Suzanne Vega – HuffPost 10.19.11

Mike Ragogna: Suzanne, what advice do you have for new artists?

Suzanne Vega: Let’s see…I thought you were going to ask me what was the best advice I had ever received.

MR: Sure, let’s go there first. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

SV: One day, back in the ’80s, I had the occasion to speak to Peter Gabriel. He gave me this lovely bit of advice that I’ve sort of taken to heart. He said, “Take your idiosyncrasies and blow them up.” I have done that in my own career, sometimes it’s been good for my career and sometimes it hasn’t been. It definitely leaves you open to more criticism. People say, “What the heck is that?” or “Why do you need to write about blood?” or whatever I’m writing about. So, you leave yourself open to more criticism, but at the same time, you get to be yourself, you get to be a distinctive person in the landscape. That’s something that I would pass on to a younger artist. First of all, have something to say, and second of all, have a style to say it in. To add to what Peter Gabriel said to me, I would say know your limitations because that becomes your style. A lot of people these days try and expand themselves. If you have an eight octave range, then good for you, but if you have a one octave range then work within that because your limitations become your style, and that’s what you become known for. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, even if it garners criticism. You will get criticized but you will be remembered.

MR: It’s the antithesis of what goes on in shows like American Idol, where you’re there to be molded.

SV: Yes, you’re kind of fit into a machine and you come out the other end.

MR: It’s almost a reality show on how not to make a true artist.

SV: Well, yeah, although when my daughter Ruby was younger, we would watch it and there are some things to learn from when you watch it. Mostly, I learned about songwriters–I learned about Stevie Wonder and different interpretations you can make of a song. There’s always something good to find there, but ultimately, you will get a pop star out of that system, but you wont get a real artist.

MR: I interviewed Scotty McCreery for HuffPost recently, I like him as a young talent and as a person, and I was wondering what path he would take.

SV: That’s the thing. Somebody like Kelly Clarkson? In the end, she is some kind of artist and she has tried to kick against the system and they end up resisting terribly. She’s really had to fight for the past few years for her own vision of how her albums should be. So there you are.