St. Vincent

Primary Topic

This episode features an in-depth interview with musician St. Vincent, discussing her new album All Born Screaming and her personal and artistic life.

Episode Summary

In this episode of NPR's "Fresh Air," host Terry Gross interviews St. Vincent, a multifaceted musician celebrated for her unique sound and deep lyrical content. They discuss St. Vincent's latest album, "All Born Screaming," highlighting the inspirations behind her music, including her experiences and personal life challenges. St. Vincent shares insights into her songwriting process, her struggles with anxiety and depression, and the profound influences of iconic musicians like David Bowie and Nirvana on her career. The episode delves into emotional and candid territory, offering listeners a window into St. Vincent's artistic mind and personal journey.

Main Takeaways

  1. St. Vincent's new album "All Born Screaming" explores themes of life, love, and mortality.
  2. The album reflects more personal experiences rather than personas, showing a rawer side of St. Vincent.
  3. Influential artists like David Bowie and Nirvana played significant roles in her musical and personal development.
  4. St. Vincent discusses the impact of her father's incarceration and its influence on her family and music.
  5. The episode sheds light on the complexity of St. Vincent's character and her approach to music as a form of personal salvation and artistic expression.

Episode Chapters

1: Introduction

Terry Gross introduces St. Vincent, discussing her career and new album. St. Vincent describes the thematic elements of "All Born Screaming." St. Vincent: "This record is cut to the pink meat of my experiences."

2: Musical Influences

Discussion on the influences of David Bowie and Nirvana, and their impact on St. Vincent's music and identity. St. Vincent: "Bowie was just an artist with a capital A."

3: Personal Struggles

St. Vincent shares her battles with anxiety, the impact of her father's legal troubles, and how these experiences have shaped her music. St. Vincent: "Music has always been my safe place."

4: Artistic Philosophy

Exploration of St. Vincent's philosophy on music and performance, including her views on authenticity and character in art. St. Vincent: "Art is where I make sense of chaos."

Actionable Advice

  1. Embrace your influences to forge your unique artistic path.
  2. Use personal challenges as fuel for creative expression.
  3. Recognize the therapeutic power of music and art.
  4. Maintain authenticity while exploring different personas in art.
  5. Seek emotional truth in your creative endeavors for deeper connection with your audience

About This Episode

The songwriter, guitarist and singer known as St. Vincent took her stage name from St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, where the poet Dylan Thomas died. Her seventh album, All Born Screaming, is out April 26. She spoke with Terry Gross about visiting her dad in prison, touring with her aunt and uncle as a teen, and the inspiration for her hit song "New York."

People

St. Vincent, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana

Companies

None

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

None

Transcript

Planet Oat

This message comes from NPR sponsor Planet Oat no deep thinking here. Planet Oat Oat Milk is rich, creamy and an excellent source of calcium with vitamins A and D. Also, Planet oats unsweetened varieties have 0 gram of sugar. Visit planetoat.com for more. This is fresh air.

Terry Gross

I'm Terry Gross. My guest is the musician known as St. Vincent. She's a singer, songwriter, guitarist, multi instrumentalist and a three time Grammy winner. Her songs can go pretty dark.

Her guitar playing can be shredding, but her lyrics typically read like good poetry. New York Times music critic John Pereilles described her as, quote, a grown up fascinated by Personas, gender roles, connections, obligations, self destructive behavior and looming mortality. In addition to her own albums, she co wrote the Taylor Swift song Cruel Summer and the Olivia Rodrigo song obsessed and recorded with an album of duets with David Byrne. St. Vincent has a new album called All Born Screaming.

Two musicians featured on the album have played in bands that deeply influenced her in her formative Nirvana and David Bowie. Dave Grohl, who was Nirvana's drummer and later co founded Foo Fighters, is featured on drums. Mark Giuliana, who played on Bowie's album Black Star, is also featured on drums on some tracks. When Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, St. Vincent sang lead on the band's performance of Lithium.

Let's start with a track from St. Vincent's new album, All Born Screaming. This song has been released as a single, and it's my favorite track from the album. It's called Broken man.

St. Vincent

On the street. I'm a king size killer I can make your kingdom come on my feet I'm an earthquake shaking so open up my little one hey, what are you looking at? Who the hell do you think I am?

And what are you looking at? Like you never seen a broken man love and nail yourself back to me if you go I won't be well, I can hold my arms wide open but I need you to drive the net like what are you looking at? Well, who the hell do you think I am?

Hey, what are you looking at? Like you've never seen a broken man.

Terry Gross

St. Vincent, welcome to fresh AIR. It's such a pleasure to have you on the show. This is a terrific album. The song that we just heard, those lines.

What are you looking at? Who the hell do you think I am? It just reminds me of what happens on the street sometimes when you accidentally look at somebody and they get really upset and start hollering at you. What were you thinking when you wrote those lines?

St. Vincent

You know, all the songs on this album are very lived experience. In times past, I've certainly played with Persona, but on this record, I would say that this is just pretty close to the vest. Pretty cut to the pink meat, as it were. So were you looking at someone or was someone looking at you? You know, I think that there are these kind of frequencies that we can tune into in our brain that are like, you know, whether it's deep ego stuff, that underneath that is really just a whole lot of pain.

And you're walking down the street and you feel like you could fall in love with somebody or kick over the trash cans, and if someone looks at you the wrong way, you just could explode. I just. I have that feeling. I mean, not every day. Like I said, it's a frequency you can kind of tune into when life takes you there.

But art, luckily, is a safe place to explore all emotions, all ideas, no matter how dark or complicated. And you're not saying, haven't you ever seen a broken woman? You're saying, haven't you ever seen a broken man? Yeah. Why did I say it like that?

Terry Gross

Was it because of the number of syllables? You needed to go deeper than that?

St. Vincent

You know, sometimes it really is as well that just sings better. It sings better, and it makes me feel a certain kind of way. And so therefore, that's what it should be. The chorus of the song after. What are you looking at?

Terry Gross

And I think this, on this, the second chorus, there's this really buzzy, dirty chord, and I'm not even sure if it's your guitar or are you playing synthesizer or what. What is that? Oh, Terry, that's a combination of my guitar completely blown out, and then also just white noise going.

I love that because that is the about to unravel, explode feeling that you're conveying through the song. I just think that chord gets it perfectly. And I love that it's used as punctuation. It's like the exclamation point in the song, and it's not happening throughout, so it's so effective because you use it so sparingly. Thank you.

St. Vincent

Yeah, I look at music sort of like architecture, you know, and call and response and tension and release. That's the whole game, right? In music is tension and release. So you get these little. Just explosions of release, and then it goes back to tension and then an explosion of release and then tension.

But it's this simmering, creeping, creeping dread, I guess, on this record, I swear, some moments are almost like horror movie jump scares. Like, I think it is. That. That chord is like a jump scare. Yeah.

Terry Gross

So I mentioned that Dave Grohl, who was in Nirvana before co founding Foo Fighters, is on drums and that you played at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, that you sang at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. Induction of Nirvana. What did Nirvana mean to you in your formative years? How old were you when you first heard them? I was nine years old.

St. Vincent

I was in my best friend Doug's front yard. He and his brother Paul had built a half pipe. We were learning how to skateboard. And Paul, who always had cool taste in music, you know, who was, like, onto DC punk from an early age, was like, brought out the boombox, put in Nirvana, nevermind, and played it for us for the first time. And we were floored.

And it was the first music that I heard that I went, this is my music. This is the music of my generation. I'm wondering if Kurt Cobain's suicide had a big impact on you. You referenced suicide in some of your songs. I think it's fair to say you've done, you know, you've dealt with anxiety.

Terry Gross

Judging from your songs, you've dealt with anxiety and panic. And I'm wondering if his suicide was a kind of frightening thing for you and also a kind of wake up call that, like, really talented people could go that far, could be in such a state of despair which, you know, would end their life. Well, I've certainly dealt with a combo platter of depression and anxiety in my life. You know, I had my first panic attack when I was eight, so that was always part of my consciousness, you know, but I think that I had seen, you know, the mythology of the rocker and rocker lifestyle ending in tragedy. That wasn't a completely new idea, unfortunately.

St. Vincent

But I certainly remember the day he died, and I remember me and all my friends getting together and writing Kurt lives on our faces. I mean, we were children. I mean, I was so moving on to another influence. I want to ask you about David Bowie and the influence he had on you. And I'm wondering what it meant to you when you first heard him or over time, that he performed in Persona like you sometimes had, and that he, you know, we didn't use the word then, but he was genderqueer and he was called androgynous in his time.

Terry Gross

So as a performer, what influence, what impact did that have on you? Well, I think Bowie even went so far as to say that he was bisexual in the seventies, which, I mean. And that was shocking in its time. Right? Mic drop like, that was dangerous then, you know, now that's a feather in your cap.

St. Vincent

Then I was, you know, daggers were out for him. So, yeah, I'm queer, so I've always felt like gender and identity were a performance. I've been aware of that since I was a young child and learning how to code switch, growing up in Texas and everything. So it kind of made sense for me to deal with all of that, to deal with Persona, to deal with identity in my work. And as far as David Bowie, I mean, gosh, he was just an artist.

He was just an artist with a capital a. He took us so many places in terms of Persona. And David Bowie and yourself as a performer, did or does performing in character or in Persona liberate you in a way? Is it easier to do certain songs if it's not you? I mean, even having the name St.

Terry Gross

Vincent, which is clearly not your birth name, but even having a stage name, is that, like, some people might think, oh, she's hiding behind that. But is there something actually liberating about it? Well, I mean, so my name is Annie Clark, which, you know, it's a lovely name. It's a just fine name. But there's also.

St. Vincent

There was already an Anne Clark, who's a great artist. And so that name was sort of taken. So I thought, okay, I need to. I want to have a moniker, because I felt like it would give me license and freedom to do. To be bigger than Annie Clark.

I guess I think there is a tendency to look at people performing with theatricality and think of it as inauthentic. But I find that sometimes people who are selling you authenticity are lying to you. You know what I mean? It's like art to me is a place where I get to take everything that's happening in my life at that moment, in my internal world, in the external world, and play with it and make sense of it and go, there's chaos. But somehow, if I sit in my studio for long enough, I can alchemize that chaos into something that makes sense to me.

And so whether it's putting Persona on top of that or getting at truths through exploring identity, sure. I will say on this record, allborn screaming I'm not playing with Persona. It's really a record about, like, life and death and love. That's it. That's all we got.

Terry Gross

You mentioned you had your first panic attack when you were eight. What set it off?

St. Vincent

Well, Terry, the world was ending. You didn't know. I'm sorry. You did? Oh, Terry, of course.

All the air in the world was getting sucked out, and I couldn't breathe. So I'm sorry for laughing. No, we're all good. It's good. Where was I?

You know, I was at a Texas Rangers, a baseball game outside. I was outside staring at this massive Texas sky. And I thought. And I was not with. I had some, like, separation anxiety from my mother.

So I think I was with friends, and that was a big thing to be out and about and not within a 1 mile radius of my home. And. Yeah, and I was looking at that sky and just thinking, well, it's coming. It's all coming for us.

And, of course, I had no lexicon for, you know, panic or panic disorder or anxiety. That just wasn't part of the cultural conversation, that I just thought I was a tiny, crazy person. So I just lived with immense anxiety for years and kind of kept it. Kind of just kept it to myself, because I thought if I shared these feelings, then people would know I was crazy, and that would be more shameful than just suffering in silence. So I wasn't the most fun at sleepover.

I couldn't do sleepovers. I was far too anxious. But I did play a lot of guitar in my room, so there's a silver lining. So your style of guitar playing, I mean, you have many different styles, but you do some great dirty sounding guitar, and you played in a noise band. That kind of shredding guitar style has mostly been associated with guys, especially before the riot girl feminist punk movement.

Terry Gross

What kind of bands were you in as a teenager? And did you play with other girls, or did you play with guys? There weren't many girls who were playing instruments back in Dallas, Texas, in my little neighborhood in the nineties. But my friends and I were all very culture vultures in that way, very into music. I played bass in a metal cover band as a junior high student.

St. Vincent

So that was like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera. That was that kind of music. And I've always really liked heavy music, but a lot of my time, being about 14 on, was kind of spent in my room recording myself. First. It was like Tascam, four tracks and stuff like that.

But then my uncle and aunt are a jazz called Tuck and Patty, who my uncle's one of the best guitar players in all of the world. He's a finger style master, but he's also an engineer. And my stepdad was an engineer. And saw that I was really into recording myself in music. And with the help of my uncle Tucker and my stepdad, you know, facilitating it on the ground in Dallas.

He helped build me a little early digital recording studio in my bedroom. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. So, and it was pc based. It was called Cakewalk pro audio.

I'm not sure if it still exists, but I could close the door to my bedroom and record myself. I could sing along to Billie Holiday and I could try to learn how to arrange and try to write songs. And I had this mirror, which is recording, to kind of listen back and go, ooh, I know how my heroes sound and I don't sound anything like them yet. I better keep going. And that's that, that sort of mirror of recording because, you know, the recording doesn't lie, was really, really helpful, I think, for me in finding my voice getting better, learning the how to arrange, learning how to think about music and learning how to be a songwriter and an artist.

And I'm so grateful to my stepdad, rest in peace, for seeing that and supporting those dreams. Even though he didn't know anything about music, he called himself a cultural desert. But he. Yeah, which, I mean, was not wholly inaccurate. Right.

He'd drive me to school and we'd listen to Rush Limbaugh, and then my mom would drive me to school and we'd listen to you, you know, so it was a very, very, very different kind of experience. Right. But I do, I credit him with really giving me the tools to learn how to be an artist and giving me the space to do it. All right. We're going to take another break here, so let me reintroduce you.

Terry Gross

If you're just joining us, my guest is the artist known as St. Vincent, and her new album is called All Born Screaming. We'll be back after a short break. I'm Terry gross, and this is fresh air. Every time you drive your car, have a package delivered or get on a plane, you're polluting the climate.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Nature is powerful. Why don't we use it to our advantage? Meet the people working on cleaner ways to get around on here and now. Anytime from NPR and WBUR transportation climate solutions on here and now.

Anytime, wherever you listen to podcasts, this. Message comes from NPR sponsor Carvana. With thousands of options under $20,000 plus customizable financing terms and down payments as low as $0 down, it's easy to find a car that fits your lifestyle. Visit carvana.com or download the app today. Terms and conditions may apply.

The indicator from Planet Money is a daily podcast that helps you make sense of what's happening in the economy, and video games are a growing slice of that economy with billions of people around the world identifying as gamers. That's why we're dedicating a week long series to the growing business of video games. Listen to the indicator for Planet Money podcast on NPR. The indicator from Planet money is all in on video games, not just because they're a fun hobby. Video games are one of the fastest growing businesses worldwide, worth more than the film and music industries combined.

We're seeing some games that are really taking, I mean, half a billion dollars to make. We're taking a week long look at the video game industry. Listen to the indicator from Planet Money podcast on NPR. Hey, it's FRESH airs. Ann Marie Baldonado here with another reminder about our special bonus episodes.

Terry Gross

The early romance was the most romantic experience I have ever had in my. Life, far surpassing anything that I might. Have dreamed of or imagined. It was quite amazing. That's actor Lauren Bacall in 1994 talking to Terry about her romance with fellow actor Humphrey Bogart.

You can hear more and hear all of our episodes sponsor free by joining fresh airplanes us at plus Dot, npr.org dot. I want to play another song of yours, and this goes back to an earlier album, and the song is called New York, and it's among your best known songs. And before we hear it, I want you to say a few words about writing it. Sure. It actually started as a text message to one of my best friends.

St. Vincent

I actually just, you know, texted him, New York isn't New York without you. And then I thought, oh, wait a second, I could use that. That's a nice sentiment, but let me just squirrel it away and use it in a song. And I think, you know, I lived in the East Village for ten years in a rent controlled apartment that was, I was completely illegally living there and was unceremoniously evicted anyway. But I was, you know, when you're walking around the East Village, you're like, oh, man, that's where Arthur Russell used to hang.

And, oh, that's probably where Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, you know, used to sit in Tompkins. And you're surrounded by not just the ghosts of your heroes, but also sort of the ghosts of your former selves, right? Like, oh, that's the bodega where I fell in love. Like, ugh, that's the bar where we broke up. Whatever.

You're just completely surrounded by memories on every single street corner. So, yeah, that's New York. So on the unfriendly radio version which we cannot play because of the expletive. The expletive is rhymes with sucker and begins with mother. So it's.

Terry Gross

You're the only mother expletive in the city who can handle me so let's hear New York. New York is in New York without you, love so far in a few blocks to be so low and if I call you from first I've been new we're the only other sucker in the city who can handle me new love wasn't true love back to you, love so much for a home run with some blue bloods if I last draw you on a I've been doing the only other sucker in the city who can stand me I have lost a hero I have lost a friend but for you, darling I do it all again I have lost a hero I have lost a friend before you, darling I do it all again New York is in New York without you. Love so that's St. Vincent's song, New York. It's a great song.

It's lyrically interesting, musically catchy. What did it do for your career? You know, I think that New York was a song that resonated with a lot of people. It was the first single off of mass seduction. And it.

St. Vincent

I mean, I think it. Let's be honest, Terry. If it didn't have the f word in it, you and I probably would have been talking five years ago. You know, like, it's.

But it just, you know, the f word, it's. It was the exact word that needed to be said. So I did not pull any punches on the record, but I think it resonated with a lot of people. I think a lot of people, whether or not that city is New York, for them, they have that place that is just never going to be the same if that person they love is not right there with them. I want to talk about your aunt and uncle who performed under the name Tuck and Patty, a jazz duo.

Terry Gross

Your uncle plays acoustic guitar. My uncle Tuck plays a 1947 and 1948 Gibson l five, which is an electric guitar, but it's kind of a hollow body jazz guitar. Okay. And your aunt sings, and they're pretty calm performers. They're kind of on the other end of where you are as a performer.

You toured with them, I think, after high school. I think you made sure they had what they needed in hotels. They had a decent room, they had food, they had tuned guitars. So what was it like as a teenager, being on the road with professional musicians who were also your aunt and uncle? So did that kind of dispel any ideas of how touring is, like, a really glamorous thing.

St. Vincent

Oh, I would say, yes, touring with Tuck and patty, and I don't mean this in any sort of slight to them, but just the amount of work that it takes to travel. Put on a show, tech all the gear, make sure that you've eaten. I had stuff like a. A little head counter, so I would walk around and count heads in the room so that when the promoter would come back and say, oh, we sold this many tickets, I had a count to compare it to so I could find out if the promoter was trying to stiff them on any tickets. Because I said, because I had.

Well, no, actually, my count says we had, you know, 350. And you're only trying to pay us for, you know, 297. That's not, you know, so all this stuff, like, really learning the ropes of the road and really, really caring about sonics, too, I want to. They really care about sonics and taught me to care about sonics, and they really impressed upon me. Not everybody has to like it.

That doesn't matter. But you have to be excellent. You have to be excellent. You have to be as good at your craft as possible. Watching and participating in your aunt and uncle's tours.

Terry Gross

Did it make you think when you became a professional musician and got to go on the road, did it make you think, I don't want to do that. Like, I've been there. It's just, like, really hard. No, no. I was hooked.

St. Vincent

I was hooked. The first tour I ever did with them was, I was 15. I'd never been anywhere, except maybe, I think, to New Mexico on a vacation and maybe cancun or something. They took me to Japan. Oh, wow.

And I saw the world. I mean, music has given me my whole life, and I. And, yeah, it was hard work, but it's worth it, because every night you get to spend 90 minutes with people and go someplace completely out of this world. And I saw them move people's hearts, and they moved my heart, of course, but move people to tears every night and really give people a place to lay their burden down, and it matters, and it's so beautiful. And so, yeah, of course, you're tired and you're jet lagged and you're whatever, but the second, for me, the second, it's showtime.

It's like, let's go. But let me reintroduce you. If you're just joining us, my guest is St. Vincent. Her new album is called All Born Screaming.

Terry Gross

We'll be right back. This is FRESH Air across America, history is often recorded on small markers. You've probably seen them on the sides of roads, front of buildings, in the middle of nowhere. NPR's Laura Sullivan spent a year investigating thousands of markers and found a distorted version of America's history, but also curiosities, humor and joy. Listen to the new episode of the Sunday Story on the up first podcast from NPR.

St. Vincent

There are a lot of issues on voters minds right now. Six big ones could help decide the guns, reproductive rights, immigration, the economy, health care, and the wars overseas. On the consider this podcast from NPR. We will unpack the debates on these issues and what's at stake. You can listen to NPR's consider this.

Wherever you get your podcasts. On bullseye, Jenny Slate reveals her favorite noises. I love noises of tension. I love noises of embarrassment. I love noises of pressure, pressure, pressure.

You know, I just like. I love that. All that and more on the Bullseye podcast from maximumfun.org and npR.

Terry Gross

In 2021, you made an album called Daddy's Home. And the title of the album, which is also the title song, refers to your father getting out of prison after serving, I think, ten years for a series of financial crimes, including in 2010, he was convicted of. A federal jury found him guilty on one count of conspiracy, seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of securities fraud, and one count of money laundering. He was 62 at the time. Did you even understand the crimes?

I was reading about this and thinking, I'll just say financial crimes, it's so complicated. Like, did you understand what he did? No. I mean, I don't really understand, like the stock market in general or that. So, no, I'm still a little bit unclear.

St. Vincent

But that might be also a question of my own financial literacy. Were you shocked? Did you know that he'd be capable of this? Well, I mean, I think that my father got caught up in some stuff, some unscrupulous situations, and I don't. He's not.

I mean, I've seen the man try to figure out email on an iPhone. You know, he's not a criminal mastermind, I can assure you. But I think that he was caught up in some unscrupulous stuff, and everybody else pled out, and he was the guy. He and his partner were the guys still holding the bag. Right.

I remember being with my older sisters and going in for some of the trial and then being called in, you know. Cause they call when there's a verdict, okay. They've called in the verdict. And I just, we. It just didn't ever occur to us that, you know, that anything but, like, okay, go on home.

I don't know. I just was so naive about so many things. But my sisters and I were in the courtroom when they called the verdict and said guilty, and they took him away, and, you know, we got to give him a quick hug, and then they took him away in front of us, and we were all just devastated and confused and shell shocked and then trying to help pick up the pieces. And hes got seven kids. So, you know, I have four little brothers and sisters who were.

They were kids. I mean, they were kids, and now their dads gone. And I do have to say that we all did manage to stick together as a family. And I'm so close with my younger siblings, and I'm so close with my sisters. And he was released.

My dad was released in 2019 kind of just before the pandemic.

And, yeah, I mean, we'd go and visit him in prison, and there's a line in daddy's home about signing autographs in the visitation room, which is just like, it was sort of known that, like, oh, Rick's. Rick's daughter, you know, she's a singer. And if I was on a tv show, if I was on, you know, SnL or, you know, Fallon or whatever, it'd be like, all the inmates would gather and watch. So I was sort of like, me and Kamaru Usman, who's a UFC fighter, were sort of whose dad was also in. In prison at the same time as my father.

We were sort of like. Like the pride of the prison camp. So, you know, so if Kamaru was fighting or if I was on tv, you know, playing a late night show, like, everybody would rally together and watch. So anyway, I'm waiting for my dad to go and to see him for an hour, a couple hours or whatever it is, and I'm, like, signing autographs on the back of someone's target receipt in a prison visitation room, just like, yeah, that sounds like a strange experience. But, you know, I'm thinking if.

Your. Father has fellow inmates all watching you on tv, sometimes on tv and your videos, you'd be wearing very sexualized clothes. Terry. I prefer not to think about that. Part of no, but I mean, in immense prison, that must have really been a thing.

Terry Gross

Like, that's your daughter. So. I know. Did you think about that? Well, I mean, I'm only thinking about, you know, what I'm wearing is gonna be some kind of a thoughtful, rendering world creation of the music that I've made.

St. Vincent

So I'm not thinking about the fact that it will probably also be seen at the men's prison. If I, you know, if I did that, I, maybe I would have worn more burlap, but, you know, whatever. I wasn't thinking about that. But, yeah, but, you know, he's out and life is long. People are complicated.

You know, I love my father. My father gave me grit. He taught us to be tough. He instilled in me a love of literature and films and foreign films and music and was a cultural kind of guy. So I really appreciate the gifts that he gave me.

And we're all still trucking in those ten years. A lot changed in your life. You became kind of famous in the ten years that he was in prison. It must have been so odd for him to see what was happening in your life while he was behind bars. Yeah, it's funny.

I mean, again, it's whether it was like the late night appearances were kind of a thing that, you know, or getting SNL, that was a thing that was, I almost, like, looked at it like throwing little paper airplanes over the prison walls or something. Like, at least he could see, you know, that sort of, we were doing all right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's take another short break here.

Terry Gross

If you're just joining us, my guest is the artist known as St. Vincent, and she has a new album called All Born Screaming. We'll be right back after a short break. This is FRESH AIR. What does it mean that Trump's mugshot recalls Paris Hilton's?

St. Vincent

What does the fake resume of George Santos tell us about american myths? What if I told you that the Kardashians are the new Kennedys? On its been a minute. I give you fresh ways of thinking about what's going on. Listen every week to it's been a minute from NPR.

We all hear things differently, and that can be tough when there's so much noise. This election year, we're a space to speak up and to listen. Listen to one a for the latest on election 2024, only from NPR.

The Bullseye podcast is, according to one journalist, the quote, kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world. So make your world more perfect. Every week, Bullseye puts the pop in culture, interviewing brilliant authors, musicians, actors and novelists. To keep you on your pop culture target, listen to the Bullseye podcast only from NPR and maximum fun. So I want to play another song, and this is a song called Smoking Section.

Terry Gross

And this is an example of, I think, how really good your lyrics are. And it's a song about, well, how would you describe it. I would say that's a song about toying with the precipice. You know, I would say that's definitely. I was quite bereft writing that song.

St. Vincent

And it's about kind of just going right up to that edge and looking over and going, huh, what if? Yeah. And let me quote a couple lines to call our listeners attention to. Sometimes I sit in the smoking section hoping one rogue spark will land in my direction and when you stomp me out I scream and I shout let it happen, let it happen, let it happen and later you think sometimes I stand on the edge of my roof and I think I'll jump just to punish you so let's hear the song. And here it is.

Sometimes I stand with a pistol in hand I fire at the grass just to scare you right back and when you won't run I mad but I succumb let it happen, let it happen, let it happen and sometimes I go to the edge of my room I think I'll jump just upon issues and if I should float on the taxis below no one will notice no one will know what could be better than love than love than love and then I think what could be better than love than love?

It's not the end.

Terry Gross

So that's the song, smoking section from, I think, a 2017 album, mass seduction, that is. And fun fact, that's my aunt Patty singing. Oh, so she's singing with you on it? Yes, it's my aunt Patty singing on. The little oh ohs.

Ah, okay. Yeah. You asked her to do it? I did. What were you going through when you wrote that?

St. Vincent

I had been just burning that candle. I. Let's see. You know, I started touring really hard at Strange Mercy, which was 2011, and then I went straight from that into making and touring love this giant with David Byrne, which was one of the most joyful experiences of my life. And then the day I got back from being done with the Bern tour, I started writing my self titled record.

And then from there, I went on a tour that just lasted forever. And I had breakups and new relationships, and breakups was just out of my mind. I was so. Just burnt, you know, and I had lost kind of my center. And I think when I said before that, I'm so lucky, I've always had my family.

The other thing I've had and the thing that's always truly saved my life is music. I always had a place to go or a goal. So making mass seduction for me was like the train had finally ground to a halt. I was looking at myself and going, what am I? What have I become?

What? Where have I been? Where have I even been? And so I went totally sober. I went sober in every sense of the word.

No sex, no drinking, nothing. Just went full none mode and was like, this music is gonna save me. That was my lifeline. That saved me. I knew if I had a record to make, then I could keep going, you know?

But also, I want to quote Brian Eno and probably misquote Brian Eno here, but music is a car that you can crash over and over again and walk away safely. It's a place for me to explore and figure out all that is chaotic and brutal in life, but put it and make some sense out of it. Musically and maybe lyrically, but musically, I think of it as being very influenced by Leonard Cohen. Oh, I love Leonard Cohen. I thought you would.

Speaking of poetry. Yeah, yeah. And transcendent, but also really not like he has the sins and the transcendence worked into his songs. Absolutely. But I think you don't get one without the other, you know, I think that's like, the human condition is so many things.

It's. I just don't think you just get the joy without kind of knowing how lucky you are to be joyful. You know, it just.

Life is funny like that. Well, St. Vincent, it's really been a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much. And thank you for your music.

Thank you so much, Terry. I'm a massive fan, and this was a real pleasure. It's such an honor to hear you say that. And I have become a big fan of your music. Thank you.

Terry Gross

The new St. Vincent album is called all born screaming tomorrow on FResh AIR. Well talk about Barbara Walters with her biographer, USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page. After co hosting the Today show in 1976, Walters became the first woman to co anchor a national tv news show, and she faced extraordinary sexism. Shes also famous for her celebrity interviews and for creating the view.

I hope youll join us. Fresh airs executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer today is Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salat, Phyllis Myers, Roberto Shorrock, Ann Maria Boldonado, Sam Brueger, Lauren Krenzel, Thea Challoner, Susan Yakundi and Joel Wolfram.

Our digital media producer is Molly CV. Nesper. Theresa Madden directed today's show. Our co host is Tanya Moseley. I'm Terry Gross.

Ever feel like you missed the big point of the last movie you watched at pop Culture Happy Hour, a podcast by and for pop culture addicts. We'll talk about the latest and greatest culture in depth. For talking points for your next happy hour, check out pop culture happy hour four days a week only from NPR. On the Code Switch podcast. Conversations about race and identity don't begin or end with the news cycle.

St. Vincent

That's because we know race and identity impact every person and influence every story. We're getting into all of it with. New voices each week on the Code Switch podcast from NPR.

On the Code Switch podcast, conversations about race don't start and stop with the news cycle. We know that race is always relevant, and we have new topics, new voices and new stories for you every single week. Listen to the code Switch podcast from NPR.