Trouble at the top

Hot Press first catches a glimpse of Macy Gray whilst seated in the canteen of Sony’s London offices in Great Marlborough Street. The singer’s scheduled round-table interview with sundry Irish publications is already running late, but, understandably, Gray has decided that right now lunch will take precedence over the backlog of promotional duties for her recently released third album, The Trouble With Being Myself.

Half an hour later, your correspondent shuffles into a nearby conference room in the company of two fellow journalists. Gray is seated at the table, chatting amiably to a middle-aged man across from her. Eventually, the man says his goodbyes and gets up to leave. As he exits the room, Gray quickly glances up at the cadre of reporters making their way in, all armed with notebooks and tape recorders. Visibly wilting in her chair, the singer nonetheless summons up enough energy to offer one of her trademark grins, swiftly followed by what must be her umpteenth round of handshakes so far today.

Despite her constant fiddling with an empty water bottle, and her tendency to distractedly stare at her hands, the table, or indeed any peripheral objects in the room whilst talking, Gray eventually settles into a reasonably comfortable conversational groove, and proves to be acutely self-aware, with an engagingly wry take on the vagaries of fame.

But first, we must enquire about The Trouble With Being Myself. Over the years, coming up with a satisfyingly all-encompassing description of Macy Gray’s music has proven to be the journalistic equivalent of butterfly catching – seemingly straightforward, but ultimately frustratingly elusive. However, in his recent review of the record, Peter Murphy astutely deconstructed the protean nature of the Macy Gray sound as being, “[a] complicated weave of Parliament-ary party ambience, ragged ballads and daytime radio friendly funk, all topped off by a rather charming soul crone’s voice.”

Deeply surprising to learn, then, that in the initial recording sessions for her new album, Ms Gray sought to emulate the decidedly minimalist instrumental set-up famously utilised by a certain Detroit duo.

“I got really obsessed with the last White Stripes record,” explains Macy, instantly establishing a rapport with at least one writer in the room. “The idea for this album was that it was going to be really stripped down – just guitar, bass, drums, maybe keyboards. And it was going to be done in two weeks. Of course, by the time we’d finished, we’d been there for eight months and layered about a million tracks onto every song!”

Macy also experienced upheaval in her personal life during the making of the album, with her father’s death the most extreme misfortune to have befallen her during the recording period. Interestingly, despite the numerous dark events which dogged its creation at every turn, the tone of The Trouble With Being Myself remains defiantly upbeat.

“That’s true, none of this stuff really made the album more down. It’s like if you listen to old Sly Stone albums – some of the stuff he’s talking about is really heavy, but the music provides the counterpoint. There are some sad songs on the record, but I don’t really like melancholy albums. I can’t really imagine doing an hour of sad music, and I’m actually not too sure I’d be able to that anyway. I’m a pretty optimistic person and I think that’s a quality the records always have.”

An air of defiance certainly surged through ‘I Try’, the anthemic 1999 single which instantly catapulted Gray into the spotlight. Though a catchy enough tune by any standards, the song’s chorus particularly seemed to strike a chord with anyone who’d ever suffered through the agonising break-up of a relationship – not a small constituency. Still, was Gray in any way surprised at the extent to which people took the song to their hearts?

“Well, when you’re new to the game you don’t really know what to expect,” she considers. “I think I was really naïve and green, so when that song started to take off, I couldn’t believe it. I remember the first week in the States, ‘I Try’ sold 8900 copies, and I actually rang my mother and said, “I’ve sold 8900 records! This is amazing!” And everything that happened afterwards was really a nice surprise, because, truthfully, I wasn’t expecting it.”

It might seem like a rhetorical question to ask of anyone famous, but does Macy Gray enjoy being the centre of attention?

“Probably not as much as I used to,” she sighs. “I suppose, like anyone, I saw movie stars and whoever, and they always seem to get what they want, and I was definitely attracted to that. But when you’re on the outside, you’re maybe not getting the whole picture. You see the glamour of it and all the bling-bling, but you’re not really familiar with the details. At first, I did absolutely enjoy that thing where you walk in the room and everybody pays attention, and I suppose I still enjoy it to an extent, but sometimes it can be a hassle.

“Like, going out to a club is just way too much. It’s not a major thing, but it’s something I miss. I miss going out to a club, meeting a guy, dancing all night and then bringing him home and fucking him. They don’t even ask me to dance anymore, ‘cos my bodyguard is standing beside me and everything. (Laughs)”

The Trouble With Being Myself might well represent the closing of a chapter in Macy Gray’s career. Famously, she studied screenwriting before embarking on a full-time music career, and recently the singer made her first movie appearance, holding her own opposite Denzel Washington in Training Day. She has also begun producing other artists, and overall seems keen to seek new creative challenges.

“As long as it stays fun, that’s all that counts,” Gray sums up. “Making music is just something I enjoy, whether it’s doing my own stuff or working with other artists. As long as that thrill of creating is still there, I’ll stick around.”