To find out about the real Lisa Marie Presley - not the one splashed across the tabloids - just listen to her music.
By BRIAN ORLOFF
Published April 26, 2005
[Getty Images]
Lisa Marie Presley performs at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Jannus Landing, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. Tickets are $22 at the door.
It's hard to think about Lisa Marie Presley without remembering famous men.
Of course, she is Elvis Presley's daughter. And her connection to rock royalty only continued with her marriage to Michael Jackson for a bizarre spell. She also wedded, even more briefly, actor Nicolas Cage.
When she released her debut album, To Whom It May Concern, in 2003, Presley proved she was more than perpetual tabloid fodder. Critics took notice, and the album earned generally positive reviews. Two years later, she returns with Now What, a collection of 11 catchy, if sometimes too slickly produced, rockers that presents Presley on her terms.
While the subject of Jackson - or any aspect of her personal life - was repeatedly forbidden by her publicist, Presley, who performs tonight at Jannus Landing, spoke candidly about her public image. Calling from her Los Angeles home, Presley, 37, talked about her rising confidence, her music and public misconceptions in a straightforward manner that contrasts her flighty, impulsive public persona.
Would you say you're more confident now that you've released your sophomore album?
Definitely more confident with interviews and with singing live. I realized kind of late in the game, actually (with the first album) that I did develop a pretty good fan base, which is why I started this in the beginning, perhaps naively thinking I would do a record and do for people what music has done for me all my life. . . . I got a really good fan base of people who are actually just moved by my music, which I kind of didn't think was possible.
Why not?
Actually, I take that back. I'm not going to say I didn't think it was possible. I just thought it would be very, very difficult. Because of all the stuff - the nature of society that tends to want to talk about whatever, or compare me, or continue to bring up personal things I've done in my life.
The album title seems to be a tweak on that idea.
It is kind of a sarcastic, funny title. The irony of it is the fact that the song itself isn't anything like what the title says, which I thought was very appropriate and signifies me in terms of an appearance of something, but that's not necessarily what's there.
What do you think that public image is?
You know, it varies at different times depending on what the tabloids are doing. It literally does. Right now they're being quiet if you haven't noticed. When I tend to get out there and do my thing, they shut up. And then they wait until I'm on the road and they'll try to paint some really horrific picture of me, like I'm failing and I'm trying to be a singer and I'm losing it, whatever they can come up with.
It seems to me the public thinks of you as impulsive and rebellious to a fault.
I'm not impulsive anymore. I am rebellious. I don't like status quo. I don't like mediocrity. I don't like when a lot of people think the same thing. I don't like that. I don't like being a part of something that I feel is hypocritical. So a lot of this record actually does tackle that subject - songs like I'll Figure It Out and Shine - they all kind of tackle me coming to terms that I'm not what I'm supposed to be, or what people thought I should be, or what I thought I should be because of what everyone else is doing.
Certainly in terms of music media, the albums have been well-received, and I bet that's gratifying. How you characterize your relationship with the media?
They're totally two different kinds. And it is gratifying, like you said, but on the other hand (positive reviews) open me up to be a target, which is what it did last time. The last time, the record does pretty good, comes out, tabloids don't like that, so they start launching a campaign of attack and getting all upset. And that's a very different kind of press.
You mentioned feeling surprised that fans connected to your music. How did you react when the first album came out and you got good reviews?
I think I expected that to be good because I realize that nobody had a clue who I was really. I know good music. I'm not saying it was the most amazing album. I'm just saying I'm such a music lover that I wouldn't put out a piece-of-crap record. I think possibly all the speculative stuff was that it would have been a pop record or a pop sellout, or something ridiculous.
Having said that, on this record you work with Linda Perry. I read you were initially a little hesitant to bring in a "commercial" songwriter.
Well, I had a misconception about her - that she was that person. Now, having known her - she's worked with everybody from Ziggy Marley to Fischerspooner to Cheap Trick to Gwen Stefani - so she's a chameleon. And the relationship was really good and I also detected that she can go either way; she can take you and reform you or she could collaborate with you, which is what we did.
And in terms of the lyrics, did she leave you alone and let you just write?
She was trying to be involved in that process. I think she was shocked that I did my own lyric writing. She was definitely surprised and I was like, "This is my contribution. So this is what I'm going to focus on." And a lot of times she'd be like, "What the hell are you talking about?" And I was like, "Just leave me alone. This is what I do." And she'd laugh. I think she got a kick out of it at the same time.
You've already talked about the image you say the tabloids perpetuate. Do you feel like your lyrics are where you can reveal yourself?
I don't ever censor myself while I'm writing because I'm purging. I know that the music spoke to people. That's the only kind of music I respond to - honest music. That's what I underestimated the last time. I think that's what ended up showing in the end where I was getting these amazing letters saying what these songs had done for different people. I consider it my job to take my own personal experiences and then make them universal.
Your cover of Don Henley's Dirty Laundry seems to be about the general cultural state. What are your opinions about things like American Idol and the music industry?
Dirty Laundry, I always loved that song, and felt like it really points out our state of affairs right now. I was also nervous about entering in with my music. There's not really a place for it in particular. I have a lot of female rock artist friends who were, at one point, on the top of the charts, but still can't get on there.
I probably won't get into names but I will say (the industry) feels like Stepfordville right now. It's kind of disheartening in that I used to be such a music fan, mostly from the '70s, the kind of music way back when there were singer-songwriters and it didn't matter what they looked like. None of the machinery was behind those people and it was just legitimately good music at one point.
Now we've come so far from that. It's a bit daunting to the point where I thought I shouldn't even put a record out. I felt like it's like spitting against a tidal wave. But I had to look at that and decide I can't let that win right now.
***
PREVIEW: Lisa Marie Presley, 8 tonight, Jannus Landing, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $22 at the door. (727) 896-2276.
