Singer-songwriter k.d. lang’s new four-disc career retrospective, Recollection, includes hits and rare live recordings. The one-time poster girl for lesbian chic, whose voice her sometime duet partner Tony Bennett considers “immortal,” is now a Tibetan Buddhist. The four-time Grammy and eight-time Juno Award winner lives in Los Angeles with her partner of eight years.
Q: On Recollection, all the genres you’ve worked
in—country, pop, torch songs—are represented. Has your voice changed since you started recording 25 years ago?
A: It’s evolved toward being a little more subtle. Aesthetically, I’m a minimalist, and it’s of my own volition that I don’t use the power so much. But I don’t actually think it’s changed that much.
Q: For a few years, starting in 1992, you were a huge star, and then you more or less walked away from the limelight. Do you look back on that period with regret?
A: No. I wouldn’t trade it for the world because it was an amazing experience and I’m really glad I had it, and I’m really glad it’s in the past. It’s my life, what can I say? It’s one of those branches that falls off and leaves a very interesting shape in my trunk.
Q: One of the discs is a DVD with videos, mostly made at the height of your fame. What’s it like to watch them now?
A: The hair, the weight, the age—that stuff can make you cringe, but it doesn’t override the feeling of pride and accomplishment.
Q: Do you think videos amplify music or expand its meaning somehow?
A: I always felt the opposite, that videos are actually a nemesis to music, because to impose visuals and images on a song is actually unfair to the audience. I stopped doing them in 1995 or something. It was pleasant to stop because I never liked the whole video world but also because I was responsible for 50 per cent of the bill.
Q: In 2005, you sued your former manager for misappropriating $2 million of your money. Has that been settled?
A: Yes and no. All the legal things are finished, but it’s still ongoing.
Q: Because you don’t have the money back?
A: Uh, yeah.
Q: At least that process must have made you more aware of what was going on with your investments. Did that leave you better prepared for the recession?
A: In a way. I had no money, so I didn’t worry about losing anything! [Laughs] I was really prepared for the recession! I’ve been living broke, basically, my whole life.
Q: Do you spend all your money, or…?
A: I don’t really spend money. Okay, I’m not totally broke, but I’m really in debt.
Q: Are you happy with the way your career is being managed now?
A: Yeah, I think so, because I don’t want to have it on the front burner. I like it just simmering. I feel very at ease right now, because it’s at a manageable level. People aren’t chasing me around with cameras and making me feel uncomfortable anymore. I often say fame is kind of like a drug or like sugar: when it’s controlling you, it doesn’t feel good at all. It’s like, you get to the top of a hill and you start downhill and you’re sort of out of control, or you start to depend on it, or people depend on you to be a certain way—it’s beyond you as a person, and I don’t think that’s really healthy.
Q: But don’t you ever yearn for more recognition? For another smash hit like Constant Craving?
A: Definitely. When I’m writing, or about to put out a new record, I think, “Oh God, a hit would be so great!” But I try to not let it ever distract or contribute to my direction. I definitely fantasize about that but it would have to be on my muse’s terms.
Q: A lot of stars use Twitter and social networking sites to push their brands and connect with fans. Why don’t you?
A: It gives me the heebie-jeebies, to be quite honest. The tweeting thing, to me, is just really unnerving. I’m not interested in [hearing about] somebody having a McDonald’s burger and then “oh my God, there’s a dog crossing the street.” It’s a waste of energy on so many levels. I just don’t think I have that much insight into the world to be spreading it around randomly.
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