March 11, 2024 • 7 mins
Grammy winning singer and songwriter Paula Cole talks new music and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
With Mario Lopez.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's up Rod Mario Lopez joining me now on Zoom.
Grammy winning singer, songwriter and producer Paula Cole, Welcome to
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Paula.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm great, Thank you. It's lovely to be here. How
are you.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. Congratulations on the
new album Lo all original songs. First time you've done
that nearly a decade. What smarked this wave of creativity?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I think I think I was just ready. I think
I was ready. But also what kind of was catalytic
to that was that Jasonispoll and I shared a tweet
exchange in front of everybody, and we decided to record together,
like over Twitter. It was a good thing that happened
on Twitter, and we needed a song. So I wrote
(00:49):
a song and he ended up contributing to the song,
as did John Paul White, another beautiful artist. We recorded
in Nashville, and it just started this whole stream of writing.
I think Jason Nispel's writing is gorgeous and I was
inspired by that, and I just was ready in my
life to kind of look within a little more deeply. Again.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Very cool. You never know what may inspire you. So
glad that worked out now. The first single is the
Replacements in Dinosaur Junior. I understand this is a tribute
to a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
That's right, my friend Mark Hutchins, who some of us
in the music business know, very talented engineer, producer, a
dear friend of mine. He was influential to me in
my early career. You know, a lot of my early
demos came of us working together, and that got me
signed and got my whole career started. We end up
going our separate paths, and then he died too young
at fifty one. I think it was he has family still,
(01:45):
but I just needed to honor him in a song
that should have been fun and a little irreverent like
he was. So Yeah, I just you know, you live
long enough, you start to lose some people and you
love them, and I just wanted to honor him.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, that's awesome of you, and yeah, everyone's way way
too young. Another track is called Invisible Armor. Seems like
a bit of a reflective song.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, I'd say it's probably like the big ballad of
the album. And there are a couple of songs on
this album that really get to the heart of where
I was, and just like, Okay, I have my battle
scars in life. You know, I'm in my fifties now,
and like, I don't want my battle scars to define
(02:29):
me all the time. I don't want to carry around
this trauma. I want to let it go and be
light and trust again. Be lighthearted, yes, be wise, But
it was time to let go of the invisible armor.
It just came together in a song. Sometimes I find
what I need to do in life through the process
of songwriting. It's actually very therapeutic.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Okay, that's cool. Yeah, I'm with you right there. I'm
in my fifties now too, so I cannot wait.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Looking good there, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Thank you, I appreciate it. New tour is kicking off
this next month. How much of the new album You're
you gonna be playing live?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
A good bit, you know, the song sounds so good live.
They really lend themselves to being played live. The album
was recorded live, you know, we were all looking at
each other in the studio. We recorded at this place
called the Village in Los Angeles, and the b room
was built by Fleetwood Mac after their rumors success. Yeah yeah,
(03:24):
they built that studio to record their Tusk album. It
sounds so good and it was just such a live recording,
and the songs lend themselves to that. So yeah, I
think we'll play you know a good bit. This is
my eleventh studio album, so I have a lot of catalog.
(03:45):
We'll do the favorites, but sure, I just love the
new songs.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, speaking of favorites, your song Don't Want to Wait
still in heavy rotation all over streaming thanks to Dawson's Creek. Uh,
how'd you find out it was gonna be a theme song?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, you know, over the course of my career, my
songs like people want to use them. It's a pilot.
It's it never really transpires to be that important to
the thing. Sure, you know what the heck my manager
said we should try this. I spoke to Kevin Williams
on the phone actually, because he wanted to use the
(04:21):
song and he wanted to talk to me about it.
He really cared. He took the time to explain his
vision to me, and so I said sure, And I
just didn't ever expect it to be what it was.
It became so much bigger than me. And you know,
now it's more common to have your songs married it's
(04:43):
even like a great thing to have a song be
part of a series, but at the time, it was
like it was a lot for me to kind of
stand back and let it kind of overtake me. But
the silver lining to all that was that it really
delivered my music to younger generations, maybe in a way
that just my songs being on the radio wouldn't have done.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, no, absolutely, And I know you were also in
the early Lilith Fair festivals. I totally remember those. Do
you feel an all female festival could work again today?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Well, Sarah's going back on tour with her Fumbling Towards
Ecstasy album, and I know that's highly anticipated. And Lilith
Fair kind of came as a result of my touring
with Sarah in nineteen ninety five. You know, we're talking
nineties now, and it just wasn't done, like females wouldn't
(05:37):
open for females. Promoters dissuaded that, and she believed in
my music, just like radio programming.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
But why would they dissuade that. By the way, what
was the thought process behind that.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's hard to relate to now, but it was just
the way it was, even like in radio as well,
there were quotas you wouldn't play to females back to back,
like country. I know DJs from country radio that they
said even in a single day, they weren't allowed to
play two women in a single day on that country
radio station. But which always seems to be the last bastion,
(06:09):
right like country.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
But but I was just curious, why, Like someone's gonna
change the channel.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I turned the radio, someone made a bad program.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, that's I just don't unders. You know, that's a weird,
which we kind of very strange, very strange, doesn't seem
to make sense, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I know, like it was it was token ism. I guess, like, oh,
we're gonna hear from she's a female, Like that's a
big thing. I can't have too many of the whole
you know. Wow, Yeah, we just didn't see women opening
for women. Promoters didn't want that. They didn't think it
would sell tickets. That's probably what it was, you know,
(06:46):
that we didn't have financial power. Yeah, but all those
all those shows were sold out. That whole tour was
sold out. It did really well. And then I began thinking,
Sarah from you know my opening set to the audience,
like this isn't done. Thank you Sarah for having me
on the show. And then the audience would erupt in
this applause that felt like lightning. It felt like zeitgeist,
(07:08):
felt like this is true and this is important that
we pay attention to it. And then we just began
talking and we started doing more and more lineups of women.
They were still all selling out, so it's like we
just made the change. Sometimes it's best to be naive
and just go into it.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, well it definitely worked out. That's awesome, and congratulations
on everything. Was so nice to chat with you today.
You can listen too Low on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your music. Paula, thanks for checking in.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So happy to be here. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, take care
Speaker 1 (07:43):
With Mario Lopez
With Mario Lopez.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's up Rod Mario Lopez joining me now on Zoom.
Grammy winning singer, songwriter and producer Paula Cole, Welcome to
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Paula.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm great, Thank you. It's lovely to be here. How
are you.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. Congratulations on the
new album Lo all original songs. First time you've done
that nearly a decade. What smarked this wave of creativity?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I think I think I was just ready. I think
I was ready. But also what kind of was catalytic
to that was that Jasonispoll and I shared a tweet
exchange in front of everybody, and we decided to record together,
like over Twitter. It was a good thing that happened
on Twitter, and we needed a song. So I wrote
(00:49):
a song and he ended up contributing to the song,
as did John Paul White, another beautiful artist. We recorded
in Nashville, and it just started this whole stream of writing.
I think Jason Nispel's writing is gorgeous and I was
inspired by that, and I just was ready in my
life to kind of look within a little more deeply. Again.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Very cool. You never know what may inspire you. So
glad that worked out now. The first single is the
Replacements in Dinosaur Junior. I understand this is a tribute
to a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
That's right, my friend Mark Hutchins, who some of us
in the music business know, very talented engineer, producer, a
dear friend of mine. He was influential to me in
my early career. You know, a lot of my early
demos came of us working together, and that got me
signed and got my whole career started. We end up
going our separate paths, and then he died too young
at fifty one. I think it was he has family still,
(01:45):
but I just needed to honor him in a song
that should have been fun and a little irreverent like
he was. So Yeah, I just you know, you live
long enough, you start to lose some people and you
love them, and I just wanted to honor him.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, that's awesome of you, and yeah, everyone's way way
too young. Another track is called Invisible Armor. Seems like
a bit of a reflective song.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, I'd say it's probably like the big ballad of
the album. And there are a couple of songs on
this album that really get to the heart of where
I was, and just like, Okay, I have my battle
scars in life. You know, I'm in my fifties now,
and like, I don't want my battle scars to define
(02:29):
me all the time. I don't want to carry around
this trauma. I want to let it go and be
light and trust again. Be lighthearted, yes, be wise, But
it was time to let go of the invisible armor.
It just came together in a song. Sometimes I find
what I need to do in life through the process
of songwriting. It's actually very therapeutic.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Okay, that's cool. Yeah, I'm with you right there. I'm
in my fifties now too, so I cannot wait.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Looking good there, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Thank you, I appreciate it. New tour is kicking off
this next month. How much of the new album You're
you gonna be playing live?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
A good bit, you know, the song sounds so good live.
They really lend themselves to being played live. The album
was recorded live, you know, we were all looking at
each other in the studio. We recorded at this place
called the Village in Los Angeles, and the b room
was built by Fleetwood Mac after their rumors success. Yeah yeah,
(03:24):
they built that studio to record their Tusk album. It
sounds so good and it was just such a live recording,
and the songs lend themselves to that. So yeah, I
think we'll play you know a good bit. This is
my eleventh studio album, so I have a lot of catalog.
(03:45):
We'll do the favorites, but sure, I just love the
new songs.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, speaking of favorites, your song Don't Want to Wait
still in heavy rotation all over streaming thanks to Dawson's Creek. Uh,
how'd you find out it was gonna be a theme song?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, you know, over the course of my career, my
songs like people want to use them. It's a pilot.
It's it never really transpires to be that important to
the thing. Sure, you know what the heck my manager
said we should try this. I spoke to Kevin Williams
on the phone actually, because he wanted to use the
(04:21):
song and he wanted to talk to me about it.
He really cared. He took the time to explain his
vision to me, and so I said sure, And I
just didn't ever expect it to be what it was.
It became so much bigger than me. And you know,
now it's more common to have your songs married it's
(04:43):
even like a great thing to have a song be
part of a series, but at the time, it was
like it was a lot for me to kind of
stand back and let it kind of overtake me. But
the silver lining to all that was that it really
delivered my music to younger generations, maybe in a way
that just my songs being on the radio wouldn't have done.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, no, absolutely, And I know you were also in
the early Lilith Fair festivals. I totally remember those. Do
you feel an all female festival could work again today?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Well, Sarah's going back on tour with her Fumbling Towards
Ecstasy album, and I know that's highly anticipated. And Lilith
Fair kind of came as a result of my touring
with Sarah in nineteen ninety five. You know, we're talking
nineties now, and it just wasn't done, like females wouldn't
(05:37):
open for females. Promoters dissuaded that, and she believed in
my music, just like radio programming.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
But why would they dissuade that. By the way, what
was the thought process behind that.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's hard to relate to now, but it was just
the way it was, even like in radio as well,
there were quotas you wouldn't play to females back to back,
like country. I know DJs from country radio that they
said even in a single day, they weren't allowed to
play two women in a single day on that country
radio station. But which always seems to be the last bastion,
(06:09):
right like country.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
But but I was just curious, why, Like someone's gonna
change the channel.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I turned the radio, someone made a bad program.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, that's I just don't unders. You know, that's a weird,
which we kind of very strange, very strange, doesn't seem
to make sense, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I know, like it was it was token ism. I guess, like, oh,
we're gonna hear from she's a female, Like that's a
big thing. I can't have too many of the whole
you know. Wow, Yeah, we just didn't see women opening
for women. Promoters didn't want that. They didn't think it
would sell tickets. That's probably what it was, you know,
(06:46):
that we didn't have financial power. Yeah, but all those
all those shows were sold out. That whole tour was
sold out. It did really well. And then I began thinking,
Sarah from you know my opening set to the audience,
like this isn't done. Thank you Sarah for having me
on the show. And then the audience would erupt in
this applause that felt like lightning. It felt like zeitgeist,
(07:08):
felt like this is true and this is important that
we pay attention to it. And then we just began
talking and we started doing more and more lineups of women.
They were still all selling out, so it's like we
just made the change. Sometimes it's best to be naive
and just go into it.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, well it definitely worked out. That's awesome, and congratulations
on everything. Was so nice to chat with you today.
You can listen too Low on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your music. Paula, thanks for checking in.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So happy to be here. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, take care
Speaker 1 (07:43):
With Mario Lopez
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