Sweden to Los Angeles transplant Lykke Li is a true artist. Her music and her live show is an extension of everything she is going through, good and bad, at the same time.
From her stellar debut, Youth Novels, a decade ago, to this year's So Sad So Sexy, the perfect title for a Li album, Li has shared her life and emotions with her devoted audience, making her one of the most intriguing artists to emerge in the last 10 years.
Talking to Li, I found the exact same to be true. Whatever is on her mind at the time, in this case whether an artist who is "So Sad" can write happy music and find a relationship where she can eat popcorn with her partner. Her views at the obstacles women face in "having it all" versus men are thought provoking and challenging as you can read here in this fascinating conversation.
Steve Baltin: I saw the show Tuesday at the Wiltern, which was excellent. Does the four years between albums and all the life changes, like becoming a mother, rejuvenate you for going on the road?
Lykke Li: I enjoy the shows now in a way that I didn't before because it is such an escape from real life. The shows are beyond and I'm really thankful [because] I also realize singing my material that I'm also getting to heal myself and work through a lot of my past and problems through it. So I really feel kind of witchy when I'm doing the show, but then the bus life, all that, I'm like, "Man, I'm old. I like being in my bed and watching Netflix." The traveling and staying on the bus is a pain in the a**.
Baltin: What are you watching on Netflix right now?
Li: I spent probably an hour trying to find something to watch cause I've seen it all. But I love all those like Making A Murderer, The Fall, like dark s**t. Dark, realistic things I really love.
Baltin: Are there songs off So Sad So Sexy you have a different appreciation for or that have changed for you?
Li: Yeah, but the only problem is it breaks my heart singing these songs. I'm like, "Wow, this was bad." And I was talking to my friend Andrew Wyatt, who's also in the band, and he said, "Maybe you should try for the next record to write really positive songs, something working out before it's even happening." Then we spoke about the Roxy Music album Avalon. I was like, "Yeah, but the only song I like off of that album is 'To Turn You On.' So I just don't know how to write positive s**t." But I have to at some point.
Baltin: I was lucky enough to interview Nick Cave, who told me he always writes what he is looking for in life. So when happy he writes sad songs and when upset he writes happy songs. Could that be the case for you as an artist? An artist doesn't necessarily have to write happy songs.
Li: I know, but I want to at some point be a normal person who's in a solid relationship eating popcorn. It's never happened to me.
Baltin: What is the definition of a happy song to you?
Li: I don't know, I don't like happy songs so I can't even think of one. I don't know, "Happy Birthday?"
Baltin: Do these songs still break your heart or have you been able to distance yourself from them?
Li: No, because it's an extremely complicated situation. I was in the relationship when I was writing the song and we were still working together. And then we parted ways. So pretty recent and I'm singing about it, but it's not that long ago.
Baltin: Do you feel that will change over time or the songs will always be difficult?
Li: There are, but that's why I'm like, "Cool, I have like four albums worth of material that are all heartbreaking. What happened?" But the interesting thing about it is, I guess, because like every album has been about a heartbreak and somehow there's been a new album. So that must mean there must be a new chapter I suppose.
Baltin: It's always such an interesting philosophical question: can you find happiness as an artist and not have it affect your work?
Li: I feel like on this record, like "Jaguars in The Air" is the most positive song I've ever done. But that's more like an inspirational song, like a personal song. Like if you want something you can dream it, you can see it, you can have it. It's more like about getting the f**k out of where you are. It started off as being positive, like we could have all these things. But then in the end, in the outro, it's like, "Yeah, you told me you would do all these things and you didn't."
Baltin: Who are the artists you admire for the way they evolved and changed their style?
Li: I love Bob Dylan, he changed all the time. Every great artist, Michael Jackson, Prince, all those people, Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac. But it is a hard thing because women and men we don't have the same playing field in life. Period, across the board, no matter what industry, no matter what field. We're not playing by the same rules. It's really difficult to be a woman. Is PJ Harvey happily married? I don't know. But Nick Cave is. Is Stevie Nicks happily married? But probably Lindsey Buckingham is.
Baltin: Are there people in any medium who have struck that balance and you admire for the way they "have it all"?
Li: Yeah, what I'm trying to tell myself, at least, is I'm trying to do all things at the same time, even the fact I had a baby. With my peers, there's nobody around me that would have a baby. It's not even young, but fairly young in an industry like this, to be out for four years. I guess I'm trying to see my whole thing as an experiment. And I don't compare myself [but] it's hard, I wish I had role models or someone I can call on and ask for advice. Did you see the Jane Fonda documentary? It's like five chapters and four chapters are the men she was with. And at the end she's alone. I watched the Whitney Houston documentary, it's the same thing. She was f**king the biggest artist in the world and had a baby, married and then drowned in a bathtub alone. There are not a lot of women who seem to have it all. Even politically, wasn't there some political who wrote a book? "For sure you cannot have it all. Thinking you can have it all is the biggest myth." You just can't. All the males all have kids, but yeah because they have wives who are at home taking care of the children while they spend their 10,000 hours being in the studio or something. Even the first months where I had a baby I was like, "Oh, wow, I wonder if I reach my full potential as an artist." Cause now I'm not a selfish person anymore. Like I go home, after a certain amount of hours in the studio. I have turned down so many things just so I can be with my child.
Baltin: Has it also made you a better artist though because you have more experience and emotions to put into your art?
Li: Yeah, and I guess it gives it some type of weight and fire. Also everyone has different circumstances. I guess all you can really do is do the best you can for your circumstances. What about Frida Kahlo? She was in a bed most of her life and that's where she created her art.
Baltin: I also think parenting frees you up as an artist because it gives you the perspective of what's important and you simply don't care anymore what others say.
Li: That's for sure. You realize like who the f**k cares! I'm surprised myself the s**t that rolls off my back. Years ago I'd be like, "Oh my god." Now I'm just like, "Whatever."
Baltin: Does that make you a better artist in the long run?
Li: Yeah, and you realize the most interesting thing is the creativity and the inspiration, that's a gift in itself, to feel the urge to make something and then be able to make something. That's like luxury.
Baltin: Every artist hits moments where they feel like they are growing into the artist they want to be. Were there moments like that for you on this album?
Li: Yeah, for sure. But then I also get frustrated that it was like one time and it's like gone. I wish I could make something that could capture what I'm doing live on a piece of work. I feel like live is where I excel, but that's the moment that then passes. If you could manage to bottle it up or make a film out of it or something that could live forever.
