Alana Davis
FREE BIRD
With Her Latest Album, Singer-Songwriter Alana Davis Forges Her Own Identity
For her third album, Surrender Dorothy, acclaimed singer-songwriter Alana Davis moved to Los Angeles and started her own label, Tigress Records. It's an eclectic mix of pop, soul, folk, and rock defined by Davis's smoky pipes and her plaintive, journal-like lyrics. The day following a packed showcase in her native New York City, the jovial vocalist chatted with Barnes & Noble.com's R&B and Hip-Hop editor Tracy E. Hopkins about her newfound creative independence, as well as her thoughts on hip-hop culture and her biracial identity.
Barnes & Noble.com: What prompted you to start your own record label?
Alana Davis: I left Elektra shortly after 9/11, and every label was having a hard time moving forward. So it was a really bad time to release a record. I remember asking if [Elektra] would re-release [my second] record. And they wanted me to make another one. We were at an impasse. I didn't know I would start my own label. I just thought I'd find a different situation. But the more I talked to people, I realized that no one's situation was going to be greater than the situation I made for myself. I got a few offers that were flattering, but that empowered me. I felt like, if they believe in me, maybe I should believe in me.
B&N.com: Do you have any other artists signed yet?
AD: Right now it's just me. But I look forward to [developing talent]. That definitely became part of the idea. I thought, this is what I would like and what I was missing at a major company. There's a journey we're supposed to take that can be interrupted when we're too caught up in the bottom line, the dollar sign, or the hit single. The first thing I tell any [aspiring artist] is to know yourself before you sign it away. They'll find the box that you kind of fit and shove you in it. And you may or may not be comfortable with that. I learned that the hard way.
B&N.com: Did Elektra try to position you as another Alicia Keys or Norah Jones? And would you want your career to be that high profile?
AD: Nah, I wouldn't know what to do with that level of attention. I'm still a pretty introverted girl. I do remember having a conversation with my A&R rep at Elektra after Norah Jones's first record blew up. He said, "I really should have left your record pure because it seems that's what people want." And he didn't. I made [Fortune Cookies] for about $100,000, and then he made me work with umpteen other producers, including the Neptunes. Bringing in the Neptunes on an Alana Davis record is a sketchy call, not so much from a musical standpoint, but if I haven't even gone gold yet, why are you gonna drop that kind of money? Once they put that kind of money on it, the expectations were so massive. It became such a polished thing. [Elektra] should have released my little record [when] it was a lot less shiny. Who knows, it might have done great at the same time Norah Jones's record was out.
B&N.com: Do you come from a musical family?
AD: My mom is a singer and my dad was a pianist. He passed away when I was 16. He was a jazz player for years, but he never became famous while he was alive. So I can credit my parents, or blame them, for my love of music, but not for my ambition. My parents were definitely as perplexed by the [music] industry as I am.
B&N.com: You're a native New Yorker, but you recently relocated to California. How did that change of environment affect this album?
AD: It added another facet. People and the pace are very different out there. There's more sunshine and less contact with people. In Los Angeles, it's very easy to live in a vacuum. People are very reserved and keep their windows rolled up. I'm one of those wacky humans who like to interact with other people. I miss that about New York. I went out there for a different energy and a different space to make this record in. And it served me really well, probably even that vacuum aspect. There I was with my tunes and my thoughts, and nothing really got in the way of that. But I don't think it will be a permanent home.
B&N.com: You do a couple of covers, including the Blue Öyster Cult's "The Reaper." Why'd you choose that song?
AD: "The Reaper" was really a fluke. I just stumbled across the riff on my guitar. It's one of those really catchy riffs, and I started thinking about the lyrics. I thought about the line, "Just take me by the hand. Baby I'm you're man." I thought, that is a heavy lyric for a chick to sing, especially with me jumping off a cliff and doing [this album] on my own. There was a little bit of that energy. So it made sense. When I told a friend I was doing that song, she asked, "Isn't that song about suicide?" But that's not the way I hear it. To me, it's about the death that comes before rebirth, and trusting the darkness perhaps because there's light on the other side. And that's what this phase [in my life] has been about.
B&N.com: What's playing on your iPod?
AD: I listen to a lot of old music -- currently, a lot of older reggae from the late-'60s rocksteady period. There was this period in reggae where it was like doo-wop over reggae groove, and it's killer. Like, the Abyssinians. I still listen to a lot of the tracks from Meshell N'degeocello's last album, Comfort Woman. I love that record. There's a track "Fellowship," which is also a reggae track. I sure never heard it on the radio, and I think it was one of her strongest records.
B&N.com: I've interviewed Meshell, and she talked about how her lack of commercial success made her question herself. But now she seems to be in a space where she just wants to make the music she wants to make.
AD: At some point, you have to be true to yourself. It's supposed to be an individual perspective. I guess you can't have an original thought, but you can interpret it in an original way. Maybe it's not for everybody, but it has great value to the people it's meant for. Over the years, Meshell's music has been like that for me. Maybe not every track has been my favorite, but if I give it enough time I can understand where it's coming from and applaud her for creating it. She's on a journey. Joni Mitchell is another one. I don't need all of her records in my collection, but she if she hadn't made them all, I wouldn't have my favorites. These days, very few artists are given the opportunity to make records. It's all about the single and the hit. So it's admirable when an artist gets away with having an album-type career.
B&N.com: Jay-Z sampled "Murder," from Blame It on Me, on one of his songs and called you "the folk gangstress."
AD: Yeah, isn't that the hottest? I don't think anyone has ever given me such a funky compliment. I love that. I've never met him, but he sent me a copy of his song and I was so flattered.
B&N.com: Do you listen to hip-hop?
AD: I really don't. But I like watching the videos. I love to see people dance. There are some people, like Ludacris, who I think is funny because he's not taking himself too seriously. But lyrically, it's a bit too misogynistic for me to support. In the '80s, [hip-hop] represented the culture more. I think [contemporary hip-hop] takes us away from what the truth of the culture is and what the changes need to be. And that's a problem. I've met girls who think that because of the perspective that's out there, that they're better off having a man who keeps them and lets them go shopping. There's nothing about that [view] that pushes us as women or as black people ahead. I don't know if that's really where we want to be. I think that's where someone else would like us to be. Maybe because I'm of mixed ethnicity, I've been privy to more racism. People assume that because I'm black that they can throw white people under the bus. But I'm like, wait, my mom is white. The same goes for white people. I'm like, hold on, my dad is black. To me, it's insane, and I can't pretend that we're any further from that than we ever were. Every day, there's someone who gives or takes something from me because of whom they thought I was. I just want to see everyone have the same opportunities, and I wonder if I ever will.
B&N.com: What's the significance of the tile "Surrender Dorothy"?
AD: That ties into to the themes of death and rebirth, and the fact that I've passed for one thing or another for so much of my life, and I've allowed that. I think I'm tired of that. If Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz represents that girl we all want to be, then I've decided I don't need to try to be her anymore, because I'm not her. At some point, you just accept who you are.
March 17, 2005
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