GOLDEN BABY

Music.

Yes, it’s that time again. I need to vent. I need to scream. I need to say what’s so heavy on this heart of mine… when it comes to people playing music today.

There are many reasons why one creates, plays, gives out its music to the general public. Some musicians seek out fame all their life, wanting their names in bright, shiny lights. Others find comfort in the fact that they’re not alone anymore, and that somehow girls like it when boys lay their feelings in songs, therefore an easier way to get laid. Some of us really got in it by accident, and realized the ups and downs of the business, wondering what it would’ve been like to stay away from the constant representation of one’s self that comes with being a known, or well-known professional musician.

Because that’s what turns me off : the constant representation that comes with it. It really, really really really turns me off. And you know what’s bad about this job? As good as it gets, you become self-centred somehow as a way to protect yourself. Oh and well, you always wind up talking about yourself too. Unless you’re in a band, and usually that’s a whole other dynamic that I’m not too familiar with, and I have my reasons. But let’s continue…

I’ve met my share of musicians through out the years. We’re a particular breed of people. We are usually the ones that didn’t fit in during those hard high school years, or the ones that couldn’t have a steady relationship for more than a month, and we definitely smoked or pretended to smoke at the age of 15. Imagine… now these outcasts know how to play an instrument and if they’re lucky, sing, and they have all of the attention in the world. It takes a certain amount of sensitivity to be able to deliver feelings in songs, therefore making us very sensitive people. Songwriters talk to everyone in the form of music and it’s a lot of power when you come to think of it. 

I don’t like talking about my life when I give an interview. I usually joke around and get interrupted by other guests (that has happened, recently, and it was hilarious). I’ll do it because I guess it’s important to understand the process, and I did it for a while because I really thought that’s how things needed to work in this world, but hey, gang, you can totally get my love life in most of those 3 minute long songs. Plus, the whole point is to make that song your own. That’s why I record the songs I write in the first place, not to talk about my own problems afterwards on national television. Unless you have went through intense trauma and you can set an example, or have people relate directly to your own life story because it’s INTERESTING, it’s better not to bother.

I also need to talk about Lana del Rey. I just have to.

I first discovered Lana del Rey when her Lizzie Grant Facebook profile was still of service. She probably had 1000 fans on that music page of hers, and she tweeted me back when I said she was wonderful. I think the songs are amazing. I have worked with Emile Haynie this January, the man behind the production of her upcoming record and he told me things as they were : “She writes her songs, she’s a song writer.” That was enough for me.

But then I saw Saturday Night Live. I was heart broken. Yeah, it was bad. It was awkward. I don’t think it was something that was thought through at all. 

And you know what, I think I can only blame the general public for what happened to that girl and yeah I am part of that. One day she was like the second coming of Mary for us, the music adoring people, and the next she was broken down, shattered like glass, again by the same people that put her on that pedestal. 

You need to tour for a while before you get to do that kind of tv show. It’s only normal, and it’s only practice for things to come. It can make, or break you. It’s always been that way.

On that note, I have a bunch of concerts coming up. I’m going to practice.