I’ve always been really picky about roles and make a point of reminding myself that it’s not about the money – because, obviously, there’s a lot of money to be made in this business if you’re willing to do anything.
Well, my piano’s really beautiful. I actually have two pianos. I have a Yamaha upright from the ’60s that’s blond, wood, and black, and I also have one from the ’20s from Chicago – not a well-known brand or anything.
Making movies, you’re like an independent contractor – you come in, you have a specific job, and a lot of what you do is completely manipulated, which is good and bad.
That’s one of the most exciting things for me about listening to records: It’s a moment in time, and the less it’s messed with the more powerful it is. I wanted at least one song on the record to be just completely about the moment.
I listened to a lot of Joni Mitchell in high school. She was sort of an inspiration to me. I think she’s a great lyricist, and she makes interesting choices.
I’ve always been a late bloomer with a lot of things, just in general, so I think this was something that needed to come to fruition in this particular way.
I feel like I can’t fully understand what’s happening now until I really understand what’s happened before. But you do get sort of bogged down a little bit when you’re trying to study so many years’ worth of music. It can be a little bit overwhelming.
Oh my God, there are so many songs I wish I had written. ‘Waters of March,’ I wish I had written ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me,’ I wish I had written ‘This Will Be Our Year,’ I mean, there’s millions of them. ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice?’
There are a lot of actors who will sit here and talk to you about characters – ‘He does this, and she’s a really interesting character because she does this.’ I’m not like that at all. I’m not an actory actor.
