THE pop princess is back with a new single and new fiance but some things she won't change, writes Kathy McCabe
Q: With your new single Here's To Never Growing Up doing the business on Australian radio, are you planning on a promo trip any time soon?
A: I was actually just there with Nickelback on tour a few months ago. I didn't have to play so I got to enjoy the city. It was the first time I was there and not working.
Q: So what did you do?
A: Well, I was just kind of cruising, doing the things I normally do. Travelling, going from hotel to hotel, airport to airport, venue to venue. (laughs) Yeah, it was exactly like being on tour and the hardest part of being on tour is travelling.
Q: Why didn't you give the shows a miss? It's not like you haven't seen (fiance) Chad Kroeger perform before?
A: No, I hadn't really seen very many of his concerts because we only started dating in the summer.
Q: You guys met when you started writing songs for your next album. Was it a party in the studio or all very serious singer-songwriter stuff?
A: We spent hours working very hard, but we were also having fun. When I started the album, it was Chad and David Hodges, just the three of us. David was in Evanescence before. So we all just sat around in a songwriting circle in the studio. OK, it was a triangle - we called ourselves the tripods. We talked, we got to know each other, we told stories, we laughed, I cried, you know. I went through every kind of emotion getting to know them and we wrote a tonne of songs.
Q: Was Here's To Never Growing Up the first song you all wrote?
A: No, the first song was called Let Me Go and it's a duet Chad and I have together. Towards the end of the album, we wrote the single, with Martin Johnson and J Kash. By then it was the guys and myself sitting around in a bigger songwriting circle. I wanted to write some summer songs, some more up-tempo stuff for the album so it's a whole mixture.
Q: Did you want to write more upbeat songs because of the rather dark nature of your previous record Goodbye Lullaby?
A: No, because I will always have my ballads. We started off writing more emotional, slower and mid-tempo songs. But I wanted to be diverse.
Q: All your pop-rock peers feel compelled to reinvent themselves while you appear to be happy in the niche you have created for yourself.
A: It was important for me to not change my sound or my style, to be able to continue making the kind of music I make even though the state of radio and the music industry has changed so much. I don't want to have to follow a trend, I just want to be myself. It was helpful to make a label change and be back with LA Reid again. He signed me, he believes in me and he would never try to make me do something I didn't want to do or to manipulate my sound.
Q: The fact you got 6000 submissions from fans for the single's lyrics video would suggest they agree.
A: That was great. I knew they were waiting for (the new song) because they are always hitting me up on Twitter - 'when is your new record coming? when can we hear new music?' It's really nice and it makes the experience of releasing music feel good for me because I know that I've got fans out there waiting for it and it makes me feel confident and comfortable to know that they are there. And it makes me more passionate about what I do.
Q: Does maintaining your sound for the past 12 years make you the Peter Pan of pop?
A: What's that Peter Pan line? Never grow up? I saw someone the other day who has that as a tattoo. I thought it was so cool and I love the Peter Pan idea of never growing up. I think being in music kind of keeps you young. The song is a side of me. I'm a balanced person who works hard and I take care of business, I'm mature. But at the same time, I am a free spirit and young at heart and I think to genuinely have a good time and if it entails staying all night, I'll do whatever it takes.
Q: So you namecheck Radiohead in the opening lyric of the single. Has the band responded?
A: No, not yet. I haven't heard anything yet. I'm sure at some point someone will bring it up to them. They are a really well respected band and everyone loves Radiohead and I started buying their records when I was a teenager. We were sitting around writing this song and Radiohead really fit it and it sounds cool.
Q: You have a busy year coming up. How are you going to fit your wedding and music career together?
A: We're just going to make it happen. I've just released the single, I'll be putting the album out but I also have wedding stuff and planning for that. I am just trying to keep up with it all and enjoy it. Yes, it is insane. I'm trying to do fittings for the album cover and then do a fitting for the wedding dress.
Q: Better not mix them up and wear the wedding dress for the album cover.
A: That wouldn't be good.
HEAR Here's To Never Growing Up, out now. New album expected in September.
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