Just heard Alicia Keys' 'Karmastition'. I really like Alicia Keys but to me it's just a bunch of vocal tracks over top of Stevie Wonder's brilliant track, which I think is lazy and pointless. There's so much re-hashing taking place in film and music these days. David and I often look at each other and say, 'Well, I guess it's official. There are no new ideas left.' I once heard producer Mitchell Froom say that he thinks of modern music as 'hybrid music'. I think I know what he means and I agree with him. I know I'm personally influenced by many sounds and styles, but that's not what's going on here. Songwriting, please!
Just filmed the video for 'One Person' with director Chris Smets. It's a one-take, no-edits video. Spent the day doing the same thing over and over. It was all about getting 'The Ultimate Take', which involved a little bit of pressure, as the song is so personal. It made for a bit of an emotional day but that's a good thing! I haven't seen it yet but my manager, the director and the production company have, and they unanimously agreed that lucky-take-number-13 is the Ultimate Take. In a pre-shoot meeting at Syndicate Films, I was told there were blue velvet curtains that would open and close in front of me at the start and end of the video. As a joke I said, 'will the curtains be monogrammed with a big swirly 'K' on one and an 'R' on the other?' To my surprise they said, 'great idea' and on the shoot day, there they were! Wait 'til you see 'em! It pays to be a wisecracker! They looked fabulous.
CBC Radio played 'One Person' last week and quite a few people have mentioned they heard it and liked it, saying that they thought it was smoother and simpler than my older music. I'll take that!
A 2005 Juno Awards comment: All hail kd lang! Awe and appreciation for her glorious, genuine voice.
xo KR
P.S.: The new KR website is coming very soon, with loads of new photos (ie: of the 'one person' video shoot) and content.
