It's fair to say that I'm an intense person! By intense I mean that I'm someone who thinks ALOT and very deeply...and about everything that comes my way. If you need clarification on how intense, just refer to the lyrics of any song on my first EP 'Who I've Become'. If you need further clarification, ask anyone who knows me...they'll tell you exactly how crazy and intense I am! I've been that way since I was a kid. Much to my parents horror I questioned everything...and I thought about everything they said so that I could try make sense out of it. As a western girl raised with very Arab values, you can imagine, not a lot made sense....and my intensity, for whatever it was worth, wasn't always appreciated!
That intensity is now part of what defines me as an artist. I don't do "Oh ah baby baby". There are enough people who do that and do it well. Try and imagine me wearing a school girl outfit dancing around like Brittney Spears....singing "baby baby how was I supposed to know" PA-LEASE!!! It's just not me. It's not what I'm about. After recording my first release 'Who I've Become' I always wondered how I would know what my next album would sound like. I didn't want it to sound the same as 'Who I've Become' but I was confused as to how artists like Madonna continued to re-invent themselves while still staying true to themselves as artists who want to to stimulate a conversation about what they have to say.
It took me longer than I thought it would to begin creating the album that would be the follow up to 'Who I've Become'. I'll be honest, I didn't even know how one goes about determining what an album should be 'about'...how does one know such things if they've never done it before??? 'Who I've Become' was a collection of 5 songs that seemed to work well together just by accident. It was a reflection the events of the years that lead up to its creation. Approaching a full length album was going to be a different challenge, an exploration...the next steps into my life as a single woman, no long married or in a secure life with all the people I love around me. I didn't just want to have an album to show for my efforts at the end of the process. There had to be more in it for me on a personal level. Most importantly, it needed to inspire me, those involved in the process, and those who heard it.
When speaking to bands about how they approached recording their own albums it was either one of 2 scenarios. Either bands have a bunch of songs they've been playing on tour for years and record them as best as they can afford, hoping and praying that sales will at least make them their money back while they're on tour over the next couple of years. Or the artist is signed to a label that will put them with one or more writers who have recently done something cool in the hope that they'll write one hit song that the label can build an album around. I'm not in a band that has toured for the last couple of years, I don't aspire to be a struggling artist playing shows that makes everyone money except for me (which is the unfortunately reality for most artists) and I am not signed to a label (by choice), so neither of these options would formulate my approach. Like with everything in my crazy journey, I knew the pieces would just fall into place- if only I could get the fuck out of my own way for long enough!!!
In October of 2010, amongst a shit storm of pain that I was emerging from, I knew it was time to make this album. I didn't know how, but I knew that I would use the making of this album to explore 3 themes that are at present very poignant to my journey - 'Discovering my identity', 'Learning how to let go', and 'Having fun'. The album would serve as a way for me to understand these three themes in my own life, as well as serving as a vessel for me to practise implementing my discoveries of these themes while making the album. Rather than get a label to help me create the record, I brought on board a life coach, Terri Cook (who is now a dear friend), to help me stay focused on these themes as well as the business objectives of the album, without becoming overwhelmed with all that needed to get done.
In the first few days of thinking about the sound & tone of the album, as well as the possible producers, the names and people I was meeting with included Grammy award winning producers who have worked with some of my idols. The fact that these people would actually meet with me after hearing my work on 'Who I've Become' blew me away. I will forever cherish having my first Pastrami sandwich with super producer John Boylan (Boston, Linda Ronstadt, LRB, Elmo) at Jerry's in Woodland Hills here in LA! I grew up listening to Linda and always wanted to be her. Meeting the man that created her records has me star struck (which is something that rarely happens to me)! But then one of those crazy 'Lee Safar' moments happened that would change the sound of the album and who would end up producing it!
It was the day after I had been in the studio recording the vocal for a song I had co-written with Sydney based producer and song writer Luke Emrose of Evolutionary Theory. The song wasn't intended for the album. It wasn't even in the same genre as what I thought the album would be in. It was an idea that we were just playing with and wanted to hear laid down. The song was called 'These Lies' and came from a 'vocal only' recording that I had sent Luke 4 months earlier recorded from my laptop mic. He created the music track and we decided to lay the 'real vocal' over the new track and see what it sounded like. The amount of fun I had doing this was unlike anything I'd experienced before. I felt free, energised, excited, pumped, and everything in between. I woke up the next day and though "Fuck I hope making my album is as much fun as this"...those who know me can tell you how quickly it would have taken my intense thinking to get to the next thought!
I decided to abandon ship with all the other producers I was considering, Grammy Awards or not, and asked Luke to be the sole producer for the album. He was thrilled and jumped on board right away! No-one was more shocked than I was at my decision. Not because of Luke- he's amazing. But because making this decision determined that the new album would be in a new genre- ELECTRONICA! I decided that making the album in a genre that I knew very little about would force me out of my comfort zone and be the perfect basis to explore the theme 'Discovering my identity'! How better to parallel exploring my own identity while making an album, than to explore the identity of a new genre of music. To make this decision, it took me letting go of everything I thought this album was going to be and being open to limitless discoveries of myself, my producer, the new songs, and the endless possibilities of the next chapter of the Lee Safar journey! Now, 5 months into the project I can't tell you how amazingly happy I am that I made that decision. The material is sounding so great and the people who have heard bits of it are super impressed. It's still very me, just better, more honest and even more real than what you're used to of me!!! Still the same intense lyrics with some of the haunting melodies, but many surprises along the way. Certainly not what you're expecting....but I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised!
Below is a list of songs that have made it to the 'for consideration' stage of the pre-production process for the album, which I'm hoping will end up having around 13 songs on it. The list will grow before it gets shorter and is sure to change immensely before the release in about 6-8 months time. But the first single 'Shackles' should be out in about 2 months with the second one out 2 months after that!
Luke and I are working stupid hard at getting it done- Me here in LA and he in Sydney, but we're having a crazy fun time doing it! It's challenging both our usual styles of music but we're creating music that we're both seriously proud of. All we can hope is that you guys will love it too.
Peace, love, and light
Miss Lee xxx
Miss Lee xxx
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