ALICIA LENA: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ICON





In the summer of 2012, Alicia Lena is set to follow-up her hugely successful, 2011 sophomore album ‘Waking Up’ with a batch of new music. The RnB/Soul star is quickly turning into one of the most respected singer-songwriter’s around and in an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone magazine she discusses her new work, the future, her personal life and much more.

By ROLLING STONE

Those familiar with New York City and more particularly Central Park will have seen the new home of Alicia Lena, you’d perhaps be forgiven to thinking she would be living in a large house away from the city by now but that’s not the case. She spent the past five years staying at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, an admittedly high class hotel but it’s a hotel nevertheless, but last November saw Alicia finally find a more permanent location in the form of The Eldorado an apartment that overlooks Central Park, the surprising thing is that she opted for an apartment rather than a house and in a world where celebrities can’t seem to go anywhere near the public without a bodyguard on hand it seems like a very surprising choice for the RnB singer but either way she seems settled in her new home.

We met at the lobby downstairs early in the morning in the February cold and I instantly noticed a whole host of different people rushing around, whether it be mothers or fathers preparing to take their children to school or preparing to head out to work it was quite a busy lobby area when I arrived and I quickly spotted Alicia sat across from the doors with a young teenage girl not looking too dissimilar to Ms. Lena, they were talking to each other as they were interrupted by a young girl, she couldn’t have been any older than six, I couldn’t quite hear what the young girl had said but it seemed to make Alicia and her teenage friend smile, Alicia then stood and picked the small child up and placed her up onto her shoulders before the young girl shouted and pointed at a woman across the room, “There!” she exclaimed with glee “I found mommy” which instantly caught the attention of the afore-mentioned ‘mommy’. Alicia laughed a little before the woman made her way over to take her child, Alicia spoke with the woman for a couple of moments before they headed out.

The lobby quickly emptied after another ten minutes and I finally made my way over to Alicia to introduce myself, she apologized for the craziness of the hotel in the morning. The teenage girl that was talking to Alicia introduced herself, “Hey, I’m Kara.” She looked at Alicia, “I’m gonna head out now, I’ll see you later.” She hugged the RnB star before leaving the building. We then made our way over to the elevator up to the seventh floor where her home is located, a short tour of her home gave me an inkling of her lifestyle, a bookshelf entirely filled, no art around any of the rooms, a number of photographs of Alicia with friends and family and her TV is a relatively normal size. It seems like a quite basic home, certainly not something I expected from a musician, there was a jacket thrown over the sofa but other than that the place was quite well kept.

After offering a drink and some food we then began the interview;

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THE INTERVIEW

I was a little surprised when I was given my itinerary for this interview, I was expecting either The Roosevelt or a mansion.
Alicia: *laughs* I’m sorry to disappoint … sometimes you just need a change of scenery, after five years staying at a hotel I thought it was about time to move on and a mansion is way too big for me to be wandering around in, I’d feel lost … maybe someday though, who knows?

But the decision to stay at a public apartment seems a little odd. I mean considering your stature and all, don’t you get worried.
Alicia: It’s a great apartment … I’ve been here since November so I’m pretty settled here already and I’ve enjoyed it here. I don’t think it’s a big deal to be living in a public apartment, I mean I’ve gotten to know a lot of people here and made a few friends, I’d much prefer that instead of living in an empty house, at least here I can go chat with all kinds of different people.

Yeah but don’t you worry about your safety or anything like that.
Alicia: No, not particularly. I could cross the street and get hit by a car and die but I don’t avoid crossing the street and besides I’ve got a belief in the goodness of people, it’s not something I ever really think too much about because if you did then you’d be living life in fear, you know? … I mean we’ve got security in the building and such but it’s not something I ever really think about.

Well that’s interesting, do you think your stature effects the people living here.
Alicia: No, I don’t think so. I mean everybody in this building has their own things going on. Sure when I pass someone on the stairway or I’m in the elevator with someone they’ll say “Hey Alicia” and they’ll maybe ask how it’s going and stuff. Everybody just gets on with their life, I like that. I don’t get or want special treatment and why should I? … You know?

Well you did seem comfortable downstairs.
Alicia: Yeah, well I think it’s important to remain rooted, I’m sure lots of people fall into the trap of feeling like they’re above everyone else because they’ve had a hit single or because they have more money than they’ll ever need. It’s important for me to stay as rooted as possible; I think I had a good upbringing. I’d certainly be disappointed in myself if I let things go to my head too much.

But do you ever cut loose sometimes, recently we read about Cinzia spending fifty thousand euros in two hours, do you ever go a little crazy with your money.
Alicia: Sure of course, we all have our moments, right? … I don’t quite hit those extreme’s, I grew up with parents that worked so much and we still struggled and so I quickly learnt the value of a dollar so I tend to not go too crazy, but there’s been a couple of things. I’m honestly quite easily pleased, give me a movie and a pizza and I’m happy *laughs*

So do you think it’s maybe not the most wise thing to do at a young age.
Alicia: No, not at all. Your only young once, I mean if you’re in a position where money isn’t an option then you’re a very lucky person and some people will take more of an advantage of that and some won’t, it just depends on the person, but it’s fine, she’s earned it and I admire her courage to do that. You never know how long this is gonna last so you may as well make the most of it.

Speaking of youth, it seems like that’s where the music industry is strongest right now, what are your opinions of it.
Alicia: I think it’s a great thing. The most successful artists right now are all pretty young and I’d hope that they can stick around for a very long time because so many times we’ve seen a talented young musician have a great start to their career and just sort of fade away, there’s a couple of artists that have had success already that I believe will be around for a long time, the likes of Cinzia and Isabel both come to mind. I think they’ve got the ability for longevity but the music industry changes very quickly and right now the whole ‘electro’ scene is very popular.

So do you feel like they could struggle if the ‘Electro’ scene died out.
Alicia: No not quite, I think with Cinzia it will be a bigger challenge for her because she is very much ‘Electro’ and if that scene dies off a little then it would be interesting to see what happens there, I do believe she’d be able to adapt but it would still be a challenge but she’s got the ability to adapt we just haven’t seen that yet. Isabel on the other hand is in a different situation I believe, I got to work with her and spend a little time with her a while ago when we recorded a song together and I think she’s insanely adaptable which is a great thing for her, because if the industry does move away from the ‘Electro’ scene then she’d be able to adapt to whatever comes after that. She’s an all-rounder really, I think she’s primarily a pop artist, her last album was more Electro and fit in perfectly with the industry at the time and she’s become huge because of it, but if a more commercial pop or pop-rock scene came around again like it did around 2002 then she’d be able to dominate in that genre too. I think they’ve both got huge career’s ahead of them either way.

So would you sat that they’re the future of modern music.
Alicia: I think to choose only two would be a little unfair. I think they’re certainly at the very top right now and they’re the two that spring to mind that will push the industry a little further and dominate for a long time. But there’s so many great young musicians around right now, not necessarily ‘Electro’ acts. Sammy Griffin, Aaron Marks, Chloe, Giselle, Dominic Brown and I’ve not even scratched the surface when you include others like Hayden, Michelle Green, Katie Coyle and Radio Vine. It’s just quite incredible when you think about how young these people are and the kind of success they’ve already had.

At 25 years old, would you say you’re not in the same category as those artists previously mentioned.
Alicia: I don’t think you can fully judge music on age, it certainly has an effect on the music that you create but it doesn’t necessarily put you in one category or another. I’ve only released two albums so I’m still relatively new to this so I guess in terms of albums released, I could be placed in a similar category to the younger musicians but in terms of age, I guess I’m not quite in the same category’s. Age really doesn’t mean a whole lot, that’s what I’ve discovered, sure you have slightly different things to write about but there isn’t a huge difference in my opinion.

And what kind of music do you listen to.
Alicia: I look back a whole lot. That’s where I find inspiration as a songwriter. I’m very much into the whole Soul and Blues stuff that went before us. The likes of Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye are where I find most inspiration. But singer-songwriters like, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, James Taylor are also artists that I take a lot of inspiration from. I grew up listening to old music and that’s kinda stuck with me and became a big source of inspiration. I don’t get inspiration as a songwriter from many current artists because it’s a different kind of music, I enjoy modern music but it’s not something that influences my own work so much.

We’ve been informed that you’re starting work on a new album, what stage are you at with that.
Alicia: It’s at a very early stage right now, I’ve got a number of songs that I’m working on for the album and I’ve spent maybe five days in a studio so far for this album. So it’s at a very early stage right now and I’m just taking the process a little slowly in order to create the best possible album that I can. It’s gonna be a little while before I finish it, but I’ve got one producer on board right now, I’m still looking for one or two more because it’s important to have a different range of people to bounce the new material off of.

And what could we expect from this record, more of the same perhaps.
Alicia: I think it’s important to move forward all of the time, with every release I want it to be something a little different. I think growth is incredibly important to the work that I do, I mean I see that a lot between my first album and my second. The first was a pretty heavily pop influenced album which isn’t a bad thing but with the second album it was almost completely different, it was a much more well-structured album with soul and blues influences, I spent a lot more time and effort into the songs for that album than I did with the first and I think it benefited the album so much more. My second album was the kind of album that I always envisioned creating and the first album was a slightly less perfected pop record.

So which would you consider your favourite.
Alicia: My second album ‘Waking Up’ is my favourite of the two without doubt, that’s not to say that I don’t like my debut, I loved working on it and got the chance to work with some amazing artists in both the recording and production. I still love performing songs from my debut live onstage but the second album with its soul and blues influences is much more preferable to me, it’s just a much more pleasurable listening experience for me when I listen back to it.

’Waking Up’ was heavily influenced with songs about discovering yourself and growing up and questioning the person your becoming, so what would the themes of the new album be about.
Alicia: I think those are definitely theme’s that I still find myself writing about, at my age I thought I’d be in a position where I had all of the answers, or maybe not all of the answers but a vast majority of them. I realize now that the world is just as confusing as it seems at seventeen or eighteen years old, maybe the questions change a little as you get older but the answers are just as difficult to find. I may have things now that I never expected to have at all when I was seventeen but it honestly doesn’t make everything easier. I have things that I struggle with, my own personal things and perhaps some of that will become clear in the new album. Basically I think the album will primarily be about self-doubt, discovery and faith.

You performed a new song, Drop The Needle And Pray! At the 4th Chaos Awards towards the end of 2011, rumours have it that the song will be released as the lead single from the new album and could be available quite soon.
Alicia: Yes, that’s one of the songs that I’ve been working on so far and I’m putting the finishing touches to the song. It’s a song that I felt more of a connection with than most of my other songs, perhaps with the exception of ‘Who I Am, Who I’m Not, Who I Wanna Be’ and It was always my intention to release this song as the lead single from the album and should be available sometime later this month.

Do you ever feel under pressure when releasing a new single, you’ve obviously had an incredible track record with chart success for your singles in the past, with four singles released from your second album and all of which became number #1 hits.
Alicia: No not really. I mean the weird thing is that I never expected those songs to do anywhere near as well as they did. For me the album as a whole was the important factor, the collection of songs fit perfectly and I didn’t think the singles would quite have the same effect as listening to the album as a whole, I wasn’t expecting those singles to translate quite so well away from the album but of course when releasing an album, the record labels need to get singles out there to promote the album and so we agreed on which tracks would be released as singles and it was pretty unbelievable really, the album achieved a 100% record with number #1 singles and that’s something I never expected but it’s not something I need to have, I would much rather prefer that the album did well as a whole. Of course if the singles continue to do well throughout my career then that’s a great thing too and I feel very blessed that people took to those songs the way they did.

On your last album you didn’t collaborate with anyone with the exception of Ryan Ross Hernandez and Will.Rocca as producers. Can we expect anyone to feature on this album.
Alicia: I’ll be producing the majority of this album alongside Nevaeh Martinez-Smith and I’m still looking for another producer or two. My friend Benji will be playing guitar on a couple of tracks and there will be backing vocals from Kara, the girl you met downstairs.

She seems unfamiliar, is she a future solo artist.
Alicia: It’s actually a pretty interesting story. She’s seventeen years old and she is a cousin of mine, we met for the first time in November 2011 and for those people that are aware, I never met my birth parents, I was adopted by a couple from San Diego and I’ve always known since I was six years old that I was adopted but Kara and her dad, my uncle are the only real members of my family that I’ve met. Kara is a great singer, she’s got a great voice, it’s a little more rough and gravely than mine but she’s got a great voice, she’s interested in a music career and hopefully she can make a good career out of it. She’s quite different to me but very similar to me in that she’s very independent, she wants to achieve things on her own which is wonderful but she’s young and she’s a lot more rough around the edges shall we say, I think anyone that has to mentor her or keep an eye on her will have their work cut out but she’s got great potential.

We will certainly look out for her in the future, Let’s move onto your personal life, you mentioned you were adopted at birth, what was your upbringing like.
Alicia: It was actually wonderful, I couldn’t have asked for better parents. Mark and Kelly adopted me, they couldn’t have children and so I was their only child and everything they worked towards was for my own benefit and that’s something I will be forever grateful for, they are great parents and I’m still very close with them. My actual father is Spanish, his family moved from Seville to San Diego when he was 14 years old and he and my birth mother met in San Diego, she got pregnant at 19 and at that time they were in a bad situation with drugs and crime and money trouble’s. They gave me up right away which was the right decision, they didn’t want that unstable upbringing for me and yeah, that’s it really. The people that adopted me are two wonderful people, they were into classical music and they spent their hard earned money on piano lessons for me from the age of 8, what I have now is all down to them. So I’m pleased with how things worked out.

And did you ever have any interest in meeting your birth parents.
Alicia: No, there was one time at 16 years old when I thought about it but when it came down to it I always chose not to meet them, it would have been a difficult and confusing situation for everyone involved, it’s not that I never had the opportunity, I knew all about the history of my family though, I found out a lot about my heritage when I was a teenager but I liked things the way they were and Kara’s father made contact with me in November 2011 and that led to me meeting my uncle and cousin which I’m thankful for, perhaps someday I’ll meet more of my family but right now that’s not on my agenda.

So what is the situation with yourself and Kara.
Alicia: I’ve enjoyed getting to know her, she’s a great young girl with a very bright future ahead of her, providing she works hard and keeps her feet on the ground. We’ve spent a lot of time together since meeting and it’s been a great thing for me. I was a little sceptical to begin with but it’s been a great thing and the fact that she’s interested in the industry that I’m a part of is a good thing. She won’t allow me to interfere too much but she seems interested in learning things from me.

Would you say that you’ve become more of a role model over the past year, with taking Chloe under your guidance now Kara.
Alicia: Not intentionally no, Chloe supported me on my world tour last year and I saw a lot of my younger self in her, she’s incredibly independent and we got along very well, we performed onstage a couple of times during the tour and I produced a couple of tracks for her album, I advised her on a few things during the year and tried to steer her in the right direction whenever I could but I always saw it as a friend looking out for another friend. I think if you can pass on any knowledge or experience to younger people then that can be a great thing, I wouldn’t say it was intentional but if I am seen as a role model then that’s nice.

High profile relationships are something that is heavily spoken about within music and other forms of entertainment, is that something you try to avoid.
Alicia: It’s a difficult topic to explain. I would find being in a relationship to be a difficult thing. I don’t date and I don’t intend on dating any time soon. I find myself to be an extremely independent person and I don’t believe I would handle being in a relationship, particularly at this time of my life. It’s not the travelling and the lack of time together that would be the issue but the thought of relying on someone else for your own happiness is something I struggle with. I’ve been in relationships in the past, admittedly before I started in the music industry and it’s not something I enjoyed. I’m not sure what my future holds in terms of that, I don’t like to rely on other people and a relationship isn’t something that has ever appealed to me.

So you don’t believe in love.
Alicia: I believe in love, of course. I see it on almost a daily basis and sure someday maybe I’d be in that situation where I’d be able to let my guard down and get married and all of that other stuff. But right now and for as long as I remember, I’ve never really had interest in dating, it’s not that I don’t believe in love I just don’t feel comfortable having to rely on someone else in order to become happy. I’m incredibly happy in my life right now and there’s no reason for me to change anything.

What about children, could you see yourself being a mother at some stage.
Alicia: Yes, I could see that someday. Not anytime soon but someday in the future, sure of course I could.

ALICIA’S NEW SINGLE, ‘DROP THE NEEDLE AND PRAY!’ WILL BE AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE ON FEBRUARY 19, 2012. CHECK OUT THE OFFICIAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW, BELOW;

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ALICIA LENA – DROP THE NEEDLE AND PRAY!
‘THE ROLLING STONE REVIEW’

Alicia Lena has made a semi-bold move in her music career with her upcoming new single, the lead-off single from her as yet untitled and still uncompleted third album, written a number of months ago the song was performed during her headlining set at the 4th Chaos Awards and is one of the first times that the singer-songwriter has ever put forward her own religious beliefs and her own faith in her music, of course this isn’t a hugely religious song per say but it’s primary overtones are wrapped in a religious theme, the title itself gives an obvious indication of the songs faith elements but it’s the first time that Ms. Lena has ever seemed to write about her religious beliefs, perhaps there was a worry that it could alienate some of her fans with different belief but regardless of that it is the quintessential Alicia Lena track, the core elements of what she is as a musician is still there, that feeling of insecurity and doubt about yourself that she drew upon on previous singles ‘Another Face In The Crowd’ and ‘Who I Am, Who I’m Not, Who I Wanna Be’ are all evident on this new single so it’s not so much of a major change, once more It’s pretty much just a piano and her powerful voice and why change a winning formula, it’s worked wonders for the star this far and on this basis we’re expecting it to become relatively popular at the very least.

The song tracks a person’s life that is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with, “And it’s all piling up in front of you/everything is getting so tough to maintain/what will become of you my dear, what will you do today/will you give into the thought of sweet relief tonight/in the hope that this feeling will go away.” Sets the scene and the frame of mind that the individual that Alicia is singing about is in, she sings that she can’t force her beliefs on anyone in the songs build up, “I can’t force you to do anything/I can try to pick you up but all that I can say/is that, you will find your way someday/if you just drop the needle and pray.” It’s not a million miles away from Alicia’s previous work and still carries that hopeful element in the song that Alicia seems to prefer to include as seen in previous singles.

To follow on from the kind of commercial success that her last album achieved with four number #1 singles seems like a rather large and difficult thing to do and it’s quite unlikely that she will quite hit those heights this time around, the industry has changed a whole lot of the past year since her sophomore album, the throwback to classic Motown music ‘Waking Up’ was released with a more upbeat dance-pop feel around the music industry right now, it could perhaps see a little less success in terms of singles but as with all of the great singer-songwriters of music after an initial impact of commercial success it becomes less about creating hit singles and more about pushing on with your music in order to leave a legacy and a rather diverse back catalog of music behind you, that is the true mark of an artist and is something that all of the greats of music have in common from the likes of, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson, Janis Joplin and Sam Cooke.
So with this new song marks the beginning of Alicia’s third album, the difference and growth between her debut ‘This Is Who I Am’ and the follow-up ‘Waking Up’ was staggering as she showed a much more meaningful and artistic approach to her music, the big question is how much has she grown since her last record but on this evidence it seems like it could be Alicia’s time to confirm herself as a true artist and push herself even further with her music while ‘Drop The Needle And Pray!” goes someway to show that she’s continually maturing as a songwriter and is a solid if not unspectacular start to what promises to be an interesting third album at the very least.