Interview Pt. 16
Reporter McStrawman (RM): So what about “Valerie?”
Leeah Swift (LS): Who?
RM: The Amy Winehouse song?
LS: Oh yeah, that BBC recording…organ on every quarter, the guitar frolicking, the encouraging chorus of backup singers.
RM: Why on the mix?
LS: Just another one of those jams that’s not super heavy with pertinent meaning, but it’s just so good. The first time I heard it, I cried. It felt so vulnerable, like asking someone to come over, like asking for help, just, like, doesn’t come easy.
RM: To you, you mean?
LS: Oh yeah, reaching out is terrifying. Even opening my mail can send me in horrible anxiety. I usually go to other places, too. I just never find where I live that fun, most of the time. If I ever asked someone to come over, it would feel so wild, so unreal. Magic.
RM: You chose the track because of magic?
LS: Yeah, magic. It doesn’t make that much sense to me, but it doesn’t have to.
RM: How so?
LS: I feel, like, a gagging because this is probably going to be real cliché, but, like…ok, trying to pin everything down doesn’t, like, work. It doesn’t fulfill. I feel like facts are pride.
RM: What?
LS: I don’t know. Maybe it’s more about the delivery.
RM: What are you talking about?
LS: Facts. Maybe it’s more about why you’re sharing, how you’re sharing. Like, correcting people. I want to learn how to really let it go sometimes, like, what am I sharing a fact for? To impress someone? To contribute? To build myself up or to enrich everyone?
RM: Depends on the delivery.
LS: Yeah, definitely the delivery.