INTERVIEW: Mary Lambert talks activism in art and new single, “The Tempest” – out now
For over a decade, singer-songwriter Mary Lambert has been known for her moving vocals and tender ballads exploring love, heartbreak, and self-acceptance. She has received numerous accolades for this work, including a Grammy nomination for marriage equality anthem “Same Love” alongside Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. However, in her most recent single, “The Tempest,” from her upcoming album, Lambert expresses more than emotional vulnerability, unleashing stormy, Shakespearian rage. “The Tempest” is unapologetic in its message: demanding bodily autonomy for women and the LGBTQ community. New England Sounds sat down with Lambert to discuss her music, activism, and creative vision as she redefines her artistic identity.
New England Sounds: Congratulations on your new single, “The Tempest.” The song feels like a departure from the tone of your earlier work. What compelled you to tap into this emotional intensity, and why now?
Mary Lambert: I felt that I needed to be more direct in a song like this. I’m used to writing songs that are soft and don’t always say what they want to say. I feel like I write songs for my heart, and I think [through] this song I wanted to express and name this rage that has been bubbling up inside me, and I’m sure in a lot of other women and queer people. We don’t always have a place for that anger to go, and I wanted to give myself permission to write about that and share that with people. [With] the erosion of all of these institutions that we hold close – we see ICE snatching people from the streets and people in Gaza being starved – there’s so many things that require our participation in not being complicit. It’s not a foregone conclusion that they’re doing this without permission. So it’s so important that we consistently say “Not, not me, not my choice.” It felt good to write a song that said those things clearly.
NES: You produced “The Tempest” entirely by yourself. How did this additional layer of creation impact your creative process and the track’s final sound?
Lambert: I started producing, gosh, like eight or nine years ago, and it really was born out of economic necessity. I didn’t have enough money to be in the recording studio with a producer and an engineer. And I think I was also really tired of the same writing/recording situation where a cis guy makes musical and production choices about how my voice and music are heard. Even the best, kindest, most sensitive guy– in the studio, they’re still operating from their creative vantage point. I wanted to be the arbiter of those sounds and that decision making. So production became the vessel through which to express myself sonically. And yeah, it’s hard, but it’s not as hard as a lot of singer-songwriters think.
NES: What can you tell me about your third studio album? How does it expand on the sonic and cultural themes you explore in “The Tempest”?
Lambert: I made this next record mostly in the throes of divorce and at the end of my marriage. I think “The Tempest” is a really honest and interesting parallel to what I experienced and what I am moving forward towards: independence and autonomy. I express more anger than I ever have on the record. And that is, for especially women, and at least for myself, an unfamiliar thing. I’ve seen anger represented in toxic masculinity. My association with anger is a dude punching a wall. And I think that’s a bummer, because anger can really motivate us. It lends itself to action. I think as women we’re really comfortable with sadness and grief and expressing ourselves that way. This is a time where we need to be able to access all of the emotions that we’re feeling and give ourselves permission to be angry. That can radicalize us, motivate us to create change in the world and in our communities. So for me, this record, I hope, is a record that empowers people to see that there is something on the other side of shame, there’s something on the other side of heartbreak and being disempowered. And that’s freedom. It’s freedom to feel all your feelings. So I could not be more proud of this record. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever made.
NES: What were some of your musical inspirations for “The Tempest” and the upcoming album?
Lambert: Paula Cole’s album, This Fire. I heard that album when I was 10 years old, and it was everything to me. It was a woman expressing her rage. And I don’t think I’ve heard much like that in popular music. That never really took off or was embraced because I think people are uncomfortable with women being angry; it’s a foreign thing. So that record for sure. Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters. Indigo Girls. In a lot of their earlier, raw recordings, you can feel it’s very in the moment. It’s sonically human. I’m definitely channeling all my feminist heroes.
NES: You have incorporated social messaging and activism into your work. What role do you believe art plays in activism in today’s political climate?
Lambert: There’s this artist who posted this quote that I literally think about every day. Their name is Yumi Sakugawa, and they made a post that said, “Living is the ultimate creative act and art is one of many creations that can arise from it when we are intentional about disrupting oppressive patterns in order to generate liberatory ones.” “The Tempest” is exactly what I’ve wanted to make that interrupts this idea that women cannot express their anger. A lot of the social and political conditioning that we’ve been receiving tells us to behave as if everything’s normal. Art is our opportunity to say, “No, it’s not fine. This is not okay.” Any opportunity that we have to say that we’re not complicit in this destructive system is the right answer. Especially if you have any kind of platform, gosh, don’t squander it. Allow your platform to be a force of good, a force of inspiring and encouraging people.
NES: Many people first got to know you through “Same Love” and “She Keeps Me Warm.” How has your perspective as an artist changed since then?
Lambert: When I first started out, I really wanted people to like me. It was so important for me to get people on my side, and to appeal to those that didn’t agree with me politically. In some ways, I was begging for their acceptance. [I thought:] Let me make my music soft and beautiful enough that you can recognize my humanity. And I’m glad that I did. For a time, that lens and approach was really helpful. But it was definitely not sustainable for me. In order to be a full, complex human being, you have to be able to express all parts of yourself, and especially as an artist, I don’t think that that is a sustainable way of making art. I used to feel like I could make things that are angry or dark or not as polite and soft as my previous work, but I couldn’t share it. That would be confusing, because people saw me as this sensitive sapphic, love ballad kind of person, and I didn’t want to disappoint. As I’ve gotten older, I’m 36 now, I just care less and less about what people think of me and how they’re going to receive my messaging. I am more comfortable now than ever that I’m not for everybody. I’m not. I might not be the person that you like listening to, and I’m okay with that for the first time in my life. And that feels liberating.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image by: Kim Selling
