Sarah Hudson: dipping into her life as a Hollywood kid, this singer bares all on her firecracker debut

Interview, Nov, 2004 by Ray Rogers

Sarah Hudson is used to standing out. Not because of her family lineage--her aunt is Goldie Hawn; her cousin, Kate Hudson--but for her own quirky ways. Attending an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles where academics and sports were the driving forces, the budding rock star cut her own path. "I was the one with the crazy hair and the big shoes," recalls the spunky 23-year-old singer-songwriter.

Hudson's recently released debut album, Naked Truth (S-Curve), captures that bold, sassy spirit. Her fizzy pop confections come spiked with an offbeat sense of humor and just a touch of arsenic. On "Gandhi" she manages to rhyme "find peace like Mahatma Gandhi" with "drink champagne and be cool like Blondie," while elsewhere mining more difficult subject matter like not fitting in ("Strange"), her own romantic woes ("Girl on the Verge"), and a friend's suicide ("Naked Truth").

While it takes a certain amount of bravery to be revealing--even in a pop song--Hudson's not too caught up in the outcome of her work. "There is really nothing else I want to do other than write music and entertain," she says. "Whether it's for a million people or just two people, nothing could stop me from doing it."

Ray Rogers is a frequent Interview contributor.