Stella Soleil – Interview

How’s life?

Life is kind of surreal right now. It’s like I’m watching a really great movie.

Are you calling this a sort of rebirth?

Let’s put it this way. I’m not used to doing an album that you don’t have to fight tooth and nail to get played at radio. I never thought there’d be a day where an artist was understood. They’re supposed to be misunderstood. It’s a pleasant surprise. I’m not used to getting my point across so easily.

When did you start working on Dirty Little Secret?

Two years ago. I’ve been writing and recording it and I went to London and went into seclusion and wrote volumes of journals. I wrote eighty-six songs.

Wow.

Yeah. This album reflects an intense two-year period of self-growth. I really concentrated without distraction.

How did you choose out of all of those songs what would make the record?

I didn’t. I couldn’t. I sort of partnered up with my label this time and listened to what they had to say. Instead of fighting them, which is my natural tendency, this time I took a step back and said explain. And much to my surprise they made a lot of sense. I trusted them enough to choose from my demos. To tell you my truth, it was all my work so I didn’t care what wound up on the record and what didn’t. I love them all and I didn’t want to choose. It’s like choosing your kids.

Are you holding on to the songs left off?

Yeah. It’s great because now my publisher will have this catalog to work with, and also I really found out in the last two years that I love writing. I’ve always written my own stuff, but I was always concentrating more on being an artist as apposed to being a writer. This record I was more of a writer and let the artist come out instead of creating a character. I let it all happen naturally. So now I love writing so much that I think I’d like to for other projects too.

Same here. My fun things to do are working on movie scripts.

Really? That is so cool.

But I can’t give up interviewing because truly it’s something I do out of love. It’s the one thing I really look forward to.

You know, I’d love to do something like that too because I have tons and tons of questions.

I have this new thing now where I just don’t write questions anymore. I just want the interviews to flow like conversation instead of being all scripted.

Totally. Good interviews always turn into conversations.

Speaking of that, who would you like to sit down and interview?

Probably Trent Reznor. I think he is a genius. I think he is Beethoven electrified. I find him absolutely intriguing. He makes the most brilliant sonic pop records ever. He writes the best songs and makes the most powerful sonic albums. I’d love to work with him.

Do you like the idea that he’d push you to your limits?

Yeah. I did work with him one time a few years ago and it was an amazing experience. He is just a genius. I felt like that was probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me and I feel like now I can do anything. I feel like now I can do things I never thought I had the capacity to do. He gave me a lot of confidence and strength because this album I just did is so much different from anything I’ve done before.

Do you see your life in your songs?

It’s more focused than just that. It’s right from my journal. It’s all real.

Because some people are writing fiction. Like Bob Dylan can write from every man and any man’s eyes whereas Trent Reznor is very introspective with his songs.

He said to me one time that he can’t sing something he doesn’t feel. Not that I disagree, but that has stuck with me to this record and I think I’ve learned that from him. The best writing I’ve done is from my journals.

As a singer/songwriter, what is your perspective on singers alone, like Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston?

I think they’re responding to what the people want. They are great. These are all great talents. They don’t have to do everything. That is the one thing that I’ve learned. It’s okay not to do everything. To be great at one thing or two things is an accomplishment. Britney Spears can sing her ass off and she can dance and she looks great. I have nothing derogatory to say. I can only dream of having half the voices that these girls have. They’re naturals. I have a lot of respect for that. I think some people are born gifted. Mariah was born with a gift. It would be judgmental if I started to say stuff because they don’t write their own songs.

I see both sides of it. But I have to admit some of my favorite singers never put pen to paper. Sinatra never wrote a song, or at least a hit. And Elvis.

Thank you. Elvis is the king!

Do you think it’s jealousy from their popularity?

Probably, but that is stupid too. Because they are popular for a reason. It’s a complete contradiction. We can only aspire to be liked that much or excepted that much.

If you think of the two greatest voices of an era, male would probably be Bing Crosby and female maybe Billie Holliday or Tina Turner. But they weren’t writers and never were persecuted for that.

People are gifted in all different ways and God bless them if they can make a living using their gift. I know what happens behind the scenes as well and I can tell you that those girls work their asses off. You hear about artists falling down from exhaustion, and collapsing doesn’t happen for no reason. That is from months and months of work and fatigue. It’s from busting your ass. That is an insane amount of work and something most people wouldn’t be willing to do.

Not only is it a huge amount of work, but also a big risk to give your life to something so uncertain. What made you decide to just give it the time and chance?

I did a few underground records that never sold well. They weren’t commercially viable and were really all I knew. I just threw down on paper what was in my head. These last two years my record company basically trained me and taught me how to write a great song. I was partnered with great songwriters and I was taught how to really craft. This is something I had no conception of before. It’s funny to because the more you learn about it the more you realize how much of an amateur you really are. I was just so lucky to be working with these people and to learn from them.

Do you think that you were so open to your label and working with other writers because you weren’t a new artist and you’ve suffered for your craft?

Yeah. I’m not as young and cocky anymore. I’ll tell you what. You know what it takes to get that knocked out of you? To put out a record and have it bomb and then have your record company to still stand behind you. I was so shocked that my label stood behind me. I even questioned myself. I questioned whether I still had talent or if what I was doing was even right. I wondered if I was even good at this. My label told me it was normal and things like this happen.

Did you ever think about doing something else?

Totally. I was seriously ready to throw in the towel. I thought I was in the wrong business. I really thought maybe I shouldn’t have gotten out of ballet. I just really got my ass kicked and when you get that low you start to question everything. It’s impossible to tell you how debilitating a lack of confidence can be. My label just kept pulling me up and pulling me up until I had a newfound confidence I never had before. Now I feel like I can do this.

I find it funny in a way that according to the rest of the world when someone is signed they’ve won the race. And you are sort of giving us proof that this isn’t really true and that there is a whole other race to be won after that.

It’s because as a local musician you have one goal and that is to get a deal. It’s a whole other league when you go from the local music scene to becoming a signed artist. So your local buddies are revering you and you are so excited because finally, after slaving at getting signed, you find out soon that getting signed was the easy part. I’ve heard so many people tell me this early on, and I thought they were full of shit, but it’s so true. The bottom line is that when you are put into this league, everybody is great. You aren’t just the best in your town anymore. Now you are shoulder to shoulder with extremely great people.

+ charlie craine