Vanessa Carlton interview-Giant magazine

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http://www.giantmag.com/2007/09/musi...sacarlton0807/

Some stunning pics of Vanessa.

Vanessa Carlton: Desert Rose
The pop pianist returns... with a little help from Irv Gotti.
September 25th, 2007 • 11:11 AM

Vanessa Carlton


It’s been five long years since Vanessa Carlton owned pop music with her hit “A Thousand Miles.” Now the piano princess is down with hip-hop mogul Irv Gotti. No, seriously… And in addition to prepping her forthcoming album, Heroes & Thieves, Vanessa also spoke to GIANT about her obsession with ’90s hip-hop, touring with Stevie Nicks and her future goals.

On future goals:
“At some point, I’ll just go into writing for films. I wanted to score Lord of the Rings. And a lot of quirky Wes Anderson films would be fun. I can score anything. Eventually, I just want to be sitting in my house on the ocean with my kids and scoring films.”

On touring with Stevie Nicks:
“Stevie Nicks is the one who brought me back into the fight. She was like, ‘No, you’re not going anywhere.’ Because I left [my label] without a deal. She said, ‘You’re one of the great singer/songwriters of your generation. You’re up for the fight.’ She changed my life because I looked at her and I was like, ‘Oh it can be done. You can be yourself and still have a career.’”

On her experiences with hip-hop:
“Back in the day, I used to be obsessed with A Tribe Called Quest. I’d drive around New Jersey and my friends were like blasting Tribe. That’s really the only rap group that I would buy their albums, but everything else would just be, like, blasting stuff on the radio. Jay-Z though—Jay-Z is pretty amazing. The lyrics, some of them are incredible. I respect rappers. I mean, if you’re a good rapper, I tip my hat. I don’t look down on anyone.”

On gender dynamics in hip-hop culture:
“There’s a real cultural thing there with men [objectifying women]. It’s something that’s deeply rooted in that culture. It’s embedded in there and women perpetuate it more then men do because they play the parts and they’ve kind of maybe dumbed themselves down. They think that their physical self is really the most important. I’m talking about the women that these guys are rapping about. Those chicks, I see them and they are just eye candy, like, they don’t even say anything. They are basically playing the part of the hoes in the song. Like they just… It’s in the women’s hands to change it.”