Bugs’ interview with Melissa Etheridge
originally ran in the October 2015 issue of Fugues magazine.
Three Dollar Bill: Your new album This Is M.E. is a departure
for you. What did you want to do with this latest album?
Melissa Etheridge: The change started in 2013 when I changed
management, agencies and lawyers. I changed my whole scaffolding. I needed
fresh ideas. The music business was changing. I knew there was a place for me
and a lot had to do with own creative independence. So we decided to release an
independent record. That means I’m in total control. It’s all up to me. At that
point I decided I wanted to go so far outside the box that people would say
‘Whoa, what’s this?’ Yet at the same time stay in the centre, so as to always be
me. When you hear these songs, when you hear these great productions around
them, you still hear my guitar, my harmonica, the words are mine. It’s me in a
kind of new and different car.