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Inside Her Suspicious Mind
03/03/2006 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dave DiMartino
When your father is the King Of Rock 'N' Roll, you really have your work cut out for you if you decide to follow in his blue suede footsteps. But Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis, is clearly up for the challenge--and with her defiantly titled second album Now What? and cheekily chosen cover song "Dirty Laundry," she's finally making a name for herself. Just don't call her "pop," put her in the same category with faux-punk teenyboppers, or assume she's making music just for the fame, or this feisty First Daughter Of Rock will get all shook up.
In the following wonderfully sarcastic and insightful interview, Lisa Marie tells Yahoo! Music executive editor Dave DiMartino all about her life as an esteemed member of rock 'n' roll royalty. Get ready for a little more conversation now.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Was there some goal with your second record that you wanted to make this time, that you didn't want to make last time?
LISA MARIE: Well, with, the first one, I had a lot of mountains to climb and things to barriers through. I broke through a lot of them, though not all of them. But with the second one, it all kinda went backwards. You know, I performed [first album] To Whom It May Concern all over the place and I didn't really have the exchange with the audience of singing live or getting to hear feedback or any of that stuff, until later when I toured. And fortunately, towards the end it all kinda came together, in that the fans were responding and writing me letters saying, "You know, I didn't kill myself" or "You helped me with this" or "You helped me with that," and basically that inspired me. Like, that's what it was all about. I realized that is why I did this, and it's not because of anything else. So with this particular record, I can sort of stop trying to convince people, and just do what I do, because I did sort of get a fanbase. To just do my music and play live is mostly what I want to do.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Looking back, do you feel like you were treated as fairly as you wanted to be, or could be, by the public and the press?
LISA MARIE: Yes. I can say that I was. I mean, whoever wanted to really listen and get beyond whatever they already had preconceived in their head, I think those people gave me a fair critique or fair treatment. It's just that there were those with the preconceived stuff: "Ugh, I hate it. She sucks. She's not like her father." You know what I mean?
YAHOO! MUSIC: You seem like someone who really has personality--with the videos, the music, everything.
LISA MARIE: Thank you. But I don't know if that's so appealing to have a personality anymore. [laughs] If you're naked and you're cute and you're 12, that seems more appealing than having any kind of personality. [laughs]
YAHOO! MUSIC: Are you still happy with your debut album now?
LISA MARIE: I feel like the debut just represents that time, and that's what it was. I feel like it was a good start, a good step. I was a new artist. A lot of people a long time ago--actually, not very long ago--used to be able to do a few records and build themselves. You know what I mean? Now it's like, you have a five-minute span. If it's the first week and you don't sell, you're done. You're over. So I would like to have a long career and really work my way. Do one record, and then hopefully the next one is a step further and not a step backwards. I kind of want a singer-songwriter-type career. I don't want to be some flash in the pan for five minutes.
YAHOO! MUSIC: How do you think you stepped in that direction with the new record?
LISA MARIE: I think that I just was more focused. It was done a lot faster and I kinda knew what I was headed for this time. I had learned a lot, yeah. So that's what I mean when I say the first one was like a step, you know? And I just want to keep walking. I don't think that it was that fantastic. I think that it was good; it was a good entrance. But I can get a hell of a lot better.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Who were some of the people instrumental in putting this record together?
LISA MARIE: Well, I have the same producer, who is Eric Ross, and Michael Lockwood, who is executive producer with me on the record. Linda Perry wrote some songs and that was pretty much it. And another friend, a guy named Gus that I write with occasionally.
YAHOO! MUSIC: How is it when you collaborate with somebody, in terms of expressing what you feel? Does it have to be the right person?
LISA MARIE: You know, it's gotta be the right person. I've sat with people before, where somebody puts me with somebody, and I'm sitting there going, "OK, this is really not happening," and they're probably thinking the same thing. To go through that process you really do have to be sitting with somebody you like, 'cause it's a very personal thing, very purging, and you can't just force yourself to be creative.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Tell me about the appeal of Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry," and what it's like to cover it.
LISA MARIE: I fell in love with "Dirty Laundry" when I first heard it. I wanted to sing it about 12 years ago, but somebody said, "If you sing that you're gonna look like a whiny ass, so don't do that." And it's true, if it's your first thing out, you know? So I had done the first record and I was recording the second one, and I heard it and said, "Oh my God, I've always wanted to do that!" And we were looking for what cover to put on the record. I didn't even pick it to be about me personally. I just think it very poignantly points out the general state of affairs right now, in terms of what our entertainment is. And it's an important song, and it's also, you know, a catchy, safe song. I don't think that my album's that commercial, but if I'm gonna try to make things sort of familiar and safe, that would be the way I'd do it.
YAHOO! MUSIC: How does pop singing, rock singing, whatever, fulfill your creativity, compared to other things you might be doing?
LISA MARIE: Well, let's clarify: I'm not pop. I'd rather not be categorized as that, thank you. I'm a huge music fan, a music lover. It's always been my life. So my hopes in doing this was to do this first for myself, and then get through and affect people. You know, not to stand in front of a microphone and dance onstage, and not to be cute and wear sexy outfits, not to be some chart-topping blah, blah, blah that lasts for 20 minutes. You know what I mean? It's none of that. I am just basically doing what I've always loved to do and hoping that it affects people. And in the end, if it does, then I'm doing my job and that makes me feel good. But it has to be real. It has to be that, I've seen that it's happened. In other ways, you can sorta lose yourself and go, "What the f--k am I doing?"
YAHOO! MUSIC: You've mentioned the 20-minutes-of-fame thing...
LISA MARIE: Or being 12 and naked.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Exactly...
LISA MARIE: Or how about being a pseudo-punk when you're 13. Like, "I'm a punk rocker!" Oh, I love that. That makes me so excited when I see that. Oh my God. [laughs] My fangs are coming out. Sorry. But that really pisses me off. Sorry. [laughs] I hate it! They're 15 and they're like, "I'm a punk!" God, please, stop it. You know? Sorry.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Can you deal with it, and are you dealing with it?
LISA MARIE: It definitely pisses me off that that's the way things are right now. But you know, it was against all my better judgment to put a record out right now because of the way that things are in music, and because of how shallow it is. And I am shooting my own ass, sorry, when saying that, but whatever. It's not unlike me to do that. I think that it was against my better judgment to do it, but at the same time I don't want to not do what I want to do. So if they don't play it on the radio I'm not necessarily gonna be offended right this minute, to be honest with you. [laughs] At the same time, it's nice when they do, 'cause it helps get it out there, but I also have a lot of friends who I've admired, female vocalists who have been there before on the top of the charts and who can't get on there anymore. You I can't take it personally. It seems to be a bit of a Stepford situation right now in music.
YAHOO! MUSIC: How does parading around in front of people fit into your personality?
LISA MARIE: You mean being on the front of the stage?
YAHOO! MUSIC: Yeah, do you feel awkward? Or do you feel this is what you were born to do?
LISA MARIE: I'm not innately a vain person or someone who likes to have the spotlight and camera attention on me, so it is difficult to be on the front of the stage when you have that in your personality. But I figured out a way where it took me a while to warm up to it. And I finally did. It took a lot of touring though before I was like, "All right, I can settle into this. I can do it."
YAHOO! MUSIC: When you were little, did you ever grab the hairbrush and imagine you were someone famous singing? Who were you trying to be?
LISA MARIE: I grabbed either a brush, a fake microphone, or a tennis racket pretending to be either Ann Wilson from Heart, Pat Benatar, or Olivia Newton-John way back when. Those were my three big ones at the time.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Do you like that everyone knows who you are, or does it make you uncomfortable?
LISA MARIE: I think I've just sort of found the medium ground on that one. I'm fine. I mean, either way--I've been to places where they don't know who I am and I'm fine with that too. And I've been to places where they do know me, and I'm fine with that. It's kind of neither here nor there.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Do you think a musician can be good at business and being a performer too? How do you feel about straddling that line between being a businesswoman and being a performer?
LISA MARIE: Well, the business part of things is something I was accustomed to and brought into when I was 16. My mom was breaking me in for a long time. So it's easy for me to do both. I just learn to balance it--and I'm also a mother, so there's a lot of things.
YAHOO! MUSIC: What do your kids think now about Mommy doing what she's doing?
LISA MARIE: They're OK. I think they like it, you know? Whatever I do, I'm still Mom.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Do you think there are aspects you might get tired of, or will you always maintain your interests because you don't have to work?
LISA MARIE: Let me think. I'm not personally happy unless I know I'm doing something to contribute to people, and helping people. I'm just that way. And I'm not blowing smoke up anybody's butt--it's just true. So if I can do that via music--I mean, I do it in other ways; I am very much a part of a lot a different charities and things like that--but this is another way for me to contribute and give back. You know what I mean? Otherwise, I'm not comfortable just being famous for, for my heritage. That's great and I don't not honor that, it's just that I can't live for that alone.
YAHOO! MUSIC: Is music something you see yourself doing for quite some time?
LISA MARIE: Yes. I'm not just doing this to get some attention or be a rock star. It's not like that. There's too much of the other side of the story that's gonna want you to go down and want to eat you alive. Your ass is on the frying pan. The more you're out there doing it, the more your ass is on the frying pan. So I don't recommend not being very serious and passionate about something unless you're willing to take the ass-frying part. [laughs]
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