AllHipHop.com interview

[Miguel]

In the midst of a promotional campaign for Listen Up, Haley Reinhart spoke with AllHipHop.com about her upbringing in a “house of rock,” the catharsis she found in slam poetry, and the value of risk-taking:

..."I grew up in school doing a lot of poetry – mostly slam poetry – and anything that would let me get my feelings out. I started writing songs in middle school, but when I give myself the time to sit down, and reflect, and feel, and let things come out, I find that it’s very easy for me to do. I just have to give myself the chance to do so. I have always been a real busybody. Even when I was back home in Chicago, I would make so much time for my friends, and I was just all over the place. When I sat down and just took a moment of solitude, it came really easy – especially melodies. Those would just come in my head constantly, and I would try to get a voice memo down or something immediately. I had hundreds and hundreds of them on my phone until the phone broke."

..."I went to school and I was surrounded by all these amazing musicians; and even in high school, I was with a wonderful jazz director. I was able to go to Switzerland and Italy my senior year, performing jazz in the Montreux and Umbria Jazz Fests with this band as their first singer. That was a huge eye-opener for me. And going into college, they never really had any singers. I was the first one to broaden that spectrum when they took me in as a singer. Mostly it was jazz vocal performance. I was in three combos – and I was in a big band – so I have so much respect for music theory. I know the basics, but to be honest, I kind of cheated my way through that because I went by ear. I grew up with a musical ear, so I would hear things, memorize it, and repeat it back. If I’m going to admit to it, I will, but I do appreciate everybody that goes through it, because it’s a lot of work.

...“Undone” was a really big change of pace for me, because the rest of the album is very mid-tempo. It has a good groove to it, and that’s where I like to be most of the time – as far as performance is concerned. It’s different doing ballads, and it is a little bit more on the “poppy” side, especially with the repetitive “undone, undone, undone.” So it was interesting for me hopping into that world. I added a whole lot to it, and I just kind of dug deep into a darker, heartbroken place and that’s what came out.

"'Now That You’re Here,' I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I had a lot of great people around me. Me and Sam Watters were going back and forth just talking about love and listening to other music. I remember we were listening to Nina Simone and really contemplating the world itself, and everywhere that life has taken us so far – all those things that make up love to us. And then as far as the sound goes, I love old soul, Motown, R&B; so, we really got a good groove with this one. And, it just kept going. I mean, the time just flew by. Fourteen hours later, I was thinking of all these background parts that just kept coming, and I couldn’t stop putting down."

...(Where did you develop a penchant for taking risks?) "I’d like to say it’s the Midwestern chick in me – coming from Chicago. I grew up with a really strong family and really strong friends. I have a very strong sense of where I come from, and what I want to do, and the kind of person and artist that I want to be. I am very grateful to be a part of Interscope Records – where all these huge things happening. It’s not an easy ticket. I’m working my butt off. But the other part of where I get to win is knowing that I’m making music that I’m proud of. I’m really harnessing who I am, and continuing to bring that out through everything that I do. As far as risk taking goes, I’ve always just put myself out there and had a positive attitude about the experience, just thinking, ‘What could be bad about this? Let’s see what happens.’

More: http://allhiphop.com/2012/07/02/haley-re...-exposure/