My words couldn't describe my excitement when I first saw this image posted on rookiemag, on the musical section. The point, Tavi Gevinson had an interview with Sky Ferreira, talking about her new album, wich will be on shops this summer, and the thing that made me happy for a while was this interview pubished on rookiemag.com, my favourite (inspirational) website.
I always feel weird and intrigued seeing photos or videos of Sky Ferreira doing her job of being a pop star, because she feels like one of us. She’s obsessed with pop culture and fascinated by the corner of humanity she’s become a part of since she was first noticed online at the age of 16 for her cover of Miike Snow’s “Animal” and her own song “One.” Sky just feels like someone I follow on Tumblr who also marvels at the humor behind celebrities’ ways of publicly presenting themselves, but she is also really good at performing and has to publicly present herself, too. And so I wondered, how does such a gorgeous teendreamdancemusicmelodymaker remain true to herself when she is aware of the traps of insincerity in the WILD WORLD OF POP MUSIC? I stroked my beard and met her for an interview.
She apologized for being tired—she’d been up until 6 AM the night before watching Weird Science and videos of Whitney Houston on YouTube. She seemed eager to talk but chose her words carefully, aware that taking control of your own identity is no joke, and that the stakes are high when you’re in a position like hers. She seemed still a little skeptical about her place in a world of publicists and photo ops, but glad to know how to be skeptical. Now 19, and coming out with a very personal debut album after a string of dance singles, Sky Ferreira knows she doesn’t need to fit into a mold of one type of artist or another, but is free to be one of those “human” people who have different phases and facets.
Also? please watch this video:
Sometimes when it's late at night and I've stroked my beard until it's become that of a tired old man exhausted by the world and its many questions, it makes me tear up a bit.
TAVI: Do you want to introduce yourself to our readers?
SKY FERRERIA: I’m Sky Ferreira. The Great and Talented Sky Ferreira. [Laughs] No, I’m kidding. I don’t know! I’m the worst at that type of stuff.
Is it ever hard riding the line between full-out bubblegum-popping teen-girl pop and being so interested in music that would be considered more alternative?
I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s almost a problem. I’m in this weird thing where I’m not Katy Perry but I’m not like Kim Gordon either, so I’m in this weird, hazy… I would say it gives me more freedom, but it also really restricts me. There’s this rule that, like, if I do pop music, I’m never allowed to do anything else, or since I did dance music, I always have to do dance music, but someone like Beck can do whatever he wants. I appreciate pop music, but that’s not really what I plan on doing for the rest of my life.
Is it hard wanting to do so many different things at a time when it seems so important to have a consistent personal brand?
Yeah, it’s ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous. My record label told me a year ago that only two girls were allowed to come out and be on the radio for the next three years. Everyone thinks there’s this, like, movement with girls, because there are all these girls dominating the pop charts, but there’s actually a very calculated formula to all of it, and they don’t like people that they can’t completely control.
I was sitting in a meeting the other day and they were telling me how to get a song on the radio. They were like, “You have to remind someone of something.” You can’t make something new. They were like, “How about you make, like, a Blondie song, but a new version?” You always have to be the new someone. I could be the new Lana Del Rey, and she came out like six months ago. [Laughs] They really don’t do that to guys at all. “He’s the new Justin Timberlake!” You never hear that.
Even though someone like Justin Bieber could be considered the new Justin Timberlake.
The way female musicians act towards each other is so weird, because I think we get pitted against each other. It’s really competitive, but in a passive-aggressive way, because you can’t really get into a fight. There are so many rules—which I haven’t really been willing to follow; maybe I would’ve been way bigger a lot faster if I did! [Laughs] But I don’t really care, it’s not really my goal, anyways, to get big.
If you’re doing your own thing, you don’t have to feel like you’re competing with other girls. Is it weird, as someone whose version of pop is very ironic and self-aware, that people who are non-ironically poppy, like Miley Cyrus or whoever, are your peers? You see them at events, pose for pictures…
I actually like Miley Cyrus more than a lot of them because at least she’s not trying to be edgy—she’s still Miley Cyrus. I appreciate that. That’s how I felt about Britney Spears, too. She always stuck with—I don’t want her fans to go crazy on me—but her bad jeans and stuff. She didn’t try to get edgy.
It became a bit of a burden, too, for her, I think. People wanted her to stay innocent, and when they found out she had had sex, they got mad.
Right. But what do you expect? You had her in a schoolgirl uniform when she was 16! And the thing is, every woman is supposed to look like a little girl now, which I find so weird and disgusting, because I never thought of being a teenager as sexy. I never felt that whole Lolita thing, but [adult female pop stars] are way past the age to be singing about it…it’s sick.
In what way?
I don’t know, I feel like they make music that sounds like ringtones for people to jerk off to. It’s so gross. [Laughs] That’s how I feel about it! I kind of don’t want to be involved in it. I’m not trying to be an indie artist either, but I don’t want to be involved in that.
The Lolita fantasy is confusing to me, because teenagers are actually really sweaty and we have acne.
I know. I’m already pretty awkward-looking in general, but I had such a terrible awkward-looking face until I recently started growing out of it. I got braces when I was like 15 or 16. Like the worst time to get them! I was permanently awkward for like four years, and I didn’t feel sexy at all. I was just trying out things. I was writing songs not really based on me, but just ideas, like the way I watch films—like telling a story. But that didn’t come across so well. People were like, “That’s who she is.” Like the “Seventeen” video. I was like, no. That wasn’t some weird pedophile anthem type thing. Also, “Sex Rules” wasn’t directly about sex—it was a bit of a joke when I wrote it. I wasn’t like, “Yeah, sex is awesome,” because I’m not really a sexual person to begin with. It was more an ode to songs of the ’80s, like Prince and Vanity 6 and even Madonna, ’cause it was just so blatant. Everything is so overly sexualized now, but it’s all hidden.
Yeah, that’s why it’s so weird when like, a girl pop star is trying to show she’s “grown up” and is expected to act sexual, but is then ridiculed for it.
And young girls aren’t supposed to be like that, either. There’s an unspoken rule. You’re supposed to be sexy, but not in a very forward way. It has to be in a cutesy way.
You’re supposed to look sexy, so other people can benefit, but you’re not supposed to actually be sexual so that you benefit. Anaheed told me she had a professor in college who was like, “I don’t understand why women don’t try and look sexy all the time—if you have that power, why wouldn’t you?” But being a girl isn’t about being sexy all the time or getting your strength from that.
But that’s what people think it’s about because that’s what we’re told. I wouldn’t say we’re forced, because a lot of girls want to do that. But it doesn’t mean every single one of us wants that, or not necessarily all the time. And it’s hard to balance it out, because there are times I do wanna be [sexy], but there are times I don’t. But it always has to be one way or the other.
I’m amazed when I look at stars who have a very consistent image growing up, because when you’re young you go through so many phases.
That’s the worst part. People can look at photos of me on the internet from when I was 14, or find, like, my cousin’s Facebook and put pictures from it from when I was eight on Tumblr. Then they’re like, “She’s changed since then.” Duh! And it’s weird when you’re young, because older people get really pissed about [your success]—they get really negative and weird.
Yeah. They belittle you with “Oh, she’s just a kid.” But it’s like, well, you’re getting really mad about someone who’s “just a kid”!
Yeah, “She’s just a kid but I’m still gonna pick on her for no reason.” Choose one or the other! You just can’t win with a lot of people, I’ve realized. There are too many expectations, especially of pop musicians who are girls.
It’s hard to be taken seriously.
It’s so hard to be taken seriously, because you’re automatically stupid. But you can’t be stupid if you’re that successful, you know?
So now that you don’t care what people think and you have a clear head and are able to see all these inequities, how do you think about yourself now, and how do you want to present yourself and your record?
I want to be honest and make a record that speaks to people. All of my music is really honest, but this [new album] is more straightforward. I just wanted to make something different, I guess. And I did want it to speak to younger women. I don’t really feel like there’s anything new at the moment that does that for me personally. That’s not about going out or being sexy. This record’s not about that at all. I don’t know how well it’ll do, but personally I’m gonna be really happy with it.
When does it come out?
The end of summer.
What I like about the song “One” is it sounds like dance music, but the lyrics are sad.
It’s a sad song. It has a lot of weird hidden messages. There’s a song called “108” that’s kind of about how I was exploited by some people. I watched this weird Swedish silent film when I was in Sweden about this girl in this mental institution who’s in love with this imaginary man who’s a thousand years old. I mixed both of them together. It was based a little on Laurie Anderson too, with the effects. The Auto-Tune wasn’t a crutch, it was an effect. I can sing without Auto-Tune! I’m making sure my voice is actually showing on this record, because that’s the number-one thing that bothers me, is that people say I don’t sing. But you don’t have to belt like Adele to sing.
Your cover of the song “Animal” is similar. The Miike Snow version always sounded way too casual for the lyrics, to me.
The lyrics are so powerful compared to the rest of the song, and I feel like when I did the cover, people actually paid attention to the lyrics. It’s obviously a great song, people know it’s a great song, but [my version] got the message across clearer for some people.
Why do you like about writing lyrics as opposed to poetry or prose or whatever?
I’ve always written really simple lyrics; it gets the point across stronger. My brain moves too fast to think of something that sounds beautiful. When people are like, “What’s the process of you making a song?” I really don’t know how to answer. Because when I try to go through “the process” of making a song it doesn’t come out very well. It comes off either very generic or just not very good. I can’t go into something like, “I want a song like this.” Once you start overthinking it, you get crazy.
What artists would people be surprised to find that you like?
I kind of love everything. I love Laurie Anderson, but I also love Britney Spears, but I love Sonic Youth too, and April March, and the Shangri-Las…all that music. I love Brian Eno. The dance music I really appreciate is disco, but it’s more like Chic, like Nile Rodgers. I love bassline. I love live music. That’s what I’m trying to achieve on my new album—to make it something that can be played live. I mean, there’ll still be some dance music, but the majority of it I’m doing with Jon Brion, who did all the Aimee Mann records, the first Fiona Apple records, the Magnolia soundtrack. Working with him is almost therapeutic, because he’s not trying to make a hit—he wants to try something new, which is really exciting, because a lot of producers are just trying to make money.
The other day I put a demo up on Soundcloud, and someone said, “Oh, she’s working with Jon Brion? Well, if she wants to be Fiona Apple maybe she should get raped.”
That is a fucked-up thing to say.
I know. That isn’t who she is.
And then people looked at her “Criminal” video like she had no clue what she was doing because she was so wounded, but maybe it was her way of trying to take back her sexuality.
Yeah, her way of reacting to it. Sorry to get all heavy or whatever, but I was so painfully shy when I was younger, until I was about 13 or 14. And something happened. I got sexually abused, twice, by two different people, when I was a teenager, from 12 to 16. And I went to the cops, but not right away, because I was scared to, like I didn’t know how to tell my mom. The first time, I didn’t tell anyone for a very long time. And [the police asked me] why I didn’t come to them earlier. And they told me that because I was quiet I kind of caused it. “You’re prone to it, you’re an easy target because you’re quiet.” So one day I made myself really loud and obnoxious, and stayed that way for like three years. I went to court with the guy, and they didn’t do anything to him. He had to move 15 blocks away from me. He was never allowed to be closer than 15 blocks away from me. I was like, That doesn’t mean anything, he’s gonna do it to someone else.
Oh my god. I’m so sorry.
It’s fine. I’ve come together with it. It didn’t define me. I kind of had this year to think about it while I was writing this record, just thinking about how people are treated. People expect things to just define you. Like, “She was raped, that means she’s a victim forever.” Or “She should be ashamed.” Obviously it’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s not something I’m gonna hide for the rest of my life. That’s the problem: a lot of people don’t say anything until they’re way older.
The fact that going to the cops “too late” could mean anything is bizarre to me, because there’s no “right” way to deal with it.
Exactly. They were like, “Have you had sex before?” That doesn’t matter. The whole thing was insane. None of it makes sense. Luckily [the second] time I knew what to do. They found the guy because I scratched him across the face with my key. I was sleeping, and he broke into the house. I had my key on my bed. I remember this night so clearly. It was only 11 o’clock at night, and my mom was out. I was sleeping, and I thought I was dreaming—I felt something for two seconds and then I was like, Wait. He was rubbing my leg or whatever. So then I keyed him across the face.
He tried to say I assaulted him, but it was self-defense. He got arrested, but that’s it. This guy has kids. It’s so disturbing. And they don’t do anything about it. I guess you can go on a website and see if anyone who lives by you has a [criminal sexual assault] record, but what does that mean? They said, “He didn’t penetrate you. He didn’t have sex with you, so it wasn’t sexual.” It’s like, he was touching me in my sleep. He broke into my house and touched me in my sleep. A stranger.
The fact that the legal system can deal with it so irresponsibly…
Or they wait three months to do anything about it. You go to the police and they’ll arrest him for like a week and he’ll go out on bail or whatever. But it takes months to go to court. The whole thing is so sick and disgusting. And a lot of people are scared to say anything for those reasons, but also they don’t want to be known as a slut or ashamed of it—that’s traumatizing, too.
Did you have that on your mind with the new record?
A little bit, yeah. On some of it. I’ve never said anything ’cause I don’t want it to define me, but I feel like it’s appropriate to say something on this site. Because people feel like it defines you, and it doesn’t. It’s really unfortunate and disgusting and traumatizing, but it doesn’t make you who you are. That’s kind of what some of the songs are about.
That’s the thing with Fiona Apple: people assume that’s what her life is about, and it’s not. That [comment] made me so angry for her and angry that someone could say something so disgusting and insensitive. They didn’t know that that happened to me, obviously, but I would still be really angry if it didn’t happen to me. They can’t just give her the fact that she made great songs that were powerful, it has to be something else.
Yeah, they can’t just give credit to a young woman for being a genius. Nicki Minaj said something like “All these producers come to you and want to play daddy and pretend that they’re making you.”
They forget that they wouldn’t have the songs if it wasn’t for you, either. Like with Lana Del Rey. [People are] like, “Everyone’s made her.” But it’s her decision at the end of the day, what she’s doing. No one’s forcing any of these girls to do anything. And everyone talked about Lana’s [SNL] performance and how bad she was, like it was proof that she was man-made, but then why was it so bad? I’m not saying it was bad—it wasn’t great—but if [she were man-made], wouldn’t it have been the most amazing performance, or with lip-syncing and fireworks or whatever? It was the most honest SNL performance in a long time!
A lot of pop music is repetitive, and I just think there needs to be new things out. Some of my stuff is really referential, but I don’t want it to be nostalgic. There are references and I’m inspired by a lot of things, but I live in 2012. I always find fake nostalgia really weird.
I feel that way about fashion.
Me too. I know everything kind of repeats itself in a cycle, but some things I think I’ve just seen too many times. We’re both really young, and if we’ve already seen it a ton of times, I can’t imagine how many times everyone else has.
That’s why I like Rodarte, ’cause their version of ’70s nostalgia is like, they’ll embody their friends’ basements from when they were growing up instead of re-creating vintage clothes exactly.
Yeah, I love their clothes. I can’t afford any of it though.
Who else do you like?
Givenchy’s probably my favorite. [Riccardo Tisci’s] stuff is sexy but not too sexy; but it’s not too elegant, either. It’s a bit dark, which I like. And he makes giant T-shirts with panthers and crazy prints, but not too insanely bold, either. It’s not wearing me. That’s what I like about his clothes. Because often when I wear a lot of high-end clothes I feel like they’re wearing me, I’m not wearing them. Some of it’s too elegant for me. I’m feminine in a lot of ways, but I can’t ever wear a full-length dress or a gown. That’s how I feel about a lot of high fashion, so I like to mix and match it. I’m not a model, so I can’t wear it the same way anyways. You know who wears clothes really well? Elle Fanning.
I love her so much.
She’s so young, but it looks age appropriate. It doesn’t look like she’s dressing too old—it looks like she chose it. She probably did! She actually has taste. The worst thing is when I see a celebrity wearing clothes and know it was a stylist being like, “Honey, you should wear this, it’s fierce.” I think Elle’s aware.
I like reading interviews with her where she talks about how she looks at Style.com and fashion blogs, because to me the people who end up with the best taste are the ones who absorb everything and are curious, because then they come back with what they know they like. Way better to be obsessed and geek out than pretending to be cool for not knowing who someone is or whatever.
I totally know all the models’ names and everything, and I’m not ashamed of it. And I love watching shows. I enjoy fashion in general. Not necessarily because I can wear all of it, but because I like it. That’s how I am with pop culture. Tumblr is a blessing and a curse, ’cause there’s some weird, foul shit on there, and you can lose so much time! I can procrastinate forever. They have every still and quote from every movie possible. I can sit on there for hours. It’s just an archive of never-ending visuals.
I feel like being a nerd in that way pays off though. Not nerd like, “I like Star Wars!” But if being cool means being uninterested, then being a nerd is being obsessed with and appreciative of everything.
That’s how I was with music when I was younger. Not just with indie music blogs—I would read a lot of Italian disco blogs all the time, and I had all this weird music I probably wouldn’t listen to now, but I have no shame in liking all that stuff. And I don’t think people should [feel ashamed], or that it has to be ironic. I genuinely just, like, love everything.
Amy Poehler said she doesn’t believe in ironic TV watching, like you’re obviously drawn to that show for some reason.
Exactly. I watch, even though it’s disgusting and it’s sad, Toddlers and Tiaras. If it’s on, I don’t see how any human being can not watch it. I saw this lady [on there] crying because she was a good Christian, but she had entered her stepdaughter in a beauty pageant and the stepdaughter only got second place. She was like, “I guess God didn’t want her to have it.” I was like, Oh my god, this is so crazy, these people are nuts. The Kardashians are a whole other thing where I lose my mind. And Heidi Montag should’ve had her own show. And I love Rebecca Black too.
The intro to Rebecca Black’s song is actually so good to me.
People were acting like it was so weird that there was this fake record label where they paid a thousand dollars to make a video. But you go to a mall and people are asking if you want to join a fake modeling agency. Like, it wasn’t that weird. And they delivered!
What are some other things you’re obsessed with right now?
I’m obsessed with Courtney Stodden, because it’s the most bizarre thing I have seen in a long time. She blows my mind. Barbara Walters should interview her for “the 10 most interesting people of 2011” or whatever, ’cause it is so bizarre and weird. There’s something really honest, I don’t think she…well, yes, it is an act, but there’s only so much she can act.
I’ve also been watching a lot of Weird Science for the past month.
Really?
Yeah. I saw the TV show in the early 2000s like on UPN or one of those channels during the day, when I was home from school sick. That and The Secret World of Alex Mack. How does [Alex Mack] do that? I never understood how…I think I missed the first episode where she started turning into liquid for no reason. I remember watching 10 Things I Hate About You and I could only think of [Larisa Oleynik] as Alex Mack, and I was like, “Why isn’t she turning into liquid and wearing a backwards cap?” I was so confused by it. I also watched 50/50 the other day with what’s his name, Justin…
Joseph!
Joseph Gordon-Levitt! It’s like this generation’s alternative Beaches, with dudes. Like Seth Rogen is Bette Midler in that movie. I love Seth Rogen. I’m also a big Freaks and Geeks fan. And Daria—I have it on DVD, and I just rewatched the whole entire series in like two weeks straight. It’s still so funny and so relevant. I wish there was a show like that now. It really speaks to girls at that age. The writing is so good in that show, it’s amazing. You should just go on Amazon and buy it and watch it for a week. It’s so perfect, the humor. It has some Mean Girls but it’s also really weird, like Gregg Araki, too. So strange, that show.
Anything else you’d like to say to the TEENAGE GIRLS OF THE INTERNET?
Eh…Kanye shrug. Oh, I loved that Feminist Ryan Gosling blog. It’s the funniest thing ever. Now I actually think he’s a feminist.
I didn’t really get his appeal until I saw that and I was like, “How charming!”
Me neither. I remember seeing him in Remember the Titans and being like, “Oh, maybe.” ♦
I'm not translating this.. LOL too long dude.
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