A Conversation with Alexa Ray Joel – HuffPost 11.18.10
Mike Ragogna: Hi Alexa.
Alexa Ray Joel: Hello.
MR: Your first album is going to come out soon, right?
ARJ: Hopefully, yes. I’m such a perfectionist that I am not going to let anything get released unless I feel really great about every song and every song is where it needs to be. So, hopefully, early next year, yes.
MR: And you have a new single.
ARJ: I’d love to have as many people as possible hear the song “Notice Me” and then put out a second single. I really want to build with radio right now and get my name and music out there.
MR: Of course. This is a great single, lots of fun, and there’s a video that goes along with it. There’s quite a cast of characters on there.
ARJ: Yeah, there’s a definite cast. There’s my band–the guy who plays my, I guess you would say, “love interest” in the video is my guitarist, and his name is Cass Dillon–a really cute, nice guy, and a great player. Some friends offered to show up to play backup singers, and it was just kind of a random crew.
MR: This song is catching on, too. It was one of the hottest songs on subscription radio services.
ARJ: Was is really? I didn’t know that.
MR: Yeah.
ARJ: Oh, my gosh.
MR: I think it was because of your line, “Why are you being such a ‘dick’ about it?” (laughs)
ARJ: Oh well, of course that causes a little controversy. I was really, really surprised about that. I didn’t know that you weren’t allowed to say “dick” on the radio. To me, I didn’t think of it as a curse word, really. So, I was kind of surprised there was so much hoopla over that. I just thought it was a fun line for the song, and I wasn’t really thinking about the aftereffects of it.
MR: I think they have to update George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say…” because I think every human says all of those words every day.
ARJ: For me, it wasn’t like, “Let’s add this in because it will add some great shock value.” People say a lot more shocking things than that. The girl is frustrated–the girl that I’m trying to convey in the song–and she wants the guy to notice her. It gets to the end of the song and the end of the story, where she’s frustrated. The guy is playing too many games and it’s basically, “Okay, stop being a dick.” Girls say that to other girls all the time when they’re talking about a guy that they’re frustrated with or they don’t think is treating them well. To me, that’s just the way people talk when they’re frustrated. I tried to balance it out because I also put some pretty big vocabulary words in there too–“disarming,” “reclusive.” She’s like a sassy but brainy chick in the song.
MR: Now, you decided after a stint at NYU that you were going to go out there and be a singer-songwriter, so you started touring, and you’ve written a lot of songs. And I’ve read you’ve been writing since you were fifteen?
ARJ: I would say I started seriously finishing songs and really committing to them when I was about eighteen. For a while, I studied classical piano, but I don’t think I really committed to the art of songwriting until I was about eighteen, and it just kind of grew from there.
MR: You also went to Berklee for a five-week stint. What was that like?
ARJ: How did you find all this out? That’s so crazy.
MR: (laughs) I do some homework.
ARJ: You certainly do. Honestly, I was so young–I was fifteen when I went there. So, as great of a program as it is, I was just so excited to be meeting new people and feeling less shy around boys that it was more of a social experience than musical for me because I was so distracted by the social element of it. For me, piano lessons–which I started when I was twelve–was what really got me into songwriting and was the platform for the melodies and ideas I would come up with.
MR: Being the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, was it at the urging of your parents that you started piano lessons or were you already heading in that direction?
ARJ: Totally. Honestly, I was so shy about it and always afraid to try new things, but I was always very musical. I had a good sense of pitch from a young age, and I think my parents picked up on that. I would put plays on with my parents from a young age, and my mom would get me all dressed up to play Whitney Houston, or Jasmine from Aladdin, and all these different characters. My mother knew that there was a real love of music in me, so she specifically encouraged me to study piano. I was terrified at the time and she fought me kicking and screaming. So, I do kind of have to credit mom for the piano lessons. Dad didn’t really push me. I would say that dad was a little more lax, a little less strict, and mom was definitely more of the butt-kicker parent in the family.
MR: Since we’re in the family tree, there are a couple of songs that your dad wrote either for or about you, however you like to look at it. One was from Storm Front, “Downeaster Alexa,” which was an opportunity to use the name “Alexa,” but it was about a boat. What is the story on that?
ARJ: You know, I don’t really know. He bought the boat, which was so long ago I don’t even remember because I must have been four or five years old. I don’t know if you’ve seen the boat, but it has a very unique coloring of salmon and dark green, and it’s just gorgeous. I just think it was such a special boat, and, of course, at the time, he named it after me. Around that point, I think it might have been a few years later, he wrote “Downeaster Alexa,” and it was about something completely different–it wasn’t about me at all. Obviously, the song is about the struggling fishermen of Long Island, and a day in the life of a fisherman on the sea trying to support his family. He’s been really connected to that cause for a long time, and it’s kind of a cool song. But I think people think it was inspired by me. He’s written songs for me, like “Lullaby.” But this was really about his cause, and a day in the life of a fisherman-type thing.
MR: Like you said, “Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel)” is about you.
ARJ: “Lullaby” is. You know, even I get confused. Some people would think I wouldn’t because I’m his daughter. But do you know the song “Baby Grand?”
MR: Yes, with Ray Charles.
ARJ: Exactly. If you listen to the lyrics, it’s like, “She will always be there…” It’s a very loving song and it has an intimacy to it, so I thought it was about me–my baby grand, my grand baby. It ended up being about the piano, obviously, and I just found that out a few years ago, and I was kind of taken aback. I had gotten kind of a big head, thinking it was about me the whole time. Even I get confused.
MR: (laughs) That “Ray” in your name is in honor of Ray Charles, right?
ARJ: It absolutely is. I get annoyed, actually, when people spell my name R-A-E because it doesn’t look as right as R-A-Y, but yes, it’s after Ray.
MR: Thank you so much for sharing some of your family stories with us, but let’s get back to you. This song, “Notice Me,” is a “Not Fade Away”-type song with a lo-fi approach that goes a little Blondie, a little Gwen Stefani–not too much, just a little.
ARJ: A little bit, yeah.
MR: And its video–basically a “staged” stage performance–features a “fashion” storyline, I guess setting up the wardrobe that you would have worn to get “noticed,” right?
ARJ: Totally. I was going for a very vintage look, and if you look at the video, which is on YouTube for those that haven’t seen it, it’s cool because I’m dressed in all these vintage throwback looks. In one scene, I have this kind of sexy librarian look, then in another, it’s like an old school Billie Holiday look–like a jazz singer at a club. Cass, who is the love interest in the video, is always looking modern, so it’s kind of a cool play on fashion. We wanted it to be hip and cool but still have that throwback element to it.
MR: Nice. Now, to promote this new single and video, you were on Howard Stern. How did that go?
ARJ: That’s funny because so many people have heard it and asked me about it. It went really, really well. Everybody was asking me if I was nervous going on there, did it get crazy, and whether or not he asked me anything weird, but Howard is totally respectful and cool–he and my dad are friends. Yeah, he was a little flirty and got a little raunchy at times, but that’s to be expected. So, I kind of went in there knowing that he would be a little edgy, and that it wouldn’t be your typical interview, so I was totally prepared.
MR: And you also appeared on Rosie O’Donnell, right?
ARJ: Rosie was two weeks ago, yeah, and that was really fun. She’s a cool person, and she’s exactly like you’d expect her to be–easy to talk to and down to earth. Of course, I’m a fan of hers because I’ve seen a lot of her movies, so we were discussing that. I’ve always been a fan, so it was definitely cool to meet her.
MR: We have to let everybody know that you’re going to be in a series of Prell Shampoo commercials, just like your mom was in ’86.
ARJ: Yes I will, and it’s very exciting. If you haven’t caught it yet, the Prell Shampoo commercial is on TV, and I’m going to be doing a commercial for the conditioner soon, which is really cool. Honestly, for all you girls out there, Prell Shampoo really works. No kidding, I use it regularly, it makes your hair smell amazing, and it’s really awesome.
MR: What about guys?
ARJ: Guys too! I just figured that guys don’t…all the guys I know don’t really think too much about their hair, but I know girls are always looking for the new, good product.
MR: And new artists? No, do you have any advice for new artists?
ARJ: I’m still learning, I’m far from perfect, and I’m still making my mistakes, kicking myself, and going, “I probably shouldn’t have made this move.” Not to be preachy at all, but my dad always says this: “Don’t take any s**t from anybody.” As someone who has always been overly polite and doesn’t want confrontation, I’ve worked with people who have kind of walked all over me, and when something didn’t feel right musically, I didn’t say anything. It’s so important as an artist–your songs are your babies, you have to protect them, and you cannot let anybody tweak them or finish them in a way that you feel isn’t right. So, I would say be really, really protective of your own material, and I guess, don’t take any s**t.
MR: (laughs) Beautiful. I imagine mom and dad are proud?
ARJ: They are. I hope so. I think so. They better be.
MR: I really appreciate your giving me the interview, all the best, Alexa Ray.
ARJ: It was awesome, thanks Mike.