Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Christina Perri follows her 'Head' and 'Heart'
NUNN ON ONE: MUSIC
by Jerry Nunn, Windy City Times
2014-04-22

This article shared 11670 times since Tue Apr 22, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Singer Christina Perri—who hails from Philadelphia—proved herself before even signing a record deal with a gem of a song called "Jar of Hearts" that was used on the television show So You Think You Can Dance. She was signed to Atlantic Records and followed it with another hit "Arms" and a Twilight Saga song "A Thousand Years."

Armed with only a blonde streak in her hair and a body inked with tattoos, the songwriter made the season bright on A Very Merry Perri Christmas in 2012.

Her new album, Head or Heart, was released this month, and she dropped in on Chicago to the House of Blues to perform some tunes from it. She talked the day before the performance, and here is what she said.

Windy City Times: First off, I read you were in musical theater as a child.

Christina Perri: Yep. I was obsessed and I still am. I did theater from about eight years old until 18. I used to teach the same camp that I went to afterwards I moved to L.A.

WCT: What is your favorite musical?

CP: That is so hard to say. I have to say Rent because I have seen it the most. I really love Book of Mormon, Mary Poppins,and The Sound of Music. I am a super-nerdy old-school musicals fan! Oh, I love Wicked and Once also.

WCT: How was having your song "Jar of Hearts" on Glee?

CP: Oh my God. I am a huge Glee fan, too. I am so obsessed with Lea Michele [who plays Rachel]. She is my favorite—Spring Awakening, hello! When she did "Jar of Hearts" I remember it was actually the day my first album came out. We did not plan that. I don't even know what you call that. It was the best luck ever. She sang the song so strongly. It was so rad, there is just no other way to put it. It was so overwhelmingly cool.

I also didn't believe anyone until I saw it because that is too awesome, like no way! Then when I saw it I knew it was real. I told Lea I loved it; then she ended up cutting one of my songs recently on her album. That whole thing keeps blowing my mind. I wrote "Empty Handed" on her album Louder.

WCT: I just spoke with her about the album and we mentioned you, actually. You have a new song on the soundrack of the TV show Girls called "I Don't Wanna Break."

CP: That is true. I love that show, too! That was really special. I got to hang out with Lena Dunham [who plays Hannah on the show]. She is just as amazing in real life as you would hope she is. She came out to the studio when I was doing that song. I wrote it with her boyfriend Jack and he co-produced it. We were in New York and did it in one day. She came and we had sushi. She is just awesome and so is Jack Antonoff—you know, from the group fun. We really hit it off and wrote that song in 20 minutes.

WCT: Jack is a really nice guy.

CP: He is so cool and really not cool at the same time—more like my kind of not cool.

WCT: He's a big gay supporter so that is why I liked hanging with him.

CP: And am I, just so you know...

WCT: I was hoping with all of this Broadway talk.

CP: Of course. All of my friends are hairdressers. I grew up in a hair salon.

WCT: Where did that blonde streak in your hair come from?

CP: Oh my God. I had that for years before my record deal. Then I had it all the way until it grew out basically. After I switched up my hair on purpose to not be stuck with that because I had this awful premonition wondering if Slash doesn't want to wear that top hat but has to because it's his thing. I thought no way and being a girl makes me want to change my hair all the time! I didn't want to be the same all of the time, new album, new hair so that is how it goes.

WCT: Looks great to me. Was the track "Be My Forever," with Ed Sheeran, inspired by your previous tour with Jason Mraz?

CP: It totally has a Mraz-y vibe to it. I get that. I wrote it with a guy named Jamie Scott about six months after the Mraz tour. I still had a little of that in my system. I'm a huge Mraz fan in general and have been since his Java Joe days. I was like 15 when I fell in love with Mraz.

I wasn't thinking of it consciously but I wanted that campfire, like a party, sit around with a guitar to have a little jam style in that song. I think Jason just happened to patent that. It wasn't my intention, then again Jason is known for writing happy songs and that is the first happy song I've ever written so of course it is like his thing.

WCT: With the album being called Head or Heart, is it about connecting to your emotional side?

CP: To be quite honest, I don't know how not to have an emotional side—I'm Italian, a Leo and a girl. I could name about 50 things! My number one inspiration would be emotions. I have been writing songs since I was 15. It is the only thing I know how to do when I am feeling an 11 or a zero, which is how I describe it. Most people are somewhere in between. I feel like writers have a super high or a super low. We have to have a place to put that. It is funny because in real life I am so dorky, silly, and happy all of the time. People ask me why my songs are so emotional but that is where I put my stuff. Everybody has somewhere where they put that heavy stuff so I put it into my songs.

I am just happy this album is not a break-up album. My first album I didn't realize was until I wrote this one. I captured a little bit of everything. I think because in the three years that I wrote this album I went through so much shit. I fell madly in love and wrote about it for the first time. There are four songs on this album that are not about guys. They are about a relationship with me, learning to be me on the planet and being okay with that.

One of the songs is about the 15-year-old version of me—the last song, called "I Believe." "Burning Gold" is a song about when I moved to Los Angeles from Philly. I was absolutely terrified but I wouldn't give up on that flame inside of me that kept going. There is all of things and so much more dynamic but the one thread to the whole album is emotion. It is all of the feelings that go with these experiences that I have had. They are all true stories.

WCT: I have always wanted to ask you this. Since you started blowing up when Katy Perry did, do people get you confused with similar names?

CP: Oh, constantly! Here is the thing, everyone asks if we are related. I'm like, "We don't spell our names the same so no." I wouldn't mind it because I love her. Every single radio show I have done ever since the beginning of my career everyone has brought it up. I hear it all the time.

WCT: You have such a way of connecting with fans.

CP: It is so awesome to connect with people's hearts.


This article shared 11670 times since Tue Apr 22, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

'Rumors' performers create alternative drag playground 2024-03-24
- At first glance, Dorian's Through The Record Shop (1939 W. North Ave.) looks like a brightly-lit shop with a handful of records on the wall, but there's a secret world behind those unassuming shelves. Visitors are ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar' 2024-03-21
- Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...


Gay News

Lollapalooza announces lineup; SZA, Skrillex among headliners 2024-03-19
- Lollapalooza has released its line-up for the event that's taking place Aug. 1-4 at Grant Park. Headliners include SZA, Blink-182, Skrillex, The Killers, Hozier, Melanie Martinez and Stray Kids, among others. Some of the other acts ...


Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18
- Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

House-music festival on Aug. 30-Sept. 1; icons, Idris Elba to be part of it 2024-03-13
- The ARC Music Festival—an event celebrating house music—will take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Chicago's Union Park, per WGN-TV. This will mark the fourth year that the festival will celebrate the genre at Union Park—less than ...


Gay News

COBRAH slithers into Chicago and brings Feminine Energy 2024-03-08
- COBRAH snaked her way into Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St., for two nights March 7 and 8 for her Succubus Tour. This Swedish-born talent has a way with naughty words and ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret 2024-03-05
- Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

THEATER 'R & J' puts a female, queer spin on Shakespeare 2024-03-05
- Romeo and Juliet is the theatrical gift that keeps on giving. It's been reworked for the masses numerous times, whether in direct adaptations or musicals such as West Side Story. Shakespeare's plotline points have even inspired ...


Gay News

THEATER When growth is paramount: Jim Corti helps fuel Aurora theater expansion 2024-03-01
- Out actor/director/choreographer Jim Corti made his Broadway debut in 1974, in the ensemble of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. Director Harold Prince's acclaimed Tony Award-winning revival is often cited as a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

'Always Olivia' celebrates Olivia Newton-John at Raue Center 2024-02-26
- From a press release: Always Olivia, a tribute to one of the most celebrated and beloved pop culture icons of all time, the late Olivia Newton-John comes to Raue Center in Crystal Lake on Saturday, May ...


Gay News

Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams's violin stylings help COH mark Black History Month 2024-02-23
- As part of its celebration of Black History Month, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., presented a solo jazz performance by violinist Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams on Feb. 21. The two-hour long performance presented a showcase ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.