Anastacia
March 2002

A powerful and soulful voice is now being played in the chart topping realms of Europe. With gold and platinum sales in 12 countries, this girl's talent, energy and charisma have boosted her to the front of radio play lists and have left TV chat show hosts scrambling for interviewing time. Enigma managed to have a slot squeezed into this lady's hectic schedule and chatted to her about holidays, spirituality, territories and ambitions. Welcome to Anastacia…
Anastacia's story is one of struggle - 'from rags to riches'. Initially she started as a dancer on 'Club MTV' and had appearances in numerous hit videos, including Salt N Pepa's 'Everybody Get Up' and 'Twist and Shout'. She was completely disenchanted with the music industry's attempts at manufacturing her voice, her moves and her looks. But she was convinced by her manager to try one last time and appeared on MTV's 'The Cut'. The response was amazing. Anastacia was recognised by the right people and was immediately signed to Epic Records/Daylight. Her determined and focused attitude has left her rejoicing in the recognition that she desired from the start.

Michael Jackson called her personally to give his support and words of encouragement. And she met nearly every President of every major record label. This confidence boost and her insistence on believing in herself gave her the drive to succeed in an industry she had begun to give up on. Since then Anastacia has done duets with Elton John and Pavarotti with a view to recording a track with Jamiroquai in the near future. Waiting in the palatial suite of rooms reserved for Anastacia in London's exclusive and rather fashionable Mandarin Oriental Hotel a nervous, but elegant lady asks nervously, "You won't take too long, will you? Anastacia's very busy." As we found out later, she was her manager. We were then ushered into a luxurious bedroom to wait for the diva herself. And suddenly, Anastacia is with us, "Hi!" she booms. Her voice is chirpy and strong and she seems both very young and very confident. She commands attention, though she is very small, smaller than you may think from her videos. As is expected Anastacia is wearing her signature dark glasses and her long blonde hair flicks from side to side. Anastacia is a gregarious, fun-loving girl. Being a New Yorker, she says exactly what she thinks with no holds barred. She laughs, admitting, "I'm in your face!" She's right, she is. She's brash and blunt but charming with it. Her booming voice and laughter has become one of her trademarks; she is the life and soul of the party and loves being the centre of attention. But she is also a warm and personable girl who cares for those around her. And although our interview centred on her, her new album and her future, she took a keen interest in subjects that arose that weren't necessarily relevant to her promotion. While on her promotional tour around Europe Anastacia has a gruelling schedule. "My intense schedule is absolute pandemonium," she says, despairing. "I don't allow myself the luxury of going out at night. I don't want to jeopardise my voice or work at this time so I can't allow myself the usual hangout time that I might like to have. I tend to be quite responsible. She does admit, though, that she has squeezed in time for a trip to Nobu, her favourite London restaurant. Anastacia doesn't pretend to understand everything, but she is genuinely curious about the world. She says, "Previously, at the beginning we were just testing the waters in Europe to see what the reaction would be to me. In those days I visited many smaller countries which I couldn't necessarily fit into my tours nowadays. I am grateful for having had the chance to make those trips and see places and other cultures I haven't previously experienced." Anastacia is currently focusing on Europe, but has never been commercially released in the States, mainly because, she hasn't had the time. "At the very beginning of my career I released 'I'm outta love' and it exploded over here", within just a period of two months. The amount of success we had with that one song, selling my album and not just singles as a new artist was totally unheard of." Anastacia gives us a big smile. "In the record companies they say that these things do not happen. So I had to concentrate on my success in Europe and hold off on America for the first record."

Although she loves her tours and travelling the world, this girl is a homebody at heart desiring the warmth of her own bed and home comforts. Having spent her last vacation at home, though, Anastacia feels like she has forfeited a holiday: "I was like, I stayed home? Where was my holiday?" So, after this tour she is taking a proper vacation with her girlfriends. And how would Anastacia spend her perfect holiday? "On a sunny island, totally relaxing. Being able to have a drink without worrying about my singing process and whether it's gonna be detrimental to my pop performance. It involves not doing anything and not having to do anything. My requirement is to not have my cell phone on." Giving us a sidelong glance with a cheeky grin she adds, "And because the holiday is booked into my schedule, it's a part of my schedule and therefore I don't feel guilty." Anastacia has an unusually soulful voice. It is much richer than the usual commercial processed voices we hear, but the songs are quite conventionally orchestrated. Anastacia explains her choice of music: "I have an unusual, ethereal voice. However, the philosophies that I live by are very real, down to earth and very current. At the same time I have a very old-fashioned mentality of respect. I'm a combination of the two different sides of what a person can and can't be. I don't mind being current, fashionable or popular in the musical sense. But I don't sell myself short, so that the whole level of where my voice is and where it fits in is compromised. That's where I found my happy medium. I felt that the music I wanted to do was a lot of different kinds, 'cos that's what I listen to. If I want to put in live strings, a funky base or a rock guitar I have every right to do that. I have a lot of elements in my music. It's not about pop music with pop lyrics. My melodies aren't poppy, but they're catchy." Anastacia sees herself more as an expressionist rather than a songwriter and her voice can adapt to whichever style she likes. Many young artists are moulded and marketed to sound and act in a certain way, but this is one thing that Anastacia has luckily avoided. "This was the nicest thing about what Sony Music allowed me to do as an artist," she enthuses. "They allowed me to use my voice as an instrument instead of just making my voice fit in with the music appropriately. They use my voice as the key selling point." Anastacia was uncompromising on what she wanted. "On the first album I didn't want to sound unlike how I sounded live. I wanted to make sure that when I bust out acappela to someone I would impress them even more than my album. So, if they're impressed with my album, wow," she practically bursts our eardrums with her enthusiasm, "they'd be so impressed with this!" The Middle East has a huge fan base and people over there already know Anastacia and buy her music. "You have to make me earn this," she gesticulates to a non-existent crowd, "I feel like guilty! I am used to earning my keep. Ya know, earning the right to feel like people know who I am because I sat there and worked my way towards receiving that acknowledgement." She is astounded by the fact that people know of her in the Middle East although she has never been there on tour.

Anastacia also has a tattoo on her lower back of the key of life, an Egyptian good luck symbol. It has a huge sun with rays and the key of life over the top. She was surprised when she discovered its connections and connotations. "I live by that rule of eternal life and it was very strange that I was attracted to the symbol before I knew what it meant. When I was looking for a tattoo I just liked how it looked. When I was told what it meant, I was like - how ironic!" Excitedly and on the edge of her seat, she exclaims, "I definitely believe there are old souls within a lot of different people and sometimes there are reasons why certain things happen. The more connected you are with your souls of the past, the more reasons there are for why you do things in the present." She adds, calming down slightly, "I believe in the spirit of it all. It makes me feel grounded and in touch with other cultures that live moment to moment." Anastacia despairs at Americans' haste to rush through their lives, "America is never in the moment, they are always in the next. What are we gonna do now, what are we gonna do next year, what are we gonna do ten years from now? And I'm like, I dunno!" Anastacia flings her arms in the air with a look of comic exasperation. "I don't know if I'll be alive, if I'll be singing. Who knows? At this point right now I can only talk to you about this year." Anastacia's lengths to keep in touch with her spirituality do not stop there. Her belt, which she wears on the album cover for 'Freak of Nature' is taken from the design of her tattoo. It was designed and made with the help of Pascal Mouawad. "He suggested that I could design something for my next album cover; a pendant of my tattoo, and he had these great ideas for it to clip and twist and stuff. He designed the sun to be used as a belt buckle and it has Anastacia written across the middle, the ankh clips on top of the sun and it pops out to also be worn as a pendant. I wore them separate for the cover. It is gorgeous. It's the best gift I've ever got and it incorporates my symbol." Anastacia's next goal is 'to do' America, but it has to be at an appropriate time. Perhaps the Americans will be bombarded with Anastacia after her European tour, her World Cup debut and a well deserved holiday. She is quite wary of tempting fate and is uncertain about presuming her own glory. Treading carefully, she says, "If it's not as successful as London and Germany, it's not a big deal to me because a territory is a territory. A successful one is a successful one, sometimes there are unsuccessful ones - that's the way it is. Wherever you plant your seed and it grows you need to water it". So what legacy would Anastacia like to leave behind? "I think that what I'm leaving and what I'm giving right now is what I will leave behind. I represent strength, honesty and a sense of security within my own self. I also have a humour that is undeniable. I like to live my life with a strong sense of self." Anastacia was friends with Aaliyah and goes on to say, "That's one of the things that really moved me to tears when Aaliyah passed away. She really did live her life like I live mine. She really did respect the people that she had around and herself, her art and her career. She was really growing into such a beautiful woman, but being taken away so fast at such a young age you never think it is going to happen. It really has determined the life that I live." Anastacia concludes the interview with a statement that embodies her way of life, "I think that people will remember that I lived life for every moment that was. And whether I am given another 40 years on this earth or just a day it's okay, because I will know I loved every moment I was given."
Anastacia's album "Freak of Nature" is available in Cairo and throughout Europe on Sony Music.