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INTERVIEW: MAXWELL (The YBF)

Yesterday I had the fabulous opportunity to chit chat with the extremely talented sexiness that is Maxwell. And before I could even drop my “stan moment” on him telling him how much of a fan I was, he was divulging his love for YBF for the past 4 years…and the readers. He had me at “I mean, I’ve had my foolywang moments too.” Yes, ladies, he’s just as charming, genuine, and engaging as his voice makes us to believe on any of his songs. After some serious chit chat about nothing music related and everything admiration related, we got down to business. Check out the interview:

Natasha/YBF: First of all Maxwell, people are wondering what happened at Essence Fest? {laughs} The Superdome was packed waiting for you to headline and it took a long time for your set to start. No one knew if you were going to show up. {laughs}

Maxwell: Oh no! {laughs} What was I supposed to do—tell the great Anita to get off the stage? {laughs} She taught me how to sing. Gotta let her do what she do, you know? And then on our end, we had technical difficulties and were really trying to get out there as soon as possible. I knew it wasn’t the MAXWELL Fest, it was just things happening out of my control.

And it was definitely all good once your set started. So, what made you decide to make another album after you’ve been away so long?

I was working on it all through those years. “Pretty Wings” even started in 2002. You always have to wait for life to inspire you. You know, I got involved in a relationship that spurred up some stuff. So I wanted to write about it.

When you look at the music world, our energy is coming back and coming together again. Music execs vs. artists is the way it was when I left. People were at odds and things like that. But now we’re back. And I enjoyed my time away. I actually had time to myself. I mean, I applaud the people who do music and movies and books and fashion lines—I’m just not that guy. {laughs} I just stick to what I do best. And I’m so grateful people waited.

Women love your songs, especially the YBF women. How is it that you manage to connect with them so easily?

Well I got a little doggy dog in me too. {laughs} I throw a bit of it in my show. But as for the music, you don’t want to put anything in music that is dated. So when you’re ready to release it, you still want it to have legs. I try to do things that are timeless. It’s not about trends, or the era, or what’s “in” at the moment.

Read the Rest–Maxwell talks about which young artists he has admiration for, his muse, his inspirations…and of course, a peek into his intimate love life.

Why the name BLACKsummer’snight for this album?

We wanted to maintain respect of the trilogy. So each album has its own persona. BLACKsummer’snight: This album is more of a heartbreak record–it shows the darker side of love. Addiction to another, heartbreak, those things. BlackSUMMER’Snight will be more upbeat. It’s a futuristic and gospel mix. Different. And Blacksummer’sNIGHT–that one has that soul and sexy feel. Like you put it on at night and just… handle your business. If you don’t want have a baby, just don’t listen. {laughs}

Do you feel the quality of R&B is what it use to be, or is it different?

Yeah, it’s different. I don’t want to be the old crotchety saying “everything’s not how it used to be”. We used samples and stuff too, but overall, every generation has their right to graffiti stamp the music scene how they desire.

It’s really not about the initial takeoff of one’s career. It’s about the maintenance. I get excited seeing how [the artists] continue. Look at Michael Jackson. He was the star in the Jackson 5, but then his voice gets deep and people wonder if he’ll be able to continue. And then, we got MICHAEL JACKSON. The adult. It’s amazing.

Speaking of Michael, how are you dealing with his untimely death?

It’s all I listen too right now. ALL I listen to. I’ve actually OWNED his albums since I was little. Plus I just bought out ITunes these past couple weeks for all his music. {laughs}

Which other artists do you enjoy?

I still love Rihanna, Ryan Leslie, The Dream. Dream and Ryan are both extremely talented writers and producers. I love what those brothers are doing. I got to talk to Beyonce at Essence Fest in New Orleans a few weeks ago and I was just so amazed at her professionalism. Such a talented woman. On the rock side of things: I like Radiohead, Fleet Foxes–their harmonies are amazing—I like Santogold.

Wow—I’m definitely a fan of Santogold as well. Crazy different sound that I can appreciate.

Yes! I love her. She’s a beautiful black woman that’s not doing what you would expect. I love that.

Speaking of beautiful black women, I remember seeing you in pics at events with a particular beautiful black woman. She’s a model and you definitely looked to be in a relationship.

{laughs hard} Wow. I mean, yes. There were “relationships”. I don’t want to sound like a dog here. {laughs} I don’t want to use relationships as publicity stunts. I try to keep it away from my music life. It’s tough to keep things solid though in this industry. All because the world is your girlfriend—I’m married to the world when it comes to my music. I feel like, a responsibility to it, and to the people who hold a torch for what I do. People have been so patient and kind to me. I’m happy though—to still be relevant.

As an entertainer do you feel it’s difficult to maintain some form of normality in your past/current/future relationships?

Well I’m definitely grounded. We were on welfare growing up. I was born in Brooklyn. And my parents are immigrants. Every single day we had to build up what we had. Money, food, everything. There’s no way I can get souped up. There’s just no way. I feel like I’m just keeping the seat warm for the next artist. In my time away, I really had the opportunity to learn who I was.

Let me tell you about this one girl. A girl I met in the club a while back. She asked her friend “Hey, who is that?” Her friend said, “Oh that’s Maxwell, he used to be famous in the 90’s.”

Woooooow. Oh my gosh!

Natasha I kid you not! {laughs} She said “Ok cool.” And then she came up and asked me out. I loved that she wanted to come up and talk to me even though she perceived me—well, according to her friend—as a has been. It just wasn’t about that. And I got to be myself. Somebody was meeting me and speaking to me based on me—not me as an artist. I really appreciated that. She ended up being my muse for my albums. Oh man you’re like Barbara Walters trying to get me to cry over here…{laughs}

No no no. Never that. So more about this muse, what really inspires you to sing/write certain songs?

Inspiration—it’s as simple as living. Everyone’s looking for love and want to get married and all that. For the last 7 years, I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with that. And I didn’t have to deal with the celebrity of it all or in the spotlight. A lot of people change when the spotlight is on them. Guards go up and you can’t be you. It’s hard to have a real life and relationship.

It kept me humble to wonder if I even had a career waiting for me when I did return. I never thought—“Yeah I got this”. I always stayed inspired. My time away really gave me that—I got to live life and be inspired.

And you know, I’m 36 now. I have to act like I’m 36 and am not going to be anything I’m not. And I love when there are 17 year old people in the audience saying they just bought my album. I’m 36 and still have the ability to connect. That’s incredible.

What is it that you want to tell your YBF fans?

THANK YOU. What they do for me, giving me the respect of space as a person and not vilifying me, it means the world to me. There’s nothing harder in the world to be than an African American woman. My mom is the most beautiful example. I saw her go to school, raise a kid, work, everything by herself. To all those readers—keep holding us down and getting us right—us men—when we act crazy. {laughs}

Maxwell’s album BLACKsummer’snight is available everywhere now and is currently sitting at #1 on the Billboard and R&B charts.

Source – The YBF

Posted in: Interviews

Tags: ybf

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.