So how does Liz Phair feel about Lana Del Rey? Well, as a recording artist, I've been hated, I've been ridiculed, and conversely, hailed as the second coming. All that matters in the end is that I've been heard.
I'd just thank the people out there who have been with my up-and-down, weird-road, strange career and supported me and stuck with me all these years. I mean, they're my boss. That's what keeps me working.
We've always existed regardless of how popular our band is. We've been around for a while, and we can tour regardless of whether there's a single on the radio or not.
You got people that come in, one album, two albums, and they're gone. A lot of people couldn't take the break I took and come back into the game, and people be checking for them.
I talked with labels and they wouldn't help with my international career. They said, 'Saara, if you're in Finland you just have to sing in Finnish.' That led to this situation where I felt very lonely. I was really sad and still I was doing gigs all the time. I'd go onstage crying but I was still trying to sing.
The thing about a music career is that it ain't over until the fat lady sings. Look at all the times people threw in the towel on Dylan - or Neil Young. Remember when Young was doing things in the '80s like 'Trans' and the rockabilly album and being completely lambasted by critics who now think he is wonderful again?
The critics have been writing me off for 20 years. That's nothing new. As far as I know I still have plenty of fans and sell lots of records. Do I care what critics say about me? No, and I don't read reviews.
Yet a real artist, I've noticed, will survive anything. (Even praise, I happily suspect.)
I never read my reviews... not even the good ones. Barbra Streisand once told me, if just one person in the audience doesn't applaud, it bothers her. I'm the same way. I'd be devastated to read that someone didn't like my work.
And as long as people want to hear me sing, I don't know why I'd retire.
I'll be honest, watching the music industry collapse has been demoralizing and disheartening at times.
With Hall & Oates, honestly, after years and years of playing the same material, it's easy to coast. I can coast through a show.
I remember talking with Arcade Fire after their first record, when they were getting all kinds of offers from major labels, and I don't think I gave them any advice. They survived that whole onslaught pretty well anyway without me.
Every artist has a moment where they think about quitting music for a moment because it's scary.
I think the business of music has really taken a huge hit. There's no doubt about it. But an artist is always going to produce their art, their music. They're going to paint, they're going to write.
As long as artists can make something, artists will continue to survive.
My strongest audiences are in Germany and France - they stuck with me through my dark days in the '70s.
A lot of bands that are great disappear a little bit faster than they used to. They don't get as much support for the long haul. You have to be pretty tough to hang in there.
