Jennifer Love Hewitt – Interview [2003]

How has everyone been receiving the album?

I think they have received it pretty good so far. It’s a little tough having the actor thing attached to the musical career but I think they have responded ok so far.

Have you been happy with the reaction? Do a lot of your fans from film support the album?

Yes. It’s pretty cool. Since the record came out people come up to me and say they really liked my song instead of I know you from “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” I think a lot of the fans have been able to switch over pretty easily.

How do you think being with Jive Records has helped your career?

I think Jive is a great label. Jive was excited about the record. I am kind of a different artist for them. They are mainly “pop” people and I think it is kind of interesting for someone who is kind of pop to rock. I was very excited to be with them because we all know that no one publicizes records better then Jive. And they are nice people as well.

Describe your writing process.

Paper and pen. It kind of happens differently every day. When Meredith was writing it would depend on the day. Someday we would write it on a napkin while we were at lunch or we had these books and if we were writing like a tough chick song we would pull out the army camouflage book and if we were writing a soft song we would write in our little pink fluffy furry book.

How did you hook up with Meredith Brooks?

I was a fan of her music. I thought she was a really cool lady. I loved the song “Bitch”. It was the first time I was allowed to curse in front of my mother. I was just a fan and I went and met with her and we kind of became kindred spirits musically and got to hang out. It was fun.

How do you compare the process of promoting a record to promoting a film?

They are similar in the way that promotion is promotion. You have to get out there and talk about your product and hope that people bite and like it and all of that stuff. The main difference is that you kind of get to show people what you are offering when you are promoting a record. And when you are promoting a movie it’s a lot of words and you hope that those words are going to get them into action. I actually have a lot more fun promoting a record than a movie.

How is the single “Can I Go Now” doing?

Really well. It’s a really fun song to sing. People really like it. “Barenaked” was a little tough because it’s not really and up tempo but it’s not really a ballad so it had a tough time trying to find its way in radio. “Can I Go Now” is a bit more direct.

What is your opinion on music sharing sites?

It’s a very tricky thing. The music industry and the artist deserve to see profit on their work. But I also understand that it is really, really tough for a kid to save up their allowance for 4 weeks to get $18.00 to go buy a CD that they may only hear 1 good song on. And I can understand how that would be tempting to go to the Internet and get it for free. When you are a kid that is not a very hard choice. Free or 18 dollars. I am not really sure how I feel about it to be totally honest. It’s a really delicate thing. My answer is CD’s should sell for a lot less than they do. people would make a bigger profit because people would buy more and B: they would check out a whole album. 18 dollars is a lot of money to spend when you don’t know what you are getting.

Do you see yourself working and developing new artists in the future?

I would love to. I would love to take my production company and have directors and an editing bay to do videos. I would like to have a small label and have somebody really young and hip and cool to find artists and bring them there. I would love to expand that way.

What are some of your goals in 5 years?

I would love to have a platinum record. Everybody wants that but it would be neat to put on the wall. And I would love to produce one of my records as well.

Where would you put the platinum record?

Probably my front porch (laughing). So everyone in the neighborhood could see and say she’s a platinum selling artist- how exciting for her (laughing).

First love? Music or film?

The music. I love acting but the music is the first love.

+ Sam Conjerti