KROQ DJ Stryker interviewed Lana Del Rey backstage at the KROQ Weenie Roast Y Fiesta 2017 at StubHub Center on May 20, 2017. Lana shared the story behind her collaboration with Stevie on their new track, “Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems.”
Transcript
KROQ DJ Stryker: Stevie Nicks.
Lana Del Rey: Stevie Nicks.
Stryker: Part of the new record.
Lana: Yes.
Stryker: Now, do you tell her what to do? Like, ‘Do it like this!’ How do you know her? How did she get involved? What’s the name of the track? Give us the information, if you feel, please.
Lana: The track is called ‘Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems.’ I kind of thought I had finished the record a couple of times. And then one of those times, I really felt like I just wanted like a woman on the record. And I was talking to my producer Rick Nowels about, you know, who would be great to get on the record, and we both kind of could only come up with Stevie. It’s funny enough, he went to high school with her. (Editor’s Note: Rick Nowels is 12 years younger than Stevie, but they both attended Menlo-Atherton High School in Northern California, but naturally, at different times.) And he wrote his first big hit with her (“I Can’t Wait” in 1985).
Stryker: Wow.
Lana: I’m so bad, I don’t remember what song that was. So he knows her really well, and he called her and they actually started the track in New York at Electric Lady (Studios) and then she flew back, I think, the following week and she finished it at our studio. And she was amazing… I don’t know, she’s just kind of everything you hope she’s gonna be. She’s so contemporary, and she knows all the new music that’s out like weekly. And she loved the track, she added so much to it.
Stryker: I love that she did it how she wanted to do it her entire career. And not only sang songs, but wrote them as well.
Lana: Yeah, she’s one of the few people that I know, like the muse is the most important thing to her, like she always says, she…more than anything else her priority is following the muse wherever it takes her, whether it’s a 60-date tour or a new record or solo endeavor. So she’s inspirational like that.
Lana Del Rey on her new album: I’m in a good mood (excerpt)
BBC Newsbeat / May 27, 2017
Another anticipated collaboration is her track with legendary Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks, who went to high school with her producer, Rick Nowels.
“I felt like I really wanted a woman on the record. We called her [Stevie Nicks] and she agreed.
“I can’t remember the last time I was so nervous in the studio. I’m nervous on stage but there’s no reason to be nervous in the studio.
“She was looking at me through the double-paned glass and I thought, ‘Don’t choke.’ I did my little riff… and I choked!”
