This week at work I've been doing jobs where I've had to really focus on what I'm doing, so to drown out everything else going on around me, I've had my headphones in, listening to music while I concentrate (yep, i'm one of those people!)
I love music, but I tend to listen to individual tracks by an artist as opposed to a whole album, unless it's someone I know I really like. But this week, I've spent more time listening to music during the day than normal, so I've listened to all kinds of music... a range of songs by artists whose songs are on my playlist, but only one or two... as well as new artists I've never heard of before, but LOVE!
And - here's the thing...
When I know I like an artist, I have to find out everything about them.
I need to know their STORY.
And by that I mean their WHOLE STORY (not just the first few headlines).
What made them write the lyrics they did? Have they had personal experience of the things they write about? What are they like as a person, as well as a bandmate? What do they think of fame? How has performing changed them as a person? What were they like when they were younger? Did they think they'd be performing?
And that's just the start.
And it's not just with musicians.
Once I admire someone's work, it makes me curious about them and what they're like as a person.
Writers, performers...
Actually everyone to be fair. Even people I don't know (I don't even have to know their work).
Complete and utter strangers can give you the most fascinating insight into their lives in just a few minutes.
To truly feel like I know someone, I have to know their whole story, not just the small part they present to the rest of the world.
It's like it feels fake to me somehow if I don't ask the deeper - 'realer' - kind of questions. The ones where you really get to know a person, as opposed to the general chit chat or small talk that anyone can have whilst standing in a queue (but back to my comment a few seconds ago, you can still find out loads about a person even in a brief meeting).
So who's grabbed my attention this week?
Well... first was Lizzo.
I love her as a person. I like the ballsy, strong words of her lyrics and the happiness of her songs. I've heard snippets of her in interviews and she's funny and she kind of doesn't care what people think of her. But by kind of, I mean that she says she doesn't care. But I think most of us care a little bit more than what we'd like to admit, underneath all the bravado.
But anyone who fights to be free in order that they can be their true self always gets a huge vote from me.
So anyway, I found her Tiny Desk (Home) performance on YouTube, and was working on my stuff when I clicked onto the video of her - and she was playing a flute! And yeah, I know, all her die-hard fans would know she's a flutist. But I didn't.
But she's amazing!
She plays it like it's alive.
So I googled her, and discovered that she's a classically-trained flutist! This crazy (in a good way), fun-loving rapper can play the flute. I mean, REALLY play the flute.
Her bio on wikipedia describes her as a - singer rapper songwriter flutist actress.
How cool is that?
But after that I wanted to know more, 'cause there's obviously a lot more to know.
And it turns out she was living out of her car for a whole year after her dad died, whilst she was trying to break into the industry.
Which just triggered even more questions.
Where was her mum? Why didn't she stay with her mum? God, she lived out of a car for a year. What was that like? Did she get into any scrapes living like that? Where did she shower? Having gone through all that, what does she think about all the trappings of fame and fortune? Has it given her a grounding so that she'll never get 'taken in' by believing fame alone is enough to make you happy? Does she help, or work with, homeless charities now? Did having very little in the way of possessions give her a kind of freedom and happiness that people with money just don't have?
See, what I'm like?
Once I get going, the whole interview plays out in my head!
And yes, maybe some of these questions have already been asked in interviews, but I've not heard them, so I'm curious. I'd love to be back working as a journalist and sit Lizzo down with a glass of fizz (or a double shot of my friend's lethal - but best ever - home made rhubarb gin, I think she'd like that) and ask her a million questions.
Then there was Yebba. I've only just discovered her, and my God, she has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. Crystal clear. Angelic. Heart wrenching.
Yebba grew up "doing music" in her dad's church from a tiny baby, sitting in the front row, alongside her mum, and right behind her dad's organ.
Her mum committed suicide a week before she was signed up by Ed Sheeran's record label, after which she wrote a song dedicated to her mum, How Many Years, which is all about her trying to come to terms with what happened to her mum.
But all of that just threw up more questions too. Having spent a whole lifetime in church, and then losing your mum to suicide, did that rock her faith? Did it make her question her belief? Did God help her through the early days just after her mum's suicide, or was she angry with him? In her most private moments alone, did she find herself asking him, why? If you're real, why did you let it happen?
See... I can't help it.
I love people.
And I genuinely want to know everything about a person when I meet them. Just because, like I said before, if I don't, it just all feels a bit fake and shallow to me somehow.
So what's with all the questions?
Is it me?
Or is it the writer in me? (or is it just one and the same?)
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