EW – Who’s That Girl? Dido Article

Thanks to Chaz for this.

Who’s That Girl?
Meet the mysterious singer from Eminem’s No. 1 album. EW Online tells you about Dido, the promising newcomer who also sings the ”Roswell” theme.

‘YOU’ GO, GIRL Dido has found unlikely showcases for her song in ”Roswell” and Eminem

by Craig Seymour

One of the most talked about tracks on Eminem’s ”The Marshall Mathers LP” — which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart today with the second best first-week sales in history at 1.7 million copies — is ”Stan,” which features a lengthy sample of the song ”Thank You” by London-based literary agent turned dance pop chanteuse Dido. ”Everyone I play it for thinks the rap is brilliant, whether they like Eminem or not,” says Dido, 26, of the cut that chronicles a fan letter exchange between the rapper and a murderous admirer. ”It’s very dark, and I quite like that about it.” (EW’s album review calls the blend of Dido’s plaintive singing and Em’s rapping perhaps ”the most moving song about star worship ever recorded.”)

Eminem may be a visionary, but he isn’t the first one to notice Dido’s moody tune, which comes from her 1999 debut album, ”No Angel.” It’s also featured on the soundtrack to Gwyneth Paltrow’s dual-identity drama ”Sliding Doors” and provides the musical backdrop for the Sapphic sex romp between Ellen DeGeneres and Sharon Stone in HBO’s ”If These Walls Could Talk 2.” Not bad for a song which the songwriter herself describes as ”almost cheesy.”

”It only took me about five minutes to write,” Dido says of the tune in which she thanks a lover for giving her the best day of her life. ”It was almost a joke because it’s so sweet.” But fans are taking the song’s romantic sentiments quite seriously. ”At gigs, guys have proposed to their girlfriends while we’re playing it,” she says. ”Two weeks ago somebody got down on [his] knees in the middle of the song and pulled out a ring.”

And ”Thank You” isn’t the only tune that’s earning Dido ardent new fans. Her first single, ”Here With Me,” is the theme song for that I Was a Teenage Alien cult hit ”Roswell.” ”The show has really helped keep my album alive,” Dido says. ” A lot of people have bought the album because of it.” Indeed, after being released last June ”No Angel” just debuted on Billboard’s album chart at No. 144.

But with her increasing chart success does Dido worry about becoming a potential target for Eminem, who seems opposed to all things pop? ”He can do what he likes,” says Dido, who will begin recording her next album at the end of the year. ”It’d be even more exposure for me ’cause I’d be out there with the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. And then I can diss him in one of my songs.”