Cyndi Lauper Stays in Japan to Raise Funds, Lift Spirits for Earthquake Relief
TOKYO — U.S. pop icon Cyndi Lauper is on the front lines of disaster relief for Japan. The "True Colors" star is currently in the country offering aid by raising money and lifting spirits through concerts and charity events in Japan.
The singer was in the country touring for her Grammy-nominated album Memphis Blues when an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck the island March 11, followed by the threat of nuclear crisis. Though recommended to leave, Cyndi and her band didn't feel they were in imminent danger so they elected to stay and offer support the best way they could: through the healing power of their music.
By continuing the tour Cyndi wanted to personally offer her fans 90 minutes of distraction and a chance to unite and transcend the national tragedy through music. She is doing radio and TV charity events at each concert, collecting cash at the shows and donating all her Memphis Blues royalties earned in Japan to the Japanese Red Cross. In addition she recorded a ringtone to sell in Japan through Kyodo, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to help victims of the natural disaster.
Of course, Cyndi is no stranger to humanitarian aid. She co-founded the True Colors Fund and its related tour and "Give a Damn" Campaign to advance lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality and to end LGBT youth homelessness. And as a spokesperson for MAC Viva Glam lipstick and lipglass, she has helped raise millions of dollars to help women, men and children affected by HIV/AIDS.
The Memphis Blues tour continues this summer in Europe.
Upon introduction, her disarming smile and runway-ready blonde beauty might inspire you to quickly peg her as the latest addition to pop music's growing army of disco dolls. But you would be wrong. Jessie is far more than merely meets the eye. As the voice and creative mastermind behind Jessie and the Toy Boys, she reveals herself to be a clever, driven young woman on a mission.
"I don't mind that people approach me with one attitude and leave with another," Jessie says. "I like having the power to play with stereotypes... and then shatter them. It's fun and gratifying."
First and foremost, Jessie smashes preconceived notions by being the primary architect of her band's sound. This girl can write. Every note of every song is the result of a self-imposed musical boot-camp that saw the artist immerse -- and isolate -- herself in the European club underground.
"I'd been in a band that left me feeling like I needed to break out of my comfort zone and gather new perspective and experience," she says. "So, I went to the U.K., which is where a lot of important and trend-setting music is made. I went alone. I needed to live by my musical wits and instincts for a while, and see where it took me."
It was a brave move that tested Jessie's determination. "I won't deny that those first few days were difficult," she recalls. "It's challenging to be that far from the places and people who feel familiar and safe. I even contemplated giving up and going home at one point. But that feeling didn't last very long. The intention behind going abroad was to grow, and to learn more about who I am as a person and as an artist. You can't achieve that without a little pain, so I toughed it out."
The result of Jessie's determination is a sound that brings listeners to the next sonic dimension of electronic-rooted pop music. The first single, "Push It" (featuring a playful rap interlude by Yelawolf), combines an urgent club bassline with vibrant, sixties-spiked girl-group colors. Jessie's vocal, by turns, has sex-kitten and brash, rock-diva qualities.
"A great song, to me, is one that sticks to your brain long after you've heard it for the first time," Jessie says. "What I'm trying to accomplish is music that is catchy, but smart. Part of that is combining elements of different genres in ways that you might not imagine working together at first."
Jessie deftly succeeds in her creative mission with songs like the new-wave-spiced "Valentine" and the introspective, retro-soul-infused "Long Way From Home." It is during these songs, in particular, that Jessie most effectively proves herself as a vessel for widely varied concepts, while also indicating a remarkable talent for genre interpretation.
It's been an intriguing journey up to this point for Jessie Malakouti. This enigmatic bombshell admits to starting her own rock band just to piss off her parents and then promptly left home at 16. Growing up in rough patches around Southern California's Inland Empire added a dark tinge to her savvy pop outlook.
Going from friends' sofas to audition to odd job and back again, Jessie would live off various paid acting/dance gigs as well as teaching at the local dance studio. She earned her stripes by fronting her rock band Shut Up Stella hitting the sweaty LA club scene and building a West Coast fan base.
Then things started to change. "I just wasn't in the same head space anymore," says Jessie, "they wanted to carry on making angry music and I was writing happy pop songs."
From there, Jessie began to believe that she could navigate her own creative ship. "When you have a vision for yourself, you have to take risks," she says. "I'm completely comfortable with that, because I decided a while ago that I was going to live or die by my own sword. I'd rather people love me or hate me, nothing in between, thanks."
Given what Jessie Malakouti has beneath the surface, there's little chance that her future is anything but bright. If there's a boundary, Jessie is going to push it.
Ellie Goulding "Lights" (CherryTree/Interscope) available March 8th
Having already conquered her native Britain with the biggest and fastest selling debut album of 2010, Lights-- premiering at No. 1 on the U.K. album chart, four hit singles she co-wrote, and a BRIT award -- singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding is ready to make a similar splash in America with her sparkling electro-folk-pop sound. Lights is, as the New York Times put it, "a happy car crash of signifiers: part electro-pop, part soul, part blues, part indie rock, part folk" that mixes heartfelt emotion with other-worldly atmospherics. Anchoring her songs with acoustic guitar, Goulding and her producer, Starsmith, spin cool electronica into dreamy warmth on "Starry Eyed," "Guns and Horses," "The Writer," and "Under the Sheets."
"I'm not afraid of pop or electronic music," Goulding says of the euphoric, dance-till-you-drop vibe of Lights, "but I also wanted the album to embrace my love for folk music, not just by my playing guitar on it, but by writing about things that have truly affected me. I wear my heart on my sleeve and am aware of how I'm feeling all the time, so it's impossible for me to write words that are contrived or meaningless."
Goulding's lyrics are refreshingly direct as she chronicles the highs and lows of love in her airy, gossamer voice. "Under The Sheets" addresses sleeping around, while "Animal" revels in the feverish state of falling in love. "The Writer" cops to her being paralyzed with obsession over a lover. "I've gotten so many messages from girls who can relate to 'The Writer,'" Goulding says. "I think anyone can get to the point where they love someone so much that they just start doing ridiculous things, like smoking or drinking, or dressing differently, I know I've done it." "Guns and Horses" is about falling in love with someone who doesn't really know how to love and wanting to take their pain away. The album takes its title from the song "Lights," which is about Goulding's fear of the dark. "Having a light on always makes me feel safe," she says. "It gives me strength, which is why I named the album after that song."
Then there's the first U.S. single "Starry Eyed," which Goulding describes as "one of those rare songs that isn't melancholy and is actually a bit happier. I kind of throw everything to the wind and say, 'Who cares about emotions? Let's just have fun,'" she says with a laugh. "I love sad songs, but I also appreciate feel-good songs."
A self-taught singer and guitarist, Ellie was raised with her three siblings in Hereford, a cathedral city about 16 miles east of the Welsh border. After her parents divorced when she was five, Goulding moved to the tiny rural village of Lyonshall with her mother and her mother's new boyfriend, a lorry driver. "I basically went from living in the city to suddenly living in the countryside," she says. "At first I hated it, but I slowly grew to love it and became completely fascinated by being surrounded by all this wide open space – it still colors everything I do to this day."
Money was scarce, so Ellie shared a bedroom with her two sisters. "It wasn't easy, plus there was the added stress of my dad leaving, but I got along okay," she says. Her first memory of becoming interested in music is wanting to sing the loudest in her school's assemblies. "I was pretty quiet, but I really loved to sing and would use my voice at any opportunity," she says. "We couldn't afford lessons, so I learned by copying other singers, like Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, and Celine Dion; I loved singers whose voices were really powerful." Being a performer, however, didn't seem like a real possibility. "It didn't feel like something that could ever really happen, coming from my background," she says. At 15, obsessed with bands like Deftones, Pearl Jam, and Rage Against the Machine, Goulding taught herself to play guitar. "The minute I could master actually strumming and singing at the same time was when I started writing proper songs," she says. In her teens, Goulding sang one of her own compositions for a family friend, who encouraged her to listen to folk music. She soon became inspired by such artists as Alison Krauss, Fleet Foxes, Joni Mitchell, and Sufjan Stevens.
It was while studying Politics, English, and Drama at the University Kent in Canterbury, where Goulding first found the confidence to perform onstage after winning a university talent competition. Gigs in London followed and soon Goulding was looking for a producer to help her flesh out her songwriting ideas. She discovered Vincent Frank, a British electro-pop musician and producer who goes by the name Frankmusik, and got in touch with him via MySpace. "He listened to my demos and really loved them, so we started working together and writing more songs," she says. "I began getting more gigs and that's when I realized I wanted to drop out of university to focus on music."
Goulding moved to London and locked herself in her room with a guitar. Songs like "The Writer," "Starry Eyed," "Salt Skin," "This Love," and "Your Biggest Mistake," came pouring out. After a friend sent a link to a MySpace page for Fin Dow-Smith, a remixer, composer, and musician who works under the moniker Starsmith, Goulding sent him a demo she'd done, which resulted in a fruitful working relationship that continues to this day.
"Fin understood that it was pop, but a bit more emotional," Goulding says of Starsmith, who's known for his remixes of tracks by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Passion Pit, among others. "I liked that he was this really cool DJ with really fresh sounds, but wasn't afraid of pop music. Working with him was when I started to have faith in my writing and thinking something could actually come of giving music a go."
The two began making tracks an album in the summer of 2009, demos of which caught the attention of the major labels in the U.K. Goulding signed with Polydor Records and released her first single "Under the Sheets," which she later performed, along with "Guns and Horses," on Later…With Jools Holland, a star-making appearance that won her the attention of both critics and fans. In early 2010, it was announced the Goulding had topped the "BBC Sound of 2010" poll, which surveys critics and broadcasters for their top choices for rising stars in the coming year. She also won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 BRIT Awards (previously won by Adele and Florence & the Machine). In February, "Starry Eyed" was released as a single (climbing to No. 4 on the U.K. Singles chart), followed by the March release of Lights, which shot straight to the top of the U.K. Albums chart.
"I found out that the album was No. 1 while driving through the countryside on my way home from a gig up north," she says. "I was very emotional and, quietly, very proud. I felt like this was just the beginning." And it was. More hit singles followed, "The Writer" and a cover of Elton John's "Your Song," which climbed to No. 2 after being featured in a Christmas commercial for British retailer John Lewis. Goulding hit the road and sold out three headlining tours in the U.K., and performed at numerous music festivals, including Glastonbury, V Festival, and T in the Park, earning rave reviews for her joyful, no-holds barred live shows.
Nominated for two 2011 BRIT Awards (for "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Breakthrough Act"), Goulding is gearing up for the Stateside release of Lights. "I'm really excited to come to America and visit new places and see new countryside," she says. "I feel ready to introduce my music and see what people think of it there. I'm hoping they'll like it and be inspired, the way I was when I first heard certain artists. I want to create that excitement you get when you've discovered something special and feel happy to have ever come across it in the first place."
ELLIE GOULDING ON THE ROAD
3/16 Austin, TX SXSW
3/17 Austin, TX SXSW
3/18 Austin, TX SXSW
3/19 Austin, TX SXSW
3/22 Washington,DC Rock And Roll Hotel
3/23 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
3/24 New York, NY Webster Hall
3/25 Philadelphia, PA World Café Live Downstairs
3/27 Toronto, CAN Phoenix theatre
3/30 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
3/31 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
4/2 Boulder, CO Fox Theater
4/3 Salt Lake City, UT Avalon Theatre
4/10 Vancouver, CAN Venue
4/11 Seattle, WA Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room
4/13 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
4/14 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop (Popscene)
4/16 San Diego, CA Casbah
4/17 Indio, CA COACHELLA
4/20 Los Angeles, CA The Music Box
