Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in Progress. Hello
Speaker 1: whip smarties. Today I am joined by a woman that
Speaker 1: I have been an admirer of for a long time
Speaker 1: as a fan of her music and as a person
Speaker 1: who really respects the way she has risen above a
Speaker 1: lot in her life, and after today's conversation, I consider
Speaker 1: her a new friend. Today we're joined by Morgan Wade.
Speaker 1: She is an incredible musician who has really found herself
Speaker 1: in the center of so many exciting things, touring with
Speaker 1: Joan Jet and Alanis Morrissett. Her new album Obsessed is
Speaker 1: out and it's beautiful and powerful, and it's a record
Speaker 1: that she wrote all on her own, her third full
Speaker 1: length album. In fact, it's the follow up to her
Speaker 1: previous album, Psychopath. It's project that Morgan says really gets
Speaker 1: to the essence of who she is as a musician,
Speaker 1: a storyteller, and a human. As a listener, I think
Speaker 1: it's perhaps the most raw and vulnerable I've ever heard her,
Speaker 1: and I just absolutely think she is cementing her status
Speaker 1: as one of country music's most distinctive talents, and she
Speaker 1: happens to also be a really great human. She has
Speaker 1: talked so openly with her fans about her journey into sobriety.
Speaker 1: She just celebrated seven years sober, about her choice to
Speaker 1: have a preventive double mistectomy to keep herself safe from
Speaker 1: a cancer risk, and really about what it's like to
Speaker 1: suddenly be thrust into the world of fame and how
Speaker 1: hard it can be to be one person against the internet.
Speaker 1: I am so grateful for her candor, for her willingness
Speaker 1: to bring her whole self to conversation, and for the
Speaker 1: example she says. I'm pretty excited today that I get
Speaker 1: to tell her that she said an example even for me.
Speaker 1: So with further ado, let's get to it with the
Speaker 1: wonderful Morgan Wade. Well, Hi, it's so nice to finally
Speaker 1: meet you. How are you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing good. How about you?
Speaker 3: I'm all right.
Speaker 1: I've been traveling a lot for work, and I just like, oh,
Speaker 1: the feeling I get when I think about you having
Speaker 1: to tour and you manage your whole life in the
Speaker 1: midst of it, Like.
Speaker 4: Hats off to you. I don't know if I could
Speaker 4: do it.
Speaker 2: It's one of those things and it's like you get
Speaker 2: kind of used to it, but at the same time
Speaker 2: you don't. But it's like when I'm at home, I'm
Speaker 2: good for like a week, and then I'm like, this
Speaker 2: feels strange to be sleeping in the same bed.
Speaker 1: Totally totally, It's that weird thing, right, I think about that.
Speaker 1: I'm constantly like, God, I just wish I could be home.
Speaker 1: I wish I could have a routine, and then I
Speaker 1: get home and I get antsy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that anybody that's like creative, that you know,
Speaker 2: has to travel, whether it's filled yeah, you know, music
Speaker 2: or any of that. I don't do too well at
Speaker 2: home too.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think when you're a creative, sitting still can
Speaker 1: be tricky. I've started to even realize that if I, like,
Speaker 1: if I have a little fidget tool or something, I
Speaker 1: can sit for longer, But just sitting is hard.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I totally get it. If I have like
Speaker 2: a mating or something and it's just on the phone,
Speaker 2: I want laps. I'm on this you know, tour right now.
Speaker 2: And so there's like these huge parking lots, and so
Speaker 2: I will be walking circles all day in the security
Speaker 2: guards and just stare at.
Speaker 4: Me like like, what are you doing.
Speaker 2: You weirdo? What are you doing. Yeah, I don't like sense.
Speaker 1: Still yeah, well I feel you there. It's interesting like
Speaker 1: for me figuring those things out about myself as an
Speaker 1: adult makes certain things about my childhood and like my
Speaker 1: attention span or whatever. Track a little more for me.
Speaker 1: When you kind of sit in this amazing place, you know,
Speaker 1: you're out on a tour, You're making music, you love,
Speaker 1: people are obsessed with it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: There's the exciting things I think that come with that,
Speaker 1: and also the hard things that come with notoriety growing.
Speaker 4: I feel for you, girl, But.
Speaker 1: When you sort of sit here and look at your life,
Speaker 1: like if you look back at your childhood, do you
Speaker 1: feel like you see a through line like were you
Speaker 1: always really artistic? Were you always wanting, you know, to
Speaker 1: be up and moving? Did you always know you wanted
Speaker 1: to make music or does your life now look completely
Speaker 1: different than you thought it would when you were a
Speaker 1: little kid, like eight or nine years old.
Speaker 2: You know, I think I obviously knew that I wanted
Speaker 2: to to be involved in music. I don't think I
Speaker 2: knew what capacity that was gonna be. You know, I
Speaker 2: always like when writing songs and pull them stories like
Speaker 2: that when I was like little, but I didn't think
Speaker 2: I could sing. I thought my voice was weird, so
Speaker 2: I didn't sing for anybody. I was like very secretive
Speaker 2: about it. But I enjoyed writing songs and you know,
Speaker 2: playing my guitar in my room by myself, and I
Speaker 2: just did it because I loved that. It wasn't like
Speaker 2: I was trying to do that for anybody else. And
Speaker 2: then eventually, once I got into college, I started drinking,
Speaker 2: and then that liquid courage gave me that ability to
Speaker 2: be like playing for my you know, my friends and
Speaker 2: stuff at the dorm. And you know, it evolved. But
Speaker 2: I don't think that I thought it would be this,
Speaker 2: you know, But I just know I had a lot
Speaker 2: of trouble sleeping as a kid, and my mom took
Speaker 2: me to the doctor. It was like one of those
Speaker 2: things and it was a severe OCD and like it
Speaker 2: was a whole routine to go to bed, and of
Speaker 2: course my parents were never getting any sleep because I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, and so the doctor was telling me
Speaker 2: ways to calm down, and he was like, you need
Speaker 2: to think about something that you really want to do,
Speaker 2: something you love that makes you happy. So I would
Speaker 2: I would fall asleep every night picturing myself on a
Speaker 2: stage and playing, and that's what I thought about every night.
Speaker 2: And now I look at it, I'm like, okay, that
Speaker 2: was kind of manifesting. Uh there a little bit, but
Speaker 2: that's what I would fall asleep thinking about every night.
Speaker 2: But I didn't grow up really in an area or
Speaker 2: around anybody that did anything like that, so I didn't
Speaker 2: think that that was, you know, possibility. And of course,
Speaker 2: you know, it wasn't like I could get on the
Speaker 2: Internet and you know videos on you know, how to
Speaker 2: how to do that. It wasn't like things are now,
Speaker 2: you know, But it was something I knew in my
Speaker 2: head I wanted to do, but I didn't have that call.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so when do you think that changed? Like if
Speaker 1: you knew you wanted to be a musician and you
Speaker 1: finally got comfortable starting to share music with people in college,
Speaker 1: was was that when you felt like you were able
Speaker 1: to say, oh, I really want to do this as
Speaker 1: my career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Of course. You know. It was freshman
Speaker 2: year of college and my mom I remember her being
Speaker 2: when I came home and was like, Hey, I'm going
Speaker 2: to go play this little show. She was like excuse me,
Speaker 2: Like what are you? What are you talking about because
Speaker 2: she was so like me Van, and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go She was, what are you No,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go sing? And she was very confused
Speaker 2: by that, and so which I don't blame then, because
Speaker 2: this came out of nowhere. And so I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't really want to stay in school anymore, don't
Speaker 2: want to finish college. And of course that was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I know you need to What are you talking about?
Speaker 2: Just came out of nowhere, And of course I looked
Speaker 2: back and I totally get it. At the time, I thought,
Speaker 2: you know, my parents were crazy and everybody was being unfair.
Speaker 2: And I ended up getting a bachelor's degree and I
Speaker 2: did continue for four years, but every weekend I was out,
Speaker 2: like playing shows. I pretended to be my own booking agent.
Speaker 2: I have a fake email. I was like, I formed
Speaker 2: a band on Craigslist. He's not really safe. Me and
Speaker 2: two of my friends from class. There was an ad
Speaker 2: that were looking for a singer, and I rode over
Speaker 2: to a sketchy part of town and I went in
Speaker 2: this guy's basement. And fortunately, this isn't like a you know,
Speaker 2: crime podcast, and you're not like talking to my mom
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm still here, but yeah, and it
Speaker 2: just all kind of went from there. I like looked
Speaker 2: back and it was like step by step for me,
Speaker 2: but you know you eventually it just started to happen
Speaker 2: and everything kind of fell into place.
Speaker 4: That's so cool.
Speaker 1: And so what was sort of the journey like once
Speaker 1: you started a band and really started to perform, Like
Speaker 1: how did it happen?
Speaker 2: You know, like I said, you know, the sort of
Speaker 2: craiglist thing, and then it just kind of became taking
Speaker 2: any kind of opportunity that I could get. So you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes I look back and you know, you have like
Speaker 2: moments where you're like, you know, you feel like kind
Speaker 2: of drained and like what is the point. You know,
Speaker 2: I had a tough year last year. Everything it was
Speaker 2: like the whole way down kind of being known. And
Speaker 2: then I was like and do I don't want to
Speaker 2: do this anymore? Because I like look back at the beginning,
Speaker 2: I was like I was so hungry for it. I
Speaker 2: was like excited, Like if three people showed up and
Speaker 2: were listening to me, I was like, I'm going to
Speaker 2: make those three people like me. And I had to
Speaker 2: kind of remember how that was but I I did.
Speaker 2: I just took every opportunity I could get. And I
Speaker 2: worked a job at a gym and I had to
Speaker 2: be up at three point thirty every morning, yeah, five
Speaker 2: days a week, and then had like once a month
Speaker 2: on a Saturday, and I would do that and I
Speaker 2: would sit in there and I would just send out
Speaker 2: email after email after email, trying to get any gig
Speaker 2: I can get. And so I just I did my
Speaker 2: own merch. I did like everything I booked it. I
Speaker 2: tried to build the website, like, I just put everything
Speaker 2: I had into it, and things just started started to
Speaker 2: kind of fall into place. And I mean there were
Speaker 2: times that just absolutely sucked. Yeah, and then it was like,
Speaker 2: you know, to me, it was just not giving up.
Speaker 2: It was just like pushing and doing whatever I could
Speaker 2: and honestly letting my songs kind of just speak to themselves.
Speaker 2: They just kept writing. At the end of the day.
Speaker 2: It was like, no matter what, I was writing music
Speaker 2: and I was having fun at that point. But it
Speaker 2: ended up I met a guy in Sava Vaden at
Speaker 2: a music festival and he was just getting into producing
Speaker 2: and he plays for Jason Isbel and that was a
Speaker 2: huge fan and it ended up I had been playing
Speaker 2: this song out like a wilder days, and people were
Speaker 2: really like catching on to that song, they really liked it,
Speaker 2: and that was the first song I ended up catching
Speaker 2: him when he sat down to do a rite, and
Speaker 2: then of course that ended up, you know, three years later,
Speaker 2: two years later being a radio single, and it kind
Speaker 2: of trades fired and then just everything went. It feels
Speaker 2: like it went quickly, and then at the side, stuff
Speaker 2: like it kind of voice. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, it's like they always say, it takes a decade
Speaker 1: to become an overnight success, right, right, And it's so
Speaker 1: much invisible work, like just so many things that people
Speaker 1: don't see. And you know, the length of the road
Speaker 1: you had to walk to get to this place where
Speaker 1: you're sitting on a tour of bus, you know, out
Speaker 1: going around the country.
Speaker 4: It's wild.
Speaker 1: How has the adjustment of it been for you? And
Speaker 1: I'm I'm curious because you know, one of the things
Speaker 1: that I appreciate in people, and I think one of
Speaker 1: the reasons I admire you is because you've stood very
Speaker 1: vulnerably and honestly about your human experience. Like you've talked
Speaker 1: about sobriety, you've talked about you know learning how to
Speaker 1: cope with this sort of attention, all all of these big,
Speaker 1: you know, journeys in state that you take. And I
Speaker 1: feel for you because I also know like when you
Speaker 1: go from the like in your line of work, when
Speaker 1: you go from being reported on by CMT to being
Speaker 1: reported on by TMZ, even if it's all bullsh it's
Speaker 1: hard and it's stressful, and like, it's hard to accept
Speaker 1: that people would rather embellish your life to the point
Speaker 1: of turning you into someone you're not in the press
Speaker 1: for clicks and cash, then care about what's true for
Speaker 1: you and your life and respect your human identity as
Speaker 1: a fragile, feeling person in the world. And like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I've been through this more than once in
Speaker 1: the twenty years I've been on TV, and I've certainly
Speaker 1: seen you go through it, and I'm just like, you know,
Speaker 1: you still have to get out and get on stage
Speaker 1: on tour every night and make people happy, Like how
Speaker 1: how do you feel you're out How to make space
Speaker 1: for your work and your life.
Speaker 4: When sometimes they get complicated like that.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, well I would sell Like last year when everything,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of the media was popping off. I
Speaker 2: definitely didn't want to go play. I had a show
Speaker 2: like a few days later, and I was like, I
Speaker 2: don't I really don't want to go. I don't want
Speaker 2: to leave my house. I don't want to do anything
Speaker 2: right now because it's just so bizarre. The only time
Speaker 2: I had been in you know, stuff like that again
Speaker 2: was pertaining to my music. It wasn't pertaining to you know,
Speaker 2: gossip calling as any of that stuff. So I just
Speaker 2: it was it was such a weird, a weird thing,
Speaker 2: but I went, and you know, of course it was.
Speaker 2: It was different because the people that were there listening
Speaker 2: to me, we were fans, and they just honestly did
Speaker 2: not care. They were more so, hey are you good? Yeah? Up?
Speaker 2: You do the meet and greets, and they're not in
Speaker 2: there asking me questions. They're in there like how are
Speaker 2: you doing, how your sobariety like kind of checking in.
Speaker 2: So it was like good for me, but I was
Speaker 2: also I can't let other people win. Yeah, it was
Speaker 2: a it's been a really like difficult experience, but now
Speaker 2: I'm just like numb to it. And I had to
Speaker 2: kind of sit back and laugh and like, you guys
Speaker 2: are kind of grasping at straws at this point. But
Speaker 2: it was definitely, uh a weird, really weird time because
Speaker 2: it's like you go to bed and then you wake
Speaker 2: up and it's all the stuff like everywhere. And but
Speaker 2: it's been good for me too, just in the sense of, uh,
Speaker 2: I think it's been. It's been. I have a tracker
Speaker 2: on it because I was, like, you know, super addicted
Speaker 2: to just getting on the internet, just scrolling, whether it
Speaker 2: was looking and trying to read and just feeling bad
Speaker 2: about myself and then being like, well, this isn't even
Speaker 2: prove but I'm sitting here feeling bad about it. So
Speaker 2: I've been on that seventy one days. I took everything
Speaker 2: on my phone. I'll let my team run it, and
Speaker 2: I've gotten an ore done and they blast seventy one
Speaker 2: days and you know anything, and I don't miss it.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I might log back into Instagram one day,
Speaker 2: but as of now, like, I'm really content about it.
Speaker 2: You were wasted a lot of time, just even if
Speaker 2: it was just videos and dogs that I would watch, Yeah,
Speaker 2: so much. Nine.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, it's it's so easy to escape into those spaces.
Speaker 4: And I don't know why.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because to be an artist, you have to
Speaker 1: be sensitive, you know. I don't know why so many
Speaker 1: of us are so much more sensitive to the negativity
Speaker 1: than whatever the positivity is, but I know, at least
Speaker 1: for me, like realizing that my.
Speaker 4: Justice complex, as.
Speaker 1: My therapist likes to call it, like I am obs
Speaker 1: obsessed with justice and truth and believe, you know, we
Speaker 1: should be good to people and so like that thing
Speaker 1: gets really fired up in me when I know that
Speaker 1: things are being said about my life that are just
Speaker 1: not true, and like to your point, when they're grasping
Speaker 1: at straws. Like when I started to look at some
Speaker 1: of it for me last year, I was like, what
Speaker 1: are we talking about? Like how I can't sneak into
Speaker 1: an event that's being photographed with anybody, let alone when
Speaker 1: I show up with a group of nine friends.
Speaker 3: Who's sneaking around?
Speaker 1: Or like, you know, it's just everything was so surreal,
Speaker 1: including like you know, I had storylines about like oh,
Speaker 1: you know, the chemistry. Upon meeting I was like, did
Speaker 1: I just meet my friend of five years at this event?
Speaker 3: Like what are we talking about?
Speaker 1: It was all just so surreal for me, and I
Speaker 1: guess what I'm What I find so interesting is like
Speaker 1: we all go, well, why are we doing this?
Speaker 4: Like why am I even paying it any mind?
Speaker 1: Yet we all feel so wounded by by it, and
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't know, it's like the golden handcuffs, right,
Speaker 1: Like you're online so you can do the work you love,
Speaker 1: but the online life hurts your ability to like even
Speaker 1: exist as a person, let alone to do your job, right.
Speaker 2: I mean, I uh, I just one day like turn
Speaker 2: everything off and I was just sitting there and I
Speaker 2: was like, see, it doesn't really exist. It does not
Speaker 2: really exist. It's just this like place. It's just like
Speaker 2: logging on to this you know, video game or so
Speaker 2: those you can cut it off. It really will not
Speaker 2: affect you unless you unless you let it, which is
Speaker 2: so easy to say. And I have these moments where
Speaker 2: I'm like yes, and then you know, and I look back.
Speaker 2: A lot of it, I think is is like deep
Speaker 2: rooted childhood stuff where I wanted to be you know
Speaker 2: that you want to be loved so bad and you
Speaker 2: I would have done anything just to I didn't want
Speaker 2: anybody to be mad at me. I was like always
Speaker 2: thinking someone was mad at me, and so it was
Speaker 2: a lot of that. So then to to all of
Speaker 2: a sudden be thrust into that and to think, well,
Speaker 2: all these people hate me for you know, I don't
Speaker 2: understand why. I was like, I don't know me. Like
Speaker 2: if you met me and half of them, like you
Speaker 2: met me on the street, you wouldn't say that to me.
Speaker 2: You would, you would understand that I'm actually, you know,
Speaker 2: a nice person despite the resting bitch face, Like but
Speaker 2: it's yeah, it's uh. I will say. Last year, seeing
Speaker 2: like everything to that you were going through, uh, was
Speaker 2: a little helpful to me to not not that I'm
Speaker 2: glad you went through that, but it was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: there's other people going through yeah, similar stub and they're
Speaker 2: still alive and they're doing good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now a word from our sponsors that I
Speaker 1: really enjoy and I think you will too.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: And I think what was so interesting for me to
Speaker 1: start to realize was, you know, like I came of
Speaker 1: age essentially in public on an early aughts teen drama.
Speaker 1: Like people die for the any version of anybody's life
Speaker 1: that they can make feel like it's the teen drama
Speaker 1: offline or off screen they.
Speaker 4: Love because it's profitable.
Speaker 1: And I thought I understood that dynamic and like you know,
Speaker 1: for like even for your friendship with Kyle or relationship
Speaker 1: or whatever however you want to define it. I realized,
Speaker 1: I don't want to put words in your mouth, but like,
Speaker 1: I feel like her world tends to operate in that
Speaker 1: space too, like they want the fodder and they forget
Speaker 1: that it's about people. And I don't know, like I
Speaker 1: thought I understood how toxic all that was until I
Speaker 1: saw those worlds mobilize against all women and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I thought the misogyny was breathtaking before. In the world
Speaker 1: of tabloids, it's it's like compounded to the nth degree
Speaker 1: when you just have women to talk about, like you
Speaker 1: guys are garbage people.
Speaker 2: Oh it was. I mean, yeah, the things the headlines
Speaker 2: that I was like reading and I was like, why
Speaker 2: is it okay for you to say that it was?
Speaker 2: I don't know, it was. It was really And then
Speaker 2: you know there will be people on the internet being like,
Speaker 2: well they're paying or they're calling, Oh yeah, they're asking people.
Speaker 2: WAS like, shut up, Like you have absolutely have no
Speaker 2: idea what you're talking about right now. I'm like, I know,
Speaker 2: I have never called the paparazzi. I don'ly I would
Speaker 2: not know how to do that.
Speaker 1: I think people also don't understand it's it's immensely painful
Speaker 1: to be treated like a commodity rather than a person.
Speaker 1: And it's also really scary to get stalked, like and
Speaker 1: that's what that is. Like for some reason, we have
Speaker 1: this word, you know, we call them paparazzi. But like
Speaker 1: when you get stoked, when you when you wind up
Speaker 1: in like car chases trying to get away from people,
Speaker 1: when you when people follow you into like private spaces,
Speaker 1: it's actually quite scary. And a lot of people are like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, well, well privilege this famous that, and you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: you come do it for a day and see how
Speaker 1: you like it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was followed from West Hollywood to Pasadena
Speaker 2: one day. The dude followed me all the way there
Speaker 2: to go to the studio. Yeah, I'm like, dude, you
Speaker 2: follow me from home?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Wait, do you record in Pasadena?
Speaker 2: I did. I did a couple of things for the
Speaker 2: new record out there, So.
Speaker 1: Okay, I did. I did junior high in high school
Speaker 1: in Pasadena. So this is full sidetrack.
Speaker 3: There's my ADHD brand and like squirrel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I you know, I go back and forth
Speaker 2: between like Nashville and then I can get some stuff
Speaker 2: done in LA. So we were on the road and
Speaker 2: we happened to AB to get some stuff out there.
Speaker 2: But I don't remember the first time because there's there's
Speaker 2: a guy that hangs out at Lax Airport.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and the term I don't.
Speaker 2: Know if you've seen that dude, but he just hangs
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 3: And video camera guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, video camera yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forget his name.
Speaker 2: We ended up when day I was like, do you
Speaker 2: live here? Man? I was like what what's what's your name?
Speaker 2: Was like good God, because the first time I was
Speaker 2: there and I landed and I was coming through there
Speaker 2: and people like they and I was like at all
Speaker 2: in my Sweatland's the day I was like, I did
Speaker 2: not call anybody. I've been on a plane for like
Speaker 2: six hours.
Speaker 4: What I think people in the.
Speaker 1: Out in the you know world don't understand is we're
Speaker 1: not the ones calling. It's video camera guy pays somebody
Speaker 1: who's making minimum wage at the airline to call and say,
Speaker 1: these are the people on our flight today, because look
Speaker 1: like we can stay in hotels under aliases and all
Speaker 1: you cannot fly under an alias that is a federal offense,
Speaker 1: so like they know when you're on a plane, and
Speaker 1: you know, people are making money however they're making it.
Speaker 1: But I do think I just really appreciate that you've
Speaker 1: been open about how hard it is to be picked
Speaker 1: apart like that and to be to be turned into
Speaker 1: like a caricature of yourself, like what was really hard
Speaker 1: for me last year? And you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: obviously the details of your circumstance, but I do know that,
Speaker 1: like it's a really long road to end something or
Speaker 1: leave something with someone that you have loved and tried
Speaker 1: to make things work with. And like, man, for me,
Speaker 1: just having like the saddest, hardest time be turned into
Speaker 1: something like salacious, you know, to feel like what a
Speaker 1: precious gift that like a group of women saved my
Speaker 1: life at my lowest when I was like, if I
Speaker 1: do this for one more day, I'm just going to die.
Speaker 1: And I realized how many other people were feeling that way.
Speaker 1: We're feeling so tortured and sad in their homes and
Speaker 1: like the like lifeblood of having support and the gift
Speaker 1: of watching other people be courageous, because courage can be contagious,
Speaker 1: like those things I want to talk about is so sacred,
Speaker 1: and then they get turned into like icky, sticky gross
Speaker 1: out in the world.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, that's just so sad, and like why
Speaker 4: are we like this?
Speaker 3: And why are we like this to women? Why are
Speaker 3: we like this?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 2: I remember when for this k oh, yeah, all the cave, Middleton,
Speaker 2: all that was. Everybody was like where's she? And I'm like,
Speaker 2: stop it? And then she feels I had cancer. I'm like,
Speaker 2: you see how sick that was has cancer? And we're
Speaker 2: so where is she at? What is she doing?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And I'm like stop you were just because you're just
Speaker 2: not a title to know anything. And that's why I'm like,
Speaker 2: I don't say I'm like you guys, don't I'm not
Speaker 2: saying anything anything unless.
Speaker 3: You don't. It's not it's not you.
Speaker 1: And that was what was really interesting, is like for me,
Speaker 1: I know, once the train leaves the station, there's kind
Speaker 1: of like no good way to deal with it. But
Speaker 1: like I really had to sit, and I sat for
Speaker 1: a long time because I was like, there's a few
Speaker 1: things at play here. I don't even know what's happening
Speaker 1: in my world yet, so I don't know how to
Speaker 1: talk to you about it as I figure it out.
Speaker 4: I should have the space to do that.
Speaker 1: And then there was this other thing where I was like, well,
Speaker 1: the misogyny is breathtaking because it's all women. And also
Speaker 1: there's this thing of like it's twenty twenty four, you know,
Speaker 1: I guess twenty twenty three. And I'm like, and you
Speaker 1: want to like out someone for sport.
Speaker 4: I'm a grown up.
Speaker 1: I'm really secure in myself. But like, what about kids
Speaker 1: who kill themselves over these things? Like this is not
Speaker 1: a light thing that they are seeing happen to someone
Speaker 1: who is in the public eye, who they probably perceive
Speaker 1: as having like privilege or power, And it's happening to me,
Speaker 1: So what's going to happen to them?
Speaker 4: And then I was like, are you trying to make
Speaker 4: me ashamed?
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, if you thought like outing me
Speaker 1: at the top of a journey was gonna make me
Speaker 1: feel ashamed, like I'll sit and be quiet and figure
Speaker 1: out my life. But once I haven't figured out, like,
Speaker 1: watch me be proud, bitches. I hope you choke on
Speaker 1: my pride. I hope you enjoy it. Like I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna flip the.
Speaker 4: Script on you.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to play this game, and like, I
Speaker 1: don't know this thing that we expect to know the
Speaker 1: details of people's lives, but also that we don't give
Speaker 1: people a minute to figure them out. Like if you're
Speaker 1: an anonymous person, you get to like figure out your
Speaker 1: life and then talk about it when you're ready, And
Speaker 1: that shifts for us, And like for some reason, people
Speaker 1: want to focus on the things that are the least
Speaker 1: important instead of the most And I think for you,
Speaker 1: especially bringing up like the Cape Middleton of it all,
Speaker 1: like I know how personal that is for you, because
Speaker 1: people want to focus on like where is she, what's this?
Speaker 4: What's that she's dealing with? An illness?
Speaker 1: People want to chatter chatter chatter about your life, and like,
Speaker 1: you know how hard that is. You've talked so openly
Speaker 1: about how last year you underwent a preventative double mastectomy
Speaker 1: because of a gene mutation that would make it it's
Speaker 1: so likely to for you to suffer from cancer.
Speaker 4: And like, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I wondered if watching her go through all that, given
Speaker 1: what you were going through, both like in the press
Speaker 1: and also in your personal literal health life, felt wild
Speaker 1: for you. So it's interesting to hear you bring that up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just and I think I learned a lesson
Speaker 2: to because until it's built with the gossips and all
Speaker 2: of that, sure I would have sat back and gone,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, let me see. I'm so curious about like
Speaker 2: this person getting a divorced. Is this person what are
Speaker 2: they doing? Is this for? You know? And just like
Speaker 2: reading these tabloids and then now I'm like, no, no,
Speaker 2: I don't believe anything I read. Leave them alone. I
Speaker 2: just don't believe anything. And I don't I don't engage
Speaker 2: in it because I remember, you know, the thing is
Speaker 2: is it's like that's somebody's daughter, that's somebody's mom, that's
Speaker 2: someone's sister, that's somebody's everything. That's a real human being.
Speaker 2: And I was like, and we're picking on the part
Speaker 2: and we're just it's yeah, I can't. I can't, and
Speaker 2: it you know, I don't. The internet can be like
Speaker 2: such a and it's such a like you said earlier,
Speaker 2: it's it's so weird because it's like the internet helps
Speaker 2: so much with your career. I mean you basically, if
Speaker 2: you're not on TikTok or doing something, the label is
Speaker 2: like on your ask about it. But it's also it's
Speaker 2: like this fine line and I just think with me personally,
Speaker 2: for my addictive personality, it's just not yeah, it's not
Speaker 2: a good move for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it can be heavy.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors who make this
Speaker 1: show possible. One of my friends and I talked about
Speaker 1: the internet is like when you really get in that
Speaker 1: loop and you realize you're on it too much, Like
Speaker 1: it's basically just like emotional cutting, like it's a self
Speaker 1: harm kind of thing, and like that, I think when
Speaker 1: you start to think about it in that way, and
Speaker 1: I imagine especially for you, you know, being seven years sober,
Speaker 1: by the way, congratulations, seven is a big number. When
Speaker 1: you can identify like, oh, this is making me feel
Speaker 1: like that bad thing, it probably feels important to shift
Speaker 1: your habits. What made you decide to quit drinking? Like
Speaker 1: was it a feeling you had? Was it like a moment?
Speaker 4: Was it like a journey to go, Oh, I think
Speaker 4: maybe this is just.
Speaker 2: Not for me, So I didn't. I started drinking like
Speaker 2: my brushman years and then I was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 2: pretty good at this. And then I started doing the
Speaker 2: whole like weekends playing shows, and of course, you know
Speaker 2: I was underage, but that does that even matter? Right?
Speaker 2: But a lot of these venues stuff, I wasn't getting paid,
Speaker 2: but it was like you can have a free bar
Speaker 2: pab so like, yeah, I'm gonna I'm like, okay, so
Speaker 2: I'm getting all this. I'm a college student on the
Speaker 2: weekend is getting all this free beer? Like absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2: I started taking advantage of that, and it just became
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, I'm good at this and I
Speaker 2: like it, and I like how I, you know, can
Speaker 2: act and how out knowing I am when I'm drinking.
Speaker 2: And then it just started to become this thing where
Speaker 2: that I get home like what, you know, what have
Speaker 2: you been doing? I started kind of going down and
Speaker 2: pass and then I was like all right, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: not drink. Let's not drink. And I woke up face
Speaker 2: down in a parking lot with people shaking me trying
Speaker 2: to get me to wake up. I had played a show,
Speaker 2: and I was like, all right, I was pretty good
Speaker 2: at hiding how much I had drank to you know,
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good at making it a little. I get
Speaker 2: the same drink in my head and I was like
Speaker 2: I'm going to drive home see guys, and they woke
Speaker 2: me up my space out in the parking lot, you know,
Speaker 2: in my own vomit and I was like, already, can't stop.
Speaker 2: And so I didn't drink for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: and then it was like, okay, I'm good. I want
Speaker 2: to you know, it's like I could not do it.
Speaker 2: And so I went to New York for the first
Speaker 2: time and played these really crappy shows. You know. I
Speaker 2: was just excited, and you know, of course, I drank
Speaker 2: more that night than I've ever drank. And I woke
Speaker 2: up the next morning and I was just like you
Speaker 2: you I felt I don't know, it was the weirdest
Speaker 2: feeling I've ever had. I've never felt like that since,
Speaker 2: but it was it was very much like you have
Speaker 2: to kill yourself and that it was this crazy like
Speaker 2: dark feeling and it was like you you you You've
Speaker 2: got it, this is it, this is it, and you're
Speaker 2: not gonna And I felt like that for days and
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, I'm not I'm not gonna drink anymore.
Speaker 2: I was like, I've gotta is that. What this is
Speaker 2: is that what this feeling is like the depression was
Speaker 2: just so heavy from that, and I was, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously I've always had a lot of you know, OCD anxiety,
Speaker 2: and so then obviously you go drink all this, yeah,
Speaker 2: and then the coming down from that is just it
Speaker 2: makes it ten times worse. And that feeling lasted for
Speaker 2: like two weeks, and I did not drink, I didn't
Speaker 2: touch anything. I got back home and I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: what what what do I do? So I went and
Speaker 2: got like all the sobriety books and I was like,
Speaker 2: You're gonna learn to love sparkling water. We're we're gonna
Speaker 2: like be that asshole that just drank sparkling water and
Speaker 2: that's it. And I I just engrossed myself in it.
Speaker 2: And it was hard. And then of course it was
Speaker 2: hard to when your friends are like, yeah, okay, and
Speaker 2: then you know, they're kind of some of them were like, well, problem,
Speaker 2: you just you need to chill, And I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: I if there's something I don't want to do and
Speaker 2: I can't stop, and that's a problem.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I remember texting my my mom and my grandma
Speaker 2: and my aunt in a group message that said, hey,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna stop drinking, and they were like,
Speaker 2: thank god, we've been hoping. And I was like, I
Speaker 2: was like, all right, when you when you see stuff
Speaker 2: like that, you're like okay, And I literally I just
Speaker 2: I was like, all right, get up early and go
Speaker 2: to the gym every day and just really starting to
Speaker 2: get on this this routine. And again it's been hard.
Speaker 2: I mean last year, I seriously didn't think I was
Speaker 2: going to remain sober. There was several that I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe want to drink. I just you know, I just wanted.
Speaker 2: I was like, what does it matter anymore? And think
Speaker 2: thank god, you know, I got through those moments that
Speaker 2: have people in my life that I was, you know,
Speaker 2: able to talk to. But I think I think too.
Speaker 2: When you first get sober, it's like, obviously not easy,
Speaker 2: but you can remember why you're not drinking and the reasoning.
Speaker 2: But the further along I get, you start to be like, well,
Speaker 2: maybe I'm different, you have changed. Maybe I get handle
Speaker 2: a drink or two, and then you know, I have
Speaker 2: a relapsed dream and I wake up and I'm like
Speaker 2: the alcohol that it never tastes good, and as soon
Speaker 2: as I do it, I just destroyed. Every time so
Speaker 2: I'm like, I feel like I need those dreams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's actually really kind of amazing that you get
Speaker 1: to key into your subconscious like that, because you know,
Speaker 1: in hindsight, it's like, of course, everything feels real clear
Speaker 1: in hindsight. Right, you can go, you can look back,
Speaker 1: can be like, wow, maybe all these things like we're
Speaker 1: happening for a reason before I saw it. Maybe you
Speaker 1: know it can be the great things. But I also
Speaker 1: think to your point, like, addiction is kind of like
Speaker 1: being an abusive relationship. This thing continues to harm you,
Speaker 1: but like years after you're out of the abusive relationship,
Speaker 1: you might look back a little more fondly on the
Speaker 1: happy times.
Speaker 4: And that's the danger. And so I absolutely get Yeah,
Speaker 4: I get what you're saying there for sure. How is
Speaker 4: it now, like seven years in.
Speaker 1: Because you've been public about it, and because you know,
Speaker 1: you've got a good crew of people around you, like
Speaker 1: your collaborators, producers, the folks you work with, friends, family, Like,
Speaker 1: do you feel like you're in a really good situation
Speaker 1: with it where people instead of saying yeah, come on
Speaker 1: not you are are like yeah, you and we're going
Speaker 1: to support you. We're going to be here for you,
Speaker 1: We're gonna make sure we can help you maintain this
Speaker 1: or does it feel like more of an individual path.
Speaker 2: I mean it's obviously an individual, but I mean it
Speaker 2: was everybody around me very much keeps an eye on me.
Speaker 4: That's great.
Speaker 2: It's very like everybody knows I'm sober and we don't.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't even think there's any like alcohol
Speaker 2: on the bus. I also don't want to be that person,
Speaker 2: and I made it very clear of hey, I don't
Speaker 2: care if you drink around me, because the thing is
Speaker 2: that I have to be able to be strong in
Speaker 2: that sense. I can't. I'm like, I play music for
Speaker 2: a litting. It's everyone's drinking at the venus. There's bars
Speaker 2: and that is great, and you know, I'm not going
Speaker 2: to see what if you shouldn't drink. There's some people
Speaker 2: that can go have a glass of wine or do whatever,
Speaker 2: and they're they're fine. I'm not. So it is our
Speaker 2: verse on journey. But everyone around me has been super great.
Speaker 2: I mean, for you know, my sober anniversary, I mean
Speaker 2: people in VAP I had so many people bringing me
Speaker 2: like gifts and arts, and then they got me My
Speaker 2: team got me a cake red velvet cake for my
Speaker 2: seven years. So I feel very very supportive. And every
Speaker 2: year I know I have this I like to go
Speaker 2: buy me something nice. Is as a little a little gift.
Speaker 2: I'm like, all right, you got to go buy yourself
Speaker 2: something nice, flurage on something as a little as a
Speaker 2: little gift.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like an anniversary present.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for myself and that's yeah.
Speaker 1: So being you know, on the other side of last year,
Speaker 1: you know, with your health stuff, being back on tour, Like,
Speaker 1: how has this next phase felt? Because I read the
Speaker 1: you wrote every song on the new album I'm obsessed solo,
Speaker 1: So like, do you do you feel like you're just
Speaker 1: in this whole new phase, like you walked through the
Speaker 1: fire and you came out so much stronger.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I'm a hundred times better than I was,
Speaker 2: you know, I there's not even there's no comparison. So,
Speaker 2: you know, as much as it's uh, it sucked, you know,
Speaker 2: I've got to thank a lot of those people because
Speaker 2: I'm like, now I I can handle anything. I'm like
Speaker 2: what Also, I'm like, what what else? There's nothing worse
Speaker 2: that could happen at this point as far as like
Speaker 2: the media stuff, and you know, I had to really
Speaker 2: sit back and look at it. I was like, there
Speaker 2: are people starving, there are people being murdered, you know,
Speaker 2: they're they're overseas. It's just like there's so watched stuff.
Speaker 2: There's there's children in war zones and all these people
Speaker 2: being hurt. And I was like, I wake up and
Speaker 2: I have my coffee and I do all this and
Speaker 2: I'm like, so what trolls on the internet are talking
Speaker 2: smack about me? I was like, I have a stove blasted.
Speaker 2: And when you look at things from that perspective, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, who cares? Just it? Also, you know, it
Speaker 2: just makes you be like, hey, there's so much more
Speaker 2: to life. There's so much more that you need to do,
Speaker 2: and who just it's I had to get out of
Speaker 2: the woe as me mentality, and I would say, you know,
Speaker 2: I think it was good for me to process that
Speaker 2: and be able to sit. But you know, when everything
Speaker 2: started happening, I just remember that was the day all
Speaker 2: this crap started like blowing up. I was with my
Speaker 2: family and I don't get much time like that with
Speaker 2: my mom, my stepdad and my siblings, and like my
Speaker 2: actual you know, my my dad and Stepmam were there
Speaker 2: so like all my hairs, like everybody there tell like
Speaker 2: a cook out and I can't even eat and I'm
Speaker 2: a nervous wreck. And I remember my little sister five,
Speaker 2: and she like grab me by face, she said, why
Speaker 2: do you cry so much? Why are you crying so much?
Speaker 2: And I was like I look back and I like,
Speaker 2: my gosh, that was the last time I've had all
Speaker 2: them together. And I was like, that was, you know,
Speaker 2: a year ago. And I was like I sat there
Speaker 2: so concerned it might be people that don't matter. And
Speaker 2: I was like, I'll be damned, I let myself do that,
Speaker 2: Like I don't get that moment back. And I was like,
Speaker 2: I letn't them have those moments because I was so
Speaker 2: far gone. I was like, I'm not I'm not doing
Speaker 2: that anymore. And I learned a lot and I'm but
Speaker 2: I'm definitely in a better place. And I feel like
Speaker 2: you are too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: It's like it it takes practice, like in the way
Speaker 1: that I imagine you have to maintain sobriety, Like I have
Speaker 1: to maintain reminders with myself to not need to change
Speaker 1: people's minds, to not need everybody to like me to
Speaker 1: not you know, like my friends were like, but you know,
Speaker 1: you know, so what does it matter if a group
Speaker 1: of awful people that.
Speaker 4: You do not know want to call you names.
Speaker 1: Essentially, what they're doing is looking at you and saying
Speaker 1: your hair's blue, and you're like, but it's not, and
Speaker 1: they're saying, yes, it is. I see it. It's blue,
Speaker 1: and you're going it. But it's not like the hair
Speaker 1: on my head, you know, currently, at least for me
Speaker 1: getting ready to do this next movie, the hair on
Speaker 1: my head is red, okay, Like I have red hair
Speaker 1: and people.
Speaker 3: Are like, no, it's blue, Like what the who? What
Speaker 3: does that opinion matter?
Speaker 1: And there's something about like putting it in a perspective
Speaker 1: like that that was helpful for me and understanding like
Speaker 1: I am one human and to have millions of people
Speaker 1: and outlets and things be like abusive and cruel. Of
Speaker 1: course it's hard, of course it's hard. But I don't need,
Speaker 1: to your point, to like let them into the cookout
Speaker 1: with my family. I don't need to lose what is
Speaker 1: real in my life.
Speaker 4: Over what false opinions other people have.
Speaker 1: And I think that is really I don't know, I
Speaker 1: think that's like a good way to start trying to
Speaker 1: deal with it. And you know, it's been fun for
Speaker 1: me to go back to work and like channel some
Speaker 1: of that energy into it. I imagine it's so fun
Speaker 1: for you to go, you know, up on stage at
Speaker 1: night and be in the space that you love, doing
Speaker 1: what you love and be reminded of who you are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh for sure. I mean I'm like looking, I'm like,
Speaker 2: you know, I look over and I literally have jone
Speaker 2: yet watching my feet. And then you know, I get
Speaker 2: off stage and Atlantis is texting me and she was like,
Speaker 2: I can hear you from my green room and you
Speaker 2: just sound so much, you know, and I'm like, a
Speaker 2: year ago I thought, you know, of course I always
Speaker 2: to send words. I'm like, your career is over, which
Speaker 2: I still know my thought that, but you know, it's
Speaker 2: just like you think it. Yeah, And then I'm like
Speaker 2: I sit here and I'm like, this has been the
Speaker 2: most amazing tour. Everyone's so kind, They're just great people
Speaker 2: to be around, and it's a very healthy environment and
Speaker 2: I love that. Thanks get better. But it's yeah.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute. But here's a
Speaker 1: word from our sponsors. It's so cool as a fan
Speaker 1: to watch you having this moment. Like I grew up
Speaker 1: on those women on Atlantis, on Jones Jet, I grew
Speaker 1: up on Melissa s Ridge, who you remind me so
Speaker 1: much of, Like either, there are things about you two
Speaker 1: that I'm just like your presence and energy, and she's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite humans. So I got to have
Speaker 1: on the podcast this year and I just like lost
Speaker 1: my mind. I was like, Hey, Melissa, I know I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be cool, but eight year old me is
Speaker 1: going to come in the room and talk to you
Speaker 1: for five minutes and then she'll leave and all pretend
Speaker 1: I didn't like gush in this way and we were
Speaker 1: just tackling. She's so lovely and like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I when I read that the tour got announced, I
Speaker 1: was like, how.
Speaker 3: Is Morgan feeling?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: Is it such a trip? To your point?
Speaker 1: Look to your left see jone Jet, look to your
Speaker 1: right see Atlantis, Like are you losing your mind?
Speaker 3: Are you okay?
Speaker 2: It's just so funny to walk in every day and
Speaker 2: jone Jets dressing runs rotten sat of yours and it's
Speaker 2: just on a trip. I mean, just these two women too,
Speaker 2: who both just really went out there did their own
Speaker 2: thing and like changed the course for females who you know,
Speaker 2: don't you know. I go through this a lot where
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't really know where I'm fit, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I'm not. You know, this Barbie Doll
Speaker 2: with this crystal clear voice, you know, it's like it's
Speaker 2: such a so I think sometimes I'm like, man, and
Speaker 2: maybe I should be more like that, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: you know, And so then I see these two women
Speaker 2: that have just totally like done their own things and
Speaker 2: beautiful talented women and they're doing so great, and it's
Speaker 2: just I mean, you just learned so much from them.
Speaker 2: It's so cool watching them and they they they can
Speaker 2: they're just so so great blob, it's just incredible.
Speaker 1: Well, and I imagine like there's to your point, there's
Speaker 1: so much you learn from watching them, but like, you know,
Speaker 1: they are also these incredibly like wise women who I'd
Speaker 1: imagine could be such great mentors. Like have you asked
Speaker 1: them for any advice, you know, experiences from their own
Speaker 1: careers or in the industry or are you waiting until
Speaker 1: the end of the tour for that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't really like said too much around that,
Speaker 2: and she's been like, well, we're just conversation, you know.
Speaker 2: Atlantis will will drop by my dressing room and check in,
Speaker 2: and she'll she'll text me every couple of days make
Speaker 2: sure I'm good, and uh, it's just so funny. It
Speaker 2: was with the first day I met Joan and she
Speaker 2: was like watching and I got off the stage and
Speaker 2: she was like, hey, sorry, sorry, I should be over
Speaker 2: here bothering you. And I was like, you're jone Jet.
Speaker 2: You can bother me all.
Speaker 4: You want to.
Speaker 2: And her assistant or Torment if someone will stand right
Speaker 2: there and they're like, think about jone Jet is jone
Speaker 2: Jet doesn't know she's young yet, and she's just like
Speaker 2: the most down to earth person. I'm like, this is
Speaker 2: so crazy because it's she's just She came out on
Speaker 2: the balcony the other day beside my green room and
Speaker 2: she was like, oh, I shouldn't bother you right now,
Speaker 2: get ready to go on stage, and then just kind
Speaker 2: of turns around. I was like, you you can again.
Speaker 2: You can bother me all you want, but you want, ma'am,
Speaker 2: any time you want your go to bothering. But it's
Speaker 2: been Yeah, it's been really great and Atlantis. You know,
Speaker 2: she'll she sent me a gift because she always got
Speaker 2: her tea. She's got this special tea that she always
Speaker 2: has literacy. She sent me a whole gift of all
Speaker 2: this tea and everything, like a little sweet And it's
Speaker 2: been it's been really nice to be and I'm honestly
Speaker 2: gonna be really really sad when this tour is over.
Speaker 2: I was like, already, I think we only have like
Speaker 2: a haven more shows or something like that. And I
Speaker 2: like looking at that, and I'm like, I've become friends
Speaker 2: with the crew, you know, from Jones Jones team and
Speaker 2: Atlantis's team, and this has been this has been the
Speaker 2: best tour I've ever been on. I also did a
Speaker 2: tour with Chris Stapleton and they were also super nice
Speaker 2: and so but this has been the longest run I've
Speaker 2: ever done. And I know, looking at it, from the
Speaker 2: beginning of seeing all those dates, it gets a little
Speaker 2: like you're gonna be gone this tour sort of You're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: it's just long, and you don't and then you get
Speaker 2: here and every man. I just got a new dog
Speaker 2: while I was out here, little Fritz bulldog, and so
Speaker 2: that's been you know, an adventure trying to train him
Speaker 2: on the bus. And I bet it's been a it's
Speaker 2: been a big it's been an eventful couple I'd say
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks. It feels like a couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: but it's it's been like a one.
Speaker 4: So yeah, you're really in it. And it's interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, you're on this tour with these powerhouse women.
Speaker 1: You you released a song on the new album, walked
Speaker 1: on Water, with Kesha, who is in her season of
Speaker 1: you know, reclaiming her art and reclaiming her power as
Speaker 1: a woman. Like it strikes me as so interesting that
Speaker 1: you're getting this long experience with Joan and Atlantis and
Speaker 1: then you and Kesha did this song together and you
Speaker 1: had to record it was the day you met in person, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the opposite experience.
Speaker 3: You just went right into the deep end. What was
Speaker 3: that like?
Speaker 2: So I was like, when Kesha, you know, first put
Speaker 2: that first record out, was immediately obsessed with her. I
Speaker 2: was like, but I just have the best some of
Speaker 2: the best memories that I have riding around and my
Speaker 2: cousin's Mustang and blaring you know, that record. But I
Speaker 2: was so obsessed with But I was like the kid
Speaker 2: on YouTube finding the like leak song, and I remember
Speaker 2: trying to add her mom on Facebook because I was
Speaker 2: like and of course I had to tell her all
Speaker 2: of this. I was like grown up Elvis and you
Speaker 2: oh my wall. I was like, this is the level.
Speaker 2: I was like totally in love with her. And so
Speaker 2: when you know, we got to meet and we went
Speaker 2: that day and we sat on the beach in Malibu
Speaker 2: and just sat there and chatted. And she's kind of
Speaker 2: crazy because she just the water was freaking cold and
Speaker 2: I don't even know what month this was, it was
Speaker 2: still cold out and she just ran and got in
Speaker 2: the water. I was like, no, I'm not I'm not
Speaker 2: not going to be doing that. But then we went
Speaker 2: to the studio and she was like, Okay, we'll be
Speaker 2: there eight and I'm like PM, right, okay, PM, you know,
Speaker 2: because I'm like for me, that was like ten pm. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I was like, okay, you know what USA that
Speaker 2: West Coast time there. But she to start singing and
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, that was such a full circle while
Speaker 2: for me to have this person that you admired for
Speaker 2: so long and just sake everything she's been through. And
Speaker 2: I got to hear you know she's put out that
Speaker 2: song joy Ride. Yeah, I actually got can hear that
Speaker 2: before it was out? So she played that, and then
Speaker 2: she played a couple other songs, and it's just you know,
Speaker 2: people they've always seen like the TikTok version of her,
Speaker 2: but like she I heard some of these newer songs too,
Speaker 2: that it's just like her voice. It's just you know,
Speaker 2: TikTok's great song obviously, but it's so cool to hear
Speaker 2: her ye vocally, so talented, and she's one of those
Speaker 2: people that she doesn't have a mean mind in her body.
Speaker 2: It's like you leave her feeling better than we got there.
Speaker 2: She's just spiritual person. And I was like, man, I
Speaker 2: can't wait for the world to see this, this woman
Speaker 2: who owns all of her stuff and who's free. Now
Speaker 2: it's so cool.
Speaker 4: I love it. I love to see it.
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting, like this everything that's I sort of
Speaker 1: think about for all of you, really, for you, for her,
Speaker 1: you know, the women you're on tour with, Like everyone
Speaker 1: has these sort of phoenix journeys, right like you find
Speaker 1: your power, you find your purpose. I even think about,
Speaker 1: you know, the tour coming right after you released an
Speaker 1: album that you wrote solo for the first time, Like
Speaker 1: it's everything just reads like growth.
Speaker 4: So when you think about where you're going next.
Speaker 1: Or maybe the year ahead of you, like what what
Speaker 1: on the horizon, feels like you're work in progress now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean I've already written the next record.
Speaker 2: I've already like got the next one in the I
Speaker 2: mean it's already so I have written so much stuff,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, so for me, you'll obviously last year,
Speaker 2: you know, I took off for my surgery yep. And
Speaker 2: while it was not a break per se, it was
Speaker 2: it was a bit of a break and it was
Speaker 2: nice to have that downtime. So I've decided, like I'm
Speaker 2: definitely gonna take December and January off for the part.
Speaker 2: There's like a couple of things kind of sprinkled in there.
Speaker 2: But you know, eventually, I'm gonna have to have a
Speaker 2: hysterectomy because I also have the ovarian cancer beam so
Speaker 2: I have to start the egg retrieving process because I
Speaker 2: do want to. I've got to start doing that.
Speaker 4: If you need anything, I've done.
Speaker 2: It, okay, yeah, got you Okay, well yes, then I
Speaker 2: might need to be hitting you up to ask you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll give you all. I'll give you all the info.
Speaker 2: Talking to the doctors has been it kind of goes
Speaker 2: over your head. But so you know, I've got I've
Speaker 2: got that going on and then putting out a new record.
Speaker 2: But I've just got like kind of gotten into the
Speaker 2: acting world. So I've done I've done one movie so far,
Speaker 2: and I've got a bunch of other stuff on the docket.
Speaker 2: So like that's been exciting for me. It's like a
Speaker 2: new challenge. It's something different, and I'm just I'm happy
Speaker 2: if I'm the happiest that I've been in a really
Speaker 2: long time. And yeah, I'm just hopefully things just keep
Speaker 2: growing and doing well. But I feel like I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to taking a little bit of time myself and
Speaker 2: going on a bit of a vacation. I'm like, I
Speaker 2: need to go somewhere tropical and just sit, turn my
Speaker 2: boat off and sit and not do anything else. I've got.
Speaker 2: I was like, you're working really hard. I need to
Speaker 2: enjoy and I so my family is like, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go in a big family vacation next summer. I'm taking
Speaker 2: time in June. I was like, let's go somewhere. Let's
Speaker 2: get a beach house and let's just sit. My siblings
Speaker 2: are growing up, and I'm like, I just I just
Speaker 2: want to exist with them for a bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so good. It's like a friend of mine
Speaker 1: explained to me years ago. She said, look, you have
Speaker 1: to stop looking at rest as unproductive time and start
Speaker 1: looking at rest as an active resistance that is necessary
Speaker 1: to survive in a world that is this turned up.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what it was about reframing it
Speaker 1: like that, but it made me feel like I was
Speaker 1: allowed to give myself permission for some quiet time. And
Speaker 1: I'm I'm happy you're getting that for yourself too.
Speaker 4: It's great.
Speaker 2: It's a tough thing to do sometimes where you do
Speaker 2: work and so much, but I mean.
Speaker 4: That's my work in progress for sure, right exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh well, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the way that you, like, I know
Speaker 1: it's not easy, but like I really do mean this.
Speaker 4: Thank you for the way that you choose to.
Speaker 1: Lead and stand you know, in yourself in this insane
Speaker 1: world that you know none of us could have ever
Speaker 1: been prepared for.
Speaker 4: It's it's so.
Speaker 1: Special to watch and like, yeah, when when some shit
Speaker 1: was really wild in my life for a while, like
Speaker 1: you helped, and we didn't even know each other yet,
Speaker 1: so I just want to say thank you again.
Speaker 2: I was watching everything going on with you, and I
Speaker 2: was I was keeping an eye on that, not for
Speaker 2: looking for anything salacious, but just because I was, like,
Speaker 2: you know, I felt a connection there. As far as
Speaker 2: all that does.
Speaker 1: All right, my dear, all right, i'd like to know
Speaker 1: thank you. You're wonderful. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 4: I can't bane