it was folk, Neil Young, David Bowie, that kind of thing. I love Randy Crawford, Paul Simon, love Janet Jackson and lots of blues and soul like Joe Cocker."

Sweet-talking her way onto side of stage at the Big Day Out in 2005, Paris found her musical soulmate – True Live's RHyNo.

With RHyNo, Paris started to verbalise the kind of record she wanted to make; finding a common love of modern eclectic artists like Jamie Liddell, Roisin Murphy, and Matthew Herbert. RHyNo introduced Paris to the intricacies of toasting and every Friday at cooler-than-thou St Jeromes, Paris would toast over funk breaks.

Soon more venues started calling, creating an underground vibe. It wasn't long before she was living a double life; a day job and a burgeoning night life.

"I'd write down ideas for toasting at work," Paris says. "That's where Dat Du Dat came from."

Her debut single's boisterous vibe came out of necessity. "The environment was so loud I had to sing loud, I had no choice."

Paris inked a deal with Illusive, who let her creatively incubate – dropping an EP (Mum Hasn't Slept Yet) last year to test the waters.

The test worked. Paris built up a strong live following while stockpiling songs for KEEP IT and appearing as a guest vocalist on label mates Bliss N Eso's ARIA Top Ten album Flying Colours.

Yet the realities of day to day living meant that Paris still had to continue with her day job.

Stuck in front of a computer for nine hours a day in a sales job, she soon found an escape – an unused basement in her place of employment.

"I'd sneak down there twice a day," Paris says. "I'd go down there and practice. It was private, no one used it, so I'd go and warm up and get ready for rehearsals at night."

Then things turned serious. Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow Tour arrived in Australia last November minus support act Timbaland.

JT's people heard Paris' EP and gave her a very public audition – supporting him in Brisbane. If they were into it, she'd stay.

Paris won over not just Timberlake, but his mum and his crew and remained on the tour through Australia and New Zealand.

The crowds were also impressed, with Paris having a public baptism by fire with an often impatient crowd waiting for sexy to be brought back.

"I learnt how to be professional watching him. It was a really positive environment. He's just another person, really. A person with 97 people working for him."

The New Zealand leg of the Justin tour was pivotal for KEEP IT; Paris wrote two of the album's finest moments Being Your Woman and Lonely across the ocean.

"Some of the best lyrics on the album I wrote on that tour," Paris said. "It was a productive time."

The soulful Lonely perfectly paints the picture of a relationship coming to an end; they're sitting together on the couch but they're worlds apart.

The gorgeous Being Your Woman is more autobiographical for Paris.

"It's about truth in a serious relationship," she says. "And having a partner that's inconsistent because they're addicted to something – whether it's gambling or drugs or work. That's why the girl's confused, no