NL Interview: Fefe Dobson Makes A ‘Joyous’ Return To Music

A lot has been written — true and untrue — about Fefe Dobson. She inspired so and so’s style, she had an ugly split with her former record label, she has beef with this pop star or that pop star. What can never be written about the Toronto-born spitfire, at least not with an ember of truth, is that she gives up easily.

She did indeed part ways with Island Def Jam in 2006 and have her sophomore album, Sunday Love, shelved, but she tells Neon Limelight in our exclusive interview that things weren’t nearly as salacious as the rumors paint it out to be.

Circumstances aside, Fefe is back and ready to rock, pop, and soul, on a new album, Joy, due this fall on the label she split from years ago. In our chat with Fefe, she tells us how she got back with LA Reid and Co., how her “new sound” is actually just a progression from her debut album, and how fellow Canadian star, Drake, inspires her.

Neon Limelight: Last year we heard these amazing singles from your album. They were really awesome and had these great videos, then suddenly, everything went quiet. What happened between the time Joy was supposed to come out and now that you’re ready for it to come out?

Fefe Dobson: What happened was, those two songs, “I Want You” and “Watch Me Move,” and the joint video, was really just a re-introduction. It wasn’t really the first single. It was just like ‘hey, this is Fefe. We just want you to see her again. She’s been gone for awhile.’ For “Ghost,” that’s when we really decided this was the first single. “I Want You” and “Watch Me Move,” we really just wanted to utilize the fact that they were being used so much on TV on commercials and placements. We just wanted to put a face with the music, because it was being used so much, no one could really tell who it was by.

NL: Oh, OK. Will those songs appear on the new album or were they just for that period?

FD: No, they’ll be there.

NL: Of course another big topic is that you’re back with Island Records. How did you guys smooth things over so you could come back to the label?

FD: Things were never really rough in the first place. I mean, we parted ways — I say parted because we were still fine with each other. I would call LA [Reid] once in a while to see how he was and he’ll want to know what I was up to, you know, and how I was doing. We always stayed in touch. But nothing was really rough, so we didn’t need to smooth anything over. That was cool. But, basically, I started making Joy and my manager started his own label, an indie label, then we started shopping [the album] to major labels to be part of the project and Island Def Jam has open arms.

NL: I guess I thought it was rough because a lot of articles that came out after you guys parted ways said the label wanted to push you in this direction and it wasn’t a direction you wanted to go in. Is that true at all?

FD: No, and I never said that either. Like, if you read quotes from interviews, I would say “musical differences” or the fact that we just needed to — I just needed to grow. I don’t feel like anyone was ever pushing anything on me. I’m not the type of artist where people feel like they can push stuff on me, you know. And they’re not like that — not with me at all, at least. I’ve never had anyone like ‘You know, Fefe, you need to be an R&B singer’ or ‘You need to be a country singer’ which I would totally dig, actually. No one’s ever really done that to me. So, no, that would be false.

NL: Well, that’s good to know, because a lot of people assume that’s the way the whole split happened. It’s good that you cleared that up.

FD: Yeah. I think assumptions are normal, but it didn’t come out of my mouth. This is what you’re getting from me and it’s the truth.

NL: Awesome. Let’s talk about the new single. How did “Ghost” come about, and what are you excited for people to hear from that single?

FD: I’m just excited for people to hear the single in the first place. [laughs] I heard a bit of it in Kevin’s studio and loved it and asked him if I could be a part of it. Then I added a little bit here and there and it came about. Kevin Rudolph, when I say Kevin. [laughs]

NL: It’s a little bit of a departure from what we normally hear from you. But does that get annoying? Do you find that people pin a certain sound on you?

FD: It’s not really that different. I mean, it’s still rock. If you listen to my first record, I had really poppy songs on it and I had rock songs on it. That’s how I grew up, listening to different kinds of sounds. I grew up listening to Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam and Smashing Pumpkins. That’s just how I grew up. I not really that far of a departure. I guess since “I Want You” and “Watch Me Move” were like more punk-rock, or funky, I guess…I don’t know what it was, but I guess they thought it was a big departure, but really if you hear my first record, my first record was like all different types of music.

NL: Getting back to your sound, I read in an interview that you once said that coming up with a sound for Sunday Love was hard, like tapping into a sound that would become classically you. Was it easier to get that for Joy?

FD: For Sunday Love I was…I really wanted to be an indie rocker on Sunday Love. [laughs] It was still pop because the songs are pop [they were just] heavier, but on this album I just enjoyed making music, you know? With Joy, I really didn’t care if it was pop, rock, anything. I just wanted to make music I would listen to.

NL: What would you say your mood was like going into recording this album? Was there pressure at all to make an album that would re-introduce you in the right way? Or was it just ‘hey, I’m having fun, listen to it’?

FD: Just having fun. I recorded with a lot of my buddies. Everyday we went to the studio was so awesome. We’d just chill out through the whole process. We were laughing all the time, just always having fun.

NL: What do you think is the most surprising song people will hear on the album? Be it the subject matter, the sound of it, the production…which do you think is the song that will surprise people the most?

FD: I would probably say “Joy”…the song “Joy.” It will surprise people a lot. It’s really folky, like, extremely country. Old school country. Like June Carter country. And the lyrics are just interesting. [laughs]

NL: Is it really lovey dovey?

FD: Not like really lovey dovey. It’s very tongue and cheek. Like, you think it’s a song about a relationship, but it’s really about something completely different. [laughs]

NL: What current artists, if any, inspire you?

FD: Current artists… Drake inspires me. It’s really inspiring to see him go from Toronto boy to superstar. I’m so proud of him.

NL: Canada’s on the map heavy this year with Justin Bieber and Drake. What do you think of the Canadian invasion?

FD: It’s cool being recognized in Canada, but I think we always were. Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Alanis Morissette, there’s so many of us. So many of us funky Canadians.

NL: You recently moved to LA. What do you love about the city?

FD: I love Yogurt Land and I love the rock and roll history. There’s so much history in LA that it’s wild.

NL: Does the new setting inspire your music at all?

FD: Well, we’ll see! I haven’t been able to experience much yet because I just moved the other day. We’ll see. Hopefully. That’s the point!

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