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| 22 April 2005 |
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| Lene's interview on "Først og Sist" - NRK |
| Source : NRK Tv |
Lene = Lene Marlin
Skavlan = Fredrik Skavlan, host of the show
Hank = Hank von Helvete, vocalist from Turboneger
Skavlan: Now we are going to talk about someone else's record. It may be that some have high expectations in life, but there has also been very high expectations of our next guest. This time, however, she has had everyone fooled - please welcome Lene Marlin.
Skavlan: You have to tell us: what have you been up to now?
Lene: I have...recorded a new single, to be released tomorrow...
Skavlan: And we're going to hear it tonight?
Lene: Yes, an acoustic version of the single, that will be released tomorrow. And I have made a record.
Skavlan: You have created an album.
Lene: Yes.
Hank: Have you?
Lene: Yes, I have made a record.
Hank: Yeah, I was told right before I came here.
Skavlan: And noone knew about this?
Lene: No, there has...talking about expecations and all that...to put it like this, even the record company didn't know about it. So I
turned up and handed them a finished record.
Skavlan: Because you couldn't take all the hazzle?
Lene: No. Eh. Or what happend, it wasn't planned. There is this fantastic team called Stargate, in Trondheim, that I met for completely
different reasons, it was releated to music, but not about a record. I was in Trondheim, and began fiddling about with a tune or two, and on
my way back, on the flight from Trondheim to Oslo, I thought: "Hmmm... Maybe we should make a record..." And then we did.
Skavlan: Without telling anyone?
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: And...who knew about this? Or, those who played with you must have known...
Lene: No, what was actually...no. They didn't either (laughs). It wasn't supposed to be this secret, but at the same time it was so
liberating, so fantastic to make it without the hag and the phone calls, and "we need an opinion on this and that", it was just make music
and be creative, and so we did.
Skavlan: What do you put in the word expectations?
Lene: Oooh, it feels terrible, just hearing the word. To me it's more of a negative than a positive word, the expectations I have of myself
tend to be miles of the expectations others have. And that was part of the reason that I chose to do it this way.
Skavlan: Because, well this is your third record.
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: And the first record was an enormous success, you were just a teenager.
Lene: Yes. Tiny seventeen-year-old.
Skavlan: "Playing My Game".
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: It sold about 1.7 million, or something.
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: Which is a lot of records.
Lene: A lot of records.
Skavlan: And then a...there was a lot of...you disappeared.
Lene: A lot of, yes.
Skavlan: You disappeared, and there was a lot of rumours and stuff.
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: Where had you gone, where you were, if you had a writer's block...
Lene: I heard a lot that I was in a dark cave, never got out and sat behind...never went out, a lot of that.
Skavlan: And then there was a new record.
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: And there were high expectations. And it sold about 600.000 copies, incredibly much as well, but still in a way disappointing
compared to the first one.
Lene: Yes. Or, others thought so! To me it was amazing! Because...
Skavlan: Because it is a lot...it is a lot of records, too?
Hank: Well, if I in my career all together could have sold 600.000... (laughings)
Skavlan: Maybe, maybe due to the exercising video.
Hank: Yeah, well, but concert tickets is our survival, but what Lene have done is unbelievable. I don't think people in Norway fully
understand how many records Lene has sold.
Skavlan: But don't you agree...this is...exactly that expectations are so individual?
Lene: Yes, it has been proved, at least, that the expecations I had of myself were, as I said, miles from what others did.
Hank: I think that is quite interesting, because the expecations others have of oneself is completely different from the expectations one
think they have of oneself, and in a sort of paranoid self criticism picture something entirely unrealistic. It's not without reason that
people stops eating, stop going out and starts crying by the sight of a sewer entrance and... Because it isn't real, you know, it's a fear
you bring into yourself...
Lene: But it was the expectations I thought others...
Hank: That you think others have.
Lene: But then I read, "this was so mediocre, just forget about this". 600.000, just forget about it.
Hank: A "flop".
Lene: But then I thought: "Hmmm... But it is so many records!"
Skavlan: But you have experienced what every teenage girl dream of, and what every Idol contender dream of. But did you take it all
in?
Lene: It can occur to me now some places that I realise "oy, I was here some years ago", you get these flashbacks. And then I go "and then
this and that happened". But these things happen so fast that you can't fully grasp it until later. Because it is a rush, I mean at its
worst I was in three countries in one day. And then you have a problem when you get to the last place and go, "hey, what just happened"? So
you need a while to go through what...
Skavlan: Is it easier, the way you worked now, is it easier to be creative when you are not under pressure?
Lene: Yes.
Skavlan: Is it?
Lene: Yes. Or, about this record, the record company didn't know about it, because I thought "I just have to do this because I want to, it
is a creative thing, were doing this spontaniously, there is noone who tells you what to do, not that they did that much before, but there
is something hanging over you all the while. So now I felt, nope, I'm going to to this the way I want.
Skavlan: In what kind of situations are you most creative?
Lene: It's hard to tell, I think it is when I am very relaxed and when I can just let it flow freely, because...
Skavlan: In bed?
Lene: For instance. Yes, that can work.
Transcripted and translated by +Holraven+ - www.holraven.com
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