“I feel this collection embodies my full journey without [Eurythmics co-creator] Dave [Stewart],” she says. “Although I am proud of the work, I do feel a sense of ‘Bring on what’s next!’ because I have so many other plates that I’m spinning in the air, so I am writing less songs.” Her current state of mind is reflected in the two latest recordings featured on the collection, a pair of cover versions from U.K. bands Ash (Shining Light) and Keane (Pattern of My Life). “I haven’t finished with songwriting,” she clarifies, “I’m just switching gears for a while.” With Lennox scheduling public interviews in various cities this week (the first of which will be held in New York, the second in Los Angeles) rather than concerts to promote the album, it’s safe to say Lennox is opting to choose politics over pop for the time being.
And who are we to disagree? After winning a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 2004 for her soundtrack work on the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and finishing up a world tour with Sting, Lennox was at the highest point of her career with record execs begging her to hit the studio. Instead, she became a global ambassador for Oxfam and took a trip to some of the most distressed areas of South Africa.
When she returned, she connected with Glen Ballard (producer of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill) and began making her fourth solo album—arguably one of the most politically charged and commercially challenged works of her career—2007’s Songs of Mass Destruction. The disc, which sounds like a sonic string of apocalyptic revelations, tackles a plethora of social issues in its lyrics. The disc’s centrepiece is a charity record called Sing, a track featuring a chorus of 23 female vocalists (including the likes of Madonna and Shakira alongside Canadians Sarah McLachlan and Martha Wainwright). Aimed at raising money and awareness for Lennox’s charity of choice, the HIV/AIDS group called Treatment Action Campaign, the song was connected to a full-blown campaign that Lennox tirelessly worked into record interviews, YouTube videos, blogs and onstage monologues during her tour dates (which resulted in nearly a million euros raised for the charity). This was in addition to work for organizations such as Amnesty International, Comic Relief, and Greenpeace.
The reaction that Lennox’s record company, Sony BMG, has had to her recent move to consciousness-raising has reportedly been mixed. During a return visit to South Africa after Songs of Mass Destruction was released, Lennox blogged about how the label’s South African branch neglected to return phone calls or emails. “I’m now out of contract with Sony BMG . . . so maybe they are trying to tell me something,” she wrote. “For the first time in over 30 years I’m not obliged to do anything for anyone . . . I’m going to take my time over the coming months to figure out . . . [what] to do with this freedom.” Soon after, Sony BMG clarified that the slight from the South Africa branch had nothing to do with any negotiations for a new recording deal. A formal press release from the label’s Entertainment U.K. chairman Ged Doherty was issued, stating “[Annie Lennox] now has a choice as to whether she wants to continue to work with us in the future. We very much hope that she will.”
Lennox sees her current situation as liberating. “I’ve always tried to put my dark side, or my deep emotions, into a song structure that is palatable and very pop. I could go a lot darker musically and I definitely think that I will. I’ve got carte blanche now.”
Yet the question remains, is Lennox worried that her fan base will dwindle if she continues to strongly advocate for her causes and place her opinions front and centre? “No. If [fans] want to drop off, they can drop off. The majority of them are intelligent, sophisticated, sensitive and concerned about life in a broad-based way,” she says. “If you do anything in the public eye where you are going to try to communicate with people, you are going to have a whole spectrum of responses. You’ll always have a side of people saying ‘That old has-been, she’s so desperate for publicity that she’d even go this far!’ ”
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Lennox is prepared to go as far as she sees fit. On the matter of civil rights, Lennox says she is puzzled by California’s Proposition 8, which legally restricts the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples. “Marriage never worked for me,” she says, alluding to her two past marriages with German Hare Krishna devotee Radha Raman and Israeli film producer Uri Fruchtmann (the father of Lennox’s two daughters), “but I do think it’s important that gay couples that have shared lives together and shared property must have documentation that gives them rights like every other citizen. Logistically, all people need protection.”
On lighter subjects such as fashion, Lennox is equally articulate. Asked about singers lending their names and faces to luxury brands (like Madonna’s recent ad campaign with Louis Vuitton), she says, “I think it does dilute their art. They’re in it for the bucks and it’s a corporate world they’re buying into. Through the years I have been invited to represent several fashion establishments and I always said no—I have personally never wanted to be guided or led by any stylist or fashion house or anything corporate for that matter,” she says. “As an artist, I want to remain autonomous.”
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