I grew up with classical music blasting in my parents' living room and my older brother's practicing saxophone in his room listening to jazz... a beautiful chaos.
If you get involved in music expecting to make a living out of it, then you've picked the wrong thing to do. That shouldn't really be in your mind.
I feel like the reason people feel like they know me is because I'm giving you myself in the music. There's where the connection comes from; you can't Twitter that.
This kind of music was just hitting England, so we were getting this following in clubs in Birmingham just cause we were trying to do something different.
If you're in a bar and a certain song comes on and the vibe is just different, it evokes the kinds of things that you want to feel, and if music can do that it's a very special thing.
Maybe rock 'n' roll isn't music. Maybe people just need to be reminded that the world ain't the way they think it is.
I'm thinking in terms of a point of departure, a field of action for performers to express an expressive need of mine which hopefully the context of music would convey.
I have a very varied taste in music. Everything from rap to classical to Latino to Rat Pack to jazz.
Now that I'm older, I like almost anything that's done well, even surf music and instrumentals; I really enjoyed the interviews with the Ventures in your magazine.
I write songs because I have to write them, and if I didn't I'd be doing some other kind of music that didn't require a song.
I consider my music to be Progressive Synth Pop, which says nothing about what it sounds like, but does describe my basic approach.
Presented with a song like Exit Music, It's impossible to know what to add without actually making it worse. How can you play along when It's already there?
It's like that scene from The Player when they talk about merging Star Wars and Kramer vs. Kramer, or whatever. You could do that with music and it would just be awful.
They look at what's more important, like subjects to help with the SAT's, etc. They miss that music is vital. It offers a break from a stressful day of science and math and it's different.
Emotions are the fuel to really move you along - that's the only way you can create music. If you don't feel any emotions, it's not going to happen.
I grew up walking out with no music. I wish I had the bottle to dance on but I can't dance.
Music is so hard. It's a struggle to get people to care. It's hard to make an impact in today's world because people aren't buying records anymore.
What does it mean to a person whose identity is very wrapped up in the music she makes, if her worth is measured by how many records she sells?
The type of music I like to sing is really those classic songs, those Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion, Frank Sinatra, classics.
In the end, the sign of Aretha Franklin's artistry is that she always leaves her mark - first, on the music, then on us.
One of my core values is to help redefine what it means to be a strong and beautiful woman in the music and fashion worlds and to empower the wonderful things that make us unique.
