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/

[Tusk]

^ That's the Clayton Perry interview I posted in the "Listen Up!" thread

He gets some sweet nuggets in the interview, and like someone posted, it's nice he dispensed with any AI questions.

Seems like he's getting a lot of twitter love from Haliens now

[midnightblues]

Music theory is extremely important. It's the basics of how chord structures notes, and progressions are formulated. It takes a very very gifted person to be able to take it all in by ear. And the HALES has it all. I guess it's safe to say she was born with that talent and gift.

[Tom22]

That was a really good interview; smart questions ... less of the giggly gossip sheet type and I did get a bit more flavor on the creative process she used etc.

It was really worth reading. Just out of pure selfshiness curiousity though, I wish he'd have had the time to ask one follow up:

How that chance to sing with Slash and Myles in front of (and with) all the legends came about ? An accoustic number with three people on stage and her singing half the song? And it was a 5 minute song smack in the most part of the program .... no saftey nets at al... way too high profile and relfective of the greats up on stage with her for it to have had it come from a little pressure from her promoter.

I'm not surprised she recognized what an insane honor that was. And it was a really great performance of a song that has had so many great singers covering it : it had such of purity of its own I'm sure people were hearing it, not thinknig of some other cover of it in comparison. She earned that floating in the clouds feeling she had , thats for sure.

[buzzenator]

^ I replied in the Listen-Up thread to Tusk's post...you articulated some of my thoughts Tom...nice comments. Yes, excellent questions and some really in depth answers from Haley. You just knew she had to have some special gifts in the whole musical field...these are really coming out for public consumption now.

[Tusk]

LOL

Mr Perry, the author of the article posted @ IDF to answer some of the questions I posted (I found a tweet from him and asked about the interview a day before he posted it)

He's been getting much Halien love on Twitter for the interview so also came to thank Haliens for the love. He also posted that his favorite song is NTYH and posted the video from Spokane. Summation of my post question he's answering

I wondered why he posted his article was on the 18th as well as the interview when the tweet appeared on the 12th

You aren't going "crazy" -- seriously! :-P

All publication dates on my website "match" the date of the interview. (This is/was a personal decision, so that all of my interviews are presented chronologically, even if they aren't posted to the site "in order.")

I am a full-time graduate student, and I have someone that handles all of my transcription needs. I also try to "time" the release of my interviews at points in time that I believe will generate the most traffic.

Hope this clears all of the confusion! LOVE ALL OF YOU, HALIENS!

http://claytonperry.com/2012/06/18/intervi...and-songwriter/

Best wishes... ~CRP

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To my post agreeing with him about NTYH being one of Haley's best songs

"NTYH" rocks, right?

I want this to be her next single!

*dusts shoulders off*

Thanks for the love! Best wishes... ~CRP

I thanked him and insisted that if he likes Haley's album, he MUST see/hear her live.

[alpha7388]

Tom22, excellent post, let's hear more out of you.

[LovinDaHaley]

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^^^ All of it, Cool Beans (no matter how you count them). Thank you everyone!

And I totally agree with alpha7388, "Tom22, excellent post"--- That's a good question near the end of your post Tom. I too would like to know the inside story of that performance with Slash and Myles. And I'd like it to be Haley Reinhart's perspective. Maybe some interviewer will read this thread and ask her. If you see anything on it please don't hesitate to post-up

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