MIRROR: Your new CD, Naked, has quite a variety of songs, and you’re branching out quite a bit. What were you aiming to do with the new CD?

AMBER: With this CD I was finally released from my contract from my production team. I tried to do that before my second album, but it did not work out. With the third album, finally I got to that point. It was very important to get away from the pigeon-holing of just being a dance artist. I consider myself a vocalist, a songwiriter, and an artist. I wanted to prove that there was more to me than a fast-type beat and I can give a substance to dance music. Dance music in general doesn’t have substance. There’s lightly dressed women that don’t have any substance, and that’s why dance music in the past has been pushed to the side. I’m at a point where I’m trying to bring a difference to that and show a different side to me. As layered as my life is, I wanted to show that. I have a different mood each day – it reflects a variety of different styles.

M: You’ve done something a little different with your songs on the new disc vs. much of the dance music out there right now. For instance, using a James Joyce excerpt in “Yes,” or exploring the need to be emotionally connected, using sex to sell it – I don’t know what other way to put it – in songs like “The Need to Be Naked” or “Sex Without Sex.” Why did you make this effort?

A: I guess because I took control of my project. The first album I don’t really like to look back at. But it was not a negative thing – I try to see it as an experience.

“Sex without Sex” is about spiritual connection. If you get to know a person deeply, and strip all the layers down, it can be just as nice as having sex with a person physically. I meant the song as stripping down all your layers and get to know a person spiritually. I was very well aware of the sexual wordplay, but that makes the song universal. People constantly put the stigma on me. “Yes” has breasts. (In the song, one lyric, excerpted from James Joyce’ “Ulysses,” reads “I put my arms around him yes/and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts.” When I say it comes from a James Joyce book and they stop, it’s like “got you right there.” No one talks about “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Love One Another,” etc. R’B artists are able to have suggestive videos, with smoking weed in the back and moans but I can’t put out a song like “Yes”? I don’t understand that. I’m just clueless why that’s the case.

M: Your third single is slated to be “Anyway (Men Are From Mars).” The song sounds like it’s slower, but it still has that definite dance rhythm built in. With the ballads you have on your album like “Don’t Say Goodbye,” is there any chance for a release of one of those as a single?

A: It’s something that I would love to do, I’d love to come out with a power ballad. I have been talking [to the label]. I don’t think I have the right label to promote that. I will definitely push for it for the fourth single.

[“Anyway”] doesn’t have any sexual content. I think it’s a very witty written song and very empowering for women. It’s a very aesthetic song written for my divorce, and celebrate differences in a partnership. But if you don’t have anything in common, just make a final decision of where do we go from here. That’s what that song is about.

I really want to do a video this time. I think it could be a really funny video. I just want to be simple in a wife-beater and my hair all out and just sitting there and being “Oh god, there we go again.” I think it’s a great radio track, with a lot of good feedback from radio. I’m very excited.

The song is 130 beats per minute. It has an off-beat, so it sounds slower. We will satisfy every genre out there. I hope that a lot of radio stations go with the original. Every original version of this album can be played on radio. Every extra remix, fine, serve it to the clubs. I was happy with basic production though.

M: Your mother wrote material and played piano on certain tracks of your new album as well. What’s it like including your mother in the process of making an album?

A: She wrote Heavenly Proximity myself. She says, “this is the way I want it done,” and I’m like “But Mom!” She’s very specific. But I have a very intense relationship with my mom. She’s probably the only person in the world that knows everything about me. I think she brought a great track to the album. I found out on my message board that fans love that track. She’s excited about that. And for “The Smile of My Child”, she wrote all the music for the string orchestra. It was a love song written for my son. It’s me and my mom writing something for my son. That was a very, very emotional experience.

M: Is the album title, “Naked,” a metaphor for what’s been happening in your life or the new direction you’ve taken with your music both lyrically and stylistically?

A: It was definitely something – my label said at one point why don’t we call the album Naked. They asked would we do another Naked shoot? People have complimented me that I don’t act like all the other artists. So, it’s something we don’t take very lightly. I want to make sure it’s more tasteful then someone who’s probably dressed out there. I had the last word on the artwork. If we’re gonna do this, no man is going to be in the damn room, and I’m going to have the last word on what is going to happen. It’s not so much that I’m prudish, but I don’t want to mislead people. I don’t have a problem with sexuality, but I don’t want to head into the wrong direction. I want people to concentrate on my brain, singing, what I have to say. It was definitely a concept where I’m finally happy and content with myself. I’m out of the negativity; out of the contracts. It’s a new beginning and baring my soul.

M: Do you have any say over the remixes that are produced for a particular song that you sing or write?

A: Yes. I’ve been starting to involve myself more with that. I hear remixes sometimes and I’m like “absolutely not.” Then there are tracks that I personally don’t like but I understand the mentality. I can connect in terms of I know where he’s trying to get to and which crowd he serves. Sometimes there are mixes that I – oh my god – and they still get put out and they get them over the internet. It’s important to have that original version intact. Everything else is a marketing strategy to make sure that the song gets out there to the biggest crowd.

M: With music sales trending downward, has it had an adverse affect on you as an artist?

A: Oh yeah. That’s lightly said. Look around in the music business – all these labels are going down and all the CEOs are getting fired. It’s been a very, very tough time for us. I don’t know if I’m going to do a next album – I don’t know what will happen. I have addressed that on the website. If you do not go out and support the artist – music is a culture that is so important to humanity. We are kind of politicians. We inspire, give you messages to help you change your life for the better. Look at the 9/11 thing, how many million we brought together. But, you think you like the artist, you download a song. We sat down, we wrote, we created, and we don’t know how long we’re going to be there. We have to feed our families too. We are asked to do benefit concerts. You make us, but you also break us. If you do not but the album and they do not break even, we get dropped from the label, so you as a fan are responsible for my career. There are a lot of artists out there that have to make people understand. We have to be grateful, but we depend on them to keep making the music that we want to do.

M: Dance music seems to be the last group to hold on to singles, since it’s easier to produce a maxi-single with remixes and so forth included. You have had your recent songs be released on the maxi-single format, for one. Does that still help to build interest over a particular song or album?

A: It’s not working anymore. Singles are very expensive. They are a luxury. I have a lot of complaints from fans. If you don’t bring this out, why should we get it? People should just enjoy the music. I don’t even know if vinyl is going to be available for Anyway. I’m still trying to see if that is going to happen. If you don’t bring it out on single, then fans say you leave us no choice to download it. We have to come to the conclusion that you can go to all these websites and spend an incredible amount of money, or you can go to the government and say “we need a new law.” That has to be done as soon as possible. As much war as there is going on between labels, they should just get together and say this is about our industry. If affects me, you and the rest of the industry. Why don’t they say let’s form a committee, take the millions out of the lawsuit, and say ‘how can we get a new law?’

M: When your second album came out, your first single, “Sexual (Li Da Di),” took quite some time before it actually began to get some serious airplay. Ultimately, it did quite well considering the efforts involved to make it work. Do you think that dance music still has a hard time getting acceptance on radio?

A: We know that the music industry is political as hell. There’s things like Clear Channel that has 1300 radio stations right now. If they don’t want to play your music, you’re off 1300 radio stations nationwide. The dance genre has been neglected and has been looked upon as it’s not worth it. Then there’s a lot of major labels that own slots at radio stations that are reserved for them. They will make sure that new artists get airplay and the independents don’t have the money. It’s not what the people want to hear, but how much money has been thrown on the table. I see a lot of fans complaining that they do not play what they want to hear. People are waking up slowly and understanding.

“Sexual” stays on the dance charts at #1 and radio doesn’t play it. Then there’s the stigma of [the word] Sexual. Hello, Marvin Gaye! What is wrong with you guys? There is a lot of things involved – what a girl is supposed to do, not supposed to do. I would probably just stop in this industry if I kept thinking about it, but I’m a fighter. If you do things correctly, and connect with your fans. I’m not going to go anywhere. I’m a fighter.

It’s always the same people who get pushed, and who get all the airplay. Airplay on the Billboard Charts makes this hard. Before, it was possible, because sales were more relevant, so what the big labels would do or the independent labels would do is they released 99 cent singles, throw them out there, and at that point, people bought them. But then, it’s not fair, since independent labels can’t afford it, so they’re going for airplay. Then Clear Channel came along. I sold 300,000 singles of “Sexual,” but did not gain the chart airplay. It’s a political mess. But the chart position you see with me is an honest one. I don’t have millions to spread around.

M: On Cher’s latest CD, a cover of “Love One Another” can be found. What is it like to have artists like Cher covering your songs, or being a co-writer for a song for Bette Midler?

A: It’s great. It was just a great experience to hear someone like Cher sing it because she was repeatedly asking for it. At the time, “Love One Another” was on the remix album and being promoted, but if she still wanted to do it. They wanted the second verse rewritten, and that’s fine. So we rewrote the second verse, and it brings more credibility to me at that point. It’s like wow – Cher is covering that song. It’s stupid that people don’t get it by the first listen, but it’s the kind of reference that’s helpful for me as an artist.

M: Would you say in terms of your music as an artist up to this point, are you proud of what you’ve accomplished, in terms of both what songs you’ve produced and the success that came with them?

A: Of course. Everybody has a talent, and it’s for you to discover it. You have to compromise, even in your job. You’re always looking forward. When I started out, it was not a genre that I necessarily wanted to start out with, but I had the chance to be heard. I’ll take this tool, and make myself bigger and better. I’ll get myself to a place where people will listen to me. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved, and there are many doors open to me. I’m not eager to be #1, because I imagine that it would be very stressful, and where do you go when you’re #1? I’ve been working for seven years, and it’s great, but I’m continuously working, and I still have ways to go up. I’m looking at Broadway, co-writing more.

M: Making a career in dance music is quite difficult – many artists don’t gain enough name recognition, or produce music too homogenous to really be known for more than one or two hits. You’ve continued to thrive, having a decent string of chart topping songs on the Club Play chart. How do you feel about being able to remain successful in a genre that seems to be still more focused on that next hit single than an album of quality songs?

A: I’m not really too worried about that. I’m trying to hit for the crossover. I’ve been there [the dance charts], done that, and we’ll see what happens with “Anyway.” It’s a chance [Tommy Boy is] taking to go off that sure route. But I’ve shown diversity. The songs do not sound the same. Formula will not last longer than a year, a year and a half and on top of that you don’t have too much to say. Right now, I’m definitely shooting to crossover and even take dance music to crossover. It’s a valid genre. Why shouldn’t it have a chance? Radio keeps denying that and keeps thinking and making people believe that R’B and Hip Hop is the only valid genre out there. It’s not.

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