Vogue India July 2016

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122 VOGUE INDIA JULY 2016 http://www.vogue.in

Like a

rolling stone

MUSIC

For Your Soul) musically mixes reggae and hip

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ences. Stone talks to Vogue about her life

in music.

An artist you grew up listening to

There was a lot of music going on in my house.

My sister listened to one style, my brother an-

other, my other brother another and my par-

ents more. So it was a really big mix. When I

was very young, my parents played a lot of

James Brown and Anita Baker, as well as a lot

of reggae. Linton Kwesi Johnson was the fa-

vourite voice at that time.

A singer who made you want to be one

Probably Aretha Franklin. There’s something

about her. I wish I was worthy of the compar-

isons I get (Stone’s called the ‘White Aretha

Franklin of Soul’). When she was younger,

there was no singer to top or even match her.

She’s got something that is like nobody else.

A song you listen to when you are blue

There’s a Kirk Franklin song called ‘Looking

For You’ that I listen to when I am upset. It’s

a gospel song that can just uplift people. It

really brings you out by saying that you’ll be

alright. It’s a very religious song and though

I don’t resign myself to a particular religion,

it doesn’t matter what you believe because

when you listen to this you will feel good, no

matter what.

You formed a supergroup (SuperHeavy)

with Mick Jagger and AR Rahman.

Describe Mick Jagger in three words:

Friendly, passionate, strong.

An artist more people should listen to

Bholoja—he’s from Swaziland and sings in

siSwati and English. His style of music is Swa-

zi soul, so it’s inspired by soul, R&B and blues.

He sounds like Tracy Chapman and Joan Ar-

matrading but mixed with African and Swazi

sounds. It’s beautiful. I’d listen to it everyday.

A genre you just don’t understand

I had a really hard time understanding jazz.

I’m not talking about the type of jazz that Ella

Fitzgerald sings or Amy Winehouse sings—

that’s easy to understand. I’m not talking

about just soul, R&B jazz, but fusion—the ex-

perimental, mad type of thing. A lot of guitars

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head-fuck, but I’ll learn.

The biggest misconception about you

People think I’m a lot richer than I am. I’m

okay with that.Q

It’s hard to pin down Joss Stone. The English

singer-songwriter was in India to perform at

the Mahindra Blues Festival when we met for

an interview; she was tweeting about Grena-

da, a tiny Caribbean island, when this issue

was going to press; and as you are reading this,

she is possibly in Denmark, rounding off what

she calls a “total world tour.”

Besides earning envious air miles, the soul

phenomenon has taken her music to uncon-

ventional touring spots that most musicians

never seem to cover—Maldives, Bhutan, Ser-

bia and the Dominican Republic, to name a

few. “I’m trying not to miss out on any coun-

try, so it leaves no place or time for anything

else this year,” says the blue-eyed songstress.

With smoky vocals that are mature beyond

her years, Stone, who started performing at

the age of 16, has a talent for reviving lost clas-

sics. But the girl’s got range—after a debut

album that included duets with R&B luminar-

ies like Betty Wright, her latest album (Water

The English singer-songwriterJOSS STONE,who

is on a “total world tour” this year, opens up to

MEGHA MAHINDRU about her musical journey

Aretha Franklin

James Brown

Anita

Baker

Mick Jagger

Kirk Franklin

Photographed by ANKITA CHANDRA

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