Skylar Grey

0:05Hey, I'm Skyler Gray and you're watching NSN Exclusives. I've been good. Yeah, last time we talked to it. Like you said, the Tom Tom Club talking about, it was on the Rihanna 7.7 tour. 7.7, 7.7 tour. 7.7. Yeah, so you were talking about writing Love the Way You Lie. And I guess a lot of these songs started off

0:51around the same time in this cabin in the woods. So let's start with that. Yeah, cabin in the woods, man. How sick are you talking about this cabin? Well, it's kind of weird to talk about it because it was such a sacred thing for me. It's such a sacred place for me. And so just to have everybody know about it. You know, it's kind of weird. But at the same time, it's an interesting story. So my first time around in the music industry didn't work out so well. And it happens to a lot of people. Yeah, it does happen a lot. Luckily, I was given a second chance on a lot of people. So I feel really grateful for that. But in order for that to happen, I needed to kind of reinvent myself and do some soul searching. So I isolated myself in a cabin in the woods in Oregon

1:38and taught myself survival skills. I went outside of the bathroom. I chopped wood. I avoided the mountain lions. I ate huckleberries and shunt shell mushrooms. You hunted mountain lions? No. That did not do that. So I had quite an amazing life-changing experience out there in the woods. And near the end of my stay there is when I wrote Love the Way You Lie. And that changed my life forever. And final warning came around the same time, too, right? Final warning was written. I guess we talked about last time, yeah? Yeah, final warning was written the same week. I wrote Love the Way You Lie. How do you decide which song goes to other people, which songs stays for you? Like out of those two, you said here, take this one, but I'm like this one. I don't really know that I had a choice in the matter.

2:24OK. When Eminem says he's going to cut one of your songs, you just kind of say, OK. But yeah, it changed my life for that to happen. And for Rihanna to sing it and everything, it was a massive song. Opened so many doors for me. I remember what we talked about was I asked you if she used the same cadence that you did on the demo, if she copied kind of what you were doing when she heard it and you said yes. So what kind of confidence boost is that? That's what I wanted to get to last time, and we didn't have time or something like that. But what kind of confidence boost is that for you as a writer and as a singer to say, well, the way I sing it is the way, you know, one of the biggest pop stars in the world decided was like, oh, that's the way. Well, the thing is, the thing is, I've always been a performer. Like, people right now are just discovering me, and they think that I started out as a songwriter for other people. You know, that's the perception right now.

3:10But I've been performing since I was six years old, and I made three folk albums with my mom by the time I was 14. And so I've always been an artist. It just happens that my big break came through songwriting. That was kind of an accident. Come Let Me Ride was written for the live environment. That's what I've heard. That's how I feel about it. You know, I played so many shows as a piano player, singer, songwriter, because A, I couldn't afford a band. And B, it's just really like was my only option. And now that I have these big productions on my album, and I have a little bit more money, I can afford a band. I'm able to not just be stuck behind an instrument the whole time.

3:59And I actually get to perform and be in the crowd's face and stuff. So I needed to put some music on my album that would be fun in the live environment to perform. Not just, I don't want to put people to sleep sitting behind a piano the whole show. So that's one of the main reasons that that song came about. The other thing is, people don't realize that I'm pretty sarcastic and I have a dirty mind. And I just wanted to make an album that showed every facet of my personality and who I am. And so that's one of them. But there's a lot of dark stuff on the album. There's stuff with hints of country, like religion and sunshine. I was just thinking of the acoustic and religion, yeah.

4:44Yeah, so I've had so many musical influences in my life because of my crazy experiences in music. And I can't just live with one genre. So I kind of created my own mess of a genre. But I like it. I was going to go with that theme of every song kind of sounds different. But I also like the idea of you now playing with a band live. Whereas I assume the record is probably you and piano and Alex kind of doing stuff with beats and programming and synths and things like this. So how have the songs morphed with a band? Have they? It's similar. I mean, live, it sounds similar to the record. There's more energy just because live drums always live in a show. What song is resonating with the crowds the most? Now that you're able to play these songs for everyone, everyone's hearing them. Well, come and let me write. It's always fun to play live.

5:31Ironically, come and let me write. It goes over really well. And then white suburban goes over really well. And then the polar opposites on the album. But that goes to show you that people don't want to just hear an album of all the same songs the whole time. They get bored with it. I get bored with it when I buy an album. And it all sounds the same. You know, there is something to be said for cohesiveness though. Like if you sound like a totally different person on each track, then it's hard to really understand who the artist is. But I think when you listen to my album as a whole, like songs back to back, it makes sense. If you pick one out and pick one out, eh, you might be a little confused. And so when I was putting out this album, I told the label that I wanted to not release one single,

6:16but four before the album came out. I don't even care if they are going to radio. I just want people to hear the diversity of the album before they buy it. And white suburban, you're like looking at the Wikipedia page and don't know how accurate things are online. No, I did this. You're the sole producer on that though. How does that change things up? When I moved to that cabin in the woods, I taught myself Pro Tools and how to engineer. And I had a little recording studio that was kind of mobile. And I just did a lot on my own. A, because I couldn't afford to pay a producer anymore. So I was just like, I got to figure this out myself. And then also, because now that I'm not when I work with a producer, I'm able to articulate what I want, what I'm hearing in my head. And if I'm not able to articulate it,

7:03I say move over, let me show you. And that's fun. I'm sure that is. Let me, is this before or after you learn video editing? Video editing, I mean, that was kind of in the middle. In the middle? In the middle, because I started learning Pro Tools like a little bit before I went to the cabin. And then I was like, well, video editing can't be that much different from audio editing. So I edited porn for a while. I had to make money, but I'm a high school dropout with no work experience. So nobody would hire me except for this porn company. It was really unhealthy and I quit. But then I went to the woods and did my thing. I had a couple of Twitter questions from people.

7:49Keep them busy. After the mini tour, are you planning on doing more shows or opening for someone? Clear blue sky 24. After one of your songs. Yeah, is that cool? I will definitely be touring more. This is the kind of preliminary kind of test run, because I've never played the songs live before. So we needed to feel it out. And then also, the album's doing way better than anybody expected. So we're definitely going to have to tour more. And that's a good thing. Are you excited for life on the road? Yeah, I love life on the road. I think it's really fun. I love sleeping on a tour bus. It's like a purring cat. It's like sleeping on a purring cat. That's good. That's a good way of looking at it. Never heard that before. I don't know. I just made that. No, I like that. You can use that on every band I interview now

8:35after you're purring cat bus. Clear blue sky 24. Another question. She hit me up like 30 of them. But I'm only going to use two of them. You co-wrote Clarity by Zed. Will you ever sing that live on piano? Please. I possibly could do Clarity at the time. How do you fill out the sound? I mean, the record's 52 minutes. I assume you're playing for more than that. It's hard because I have so much material that people want to hear because I've done so many collaborations and stuff. But right now, I'm promoting the album. So I'm trying to play as many songs off the album as possible. So I just kind of pick and choose what feels right. But some of the songs on the album get left out. And I do the hits. The hits. You know, because that's what people want to hear. So I mix it up. Five quick questions. One word answers. Oh, crap. I'm bad at this. Can't let's go. Road or Studio?

9:20Studio. Lenna or McCartney? Lenna. When you hear a song that usually hits you first, lyrics melody or rhythm? Melody. If someone's never heard Skylar Grey, what song do they start with? I know. It's a new one I've thrown in. I like this one, though. That one's so hard. I know. But it's a new record, too, right? It's too hard. I can't answer that one. OK. Song you've written your most proud of. I can't really. Equally as difficult. No, because here's the thing. It took me three years to make this album so that I was equally proud of each song. Because I didn't want to just put it on an album. I was like, oh, and I added the 11th one because it was there. No. I want every single song to be something that I am 100% proud of.

10:07So the answer is kind of don't look down. Yeah. Right. And just listen to it more. Listen to the album. And you know what people are listening to? The album. In a world where most people are just buying a single here and there off iTunes, people are buying my album. It's incredible. It was number two, I think it still is, on the iTunes and the US under Jay Z. And it was totally unexpected. I didn't even think it would chart. Little only two. And Jay Z is only because it gave it to everybody. You'd probably be number one if that didn't happen. I don't know. I'm just saying I'm just, I can't believe how many it sold. And it's nice because it gives me faith that people do still want to hear long playing albums. They want to hear the LP. I keep going with it on a bunch of times. So in one word, Skyler Gray.

10:55Emotional. Well, that's good. I like that. Thank you. I appreciate that. That's good.