For the message, the song titles speak for themselves. “Bundle of Joy”, “Love Is My Religion”, “Spirit in My Heart”, “Honey”… Love, always love for this artist whose intact sex symbol image and zen attitude are maintained, he said “through a rigorous lifestyle” as well as “regular meditation practice”. Thirty-five years later Let Love Rulethe one who managed to conquer a new generation of fans thanks to the saga Hunger Games, in which he played Cinna, the stylist/confidant of heroine Jennifer Lawrence, is always hungry. Hunger for rock, hunger for torrid funks, sentimental ballads and good electric vibrations that he will distill at the opening of Rock Werchter this July 4.
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Your new album opens with “It’s Just Another Fine Day in the Universe of Love”. It’s a very hippie introduction, isn’t it?
I started writing this record during confinement. I know that many people have been sick and others have died from Covid. But, for me, this period was like an epiphany. I no longer had any professional obligations. I was holed up in my house in the Bahamas. I could make music without pressure and without being disturbed. I also prayed a lot, and I meditated. Apart from the sadness of not seeing Zoé (his daughter Zoé Kravitz, actress, Editor’s note) which was turning Batman in London, I was happy. And when I woke up, I said to myself: “It’s another beautiful day in love paradise.”It’s a positive message that I send to myself every morning. Not to persuade me or to reassure me… Simply to remind me that I should take advantage of everything positive there was to take.
Love remains the main theme of Blue Electric Light. This was already the case on your first record Let Love Rule published in 1989.
Love, whether romantic or universal, is at the center of all my albums. It is also the driving force of my life. My mother (Bahamian-born actress Roxie Roker) instilled in me a real discipline of “Universal love”. This phrase from the Bible, “You will love your neighbor as yourself”, I must have heard it a million times. And the sadder things are around me, the more I feel this need to talk about love in my songs. This main theme of Blue Electric Light is no way to come full circle with my first album, Let Love Rule. It’s simply because I continue to sing what I feel.
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Is it still a challenge for you to play all the instruments on your albums?
I don’t see it as a challenge or as a rule. I’ve always acted like that. When I was hanging out in the studios in New York before recording my first album, I already had this reputation of “resourceful guy who does a little of everything”…I was the guy we called when a guitar was missing, when a musician failed during a session or when we needed to add a bass line to finish a song. For me, music is like painting. I proceed in successive layers. And when I need to add a layer, I feel freer and more creative doing it myself than phoning another musician. Apart from my “brother”guitarist Craig Ross, who has been by my side since my beginnings, I don’t feel the need to surround myself.
Is your single “TK421” a tribute to the Imperial “stormtrooper” fighter from Star Wars, or to David Bowie’s song “TVC 15”?
It’s more of a homage to the film. Boogie Nights by Paul-Thomas Anderson (1998). I’m crazy about this movie and I took some of the dialogue to use in this song. One of the characters of Boogie Nights works in a hi-fi store and refers to TK421 to sell his stereo systems. It’s a nice metaphor to say that we have a warrior attitude when it comes to releasing big sound.
You appear completely naked in the music video for “TK421”. At 60, do you still have this sex symbol image?
It wasn’t my idea. I accepted, because the proposal came from a woman. Director Tanu Muino (who has signed videos for Rosalia, Cardi B and Harry Styles). She said : “I would like to film you “naturally” at home in the morning. It will be a good way to launch your single and your album.”We shot the video in the house I own in Paris. In the morning, I take a shower, I sing and sometimes I play the guitar naked and delirious, because I know it’s going to be a crazy day. This is my “morning routine” which I reproduced under the eye of the camera of Tanu and his team. It was very fun. The goal was not to assert a sexy image, but if it makes you happy, so much the better.
When you were a kid, how did you imagine yourself at 60?
As a kid, I had no idea what I was going to become or what I wanted to become. I never planned for the future. Nor do I think about the question of age. My friend Prince always told me: “The only way to stay yourself is not to think about what you were and what you will be later.”When you look at photos of Prince today, you feel like he’s always been the same age.
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You mention Prince… We think a lot of “Purple Rain” when listening to your song “Blue Electric Light”. Last piece of the record, an aerial solo that never ends, a color in the title, a chorus sung like one cries…
I always have a little bit of Prince in me when I compose. It’s unconscious and deep inside me. I grew up listening to his records. He was my musical hero. He then became my friend, my “brother” and my mentor. Prince once told me that our relationship wasn’t one sided. That we inspired each other. This is one of the greatest compliments anyone has ever given me.
In your autobiography Let Love Rule, published in 2020, you say that being born to a white father and a black mother helped you have a better understanding of the world. For what ?
I also write that my father was Jewish while my mother was Catholic. As a child, I did not know what prejudice based on skin color, race or religion was. We spoke openly about all subjects, we respected Jewish traditions, Catholic holidays, we ate Bahamian cuisine, we listened to jazz and rock, the Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. It was cool. Since everything was happening in perfect harmony at home, I thought there was the same understanding outside. I was lucky enough to grow up with this education long enough to adopt it and make it a life philosophy before understanding that not everyone works like that. When I started, in the United States, it was complicated for me. I wasn’t white enough or black enough for the music I was offering.
What was your very first musical shock?
The best memory was when Duke Ellington sang “Happy Birthday” to me for my fifth birthday. It works, right ? My parents knew him. We attended one of his concerts. He had a suit, a beautiful white shirt, his whole orchestra. At one point he took a break. “It’s the birthday of a little boy who is in the room”, and everyone in the room applauded. They brought me on stage, he took me on his lap and played “Happy Birthday” with his band. The crazy thing is that I found it normal…
What album would you give to those who say that rock is no longer relevant music?
The record I listened to last night: Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin. You play “Whole Lotta Love”, “Ramble On” or “Moby Dick” and it’s always a party. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how many times you’ve listened to this album. It’s inspiring and full of energy. And if you ask me tomorrow, I’ll tell you another record. There are plenty…
4/7, Rock Werchter.
Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light, BMG.
