Karla Jackson is primarily known for her poetry. However, singing was her first love and she is now releasing her debut album. Why does the earth give us love?
Mary Louise Kelly, Host:
Kara Jackson is a fiercely talented poet.
(Soundbite from archived recording)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Welcome to the stage, to the mic – Kara Jackson.
(Cheers)
Kelly: A few years ago, at age 19, she was named National Youth Poet Laureate, making her the third person to hold that title.
(Soundbite from archived recording)
Kara Jackson: Blood is not a woman’s currency. Face Mother Nature like rent.
Kelly: But before she became a poet, she had other dreams.
(sound bite strumming guitar)
Jackson: I feel like I knew I was going to be a musician before anything else. At least I knew he wanted to sing.
Kelly: Jackson started playing the piano at the age of five. She wrote songs with her brother and sang them all over her house. Well, she’s 23 now and has her debut album out. It’s lyrically complex, genre-challenging, and, as you’ll hear, vulgar at times. The title is “Why does the earth give love to people?”
(Sound bite for the song “NO FUN/PARTY”)
Jackson: (singing) It’s hard to have patience when you’re waiting for luck, like a mail truck, like a mail truck.
As for the poetry, I actually feel like it came as an afterthought. Because it wasn’t until high school, when I joined the spoken word club, that I really got into the spoken word and considered it an art. A real career and what I can do. I don’t think I knew it was something concrete until I saw people who looked just like me doing it.
Kelley: But I think you realized early on that your instrument was your voice, whether it was a song or a poem. is that so?
Jackson: Yeah, sure.
(Sound bite for the song “NO FUN/PARTY”)
Jackson: (singing) Looking for reasons, he could only find one. He said, “You are not funny.” you’re just not funny.
Kelly: So let’s talk about the process. I saw an interview where you talked about how the process of writing a song is less formal than writing a poem. What’s the difference?
Jackson: That’s what I think when I work on poetry. Because I’ve really been taught to stay away from cliches and not try to be cliche.
Kelly: Right.
Jackson: And I appreciate how they can be less rigid about the formal parts of the song and invite a little more banality. And sometimes it’s okay to incorporate clichés into your work, and I think it’s good to fight against them. I think that’s what I mean by the banality of songwriting.
Kelly: I think you have a song about failed love that is ironic. I am thinking”[Expletive] Blues. “
Jackson: Yes.
(Sound bite for the song “D******* Blues”)
Jackson: (singing) When you’re stuck in someone else’s lagoon…
Kelly: Tell me about it.
(Sound bite for the song “D******* Blues”)
Jackson: (singing) …like a spoon drowning in stew.
So “[Expletive] Blues” came from guys like Fiona Apple and Amy Winehouse. I think these two were really unique in their approach of taking a classical form, making it their own, and building it up. “At times it was a little sleazy, so I think their approach really inspired me, and I wanted to try a little bit of my own blues form. thinking about”[Expletive] Blues” is one of the weirdest songs I’ve written and one of the weirdest songs on the album.
(Sound bite for the song “D******* Blues”)
Jackson: (When I sing) I feel like I don’t know anything.
Kelly: The title of this album is “Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?”
(Soundbite for the song “Why does the Earth give people love?”)
Jackson: (singing) Why does the Earth give us love?
Kelly: Is there a story behind the title of the album or the songs?
Jackson: There was a title song at the beginning, so I decided to use that as the title. So I started writing that song a year after my best friend Maya passed away. And at the same time, a really close mentor of mine was diagnosed with essentially the same cancer. So I was really working on those questions, and the questions just came out of that space. And when I was writing the album, I came back to that song. So the second half is more of a reminiscence, looking back, as some people say, to all the years and times I had to adapt and move through my grief and really grow up. I have a feeling that . So I think at the end of the song there’s a sense of looking back and approaching grief in a different way.
(Soundbite for the song “Why does the Earth give people love?”)
Jackson: (singing) We were going to start a band, hijack our family’s minivan, and use the lifelines written on our hands to make our silly plans come true.
Kelly: You dedicate this album to Maya, your best friend Maya. are you still talking to her? do you sing to her girlfriend
Jackson: Oh, always. I feel like she’s always around me, especially since it’s spring now. Or she hears a very specific song at the grocery store and it feels like confirmation that she’s really checking on me. So I think releasing this album and seeing people listening to her songs made me feel and think of her more than ever.
Kelly: After thinking about it for a while, did you find the answer to that question? Why does the Earth give us love?
Jackson: Sometimes when you’re obsessed with the people around you, when you’re hanging out with someone, or when you’re with someone you love, you think you have the answer. And, if anything, I think we’re beginning to learn that this symbiotic relationship between living and dying, and by extension loving and dying, is the answer to a kind of question. I’m around people but I think that’s when I’m not near them or when someone takes me away. That’s the moment we understood why we came together. So I guess that’s probably the equivalent of the answer to the question. But as this album suggests, dealing with people can be very frustrating and the world situation can be so volatile at times that you’re completely at a loss for answers. So I definitely still get it.
Kelly: We all do. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
Jackson: Right. Thank you so much for having me and thank you for listening.
Kelly: Kara Jackson, musician and former National Youth Poet Laureate. This debut album of her is “Why does the earth give people love?”
(Soundbite of the song, “Free”)
Jackson: (singing) Never mind.
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