How did you lived the incomprehension facing your album Ultraviolence last year?
I inherited from my father's philosophical side: if things aren't too bad, then they go well. I feel privileged to be able to continue making what I adore. I don't care about critics of my records but they change the way people are going to listen to my music, so as well receive favourable echoes...
Did you then needed this lightness in your life, this nonchalance?
In a way, it was an antidote to what happened in my life. I needed to make an album that sounds exactly like what I had in head. It was the only way to preserve my vision. I always needed this kind of simplicity. I felt a real nonchalance in regards to the way the music was going to be received and at the same time I was totally obsessed by my craft, my songs. It is the best possible state of mind when you're making an album.
Around you, were there too many people to give their opinion, their advice?
There is constantly a lot of people and they all emit many opinions about my current album. It's not because I despise them all but... When it comes to produce, in particular the voice, I feel comfortable only if I remain faithful to what I hear in me. I did not recorded Ultraviolence in reaction to anybody or anything: it's just the record I wanted to write, and the way I wanted it to sound like.
Do you worry, in the name of expectations, in front of the blank page?
I feel very distant from these expectations, doubtless because the reaction from people to my music remains fundamentally different from mine. I just felt overwhelmed at a moment when everywhere everyone said that my music was only extreme sadness, even harmful. The best remedy was to close shutters and to continue to work.
You then thought of escaping?
Yes, that can be the real temptation, in several possible manners... My brain and my imagination tend to turn at top speed, my escapes are thus rather physical - to move out for example. I feel the need to live something different, neurologically or physically... I always found ways to escape. And without resorting to imaginary friends; I have never had some.
Can you sometimes just slam the door?
It is always possible to run away. The big problem, is that everywhere where I go, I leave with my own self. Thus it is complicated for me to escape as I would wish it. The two places were I succeed it are at the beach and while driving. For a long time, my own music was my most beautiful source of escape... When it became more concrete over the years, it became my reality, what I tried to escape. Nevertheless, I have a visceral relation to music, it is one of the most intimate and most natural things for me. In terms of pleasure, I place it on the same level as sex.
Why does music took such a place in your life?
Because I was intended to make some. I contented with making what I was supposed to make and that totally invaded my life. It is what arrives when we are on the right track. Until a few years ago, I considered certain musicians as an enormous inspiration. I felt a lot of love for them, but in a healthy way! I recently lost a little of this connection.
You sing a bit of a text from David Bowie on the album. Was he always in your pantheon?
Sometimes, when you sing and improvise, sentences appear from nowhere... I hope that he won't mind. But I am convinced that his words appeared for a reason, thus I never changed this line. He's such an exciting soul. He comes of an extraordinary period, with all this music, the art, the energy of the time. (We tell her about a photo gathering, in 1973, Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed) I would have adored living in this era, with incredible friends!
To what extent did your relationship to the craft of singing evolved since your beginnings?
Since a decade, I completely dived, with delight, into this craft. I remember with tenderness my first steps, even if it's very far... But recently, I less cared about structures, compositions, I let things create themselves, naturally. To be honest, this musical freedom is exciting, I feel blessed. It's as if you escaped from structures which until then defined you and that you evolved in another psychic dimension, that you pushed back the limits of your soul thanks to the words and to the melodies...
Are you technically very involved?
In terms of sounds, arrangement, production, it's fundamental for me to be very precise. On an album, the part dedicated to the mixing and to the mastering takes an enormous deal of time. With my producer and my engineer, I am totally involved in this work. With me, long after I stopped composing songs, the production evolves constantly, until the last minute. I am thus very fastidious on this aspect too, which takes me a lot of time. I however felt more fluid, more eloquent with the "language of the music" when I was younger... I have already said many things in my records and I had many experiences these last two years which eventually ended up parasiting the transmissions, the translations between the muse and me.
What did you change in your working methods for Honeymoon?
Not much, I contented this time with not looking for a second producer to disrupt the sound of the album as it had begun. Last year, I made everything with Rick Nowels before taking this album to Dan Auerbach. This time, I stayed in studio with Rick and we finished everything together. He is at the same time my partner and a dear friend.
Did a word, an idea defined the aesthetics of this new album?
The song Honeymoon defined the tone, with Music to Watch Boys to. I adore the idea of "honeymoon", it's the peak of a romantic relation... It's even supposed to be the most beautiful moment of the life of a woman... I probably tried to make my life more beautiful than it was. All the feelings, all the concerns which I feel, all the questions I ask myself about the future influence the words, of course, but also the melodies... Other than that, I did not feel outside influences for this album, if it is not for jazz and trap music, that marked the production of both songs.
Do you remember your first guitar?
My uncle Tim had lent me his, I did not kept it, it stayed at his home.
Where does your nostalgia comes from?
I'm thinking all the time, I'm rather contemplative, my passion for beautiful movies doubtless explains why my aesthetics can be thought of as nostalgia... I also am very romantic: the combination of all this is maybe called nostalgia. I prefer to think that I just have very good tastes! Will I one day compose my own soundtrack? Who knows, it's maybe written in my future...
What would you like to change in you?
I would want to live without concern, without fear.
This interview is so amazing, I really love her answers here
haven't really listened to the whole thing.
but considering the official released tracks, I do think that there are more variations in HM or UV than in BTD
for me, BTD is more about the sad love story and teenage girl's dream and visions about hollywood
it's true that sometimes i feel like she has ditched some hollywood glamour and epicness (or even cliches) in her lyrics.
like there's no "i will love you till the end of time" or "feet dont fail me now, take me to the finish line" stuffs
but HM somehow gives us a refreshing perspective. e.g. a more powerful woman's thought
You're right. I kinda miss the "glamour and epicness" from her work, I think it was an important element which sets a certain part of her discography apart and makes it that much more special.
HM obviously doesn't have that but I'm not gonna complain about that, it's just good in a different way
Not point in repeating so I'm just quoting myself but this is my opinion on Honeymoon. I haven't listened to it as a whole body of work yet.
The lyrics to all the songs? Yes I guess I could, but tomorrow, I'm just dying of sleep deprivation now haha. Same for the produced credits, sorry the OP is a bit empty cause I rushed to make it available asap
Also fuck whoever posted that Jessie J gif with the "blue blue blue blue" part of freak a few pages back, everytime I listen to that song that's what I picture ...
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