Pretty Is, What Pretty Does!
Last week [April 27th], New York’s WBLS radio held an intimate pre- album screening and Q&A session with singer, Lyfe Jennings about his upcoming sixth album ‘Tree Of Lyfe’ [in stores June 23rd]. The ‘socially minded’ R&B singer revealed to PLUM, the inspiration behind the new album title, the criticism over his ‘Pretty Is’ video, his music hiatus, relationship status, and more.
PLUM: Tell Us About The New Album ‘Tree Of Lyfe’, And The Inspiration Behind The Title?
Lyfe: ” This album is in depth, its new situations, outcomes, and new solutions and we’re proud of it ” .
PLUM: The Second Single ‘Gold’ Seems To Be One Of Personal Reflections; Was it?
Lyfe: ” I don’t know, I just go through situations and I write about it. Alot of people are looking to just go through it but for me I’m looking for what caused me to go through it in the first place and how can I prevent this from happening to me again.”
In part two of the video, [5:00 min mark], Lyfe sits down with WBLS on air personality, Shaila and takes audiences down memory lane on the inception of his musical journey back in 20o4, his personal challenges behind the music scenes post fame, and getting a visit in his sleep from Marvin Gaye [which inspired a new track on the album entitled ‘People’]. Lyfe fans received a special treat, as the event was recorded via live ustream on WBLS.com. Lyfe also delivered a love performance of his new songs ‘When It All Came Crashing Down’ ‘People’ and ‘I love You’ .
Lyfe also for the first and last time, spoke out about his second arrest back in 2010 which resulted in a two-year jail sentence and music absence. In short, Lyfe accepts full responsibility for all the good and bad that has happened in his life, but strongly affirms that the media rumors [which suggested that there was a domestic dispute with one of his children’s mother that offset the altercation with police] was absolutely false.
Lyfe explains that a few months had passed and he was desperately seeking to be with his kids. He decided to pay a visit to his children in the ‘a.m’ hours one particular night. After knocking several times, while shouting loudly for permission to see his kids from the closed front door; a light bulb went off in his head that ‘maybe his children’ would be frighten by the loud knock and surprise visit so he decided to leave.
Lyfe says he got into his car and drove away. About two minutes into the drive, Lyfe notices a police car trailing behind him; followed by a shout from one officer asking him to pull over.‘I Don’t Know What Got Into Me That Day’ , But I Just Didn’t Feel Like Stopping‘ -says Lyfe. ” The Next Thing I Know, There’s Multiple Police Cars Chasing After Me, & I Later Surrendered. So, The Main Charge Was For Fleeing From Police Following A Dispute With My Child’s Mother, But There Was Never A Dispute. “
Take a watch at the full interview below. I’ve also included the excerpts from our exclusive interview with Lyfe for our PLUM’s who also enjoy the transcript reads.
PLUM: On The Backlash From The Video Of The Current Single ‘ Pretty Is’ ?
Lyfe: I did. I heard people say, oh we have enough stripper videos, and stuff like that, and I think even radio even said the same at certain points. But hey, it’s something that is going on now, it’s something that a lot of people are doing now, and this isn’t the first time that somebody have gone to strip clubs and talked about exotic dancers but I think it is the first time that somebody has talked about it responsibly.
Because, when woman is hearing get your money, get your money, then she’s tempted to just use the bare necessities; things she has at her her disposal to get that money and that number one thing is her body.
So we want encourage woman, yes you have a body, and yes you can do that and nobody should judge you but what I will judge you for is if you waste your potential because we know that blessings unused turn into curses.
PLUM: Aside From Your Current Singles, What Are Some Of Your Favorite Tracks On The New Album?
Lyfe: I have a song called ‘ Where Not The Same’ because the way that these duded be stunting out here and always want to be seen, I’m not like that so I like to make playful jabs at those guys.
I have another song called ‘She Don’t Want Her’ and its about a woman that has been a side chick for so long but the reason why she’s been a sidekick is because her man has been lying to her [I’m going to leave her, over and over again] , and she believes him every single time , and that’s so prevalent in our society, so I was just telling the brother, let this woman go while she still has some life in her. “
“ I have another track called ‘I Love You’ its a throwback strong, uptempo joint; just expressing to a woman in a playful manner how much I love you, . I know I haven’t always said it and I have done some shit in the past, but today at 5:45pm I love your ass. “
PLUM: Do You Feel There’s More Pressure For R&B Artist With Today’s Music Trend & Advice For Rising Artist?
Lyfe: I would say don’t feed into that. When its something great, you’ll wait for it. These other cats have to put out something every other day because their message is only going to last about two seconds….. so, don’t worry about the fast food.
PLUM: Do You Think R&B Music Has Taken A Back Seat Or Changed During Your Hiatus?
Lyfe: I don’t know, again I just focus on me and I don’t really keep up with other artists. If its something that I think I can use or its special to my life then I’ll grab it, but if not then I ignore it.
In anticipation of the album release, Lyfe Jennings will embark on a promotional tour in support of his debut album to major cities including New York (April 27-28), Philadelphia (April 29), Washington, D.C. (April 30), Baltimore (May 1), Indianapolis (May 2) New Orleans (May 10), , Charlotte, NC (May 22), Ft. Wayne, IN (May 23), Atlanta (May 24) and more.
One Love!