| ok, I really don't have anythin specific that I want to write about, so here's an interview I had with VH-1, for you guys who haven't read it before:
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VH1: Are you still in shock over how your career has taken off?
Me: I work hard and I will always work hard. But I feel very lucky with the way that it has all come together. I still have my hands and I can still write songs. I still have my body and I can still dance. I owe God so much because things are going so well.
VH1: Why did you decide to pursue music instead of dance?
Me: At my ballet school [The School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center], I wasn’t strong enough to deal with all the things that didn't involve ballet. Now I’m a little more comfortable with myself. If I was in school with the head I have now, I would be fine. But I was too young. It was extremely intense. The music industry is so easy compared to the ballet world. People ask if I am having a hard time and I am like, “No, it’s great!” Try and take a class with one of my teachers and then you’ll know. But my relationship with ballet is healed and I’ve started dancing again - which is great.
VH1: So how did the musical career get started?
Me: I graduated from high school, and got an apartment with a roommate. I was a waitress living in Hell’s Kitchen and started playing around town. My parents are really supportive. My dad said, “We should help you put your songs down on a demo.” I didn’t know what I was in for, but it was what I wanted to do. After I finished the demo and held it in my hand, I felt, “Yeah, this is it.” It wasn’t easy to get a record contract. No one really had the guts to go ahead with me because I was so different from what was out there. Heads of record companies would invite me into their office and say, “You’re a star.” But they didn't sign me. Still, it gave me the confidence to stick it out rather than go to college.
VH1: So how is it working for a major label like A&M?
Me: It is hard. You have to fight for who you are everyday. Once you have proven to everyone that this will work and this is who you are and you're not going to change for [the company], everyone relaxes. Suddenly, you have all the freedom in the world. A&M don’t force me to be anything that I don’t want to be. And it wasn’t always like that.
VH1: What was it like for you when you entered a recording studio to cut Be Not Nobody?
Me: It’s so different from sitting in your living room and writing a song on the piano by yourself. When I first started recording I had no idea what was going on. As time went by I figured it out. I had to learn about other instruments and how they work and fit together. It’s like a puzzle.
VH1: What is the meaning behind the album title?
Me: Be Not Nobody is where I am at in my life right now. I know I'm only 21 but I had to go through a lot at that dance school. I lost a lot of who I was. I fell apart and it was really hard. You feel completely alone, like no one cares. Writing this record let me recapture who I am. It is summed up in the title Be Not Nobody. You need to feel comfortable in your skin and do whatever you need to do for yourself, to heal or to grow.
VH1: Tell me a little about your first single, “A Thousand Miles.”
Me: I had such a bad case of writer’s block with that song. It took me a year to write. One afternoon I sat down at the piano at my parents’ house in Philadelphia and the riff just came to me. I couldn’t finish the song - that’s all I had. My mom was listening, and said, “Vanessa that’s a hit song.” I never touched it again. I just had that little riff and would play it now and then when I was bored. I thought, “I have to just stop beating around the bush.” So I went back home one weekend. My parents live on a lake, and it' so peaceful there. I just wrote it on a Saturday night. It is a combination of reality and fantasy. It’s about a love that so consumes you that you do anything for it. That’s how I felt at that time.
VH1: People have a hard time believing that no blue screen was used for the video where your piano drives through the countryside.
Me: That video was 100 percent real. I was on the back of a truck, strapped down to the piano and they drove me around and they filmed me. Mark Klasfeld is a brilliant director. He captured who I was in that video.
VH1: What were the hardest parts about filming this clip?
Me: There was a couple takes where the Hell’s Angels came roaring up the street. I would stop playing and watch them, like, “Where did they come from?” Mark said, “Vanessa, that is the shot, go and sing the song.” I was scared it was all roaring behind me, but I had a great time doing that. I love the camera. I think I'm kind of a ham!
VH1: Which songs for you on your new album are closer to your heart?
Me: My songs are a direct route into my brain and my heart. Sometimes it's scary to put [the music] out there. When I first started writing I was like, “No I can’t sing this to you.” The songs were like my diary. Now, performing is second nature and I love every second of it. It is a very emotional thing when I can’t play a song; maybe I’m hitting on something that I don’t want to deal with. All of it is so personal. It is like therapy.
VH1: What music was playing in your house while growing up?
Me: A lot of Pink Floyd. Then all the classical stuff that my mom played. If Mozart were around now he would write a killer rock song.
VH1: Are you used to signing autographs?
Me: I am the worst autograph signer in the history of the universe. I always want to write something special but I can’t think of anything. When I finally do write something, it’s really stupid and I spell something wrong. People are just like, “Sign your name!” I don’t want to just sign my name. I have a better autograph then I used to. I signed my name one time and my dad said I have the ugliest signature. I was so insulted. Now I’m working on it.
VH1: This is just the beginning of a new chapter in your life, but what would you like to see come about in the future?
Me: I will play the piano until I have arthritis and can’t play anymore. I’m starting on the guitar. It’s not like I’m never going to step out from behind the piano. Everyday I just better myself as an artist and as a person. I just live my life day by day. There is no way to predict what is going to happen. |
