Linda Perry Exclusive Interview With CEEK VR!

How did you find out that you'd been nominated?
Linda Perry: I believe it was my business partner Kerry emailed me, or texted me and said, "Wakey, wakey." And then, you know, I'm always awake too. And I'm like, "What?" And then he sent me the nominations, I was like, "All right!"

What a good way to wake up.
Linda Perry: It was a big week because Dolly [Parton] and I got a Golden Globe nomination, what was it, like a couple days before or something like that. And then we got a Critics’ Choice nomination, so baby, I was on fire that week!

Really happy to see the song from Dumplin' get the Golden Globe nomination. It was for a song but it came from the film world. How did that feel?
Linda Perry: That felt really good because it's really, truly, where my heart wants to be. I want to score and compose, and I really believe I'll be great at it, because I'm so passionate about wanting to do it. I just haven't had time, really, to make that jump over. So for me to have the exposure and go to these parties, and meet these incredible people, that now know who I am. The Golden Globe has put me on the radar, and now it's up to me to navigate myself.

Would like to do more work in film? What do you envision happening in that world for you in the coming years?
Linda Perry: I believe that I'm going to be picked up to do more songs for films. I believe I'll get some really cool indie, one that has no money, and I'm going to do it anyways because that's what I do. And I believe that indie is going to get a lot of attention, and then it will open up for the possibilities of what my biggest dream is, and that's to write a rock-opera. Not a musical. A rock-opera.

So, there's that. I have that going for me.

When they nominate you for this award, they choose certain albums or songs you've produced in the past year. Is there something that you were nominated for that you are particularly proud of?
Linda Perry: No, I'm absolutely opposite. The win is already mine, because of the nomination. The nomination is looking at my work: Dorothy’s 28 Days in the Valley. My partner Kerry Brown...my company is called We Are Hear, H-E-A-R, and we manage Dorothy. It’s a big win to bring acknowledgement and awareness to her, and to have people discover her.

Then the next one I have is Willa Amai, another artist on We Are Hear's. She's 14 years old, incredibly talented. She did a Daft Punk cover that got massive awareness—it was the #1 most Shazamed. The next project after that was a documentary soundtrack my company put together, called Served Like A Girl, which is about women who fight in our service, and come back after three terms to no benefits whatsoever. The things that are important to understand: One, Linda Perry produced it all. Two, it's We Are Hear artists and projects. And three, it's all women.

That's fucking cool, man! What are the chances of that? Every single project is my company's, and they're all women, and I've written on all of them. Served Like A Girl is getting a lot of Spotify hits, and more iTunes downloads, because of the nomination. So it's now bringing awareness back. This movie was out about a year-and-a-half, two years ago. Now it's back, people are discovering it. So again, I've already won, because my nomination has a purpose. A big one.

You started out in a band and you've put out music as an artist on your own. Do you have any intention of doing that again?
Linda Perry: I miss performing, and I'll go and do that once in a while, but really it's so far behind me. I feel so fulfilled in where I'm standing today that if I just blink my eye, that's how fast it goes by to me.

I'm just so grateful that I've been able to survive this business when people called me a one-hit-wonder back in '92. I'm still here, doing what I do, and I'm considered a pretty fucking badass person, you know? They got me all wrong, and they didn't know me. Honestly, I didn't know myself either, and that's kind of what's great about life, isn't it? It's all about discovery. We can discover the bad things, and we can discover the good things. And then right then and there, it's our choice which path to follow.

I discovered all the great things and followed that path, and this is where it led me. I have a band waiting for me to micro-manage them, and I have Dolly Parton relying on me to make sure her segment on the show is going to be amazing. To me, that is what it's all about. The performing and the artist part, that was just like a wrinkle. That's like a pebble. That's like a piece of sand in my journey. I'm going to the beach at the end, baby! And I'm going to lay there on it all and soak in the sun!

Photo Credit: Linda Perry