Macy Gray - "Stripped"

[George]

She's a Grammy-award winning singer who has released eight studio albums to date, in addition to appearing in films such as "The Paperboy" and "For Colored Girls."

[Agent Yoncé]

I think I may check this album out. Especially tracks #2, #12 & #14.

[SHOOTER]

I cannot get enough of her cover of Maps. Love the spin she put on it!

[George]

10/4/12 at 12:15 PM
Macy Gray on The Paperboy, ‘Sick’ Lee Daniels, and Nicole Kidman’s Pee Scene
By Jennifer Vineyard



Macy Gray has dabbled with acting before — playing herself in Spider-Man as well as small parts in Domino and Lee Daniels's directorial debut, Shadowboxer, among others — but she has her first major role in The Paperboy. The singer, whose next album, a remake of Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, drops later this month, plays a maid named Anita who's more than just the help; she's raised Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron ever since their mother left, and she's an eyewitness to the progress they make in an investigation of a convicted killer whose release they seek, prompted by his groupie/fiancée (Nicole Kidman). Gray's the narrator of the film and tries to make sense of it all, even when the people around her refuse to be rational and flirt with danger. She was game to chat with Vulture about some of the more controversial aspects of The Paperboy, including Kidman's notorious golden shower.

You've worked with Lee Daniels before, and you're friends ...
Lee really took off when he did Precious, and I was pissed, because he didn't cast me in that! [Laughs.] So he promised me a role in his next movie. Precious was perfectly cast, and so is this. You have Matthew [McConaughey] playing the crazy writer; Zac [Efron] is stepping out; and Nicole [Kidman] can do anything. Lee has everybody in places that they wouldn't normally go. He's a very sick guy! [Laughs.]

When you're narrating the film at the top, your character is being interviewed, but later on, your narration seems to acknowledge that we're watching a movie, when you say that we don't need to see a particular sex scene. Why?
I stepped out of it for a bit. [Laughs.] The narration was all Lee's idea, and that was a moment to be funny for a second. But I don't think it was anything about those sex scenes.

I mean, if it's a choice between watching Nicole pee on Zac or have sex with Zac, some people would rather see the sex!
Oh, yeah! That was wild. I was kind of embarrassed watching it. They kept saying we were going to do some crazy things on set and go all out. It was pretty intense on set. People would stay in character the whole time, which was pretty insane, but they were really going for their part. And anything Lee wanted you to do, you did.

So, if Lee had asked you, instead of Nicole, to urinate on a co-star, would you?
Would I pee on somebody? Sure. I could pee on everyone. I'd rather be the person who's peeing than the person who's being peed on! Lee's real specific about stuff like that, and he doesn't simulate it. And if that's Lee's direction, definitely.

Your first scene with Zac, you walk into his room to clean up, and he admonishes you that he could have been in there masturbating, so you two role play, and you pretend to be him, masturbating on the floor. What was shooting that like?
I had just gotten there the night before for my fitting, and this was my first scene to shoot. And then when we shot it, Lee explained the total relationship he wanted these two to have, and he whispered something in Zac's ear about what he wanted him to do. And then he did the same to me, telling me what he wanted me to do, and we just ran with it. What you see in the film, I think that was the second take. We did it a few times, and it was kind of magical, because it's really establishing who we are and how close we are, that I know him like a book.

Zac's running around in his underwear a lot ...
It was totally distracting. I just wanted him to put some clothes on! I was asking, "Why is he naked in every scene?" But Lee said it had a purpose. But it was every day, all day. I don't know what he was thinking. But Zac did it very well, and he had no problem with it. I guess, if you have a nice body, you know ... So he didn't complain.

If Lee had told you there was a purpose for your character to be in her underwear, would you have been willing to do the same?
Walk around in my underwear? Yeah, I would do it. I walk around naked all the time. It gets hot up here, so I just chill. I don't do it just anywhere! There are places where you might go in your robe, just run to the store or go get gas, when you're not going to see anybody. But you don't get to go to the bank naked.

There's an undercurrent of racism, but it's subtle how it keeps popping up. Anita seems less like a maid, more like a mother to them, but then Zac's character uses the N-word. Or the lawyer refers to Yardley as "boy."
It would have been weird, in the late sixties and in the South, to not have that there. And it really changes you, when you hear those things. Even when you're talking to your friends, someone will slip and say something. Everybody has a little bit of racism in them, and everybody has a slip of the tongue, and that's just one of the first things we grab at, especially if we're upset. People try to be polite, and they know there are things that they're not supposed to say, but if you do, it doesn't make you a racist; it makes you human. We're all just mushed together in this big world, and it's natural to slip — as long as you don't get violent and crazy. That's the difference.

Do you want to continue acting, or is this just a detour for you?
I definitely want to do more films, but I talk kind of funny, and I'm kind of tall. I'm offbeat. I'm 5'11". Nicole is tall, too, but she's like the actress actress of the actresses. [Laughs.] So they would find a guy to fit around her, not a guy to fit around me. Actors are really tiny, like toothpicks. I mean, Hugh Jackman is a tall, gorgeous thing, but a lot of actors are short. It's crazy! I think someone's going to be tall, and then I'm disappointed, like, Fuck! You know? And I feel really awkward around short guys, if I'm dating them. If a short guy asked me out, I might have to pass.

Have you heard Ken Marino's version of "I Try"?
It's hilarious. It's pretty awesome. But I don't think he sounds like me. It's entertaining, but it's a stretch!

[esoteric76]

She's fantastic in The Paperboy. She nearly steals the movie.

[stunnedout]

Any Oscar buzz for Macy? I hope so

[stunnedout]

Was she even singing live?

[George]

Macy Gray and David Murray make a new 'Monster'
Article by: BRITT ROBSON
Updated: June 21, 2013 - 3:38 PM



An unlikely pairing, pop singer Macy Gray and jazz sax man David Murray, aim for alchemy on a tour coming to Minneapolis this week.

Listening to a simpatico vocalist and horn player is one of the more beguiling experiences jazz has to offer. When Sarah Vaughan met up with trumpeter Clifford Brown, bebop was suddenly imbued with a pastel-blue beauty. And few duos ever plumbed the soulful depths of improvisation like Billie Holiday and saxophonist Lester Young.

On the surface, Macy Gray and David Murray don’t seem like ideal candidates to conjure such alchemy.

Gray, who will perform with Murray’s Infinity Quartet on Sunday and Monday at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, has struggled to regain her commercial and creative equilibrium since her distinctively raspy voice was omnipresent on the pop hit “I Try” in 1999. And although Murray has worked with such vocalists as Cassandra Wilson and the late Fontella Bass, he is more renowned as co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, and as a prolific firebrand whose honks and skronks initially earned him comparisons to avant heroes Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp.

But Gray and Murray are such riveting stylists that the notion of a collaboration is a delicious prospect. You can hear it starting to happen on YouTube videos of Gray performing with Murray’s big band in Europe last summer, and during Gray’s guest appearance on the title track to the Infinity Quartet’s new album, “Be My Monster Love.”

[George]

Macy Gray on How Life Is 14 Years Later
IN 1999, ‘ON HOW LIFE IS’ SOLD OVER SEVEN MILLION ALBUMS. MACY GRAY TALKS ABOUT TOURING TO CELEBRATE HER LANDMARK DEBUT AND MORE
By DONOVAN X. RAMSEY



Nearly 14 years ago, singer Macy Gray made her biggest splash with her debut album, On How Life Is, and its hit single, “I Try.” Back in July 1999, Gray intrigued audiences with her unique sound and retro look for the first time. On How Life Is went on to sell more than seven million copies worldwide; “I Try” won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards.

Gray has put out six albums since then—including last year’s Talking Book, a complete cover album of the Stevie Wonder classic—and is currently working on another. She’s also acted in acclaimed feature films, including For Colored Girls, Training Day, Idlewild and, most recently, last year’s The Paperboy alongside Matthew McConaughey and Nicole Kidman). Currently, the 45-year-old singer is on tour celebrating the 14th anniversary of that very first album.

“I’m very excited to get back on the road and revisit music and a time in my life that was so influential in making me the artist and person I am today,” Gray says. EBONY.com caught up with Macy to discuss the album, subsequent changes in the music industry, and her life.

EBONY: Tell me about the current tour. How did the idea come about to celebrate On How Life Is this way?
Macy Gray: There was a lot of demand. I always get a lot of tweets and comments on Facebook about the album. It was just an idea that we had and we ran with it. The tour is really short. We’re only doing six shows along the East Coast. We’re really doing it for fun and to see how it goes. Maybe we’ll do it again next year all over the world.

EBONY: On How Life Is came out in the summer of 1999. Who were you then, and what was life like?
MG: There was a lot of set up for the album at that time. I got signed about a year before. We made the album in about six months and there was a lot of work to do even as we were making the record. I didn’t know anything about the record business or how things were done. I was just so excited to have a record [and] be on a record label finally. I wasn’t really expecting anything. I was just in the moment.

It was very different, because now you have to pay attention to what’s happening on the radio and all that other stuff. But when you’re new, you don’t know anything about that. I think that’s why a lot of people’s debut albums are so pure, because they’re not tainted with all that business yet. When it did blow up, I was totally surprised.

EBONY: In an article for The Guardian, you said the only song from the record that you still listen to often is “I've Committed Murder,” that it was the culmination of all your hopes for the album.
MG: That’s still one of the best songs I’ve heard. That song is so great. It’s the production on it and all the details on the record, even what it’s about. I just love that song. It’s really a great record. If it were anybody’s record I would say that. [But] I wouldn’t want to go back there musically. So much has happened since, and I have so many other influences. But it’s still special to me.

EBONY: So the album comes out and was a huge hit. In retrospect, what do wish you could tell yourself about the experience ahead?
MG: I would say, “be smart.” I was having so much fun, and a lot of times I wasn’t paying attention to the big picture or thinking about the consequences of what I was doing. I was really impulsive in terms of things good and bad. I had a really good time, and I’ll never regret that, but I wish I had been more conscious.

EBONY: “I Try” was, of course, the smash single from the album. Do you ever get tired of singing it?
MG: I’m a fan of that song myself. I love that song. I can’t think of a time I’ve ever been tired of it. I wish a lot more people knew my other stuff. Overseas I have a long list of really popular songs. It would be cool if my later records would have been promoted better here in the States. But I’m making a record that’s really awesome and I have a new manager. Everything is fresh and I’m excited about my new record.

EBONY: So tell us about the new record. What’s the first single like?
MG: It’s wild. It’s raw, like nothing you ever heard before. It’s ghetto, Black, White, red, yellow, green. It’s all kind of things. Most of all, it’s new. You haven’t heard it yet.

EBONY: You’ve released seven studio albums. That’s alot of work. How have you seen the music industry change?
MG: Is it that many? The music industry is a whole different world. There are fewer labels, less everything, and there’s not as much variety. When I was in high school, jazz was really popular, and reggae was still really popular, and hip-hop was blowing up all over the world. Everything is kinda homogenized now. There was so much juice, and you could be a fan of so many things. Now there’s a lot of homogenized music. It’s like, I heard Pitbull on a Tim McGraw record the other day, which is cool. There’s just not a variety anymore, and it’s a lot more producer driven than artist driven. It’s not bad, just different.

[George]

New album plus new single released!

[Ty]

New video "The Way" is out.

Also announced her next project would be The Way: Part 2 via Marie Claire interview.

www.marieclaire.com/culture/news/a16881/macy-gray-the-way-music-video-premiere/

[George]

New album Stripped is now available. It marks her first jazz album.

1. Annabelle
2. Sweet Baby
3. I Try
4. Slowly
5. She Ain’t Right For You
6. First Time
7. Nothing Else Matters
8. Redemption Song
9. The Heart
10. Lucy

[stunnedout]

she has some cute songs.

[Ty]

Tenth LP Ruby was announced last month via Billboard interview.

What can fans anticipate sonically with this forthcoming album?

Sonically, it is beautiful. It has all sorts of [fusions]. There are a lot of live instruments. We mixed it with samples. We had a ball. But, it is very different. At the same time, it is excellent ear candy. It is actually very pop. Still, it is gritty and grimy and dirty. [The record] will be super R&B. You know, with my stuff, there is always a jazz element. That is what I grew up on. I can't wait for everybody to hear it. I love it.

Now that you're gearing up to release new music, will there be more tour dates associated with Ruby?

Oh, yeah! We are going to go crazy. We do this short New York and D.C. run. Then, we are going to go kind of around the states in August and September. We are going to do a real tour, [then head to] Europe in October and November.

Also, she revealed that the album was initially entitled "Red" but...the power of Taytay!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi8LxFpnZ9J

[SHOOTER]

Lead single co-written by Meghan Trainor and produced by Tommy Brown (one of Ariana's producers).