Više od dva desetljeća nakon što je svjetsku publiku osvojila pjesmama Black Horse and the Cherry Tree i Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall ostala je jedna od onih glazbenica koje uspijevaju spojiti veliko iskustvo s potpuno prizemljenim pristupom. Uoči svog nastupa na INmusic Festivalu, škotska kantautorica provela je dan dajući intervjue, družeći se s ljudima i pripremajući se za koncert, zadržavajući pritom istu opuštenost i vedrinu koju je nekoliko sati kasnije prenijela i na pozornicu.
S 51. rođendanom pred vratima i tek pola sata do izlaska na stage, razgovarali smo o festivalima, pisanju pjesama, pritiscima s kojima se danas suočavaju mladi glazbenici i odluci koja joj je obilježila karijeru.
KT Tunstall: “I kind of decided to be less successful than I might have been”
More than twenty years into a career that brought her worldwide recognition through songs like Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall remains refreshingly down-to-earth. Ahead of her appearance at INmusic Festival, she spent the afternoon moving between interviews, greeting people and preparing for her show with the same relaxed energy she would later bring to the stage.
With her 51st birthday just around the corner and only half an hour left before showtime, we sat down to talk about festivals, songwriting, the pressures facing young artists and why she once chose artistic freedom over commercial success.
Prvi put ste u Hrvatskoj. Veselite li se nastupu?
Da! Nevjerojatno je jer sam tijekom godina stvarno puno putovala i danas je zapravo rijetkost da negdje dolazim prvi put. Pogotovo u zemlju koja ima tako dobru glazbenu scenu.
Stalno si govorim: “Kako to da nikad prije nisam bila u Hrvatskoj?”
A usput sam naučila da su Hrvati i Škoti zapravo kao braća i sestre. Postoji neka vrlo slična energija.
Iskreno, velika mi je čast biti dio ovog lineupa. Organizatori su okupili stvarno fantastičan izbor izvođača za ova tri festivalska dana.
Svirali ste posvuda, od malih intimnih prostora do velikih festivala. Što vam je draže?
Teško je odabrati, ali kad bih baš morala, rekla bih festivali.
I ne govorim to samo zato što sam trenutno na jednom.
Prije svega, ljudi su već dobro raspoloženi. Ne morate ih zagrijavati. Sretni su i pomalo pripiti, što uvijek pomaže.
Drugo, mogu pogledati hrpu bendova. Staviš sunčane naočale, uzmeš pivo i lutaš festivalom. Otkriješ izvođače koje nisi planirao gledati, upoznaš nove ljude… jednostavno je dobra atmosfera.
A obožavam i nastupe na otvorenom. Možda zvuči pomalo duhovno, ali postoji nešto posebno u stvaranju glazbe pod otvorenim nebom. Ljudi su opušteniji. Energija je drugačija.
Neke od ovih pjesama izvodite više od dvadeset godina. Kako ih održavate živima za sebe?
Bilo je razdoblje kada mi je Other Side of the World pomalo dosadila.
To je balada i nakon toliko godina počela sam se zabavljati sama sa sobom.
Mijenjala bih sitne dijelove teksta ili ubacivala psovke na mjesta gdje ih nitko nije očekivao.
Ali onda shvatiš koliko si zapravo sretan.
Ljudi su se vjenčavali uz te pjesme. Dobivali djecu uz njih i dijelili razne uspomene.
Počneš poštovati odnos koji ljudi imaju s tvojom glazbom.
A pjesme poput Black Horse and the Cherry Tree jednostavno su čista energija. Čim ih krenem svirati, publika se potpuno probudi.
Spomenuli ste da ćete večeras izvesti novu pjesmu. Možete li nam reći nešto više o njoj?
Zove se Look At Me Now.
Zapravo sam je napisala za novi film Vrag nosi Pradu, ali na kraju nije završila u filmu.
Jer je film sav uglađen i glamurozan, a ja sam ipak više rock’n’roll.
Jednostavno nije bila pravi izbor za njih.
Ali ja tu pjesmu obožavam. Na neki način doživljavam je kao nastavak pjesme Suddenly I See.
Govori o tome gdje sam danas i kako sam došla do te točke.
A najbolja stvar je što, budući da sam ja napisala Suddenly I See, mogu posuditi što god želim iz te pjesme i nitko mi ne može ništa.
Ipak je moja.
Je li se vaš odnos prema pisanju pjesama promijenio posljednjih godina?
Je.
Nakon pandemije dugo nisam pisala za sebe.
Puno sam radila u glazbenom kazalištu. Napisala sam glazbu za mjuzikl Clueless i još nekoliko kazališnih projekata, pa je većina moje kreativne energije završavala tamo.
Ali iskreno, neko vrijeme jednostavno nisam imala potrebu dijeliti osobne stvari.
Svijet je postao jako glasan.
Svi neprestano viču svoja mišljenja i u jednom trenutku to me natjeralo da poželim zašutjeti i imati malo mira.
No u posljednje vrijeme ponovno osjećam da imam nešto za reći.
I to je uzbudljivo.
Što je danas najveći izazov za mlade glazbenike?
Sadržaj.
Pritisak da stalno dijeliš tko si i što radiš.
Jedan od mojih najdražih glazbenika svih vremena je Nick Drake. Bio je potpuni introvert.
Postoji priča da bi se potajno pojavio u diskografskoj kući, ostavio novi album na nečijem stolu i otišao bez razgovora s ikim.
Pokušajte to zamisliti danas.
Danas nije dovoljno napisati dobru pjesmu. Treba vam viralan trenutak. Treba vam vidljivost. Morate biti stalno prisutni.
Mislim da je to puno teže nego ono s čime se suočavala moja generacija.
A koji je bio najveći izazov u vašoj karijeri?
To je stvarno dobro pitanje. Rijetko me to pitaju.
Mislim da je jedan od najvećih izazova bio snimiti drugi album.
Kad vam je prvijenac uspješan, svi žele još istoga. Ne žele da se promijenite.
Ali ja to nikad nisam mogla.
Mislim da sam svjesno odabrala biti manje uspješna nego što sam možda mogla biti.
U to vrijeme svi oko mene mislili su da sam luda.
Ali znala sam da, ako nastavim ponavljati samu sebe, više neću željeti raditi ovaj posao.
I iskreno, dvadeset godina kasnije, jako sam zadovoljna karijerom koju imam.
Uglavnom sam na miru.
Imam divnu i vjernu publiku.
Mogu stvarati točno ono što želim.
I nisam pretjerano slavna.
Što je zapravo sjajno.
KT Tunstall ostavili smo tek nekoliko minuta prije nego što je krenula prema pozornici. I dalje nasmijana, duhovita i opuštena, baš kao i tijekom cijelog razgovora, a istu je energiju prenijela i kroz svoj nastup još jednom potvrdivši zašto je i nakon više od dva desetljeća jednako uvjerljiva kako na pozornici tako i izvan nje.
Ovdje pročitajte i naš izvještaj s njezina nastupa na INmusic Festivalu.
This is your first time in Croatia. Are you excited?
Yeah! It’s crazy because I’ve travelled so much now, and it’s actually quite unusual to go somewhere for the first time. Especially somewhere that’s got such a good music scene.
I’m like, “Why have I not been to Croatia before?”
And I’m learning that Croatians and Scots are proper brothers and sisters. There’s definitely a similar energy there.
I’m honestly so honoured to be on this lineup. They’ve put together such an amazing selection of artists for these three days.
You’ve played everything from small intimate venues to huge festivals. Which do you enjoy more?
That’s a good question.
It’s hard to choose, but if I had to choose, I’d actually pick festivals.
And I’m not just saying that because I’m here.
First of all, everybody’s already having a good time. You don’t need to warm them up. They’re happy and they’re drunk, so that’s good.
Secondly, I get to see loads of bands. You can just put your shades on, grab a beer and wander around. You discover artists you weren’t planning on seeing, you meet people… it’s just a really good vibe.
And I love playing outdoors. From a more spiritual point of view, there’s something magical about making music outside. Everyone feels more relaxed. The energy is different.
You’ve been performing some of these songs for more than twenty years. How do you keep them feeling alive for yourself on stage?
There was definitely a time when I got a little bored of Other Side of the World.
It’s a ballad, and after years of singing it I started playing little games with myself.
I’d change tiny bits of lyrics or sneak swear words into places where nobody expected them.
But then you realise how lucky you are.
People got married to those songs. They had children while listening to them. Maybe it was their father’s favourite song.
You start to respect the relationship people have with your music.
And honestly, songs like Black Horse and the Cherry Tree are just pure energy. As soon as I start playing them, the whole crowd lights up.
You mentioned you’ll be playing a new song tonight. Can you tell us a bit about it?
It’s called Look At Me Now.
I actually wrote it for the new The Devil Wears Prada film and it didn’t make it into the movie.
Because the film is super fancy and I’m still just rock and roll.
It just wasn’t the right fit.
But I love the song. For me it’s almost like a sequel to Suddenly I See.
It’s about where I am now and how I got here.
And the great thing is, because I wrote Suddenly I See, I can steal from it and nobody can do anything about it.
It’s my song.
Has your relationship with songwriting changed over the last few years?
Yeah. I didn’t write much for myself for quite a long time after COVID.
I’ve been working in musical theatre a lot. I wrote the music for the Clueless musical and several other theatre productions, and that took up most of my creative energy.
But honestly, I also just didn’t feel like sharing personal things for a while.
The world has been very loud.
Everybody’s shouting their opinion all the time and it just made me want to shut up and have some peace.
But recently I’ve started feeling like I have things to say again.
And that’s exciting.
What do you think is the biggest challenge for young artists today?
Content.
The pressure to constantly share who you are.
One of my favourite artists ever is Nick Drake. He was a complete introvert.
He’d supposedly sneak into the record label office, leave his new album on someone’s desk and disappear.
Imagine trying to do that now.
Today it’s not enough to write great songs. You need a viral moment. You need visibility. You need to constantly be present.
I think that’s much harder than what my generation had to deal with.
Speaking of challenges, what was the biggest challenge in your own career?
That’s a really good question. People don’t usually ask that.
I think one of the biggest challenges was making my second album.
When you’ve had a successful debut, everybody wants more of the same. They don’t want you to change.
But I could never do that.
I think I kind of decided to be less successful than I might have been.
At the time everyone around me thought I was an idiot.
But I knew that if I kept repeating myself, I wouldn’t want to do this anymore.
And honestly, twenty years later, I’m really happy with the career I have.
I get left alone.
I have a wonderful group of dedicated fans.
I get to make exactly what I want.
And I’m not that famous.
Which is great.
We left KT Tunstall just minutes before she headed towards the stage, still laughing and joking as she prepared for her INmusic Festival appearance. Later that evening she turned that same warmth, humour and energy into a memorable live performance, proving that, more than two decades into her career, she remains every bit as engaging off stage as she is on it.
You can read our concert report here.
