When you think of music and Zooey Deschenel, "Baby it's cold outside" probably is the first tune that comes to mind. But this twenty-something knows the cheer that can be spread by singing loud for all to hear isn't confined to the holiday season, and recently Deschanel teamed up with M. Ward to form the indie-pop duo She & Him. While she and her partner didn't win the Woodie they were nominated for, the band is on the rise and doing more than just wasting their musical talent in the shower. Recently, Deschanel sat down to talk with Culture Editor Courtney Rogers about what it's like being a part of the music industry and finding that ever-illusive balance.
Versus Magazine: You've recently worked with Jenny Lewis on her most recent album, "Acid Tongue," and I was wondering how that kind of came about?
Zooey Deschanel: I've known Jenny for a long time and she just asked me to sing some backing vocals and it was fun.
VM: That's cool. Most award shows involve a lot of opinions from professionals in the music industry. Woodies are based on the votes of college students. I was wondering what that's like for you.
ZD: I mean I think it's great because, you know, college is an important time and I think people are just finding their own unique voices and I think it's equally as exciting to be recognized by a group of people who are well educated but not necessarily in the profession. I think it's a big honor.
VM: Do you find it hard to balance doing movies and music? And as of now, which one do you find yourself focusing more on?
ZD: Well, I've been doing a lot of music. I love doing music because I write music and it's very satisfying to see a project through from the beginning to putting out a record, but I still like doing movies, too. And it's hard in some ways, but it's just so rewarding to be able to have two amazing jobs. I couldn't complain.
VM: What do you have to say about originality in the music industry and how you fit into this?
ZD: As an artist, the more you can keep your blinders on and try to create without thinking necessarily about what people are going to think of you or creating specifically for a group of people, the more you're going to find that you have you create things that are out of the ordinary and the more satisfying I think it is as an artist. And I think that there's a place for genre and there's a place for specific categories, but I think I've always found that it's most rewarding to try to create solely for the purpose of self expression.
VM: How would you describe your music?
ZD: I would call it optimistic '60s-influenced country pop. Or actually power folk.
VM: On "Volume One" you have two different covers both from the '60s, by The Beatles and Smokey Robinson. So what is it about the music of this era that you find so interesting? And what is it that made you pick these particular songs?
ZD: You know, the '60s I don't know exactly why, but it was just an era of. ... There was just so much good music like spanning over that decade. I mean, I think, starting off in the early '60s with Motown and the songwriters building writing a lot of songs for pop artists and later with The Beatles and the British invasion and bands taking a more executive role in terms of writing their own material. It just is a very diverse period and just so rich with like such an incredible catalogue of music from the '60s. "You Really Got a Hold On Me" is just such a classic song; the lyrics are just ... to hear that song, just such a beautiful song. And then "I Should Have Known Better" also - they're just classic songs that both Matt and I had covered on our own. Matt had wanted to put "I Should Have Known Better" on another record and I had made a home demo of that and both of us had covered "You Really Got a Hold On Me," so it sort of seemed like pretty obvious choices. But actually "I Should Have Known Better," there was a cover of that on a Beach Boys record called "Beach Boy Party" and it was so different from the Beatles version but also so charming that I was inspired to make another version of that song that hopefully was also charming.
VM: What it was like to finally share your home demos and go through the process of recording the album and releasing it commercially? And what was it like for you to share your music with so many people?
ZD: It was really cathartic. It felt really amazing and scary at first. I mean I would say like my first day in the studio I actually recorded the first track on my record or the song that ended up being the first track on my record and I was really nervous because I hadn't really played any of those songs live for anybody. I had recorded them and I sent them to Matt and then a few select friends had heard them and I kept them pretty close to my chest. So then, I put it in front of our engineer and then having people come and then play on the record; it was like sort of a big hurdle for me to get over. But then once I got over it, it was so freeing and so cathartic and it just felt so like a huge sigh of relief to get all of it out there and really probably the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. And it just feels really wonderful to play shows and have people singing along to songs I wrote. Like I'm thinking back to when I was there, to when I was sort of like hiding all of my songs, if you had told me then that that would be case, I think I would have been so happy. And I mean, I just feel like that to me is the sort of thing that will come along in my life that let's me know that anything's possible. And like for instance the results of the recent election, I was a big Obama supporter and I thought that was very inspiring, and it's these things that remind you that you really can accomplish anything.
