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RS: This is a very special morning. We have Pop royalty in the building. I don’t think I have interviewed this young lady in six years. This living legend has sold over 200 million records worldwide. Please welcome, living legend, Tisha Jackson!
Tisha: Wow! What a welcome?! I can’t believe it's been six years Ryan. That can’t be true.
RS: Very true. We had some interns look through your footage with the show, and the last time you were here it was to promote The Highway to Redemption album!
Tisha: Wow, that seems so long ago! So much has happened in my life and career since then, and it's weird because I see you all the time. I swear we see each other in passing, whether it's award season or whatever. That’s why it doesn’t feel like six years since I’ve been on the show.
RS: Yes, the last time we bumped into each other was at the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
Tisha: Yeah! I saw you on the Oscar’s carpet too, but that wasn’t for this show! Haha! I think it was for the other one [E!: Live on The Red Carpet].
RS: Yes, I interviewed you for all of thirty seconds! Haha. Hopefully you’ll stay a little longer with us today!
Tisha: Well I was actually about to head out, I just came here to say hello Haha!
*Tisha and Ryan stare at each other awkwardly for a few seconds and then both burst into thunderous laughter.*
RS: Okay it's official, I am holding you hostage.
Tisha: Well, I guess I’ll stay, haha.
RS: Speaking of interviews. You’ve been interview shy for the last few years. I think this is your first interview since 2017. The last one was with Oprah for the FOR DREW album.
Tisha: God I hated that interview.
RS: I’ve heard that before. Why?
Tisha: The editing at 60 minutes, whoever was in charge did a terrible job! They made the entire interview about cheating and made it seem like I was dating two guys at the same time when in real life I wasn’t dating any of them at the time. Never have I dated Drew or Dominic at the same time. I thought Oprah’s questions were very poor and the interview was very lackluster. The funny thing is I actually have the unedited interview, the full four hours of which we sat and the interview that aired featured no questions about the album but everything about my relationship and it just made me look really sideways at Oprah.
RS: How did you get the footage?
Tisha: A lot of interviews I do, I have my documentor film while they are filming as proof of anything, in case I am ever misquoted in the press. I’ve thought about releasing it but I won’t. I’ve moved on with my life.
RS: So is that bad experience why you haven’t given any interviews in the last three years?
Tisha: No. Not at all! I haven’t really been doing interviews since during the 25 era. I just released singles and videos to promote it, and went on tour of course. But I did interviews during that era. But I definitely started to slow down after that.
RS: Well sorry to beat a dead horse but why did you stop doing press?
Tisha: Because I don’t like it. I’ve been doing it since I was sixteen. I’ve been in the industry for over a decade now. It's just not my thing anymore.
RS: Well, we want to thank you for talking with us.
Tisha: Always. I always enjoyed talking with you and you’ve been very supportive of my career and throughout my career. And I thank you for playing my records, no matter what genre. I thank you for that Ryan.
RS: Oh see now you’re just pulling my tail.
Tisha: Haha!
RS: Okay so I wanna talk about the last album, FOR DREW before we start talking about all the greatness that’s going on now.
Tisha: Sure.
RS: Okay, so FOR DREW opened with your biggest numbers yet. 800,000 copies sold opening week. It is still in the Top 20 of Chart Heat three years after its release. Yet no promotion. No singles. No visuals. No tour. Why was that?
Tisha: Well. The last few years of my life have been very traumatic for me. So when FOR DREW dropped there was supposed to be a major rollout. The album came out top of 2017, and a huge reason for its initial financial success was because I released it immediately after headlining Super Bowl Halftime. And I just didn’t take into the fact how hard that album was for me to record. It was a very difficult time because I was in a relationship. I was engaged to Drew and then we broke up a week before our wedding. That was very traumatic for me. And I didn’t feel like talking about it and I just didn’t feel like working. My label at the time FREEDOM was very supportive of my emotional health but then I feel like they grew impatient because we had booked dates for me to film videos, video treatments were being written and I just couldn’t participate. I was so checked out. I was so depressed. Then May of that year my uncle passed away unexpectedly. He was like a father figure to me and when that happened I just shut completely down and I vowed that I would take a break.I moved to Miami and just have been chilling ever since.
RS: Were you depressed?
Tisha: Yes. Very. I eventually found out that I suffered from depression, and there's a lot of things that people don’t know that happened to me from 2016 to 2018. November 2016 up until 2018 was a horrible time for me. There were days when I would just lay in bed and in the dark all day. I would get up to bathe and like to go to the grocery store for essentials but other than that I was so withdrawn. I wouldn’t talk to anyone. I kind of became a recluse. I still kinda am.
RS: What changed?
Tisha: Well change of scenery helped. I couldn’t stay in New York anymore. Everyone knows I was born and raised there but it had just become too much for me. My personal life was in turmoil, I was surrounded by a lot of people who weren’t healthy for my mental health and when I moved to Miami my life began to very slowly change.
RS: Where would you say you are at now? Are you in a good place?
Tisha: Definitely. Definitely in a good place. I am more clear minded. My thoughts aren’t cloudy. I am happy. I understand not every day is going to be a good day, but I want to do the work so that I never get to a dark place like that again. Ever.
RS: Well we have new music coming.
Tisha: Yes. New music is coming. A new era is in store.
RS: How did you feel when “New Wave Length” went No.1?
Tisha: To be surrounded by all that love felt good. I am not an artist who goes by numbers. I don’t really focus on that. However, all that stuff is nice. But I am at a point in my career now where the artistry matters and I just want to make good music. I don’t want to ever get caught up in number one singles because i am not a singles artist. I like to release bodies of work, I wanna be able to have an album come out and it have legs throughout the years, like how FOR DREW has. I feel like the music speaks for itself, and I am happy the fans let my music speak for itself. I love my fans and I thank them for that. I just want to make them happy. I wouldn’t have any of this if God hadn’t blessed me with them.
RS: Speaking of a new era. It was just announced that your film, A Star Is Born will be released on Christmas Day. You starred alongside Bradley Cooper. How was it working with him,
Tisha: Yes! Yes. A Star Is Born will be out Christmas Day. Working with Bradley was the best experience I have had on a film. I hadn’t filmed a movie in a while and it was nice to be directed by someone who is as experienced as Bradley is in front of the camera. I had never been directed by someone who has had a career as an actor to that magnitude and he made me feel so comfortable. Yet in making me comfortable, Bradley also challenged me.
RS: He recruited you for this movie. Right?
Tisha: Yes. I think in 2017, right after superbowl, I got a call from him, and he was like I really want you to audition for this film. And I told him to send me over the script. He sent it to me, and I finished it in a day, and I thought, “I have to be a part of this film.” I auditioned and we started shooting summer of 2019 and we wrapped right before Thanksgiving.
RS: We also heard he gave you a lot of creative freedom with the character.
Tisha: Yes! He was such a collaborative director and was just so encouraging of our thoughts or hearing what we thought about certain scenarios with our characters. I told him that I wanted sole responsibility for the soundtrack and I wrote and produced the soundtrack along with some great producers and writers. We got together and wrote about 80 songs for the project. I recruited the team myself.
RS: Will the soundtrack serve as a Tisha album?
Tisha: Yes. So it is a joint project. It's something I have been wanting to do for the longest time. So A Star Is Born record will serve as the soundtrack to the film and will also be my tenth studio album.
RS: I think that’s an exclusive.
Tisha: Yes it is. That's an exclusive. You are hearing it from my mouth first.
RS: Are you still working on the soundtrack/album?
Tisha: Well all the musical numbers that are in the film have already been recorded. But there is some more stuff we wanted to add, which is a lot of what you are hearing now.
RS: So “New Wave Length” and “It’s My House” will be on the album?
Tisha: Yes! Definitely. And these are just warmers. We have a lot in store for you with this album. These aren’t official first singles. Bradley and I agreed that the film's theme song will be the first single. I am giving away too much information so I’ll stop talking now. Haha!
RS: Let’s talk about It’s My House!
Tisha: Lets!
RS: This is a monster record. I don’t think fans have gotten such a grand pop song from you in years. Are you moving away from the R&B sound that was on FOR DREW?
Tisha: Absolutely not! I am not a R&B singer. I am not a pop singer. I am a singer. I sing all genres. I have written and produced all genres. I have sang everything from electronic to country to R&B. My music does have a pop sound I will say. However, It's My House is similar to the sound I debuted with in ‘07. I was known for having R&B records and electronic records on albums, I have strayed away from it several times. However, a lot of 25 was considered electronic music and I think that’s why the fans love that album so much. But I just wanted to have fun this go-around with the album. FOR DREW was such a dark era for me. It was such a heavy album. Heavy on my spirit and heavy for me to record. The songs on A Star Is Born , most of them are reflective of situations my character experiences. However, the ones that aren’t lean more towards, “I’m happy and I am just trying to have a good time” vibes.
RS: “It’s My House” has caused a lot of contervesary. A lot of people have embraced it but some people say it’s as if you’ve put yourself on a pedestal or you're taking digs at a certain pop star, and newcomers. What are your thoughts on that?
Tisha: I don’t put myself on a pedestal. I am very humble. The song is about the number of years I have been in the industry and the amount of work I’ve done. When I wrote the song, I didn’t write it only for myself. I wrote it for all the girls! All the girls I have debuted with who have paved the way for a lot of the newcomers you see today. I wrote it for GirlSpice, I wrote it for Miss Vanity, I wrote it for Cassie Valentine. I also wrote it for the people that paved the way for us like Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson. If it were not for them we wouldn’t have careers. It's about showing respect. And it’s about knowing your place. I know my place, and I want them to know theirs and WORK for theirs.
RS: Well one person people think you were digging at was Stephanie Fierce.
Tisha: Oh God!
RS: She actually released a statement saying that your allegations are not true. Were you talking about Stephanie Fierce?
Tisha: I have no idea what the lady is talking about. It’s My House is for whoever takes offense to it. If you take offense to the lyrics, if you take offense to the record, then yeah I guess you are guilty of something. I have never once called her name. I have never once mentioned her in the press in recent years. I have no idea what she is talking about. It’s like she just took it and made all this stuff up in her head.
RS: What are your thoughts on her saying you were alleging she used payola to go number one.
Tisha: I think she’s made up a lot of things in her head. We used to fight and argue so publicly and it would get really nasty. However, I was a kid. I was so young. I didn’t know I was wasting my time. I don’t want to waste time arguing with someone when I have what I have. I have my career. I worked my ass off for my career. That’s one thing you can never take away from me. I have never brought my own music and the song is calling out some people who have. If she didn’t or if she hasn’t ever, why would she take time out of her day to make a response saying I am alleging all of these things about her. I want women to win. Which was why I did her a favor and brought her on stage for my superbowl performance three years ago. She was a guest for something I was headlining, and it was the biggest platform ever. I have the highest rated Super Bowl halftime performance ever and I made her a part of that. Show respect. It’s like the song says “I am not asking you to bow down, but put some respek on my name”. She’s been gone for almost nearly a decade and the moment she comes out there's statements being drawn up about a song I wrote. Why not focus on your music. Focus on what you have going on.
RS: So to clarify was the song about her?
Tisha: Haha. I just answered your question Ryan. The song is for whoever it makes feel guilty or whoever takes offense to it. If the lyrics don’t apply to your career or how you make your money why address it? Just leave well alone, right? Never called her name.
RS: Do you have an issue with her?
Tisha: No. We’ve been squashed that. I don’t have anything to say about her. There is no issue. And it's just…. I have grown so much personally and professionally. And my career has been so rewarding and has truly manifested itself to my wildest dreams, I don’t have time for arguing and back and forth. When I was 18, sure. I didn’t know any better. But I am a grown woman now who is in charge of her destiny and her career, I make money moves. I don’t waste energy.
RS: Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up. Will there be a music video for It’s My House?
Tisha: Yes! There will be a music video. It was shot pre quarantine. It will be released soon.
RS: Who directed the video.
Tisha: It was directed by Robert Rodriguez who I have been wanting to direct one of my videos for the longest. I am a huge Sin City fan and it was an honor to work with him.
RS: Will you come back when the album is out?
Tisha: Of course! When the album and film come out this will definitely be one of my first stops. I love you guys!
RS: We love you too Tisha! Thank you for this.
Tisha: Thank you for having me.
RS: Alright, you all. There you have it. Give it up for Tisha Jackson. Her new single “It’s My House” is available on all streaming platforms and for digital download now!
Edited by user 19 June 2020 05:47:22(UTC)
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