Annie Lennox – HuffPost 10.20.14
Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?
Annie Lennox: It’s funny, isn’t it? I would be coming from an experience that is now in a landscape that is completely and radically changed. So what I would have to add to the new landscape that new artists are facing, I’m not really sure if it would be in tune with what’s happening right here and now for someone at the starting blocks of becoming a creative artist. It concerns me because the industry of music–and let me make that very clear, I’m talking about the “industry” of music, not music–the industry of music is oversubscribed, in a way, because people have access to it at their fingertips. The industry, in a sense, is imploding. It doesn’t know what to do with music. At the moment, we’ve had this issue with U2 giving away an album and all the controversy that created. All of these are attempts to handle the changes in the industry of music, in a way, because we’re all looking for sustainability, we’re looking for the methodology, how you become a lasting artist in an environment where everything is so rapid and so changing. It’s all about next, next, next. I really don’t have the golden answer.
MR: So then how do you create and work within this environment?
AL: I’m selective about what my activities are. I’m very paticular about what I choose to represent and what I think is not appropriate for me. I have identified the things that I feel deeply passionate about and I try to put my life force and my energy and my creative processes into things that are very resonant for me. Of course, I fail. Sometimes I achieve something and then I fail again. That’s part of the deal. Nothing is all about success or sales. It’s a human experience at the end of the day. I think it’s very important to be grounded, whatever that means to anyone. Stay with good values in a sense and don’t let your drive and ambition and egoic aspect take you off on a flight of fancy. The funny thing as I say this is that’s my perspective. People all come form different places and different experiences and different perspectives.
MR: You’re so right on. Annie, you seem so in tune with yourself, able to express your ideas clearly and with integrity.
AL: Thank you, it’s been a process to get here because I started quite young. I started without any experience or any knowledge. I don’t have a handle on editing but as the time as evolved, I started to get an aspect of, “Who am I? What am I doing in all of this? Where do I stand in everything?” The process of giving interviews as well has taught me I have to really understand where I’m coming from and what it is I represent and what I want to express.