Immediately recognizable by her unique style and long jet black hair, Live for Live Music spoke with Audrey Napoleon in the midst of Camp Bisco craziness this past Saturday. Touching on her new single “Dope a La Mode,” her many other artistic side projects, her thoughts on genres and new music to come.
You’re currently promoting your new single, Dope a La Mode, how are things going with this is it being received the way you’d hoped?
Yeah it is, it’s being received as a piece of art, which is perfect for me because that’s the only way it should be received. It was a film that I really wanted to do to express my version of a love story really and I wrote the whole treatment for it so yeah, it’s being received really well.
The music video for it is awesome, it kind of makes me think of a wild twist on Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” music video. Was there a specific inspiration behind it or a message you were trying to convey?
Aw thank you. The inspiration behind it came from where a lot of my ideas come from, which are my nightmares. My nightmares and my dreams. I don’t know if I’m to convey a message, so much as a beautiful piece of art as a whole song with the film.
You describe your sound as underground pop. Can you explain this classification?
Underground pop is a name that I created for what I’m doing. Mainly because I feel like to put something into a genre is a bit ridiculous because genres are always in flux. One day it can be trance and the next day called progressive. I just decided to wrap one big word around it and call it underground pop because it’s kind of the in-between of the entire spectrum.
The release of your last EP Ornamental Ego’s was around this time last July. Although you’ve released some banging singles since then can we look forward to a new album soon?
Oh it was! July 24th. And yeah, I’ve actually written four other songs that I’m singing on as well, I play two of them for you guys today, their in the middle of my show. It’s always very scary playing something I haven’t done before. To hear my voice that loud, it’s a bit nerve-wracking, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it as singles yet or if I want to do it as an EP. However, I’m always open to it if art leads me there. It’s all what the art tells me to do.
Do you have a favorite song to play to right now to really get the crowd on its feet?
I reckon my favorite song to play would be “Poison” the Jupiter Ace remix. I love it, it’s really perfect and I always play that or Banana Soda es Muy Loco, that one always gets them going.
What song of yours have you been most excited to hear played by another artist?
Banana Soda has been getting a lot of love lately, Tiesto has been playing it, Dada Life, and then Eric Prydz did his own mashup of it last year so that’s always fun to hear. I didn’t even realize that, it’s just such a ridiculous song to me but it seems to latch on.
Are you in the habit on working on new productions while touring or is it something you focus more on while at home?
Oh no, it goes hand in hand.
How do you manage that?
Well, I’m performing I get so much inspiration off the fans that sometimes I just go back to the hotel and write a little bit. There’s actually a lot of down time, a lot of time to sit and write.
Aside from producing music you’ve also created your own clothing line, how do you balance so many different forms of art at once?
I have no fucking idea. I guess it just goes day by day some days the music takes over and other days the fashion takes over. I have my duties for Heineken as their ambassador, we’ve actually re-launching the campaign in 2014 and it’ll be launched in 28 countries. So I guess it really just depends on the day.
Does music always come first?
Art comes first. So whichever I wake up and happens to be at the front of my head, that’s the one I’m going with.
In an industry that’s predominately male, do you find yourself facing different challenges because you’re a woman?
Oh no, what is a male and a female? Who cares?
Can you share with us an experience with a fan that has really stuck with you?
I have a fan that tattooed my face on their arm. I’m going to have to make sure he’s a fan for life, I don’t want to upset him ever.
You’ve also produced your own short film series. Can you tell us a little bit about this and how it’s connected to your music?
I believe that visual is very important in telling a story. I didn’t want to do it in typical music video fashion I wanted to do it in short films. I have a very vivid imagination and I needed another way to express it.
If you could collaborate with any artist who would it be?
David Bowie, Marilyn Manson.
Any advice for up and coming artists?
I always give this advice, and that is to stay to stay true to your art. Because if you are true to your art and to yourself, no one can ever give you shit about what you’re doing, about what you’ve done, about what you’re going to do because its your art. The only other thing I’d like to say is that I love my fans very much.