Macy Gray achieved perhaps her biggest pop culture spotlight at the turn of the millennium with the release of her first album, On How Life Is, and its Grammy-winning single “I Try,” in 1999. In the early 2000s, her face became nearly as famous as her distinctive voice, with acting roles movies like Training Day with Denzel Washington and a cameo in the first Toby Maguire Spiderman.
After struggling artistically during those high-profile years, she released a greatest hits album in 2004. But in the nearly 20 years since then, her music and her inimitable voice has had a continued presence in the zeitgeist — the singer was featured on Ariana Grande’s 2016 album Dangerous Woman, after all — right through to Y2K music and trends coming back into fashion this decade.
And it’s now, at a time when Gray notes that everything from streaming to concert prices to political contentiousness makes music-making more difficult than ever, that Gray feels she has reached her highest level as a vocalist, a status she showcases in her new album, The Reset, released in February.
“We’re going to put it out, and we’re going to see what happens,” Gray says. “But I do think I’m a better artist.”
Macy Gray performed at The Birchmere in Alexandria last month. She talked with Northern Virginia Magazine about the personal and political factors that fueled the album.
A Long Time Coming
Gray’s music has always centered her voice, but her appeal reached the stratosphere in part because of her music’s ability to incorporate genres beyond R&B. She grew up listening to a wide variety of styles — jazz, reggae, hip hop, pop — and that continues today. She does her vocal exercises to Aretha Franklin, but considers herself a huge Led Zeppelin devotee.
“I had tons and tons of influences,” Gray says. “You know how a lot of people say, ‘I listen to everything but country?’ I listen to country all the time. I’m a big fan.”
Gray, who originally didn’t want to release “I Try” as a single, said she feels that she went astray musically shortly after her first album, as commercial pressure ramped up — not just because of a need to meet high expectations, but because of the rapid change in the music business that hit at the beginning of her career. Napster popularized digital downloads in 1999 (followed by iTunes in 2001), and Spotify brought streaming music to the mainstream in 2006.
“The record business got really thin,” Gray says. “And artists had to rely on streaming, which pays not even a whole penny per record.”
The tight financial demands drove her to conform, losing that breadth of influences.
“It was really a struggle for me because I hadn’t really adapted to that yet, and I haven’t really mastered that whole system. And so I went through a period where I really tried to fit in, and that was not my nature,” Gray says.
“We were all confused during that period, and I tried and kind of failed to make more or less commercial records. But it’s different when you go into the studio and that’s your goal. It can totally mess with your head, and then you start forcing things and doing things that don’t make sense for you and your audience. The fans aren’t stupid – they catch stuff like that.”
Finding Her Voice
Gray points to how other artists are now performing in Las Vegas shows and endorsing products to make up for the lack of income from streaming, but for Gray, she didn’t find her way back until her jazz-inspired album Stripped, released in 2016. It received some of the best reviews of her career.
“I made a jazz record, and even though it wasn’t what I usually do, it was very liberating because I just went to the studio and got to be myself. I committed to just do what I do best after that,” she says.
At the same time, Gray has become more outspoken politically than ever, which has brought her both new attention and controversy.
“I’m in my 50s now, and I’m just old enough to not be scared. And I don’t really care how people feel about what I say,” Gray says. “When I was 30-something, that was a big deal to me, but now if everybody burns my record, I’m cool with it.”
That set the stage for The Reset, which Gray says is both a new musical direction for her and a call to change the way we speak to each other, all while refusing to fit into narrowly defined genres or ideologies.
“We have this whole weird cancel culture thing. Everybody’s so attentive to how many followers they have,” Gray says, noting that she feels that we’re without a leader. “We’re really lost right now, divided. It’s a very weird, weird time.”
After the stresses of the pandemic, she’s hoping for a new approach.
“Let’s start fresh. Let’s reset the the way we’re living, the way we’re treating each other,” Gray says. “And the music is also a reset, really new, nothing like what’s going on right now.”
Still, she isn’t shying away from controversy either. The album includes a cover of 1992’s controversial “Cop Killer” by Ice-T and Body Count. She points to a need for more artists to refuse to be silent in an era when backlash is common.
“It feels like they’re forced to have to be quiet about where they stand on things, or what they really want to say,” Gray says. “I do think that’s a shame because if you didn’t have that over your head, you would get some really great records, for one. And, I don’t know, if Beyonce said I want every woman to go out and get their breasts checked, five out of 10 women would. Or if Jay-Z said I want everybody to jump, most of us would do it. I’m not singling either one of them out, but when you have that kind of influence.
“If more artists would step out and say what they really feel, I think it will make a huge, huge difference.”
Gray is trying to make that kind of statement with this album. And even though she’s trying not to worry about her reputation, she does hope it grows her legacy.
“People call me all kinds of things. Legend. Icon. I don’t even know what they’re talking about when they say that,” Macy Gray says.
“I just know I have a lot of things I still want to do, and and I hope it lasts. And I hope people remember me and, you know, it’s always nice to go down in history as one of the greatest. But you know, we’ll see.”
Feature image courtesy The Birchmere
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