Hit singer India.Arie

Jet, Oct 7, 2002 by Clarence Waldron

Hit singer-songwriter India.Arie says she is on a spiritual and emotional journey.

And she takes her fans with her on that journey on her new album, Voyage To India.

During a recent telephone interview with JET, the recording star who won fame with the No. 1 hit, Video last year, discussed the making of her new album, the rumors surrounding her friendship with soul singer Musiq and revealed how she felt about not winning a Grammy--after she received a record seven nominations.

"The songs are about my spiritual and emotional journey over the past two years," says India.Arie who toured as Sade's opening act last year.

"In hindsight, I think my first album (Acoustic Soul) was about being grateful that I had arrived at a certain point in my life and career. This one is all about growth. It's called Voyage to India because it's about my emotional and spiritual journey. And I'm still in the middle of this transition."

India wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album. "I wrote while I was in motion, moving around hills, buses and planes, and Europe and Brazil, on Sade's tour. All over the world, I wrote songs."

She notes, "All of my favorite songs on the album were started at 6 o'clock in the morning after working in the studio, and I just stayed up writing. It ended up being really productive, and the songs just flowed out: The One, God is Real, The Truth, Complicated Melody. When I look back on the process, that was my favorite time; just recording demos on my eight-track at home, going to the studio the next day and laying it down, real raw."

She reveals that the name of the album, Voyage to India, comes from an instrumental song recorded by her musical idol Stevie Wonder and included on his album, Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants. She recalls she first heard the tune when she was 18. "It's my favorite because it's called Voyage to India."

She reveals that her music inspires and helps her grow just as much as it inspires her fans, "Writing songs teaches me. It's like I hear words I could not make up in my own head--they're more wise than I am. When I hear it in the completed song, I say, `Wow, that's a message for me.' That's the thing that excites me, listening to this album and seeing how my life is going to manifest itself into even more of what these songs are."

Fans can hear India's closeness to the band members who co-wrote tunes and played on the album and on her tour last year. "My musical director, Shannon Sanders ... became like a right-hand man and we co-produced 90 percent of the album together."

Guitarist Ricky Quinones was also a frequent collaborator, she says. "He'd teach me how to play something on guitar and I'd write a song to it, things like that. In the production, I feel like I've become a lot more open-minded ..."

While her fans love her music, they also are hoping there's some truth to the rumors that she is romantically linked to soul singer Musiq.

"We're friends," she says of her relationship with Musiq. "I met him at a studio and we started talking and we have a lot of things in common, a lot of respect for each other. He recently had a birthday. I called him all day, every hour to leave another message, `Happy birthday, Happy birthday again!' I left about five messages," she laughs. "He is my friend, my really good friend. He's a Virgo and I'm a Libra. We were supposed to do something for my album, but it fell through at the last minute. But yeah, we are going to work together. He's one of my best friends, and he's one of my favorite singers." As far as discussing the man in her life in the media or in public, she emphasizes, "I'll never talk about anybody until I'm married. Quote that. Anytime somebody asks me, `I'll say read the JET article,'" she laughs. "I'll never talk about anybody until I'm married."

India.Arie, who turns 27 on October 3, was hailed as the darling of the Grammy Awards earlier this year when she received a record seven nominations including Best New Artist, Best Record, Best Song and Best Album of the Year.

Yet, she did not receive an award during the televised awards show.

"I was very disappointed," she admits. "I was mad, but it wasn't like anger, where I wanted to fight somebody. But I was mad. I felt like it wasn't fair and Libras really believe in fairness."

She admits that the Grammy loss made her evaluate the significance of awards. "It made me look at the amount of importance I put on awards shows and awards. I had always talked about how awards don't matter and I am not doing this for awards, I am doing this because I love making music, then I had to prove that to myself. I had to put everything in perspective. And I've never been mainstream anyway," she laughs.

She explains, "From high school and junior high school, I wasn't the prom queen. I didn't sit at the popular table. I didn't want to. I liked Donny Hathaway and everybody else was listening to Club Nouveau, Bobby Brown or whoever. I was into Stevie Wonder. I had my own thing and my own way of living and being and I still do."