I was on Love Island & dated Lewis Capaldi – now it’s hard to be taken seriously as a singer, says Paige Turley
LOVE Island winner Paige Turley has admitted she is finding it hard to be taken seriously as a singer.
The 24-year-old Scot said her appearance on the ITV2 show made it challenging to break into the music industry.
She said she is more known as a reality TV star and most of her followers on social media are more interested in her hair and clothes than listening to her music.
Paige, from Fauldhouse, West Lothian, shared the £50,000 first prize with boyfriend Finn Tapp after they got together in South Africa on the sixth series of Love Island in 2020.
She has since become a successful influencer with 1.7million followers on Instagram.
She said: "I definitely do find it a challenge.
"I think a lot of people thought that coming from the show would be this huge advantage because I've got a platform and people that follow me.
"But if anything it's more difficult I've found. It's a bit of a double-edged sword.
"I've got this platform but people don't know me for music so it's been challenging but hopefully in the long run it pays off.
"A lot of the audience that are there just now want to see what you're wearing, they want to see how you're styling your hair.
"So if you put on anything music-related they don't know you or follow you for that.
"It's then trying to find additional fans that are there for the music as well as what I wear my hair like or what I wear my clothes like."
Paige appeared on Britain's Got Talent as a singer in 2012 and has said her ultimate ambition is to make music.
Speaking on BBC Scotland show One More Tune, she added: "A lot of the music I'm in the studio writing just now has soul influences through it but it is quite commercial as well."
Paige dated singer Lewis Capaldi for more than a year after meeting at college in Motherwell before they split.
It was claimed his massive hit Someone You Loved was written about her but he has said the song was actually a tribute to his late gran.
One More Tune is available on BBC iPlayer.
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