Radio One resident Annie Mac hit the red carpet at the 2014 Mercury Awards and caught up with Gigwise. We talked about why XL Records new signing is so impressive, her complete DJ nightmare and what Azealia Banks should do next.

What’s been the best gig you’ve been to this year?

I saw a young lady at Glastonbury called Lapsley. It was her second ever gig, she’s 18 from Liverpool and she makes all the music herself. She is very accomplished and someone I’m really excited about looking forwards. Laplsey: big recommendation from me.

Can you describe a massive DJ fail?
Global Gathering main stage 2013: 20 minutes into my set, a huge biblical storm happens. The sky turns black, it starts raining really bad, I lose about two thirds of my crowd. I’m also wearing a dress which keeps blowing up in the wind. My tour manager had to gaffer tape my dress to my thighs as I’m DJing. I’ll never forget that.

Is there a musical trend you are bored of listening to?
Not really, there is one band that I can’t stand: Fall Out Boy I find them personally offensive... Just the sound of his voice. The fact that they’ve sampled 'Tom's Diner' on their new song: I just find it all very soulless and soul destroying.

You helped bring Azealia Banks to the mainstream: what do you hope does next?
Puts an album out! The one she’s been threatening to put out for a year and a half! She’s super talented y’know? She just needs to find that body of work and get it out there. She’s a true artist and she’s very creative. I think she needs to stop worrying about the rest of the world and just go somewhere make her album, just focus on it and get it out.

Tell us about your ICA sessions?
I’m really excited about them. I launched them yesterday. They are the way for me to reflect the other side of what I do. I have this show on Sunday nights on Radio One which I’m enjoying more and more with every week: it’s the absolute music opposite of Fridays, It’s mellow, it’s cerebral. It's all different types of music, from folk to hip-hop to electronica. It brings out the whole other side of what I love. I also like the idea of curating events where I’m not DJing,where  it’s about the lineup without me. So I’m happy to just go watch the bands and have people come and see them. It's just something I'm really looking forward to doing.

What's the strangest gift you've got from a fan?
You get people making you jewellery all the time which is really nice. I’ve been made a pendant with my name of it, They do make things out of the cartoon of my head. All sorts of different gifts, nothing too bizarre though. Just nice ones.