To kick off this series, we're featuring Sarah Tracey, the cool spy babe whose "Camera" was our Song Of The Day on Monday.
Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.It has a sexy and soulful vintage/retro vibe, but contemporary lyrics that today's listeners can relate to! We bring in some world influences as well, lots of tango and latin rhythms, and some mysterious and exotic sounds, too.
Who are your musical influences and idols?
Nancy Sinatra, Portishead, Madonna, Ronnie Spector, Diana Ross, Astor Piazzolla, Marianne Faithfull, Grace Jones, Etta James, Kurt Weill, Henry Mancini, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Roberta Flack, '60s pop and Motown, and retro spy film scores.
What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, on cassette.
Let's talk about your "Camera" video. First of all, what was it like seeing it on AOL on Monday?
Amazing! It was a huge project with a lot of incredible creative people putting their hearts and souls into it, so it feels great to see it out in the world.
One of the storylines in the video involves spies. Was this your idea? Are you a big fan of spy movies or novels?
Yes, my whole album Tell No One takes on a spy theme. I'm very into the whole romance of spy culture, not just for the guns/girls/fast cars/world travel glamour, but the idea of the double life/secret identity. We all have sides of ourselves that we show the world everyday, and different parts of us that we keep secret or hidden. You don't have to be James Bond to have a secret life. That duality is endlessly fascinating to me as a songwriter, and the spy angle gave me a clever way to explore that.
Another one of the story lines in the video was about someone taking a phone which contained risque photos of you. With Facebook, Twitter, camera phones, etc., do you think we share too much?
Absolutely, the boundaries of privacy are shrinking every day. Whether you choose to overshare your own business via the internet, or simply people invading your privacy and exposing personal things about you online--documents, photos, videos, etc.--walls are coming down, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.
Finally, have you ever had any risque pictures of yourself accidentally end up in the wrong hands (or phones)?
Um.... no comment ;-)
More Sarah Tracey: Official Site | Facebook | Twitter | MySpace
