Nick News (US, TV) on Nickelodeon
January 23, 1999
Tori Amos interview
Linda Ellerbee:You probably know her as Tori, and you probably know her new album From the Choirgirl Hotel. What's the story of this girl and her tunes? Hear now the adventurous art of songwriter Tori Amos.
Tori Amos: Some people, you know, write their own music, and it's, "chang chang chang chang, I had a girl, chang chang chang chang, and she was good..." Well, you might sell millions of records, but that doesn't mean you're a musician.
My name's Tori Amos... and I'm a musician.
I was called a child prodigy -- those words are hard to come out of my mouth because, you know, you sound like such a freak.
I was classically trained by the time I was five. Classically trained means that you spend a few hours a day playing classical music. I kept at that till I was really 21. Year by year I was playing music that really spoke to me.
I think music was sort of my key, no pun intended, but it was the way that I got in touch with another... you can call it an imaginary world.
Everybody has creativity and each person has it in a different way. Some people aren't musical, some musicians can't even think about painting or gardening. There's so many different ways to be creative.
When you talk to kids and go, "Well, what do you like to do?"
"Mmm... nothing."
You go, "Okay, well that's interesting. What do you mean, nothing?"
"Well, you know, watch TV."
You mean, sit on your butt and watch TV, that's what you like to do? Well, aren't you an interesting person... uh... Duh! Everybody has something, I really believe that.
So, I'm gonna take you to one of my favorite places, this is um, the kitchen.
[Tori talks to one or two people in the kitchen cooking, gets excited when she hears they're making spaghetti marinara.]
Fame comes easy, too easy to some people. And for those of you who have to struggle to get somewhere, you need to appreciate what that brings you, that brings you humility, that brings you respect- for other people that work hard and really achieve knowledge of their craft.
Glamour doesn't have a lot of substance. There's nothing wrong with glamour, but it's a veneer, it's like painting your skin gold. But what happens when the paint wears off? You better hope there's something inside. That's very important.
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
