It's been a year and a half for Charlotte Church.
Scrap that, the past few decades of the 36-year-old's life has been a rollercoaster of childhood fame, inappropriate paparazzi and tabloid obsession, navigating growing up in the public eye and all the trappings of life as we know it, partying, romance, kids and ultimately, growing up, figuring out what one wants from life and not taking any more s**t.
To be fair, the Cardiff singer never has been one to take things lying down but now, with many strings to her bow. Performer, founder of democratic learning charity, Awen, renovator and owner of The Dreaming, her mid Wales wellbeing retreat, sometime Celebrity Goggleboxer. There's so much more to her than simply the 'Voice of an Angel' some people still have stuck in their minds.
Adding another thing to her list, Charlotte's currently on a finale tour of her flamboyant and fun Late Night Pop Dungeon tour, which reaches its climax at Cardiff's Depot on December 21 - a cacophony of covers, cheesy powerhouse tracks and ear-twisting mash-ups from Black Sabbath and Nine Inch Nails to Prince and Julee Cruise. A far cry from singing opera and classics for the Pope and presidents, but who else can say they are still doing the same thing as they were at 15?
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The Late Night Pop Dungeon is a cult club night loved by many who've sweated in sequins at the various clubs and festivals Charlotte and her band of expert musicians and support artists toured it to over the past (almost) decade and while it's fortuitous that it retires ungracefully on home turf, it wasn't planned that way. But first, why is the Dungeon coming to an end? "There's a number of reasons, really," Charlotte says. "One, is that it's so special, it's such a vibe and magical to be a part of and people to witness, I want it to remain that.
"It's getting to the stage now where, either something else happens with it....do you know what I mean? And I don't want to make a Pop Dungeon album. I want it to remain a live experience that's just a bit.. mythic. It's at the top of it's game, so let it quietly bow out. Also, it scratches a musical itch which I'd like to remain unscratched, because I really want to make more original music. But also, I've got three kids and all the commitments in life people generally have with family and friends and a charity and a massive projects in mid Wales. So it's just, it's just a lot. It just feels like the right time. Although the majority of the Pop Dungeon don't share my view!"
Coming back to Cardiff for the final show on the Winter Solstice will make it extra special, too, says the singer who thinks it's perfect to lock the dungeon one final time on home turf, she adds: "It was the way that the cookies crumbled in terms of tour dates and where, what venues were available and that sort of thing. But of course, it's right. It's perfect. It's the perfect way to end it. It's also on the winter solstice, which is a very witchy time of year. So we're gonna make a real ceremony of it, of it being the end, because it's gonna matter so much to us."
The original music spoken about by Charlotte will share a strong connection to her most recent project, The Dreaming, a wellness retreat in the heart of the Welsh countryside at the site of Rhydoldog House, the former home of designer Laura Ashley. With connection being the operative word, she's leaning into the restorative qualities of nature with sound therapy, singing into nature in the middle of the Welsh woods and drawing on the witchy-folkiness of the surroundings, and when she gets round to recording her new stuff will be a 'confluence of everything' she's learned up to now.
Charlotte, who is learning to become a practitioner in sound healing, opens The Dreaming in the new year. Its renovation and build has been something that's taken more than a year and she's put a lot of effort, both financially and energy-wise, into it, you can see more on the retreat and it's pay-what-you-can scheme, here. What she's learned over that journey with The Dreaming, she'll probably channel into her new music. "Music is like, it's right at the core of me. You know, it feeds everything else. And so I need to give it some time. Because at the moment, I've just been so busy, so I'm not going to push it, I'm not going to rush it. I'm going to really enjoy the creative and explorative opportunities that The Dreaming is going to give me and really starting to become a practitioner in sound healing. And then and then we'll see where the music goes. But I imagine again, like most things that will be it will be a confluence of everything that I've learned till now. You know, beautiful Welsh and Irish folk songs, classical music of sacred music, pop bangers to really experimental art rock and electronica."
It's a heady mix certainly and you certainly get the impression that Charlotte herself is a heady mix now of everything that's come before, who's learned to deal with the early fame, the mid-20s pop career and celebrity partner, ex-rugby player Gavin Henson with whom she shares older kids, Ruby and Dexter, her up-and-down relationship with mother, Maria, through those teenage years, which they made a documentary about back in 2019 and her well-documented appearance at the Leveson Inquiry into press intrusion back in 2011. Pair that with the Charlotte of now, who wakes up at 4am to see the sunrise, loves getting her hands dirty and tending to plants and all the centering practices which come with wanting to run a wellness retreat and you've got a pretty multi-layered person, let alone an eclectic album.
So what clicked to send her down that path, change her mindset, breath a bit deeper every day?
"As you get older, late 20s, early 30s, then it all starts catching up with you, you know," she says, very openly telling me that life's stresses and traumas played a big impact, as well as the heartbreaking miscarriage of her daughter in 2017. She continued: "You can't live in the ways that you used to live and things from your past and patterns keep emerging. And it's just like, something's got to give or change. What is life asking of you? We had a coach once mentoring us for Awen (the learning project Charlotte founded which encourages children to be themselves and follow their passion) and one of her big phrases was 'what is life asking of you? ' And I really like that. often there are these things that happen in a cycle, you know, whether it's in a cycle in your life, in a cycle in families, and, and we have to figure out what that is, and what was life asking from us? How have we got to that point? What have we got to do here?
"So, I think it was It wasn't one specific moment, really, it was made up of lots of moments, you know, a big one was losing a baby. But it was made up of a lot of moments throughout my late '20s and early '30s, that I just realised, my life had been so stressful and so traumatic in many different ways. That I just wanted to find a way to live simply, and courageously and close to nature, where I was doing my utmost for the people who I loved, but also for the human family.
"Because we've all got our role to play. And I care, I care very deeply about this planet and the humans on it. The Dreaming and Pop Dungeon is all part of my healing journey, it's helped me and hopefully others as well. We're all in this together and we will make things better and it's not through stuff.. or capitalism. It'll be through caring and that sounds simplistic, but you apply that system-wise, to education, to healthcare, to the elderly, to people with mental health. Everybody needs to be their authentic selves and what is required for that, is personal healing because we've been through stuff. There's a lot to work through and I believe it's possible and will change the world for the better."
You can't argue with Charlotte's matter-of-fact, simpler approach to changing the world, at the end of the day, she's put her money where her mouth is and has opened a place where people can go to heal, relax, set up a charity which approaches education differently or lose themselves in the power of live music, and you do hope that with as many irons in the fire as she has she gets a moment to sit down and empty her mind of performing, renovating and the like. Somehow we do a hard pivot to Christmas and she tells me she's not a Christmas card-sending person because she's always been too busy, so maybe having a wellness retreat is just the project she needs.
A low-key Christmas it'll be at home for the family, Charlotte and husband, musician Jonathan Powell, their daughter Frida and the two older children, alongside a few others, but her family better not expect a full stocking. "We're gonna have some folks over, but pretty low key Christmas. I've said that I'm not buying for anyone apart from the kids because I just don't want to be a part of this like, mad consumerist, capitalist thing, when, like, the world is in such a fucking pickle. And so some members of my family a bit fuming about that," she laughed.
After the Christmas card bombshell it's sadly time to wrap up but, for old time's sake we make reference to the aforementioned 'Voice of an Angel' and ask what would a young Charlotte think of where she's ended up? The present day version says, she probably wouldn't be surprised: "I feel like deep down, much like all of us, I've been exactly the same since I was a tiny babba.
"You know, I am who I am. And so in a way, I think that she'd in some way recognise it, almost like, remember it in a weird way, as if she'd know 'that's where I'm going.'
"I also think she was much bitchier."
You can see Charlotte Church's Late Night Pop Dungeon at Depot in Cardiff on Wednesday, December 21. Tickets can be bought, here.
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