Between the Whistle and the Howl: An Interview with LP

The first 11 songs on LP’s latest album, Forever For Now, push and pull, tug and taunt the listener along the course with soaring, if not anthemic melodies and relentless, driving beats. Then, all of a sudden, all of that commotion drops you off at the quiet, almost unassuming doorstep of the title track to be greeted by LP’s two signature sounds — a whistle and a ukulele. When her impossibly potent voice joins the fray, it’s game over.

The collocation of keeping her audience safe, though slightly off-balance… that’s classic LP. She can’t help it. It’s just who she is, as an artist and a person. It’s in her music as much as it is in her demeanor, and that paradox, that fluidity is what so many people connect with. LP embodies an “otherness” that is intriguing, not intimidating, seductive rather than scary. And that’s just the way she likes it.

Kelly McCartney: Which song on Forever For Now would you say is most representative of LP, the artist, and why?

LP: I think there are a few that are and some of them that are more me, the songwriter, because sometimes I go a lot of directions and write songs for a very mixed group of people. The most like me would have to be between “Tokyo Sunrise,” “Into the Wild,” and “Forever for Now.” I think “Forever for Now,” the title track, seems to be my essence, in a way, for me — the moodiness of it.

That’s interesting since it’s its own little island on the record, this quiet little gem sitting there at the end of these 11 upbeat tunes.

Yeah, that’s what I mean. I think it would be what day you asked me because that’s true.

So on a European jet-lag…

(laughs) Yeah, exactly. You got it. I didn’t say how I was going to be weird. I just said I was going to be weird. But I think it’s my nature to be all over the place. You catch me at a certain time, I’m the most up person you’ll ever meet. I’m like a rocket. Then, other times, I’m just a moody, edgy… I don’t know. I can’t describe it.

It’s like the difference between your whistle and your howl.

Yeah, that’s how I roll. There are a lot of things going on in there. And, depending on the day, I don’t know what kind of songs I’m going to write from day to day. And I don’t like to give the same thing every single time.

Your signature vocal lick is somewhere between a howl and a yodel. How would you describe it? And how did you find it?

You mean the operatic part in “Forever for Now”?

Not just in that song. You do it in others, too.

Oh, you mean the (sings) “wha-a-aaaaa” stuff? That shit?

Yeah.

I think it came from being in rock bands and trying to cut through the mess. Even just in the early days of battling it out in clubs where there are seven bands on the bill and it’s noisy and nobody gives a fuck and they’re not paying attention. When I did something like that, people were like, “Jesus! What the hell is happening over there?” Then, suddenly, they’d pay attention. So maybe that was part of it. But also, it just feels really good.

You have your own sound, but what singers and songwriters do you study or admire in terms of vocal phrasing and melodic approach?

I’m a huge Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin fan. I’m a Joni Mitchell fan. Jeff Buckley, Rollings Stones… I like classic shit the most. As far as what I like to emulate, it’s older shit, like Roy Orbison. I’m just impressed with singers who can evoke a mood and cut through. There’s an emotion in it that I get attached to.

With a lot of those artists, you get the feeling that music wasn’t a choice for them. They had to do it because they needed the outlet. They weren’t trying to be superstars.

There you have it. Every time you open your fucking mouth, these days, you have to validate yourself… and not even validate. Every time you put out a record, it’s like you’re saying, “Oh, I want to be famous.” How about, “I just have to fucking do this?!” How about, “I’d be doing it on a desert island if no one was around?!” That’s what it is. You can take fame and shove it up your ass. If you need me, I’ll be over here doing this shit. You know what I mean? And I don’t need your approval. I don’t give a fuck. It’s what I’m doing. And that’s what everybody was doing. I hope that’s what they were doing. I don’t know Robert Plant. Maybe he just wanted a lot of pussy, which I can’t blame the guy for. So do I. Everybody does. Everybody wants pussy, even those who don’t do pussy.

Speaking of…

Just to clarify, though, I’m only interested in one pussy, but I have to keep her happy. I don’t want to mislead people to think I’m doing it for a lot of different pussies. I just have to keep one of them happy and, if I can do that, then I’m good.

Along those lines, how does it feel to be a rising LGBT icon?

Ha! I think if you ever knew you were that, then it kind of defeats the whole purpose. I find it gross to dwell on that. Next question! (laughs)

I mean, it’s nice if everybody likes you. If I can be of any help to anybody to be who they are, then that just makes my life even better. I think people die every day of things that were caused by them not being who or what they wanted to be. So you should be whatever the fuck you want. And fuck all those douche bags in their basements on their computers telling you that you can’t be whatever you want.

It sometimes seems like the LGBT community probably serves as both a blessing and a curse, in different ways. Lifting icons up, but also heaping expectations on them. What sorts of pressures does that apply, above and beyond the normal stress of the music industry?

Like a responsibility to the gay community?

Yeah. Like with Ruby Rose’s “Break Free” video — she got some criticism from people who want that expression to be representative of everything to everyone, but she was only trying to convey her singular experience. And she suffered some backlash from the LGBT community for it, along with a lot of support, as well.

I didn’t see that. But, yeah, she doesn’t owe anybody anything. I think she’s right. Your duty in your life, beyond LGBT, is to be authentic to YOU. You can’t be all things and be an example for the entire world. There’s not enough time in the day. What are you going to do?

What we’ve done is, with the Internet and everything else, we’ve sped everything up and everybody wants things so fast. You know what? It takes a while to sing like I do. It takes a while to play guitar like Jimi Hendrix did. I’m not comparing myself to Jimi Hendrix. I’m just saying it takes a while to sing like Beyoncé. It takes a while to sing like anybody. And, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe some people are great at it out of the box. I don’t know. But what I do know is that the fucking Internet makes everything seem like it takes two seconds. But it still takes a long time to find yourself. Just because someone saw something on the Internet in two seconds, saw someone’s time-lapse, doesn’t mean it happened that way. It’s fucking hard. And if people can’t understand that… We’re in a fucking awkward period as far as how things have accelerated too quickly in too short a time. And a lot of people can’t handle it. And our psyches can’t handle it.

You know, someone makes something for a long, long time. And then some dick says something on the Internet and criticizes it. Do you know how long it took that person to do that? And they don’t even give a fuck. I’m not telling a sob story, but it’s sad. You can see it in a songwriting session. If you say something about someone’s idea or something they say, if they blurt out a title and you’re like, “Nah,” you can immediately feel this chemical release in the room. You just tore them down, you just said no to someone on a creative dream. Like, BOOM.

And that shuts them down.

Right. And think about all the people… let’s go back to LGBT land for a second… think about a kid who puts up a video of himself that’s maybe a little bit more femme-y than they usual are — a guy, let’s say — not to exclude the girls right now. But let’s say some kid puts up a video and lets a side of himself show that he doesn’t usually show. Then some dick comes along — and it took him the last six years to build up the balls to put this song on there — and some douche comes along and says, “Look at that faggot!” or whatever the fuck they say. And, then, BOOM, the poor kid who put six years of his development and growth toward freeing that part of himself goes, BAM, back inside again. So we’ve accelerated that process and it cuts really deep and it changes someone’s life in five seconds. It’s terrifying.

And, at the same time, we can work it for good, too. The flip side of that is that, in five seconds, you can make someone on their way to becoming a fucking star. That’s just the way it is.

The fear of “other” is very powerful. Something I’ve talked to both Linda Perry and Amy Ray about is the paradox of how the queer community embraces our otherness while simultaneously seeking equality. In your mind and life, are those ideas mutually exclusive or can they co-exist — can others be equals?

I think there is no way, to be honest. It’s the perseverance of the individual, at this point. I don’t think there’s a guarantee. But to keep being there is the only option. You keep being there and what are they going to do? Look at the women who have come before us, the women back in the day in the ’50s and ’60s when women and men were at gay bars dancing with their girlfriends and boyfriends, then they would get raided by the cops and they’d switch and dance with someone of the opposite sex so they didn’t get nailed. That all had to happen and all the other awful things had to happen.

What do they call they when they “fix” someone by raping them? This blows my fucking mind. But the fathers and brothers will rape the girl in their family if they are gay so they’ll stop her. WHAT?!? Even with that horrendous fucking possibility, you’re not going to stop girls from being gay. You know? Those girls are going to keep being gay until someone deals with it and they eventually get accepted, believe it or not. It just may take a very, very long time.

I’m always hyper-aware that my particular thing, in many countries, would never have reached where it is. This thing that I am in the world — I don’t want to block it into anything — but I know that it would never exist in a lot of countries. And I’m grateful to live in a place where it’s okay. Not even okay. I don’t give a fuck that it’s okay. But I haven’t gotten killed or raped yet, so that’s a plus.

As someone who both causes and bypasses gender discussions, what kinds of labels do people apply to you?

Well, I don’t know. I think I have a thing about me that stops people dead in their tracks as far as what they will and won’t say to me. I seem to have always had a thing like that. Because I don’t accept it. There’s a thing in me that says, “Stay back from that. You see what it is. You’re not fucking stupid. And, if you are stupid, then remain stupid. Be my guest. I have no judgment against you.” It’s fine. I’ve never had anyone go at me about it, to be honest with you, because I won’t have it.

You don’t give any energy to the negative stuff. You don’t seem to carry any shame or self-loathing. So, if someone comes at you with fear or judgment, it’s obviously all theirs.

Yeah, exactly. I feel like I give off an attitude of anything goes, with you, too. When I meet you, “Oh, yeah? You like that? You like to cheat on your wife? You like to have gang bangs? You like to dress up in a dress and fuck animals? Awesome. Great. Bring it. Do it. I want you to be happy.” I’m always like that. I’m not like, “Oh, geez, you fucking straight people.” I think if people would just let people be whatever the fuck they want, it would be a whole different world.

k.d. lang has said, when she’s performing, she wants both men and women to be attracted to her because “art transcends whatever tools you’re carrying” and the fantasy — whatever that might be — should take over. That seems to be your philosophy, too, yeah?

Yeah. I think so. My fan base varies so much. I can’t tell you how many men from 20 to 40 come up to me, genuinely, like fangirls. And I mean that in the nicest possible way! I’m deeply touched and flattered and grateful that these people come up to me. They are so amazing as far as the lack of pretense and they’re just into it. Whatever they’re from — age-wise or gender-wise — I 100 percent agree with her. I want them to feel nothing about my sexuality or my gender when they watch it. I just want them to feel something artistically or musically or emotionally.

Because I could be anything to them, you know? What are the clothes I wear or my hair style or whatever? I could be anything. I could go out right now and get some fucking dude, if I wanted to. I’m choosing this place. It’s like namaste — I honor that place in you that sees me and I see you. That’s all it is. I feel happy for the people who can free themselves of the confines of their ridiculous expectations and/or judgments to just appreciate any artist for what they are. I’m happy for them, to be honest with you.