Little Boots has graced more 2009 magazine covers in the UK than any other pop artist. She got a lot in 2008 too. But 2009 was especially teeming. “The sound of 2009 and the potential saviour of pop,” bellowed NME on its predictions page, gushing about her acidic futurepop, her computer beats saturated with blips and twerps produced by Hot Chip honchos. Mooks meets up with the woman who came top of the BBC’s Sound of 2009 to see how she intends to continue her success throughout 2010.

HK: Your album Hands helped make pop cool again in 2009.

LB: I hope it will help people become more open-minded about pop again in the next few years because indie has become so saturated and contrived. All this wonky pop, wacky pop, blah blah pop, I definitely have an issue with it because they’re making excuses for pop.

HK: You were at every festival in 2009, and this looks set to continue into 2010.

LB: We’re definitely a live act. We’re a band. There’s no point to me of recreating an album perfectly. I don’t understand the whole Britney thing: go up there and mime to a CD. It’s just live karaoke. I’m not interested. For me it’s about making it visual and interesting.

HK: You certainly achieve that with your stage outfits and fashion sense – that gets as many column inches as your music.

LB: Being an artist to me is a whole little world. The songs are the core of everything. But then there’s all these other factors that are a part of that world: the artwork, the live performances, the outfits. The clothes are an extension of the music. I don’t think about fashion or trends. I tend to think, “If this music were an outfit, what would it be like?” that’s why I pick things a bit spacey, a bit futuristic, a bit studio 54, with shimmery textures and strange silhouettes and shapes. If the music changes direction so will the image. It’s not like I’ve dressed like a space cadet all my life. If I start making woodland folk, I’ll probably start dressing like a wood nymph.

HK: Synthesizers seem to dominate your music. Will this change on the next album?

LB: I’m a keyboard player, I’ve been playing since I was five. [With Hands] People were saying to me, “There’s lots of synth at the moment, you’re part of a trend” like I’m jumping on this thing… I think maybe on the next album I’ll try the piano to shut them up.