You just dropped the tracklisting for your album and you shot the video for your next single “Change Your Life” in Vegas. How’d that go?
Hot as hell cause it was like the hottest day in 100 years. [Laughs] I was like, cooking from the inside. But, it was good. It went great. I did it with Jonas & Franēois who did “Work,” which has been nominated for the VMA. We teamed up again. I loved working with them. They are crazy French people and they are super passionate and so am I. We can get into these heated, crazy discussions where we are screaming at each other. [Imitates Argument] We go back and forth and I love that. I get so passionate about what I do and I think sometimes people will come away or will be around me or just met me and be like, ‘She’s a bitch. I can’t believe she said that. It’s so blunt.’ So, I love being around Jonas & Franēois where we can have the most heated discussions and walk away and we come up with a solution and no one is offended by anyone. I love that.
So the energy is there.
Yeah, I got arrested in my video. I was topless. I got to show some skin. There was dancing. There were things caught on fire. We went to the strip club; we did it at the casino house. I had a tiger. [Laughs] I feel pretty good about this video; people will definitely want to rewatch it. I think a great thing about a video is when there’s so many things happening in it that you didn’t get process all the information. You want to watch it again, so you can see what it properly [is]. You feel like you missed something, you need to watch it again. Everybody that I showed it to so far watched it again. They say, ‘Wait, I didn’t catch that. I need to watch it again.’ So, that’s a good sign. I’m really happy with it and I am happy that I am finished with the album.
How is the video inspired by Bladerunner and Showgirls? What did you take from those movies?
When I heard this song, I just kind of felt like it…“Change Your Life,” it has a bigness about it. It’s a big record. It feels like, ‘Whoa, this is humongous when you listen to it.’ When I think of a Vegas show, I think they are always spectacular and humongous. I didn’t want it to be cabaret, I didn’t want it to be cheesy. I just started to watch all the movies that I could think of that were kind of Vegas-based. I loved Showgirls because I think it’s a ****ing awful movie and I just love that it was so tacky and kind of awful but hilarious in its own way. I think some things can be so bad that they’re good. I think it was so bad, it was good. [Laughs] I loved it. I loved that this girl in Showgirls, Naomi, the character that I play in my music video, she’s a badass. And she’s rebellious. She does things in her own way, but she still has a dependency on this man or this casino. She needs them to get her job off or her dream. She’s dependent in a way, but she’s rebellious. I identified with that. Myself with needing a label, but being an artist and wanting to do it your own way and having to kind of dealing with the devil I guess. I really liked this movie. I connected with it in that aspect.
I love the song that I got, “Change Your Life” with T.I. I am saying to a man, essentially, ‘You need me. I’ll make things better.’ I guess it’s a bit [to] upgrade you. T.I.’s going back and forth with me saying, ‘No, bitch. You need me. What the **** are you talking about?’ And so I love that. I thought it was appropriate to base it on that storyline of Showgirls where she needs the person, but she’s still rebellious. ‘No you need me. No I need you.’ I like the back and forth of it. I thought it was a good storyline to base on.
Of course, Bladerunner, I just love. I didn’t want to do the traditional Vegas. I still love the neon lights. I love neon lights, bold lighting, and the lighting of Vegas. I thought in a way similar to what I had seen in Bladerunner. I like Bladerunner. It’s a little bit futuristic throwback. It’s like ’80s, but ’80s future. I like that. Vegas can be really tacky and ’80s—that kind of gaudiness. I thought it was a good combination.
Great long new interview:
http://atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=408104