Kristin Chenoweth Reveals ‘Some Lessons Learned’
Kristin Chenoweth released her new country album, ‘Some Lessons Learned‘ this week, so we thought it would be fun to ask her about the inspiration for each song…
1. I Was Here
“This was about making your mark in this world, and it’s an inspirational song – not a long song. Whatever it is you’re going to do, do something good in this world. I like that message – especially for my fans.”
2. I Want Somebody (Bitch About)
“I’m not a spring chicken, but I’m not done yet! I’ve been lucky and unlucky in love, so the song is about wanting somebody to bitch about and somebody you can’t live without – who I can be myself with. A guy who knows I’m not just one who gets up at Carnegie Hall and sings, but has PMS! It’s a love song, but a girl power song.”
3. Fathers and Daughters
“My unsung hero is Jodi Marr. For me, she’s one of the best. It’s about a relationship between dad and daughter, and I’m the total daddy’s girl at age 42! I tell him he’s the reason I’m not married – he ruined it for me! I can’t get through it live because the audience bawls. It’s a family song. That’s why I love it so much, because family is so important to me.”
4. What Would Dolly Do?
“I didn’t want to make it all “crying in my soup,” but ask “what would Dolly do?” because Dolly Parton is my favorite person. “WWDD?” Bob Erzin asked the question, and that’s how we needed to do the album – in that context.”
5. God & Me
“Asking the question of why bad things happen to good people – why a child has to die of cancer, or get in a train wreck. If I could sit down with God, I might ask. I love posing the question! Just because I’m Christian doesn’t mean I don’t question things – God gave us a brain for a reason.”
6. Change
“I knew I had to do something of Dolly’s. It’s a pretty dramatic song; performance-wise it will be my favorite. It’s the reason she is who she is: an amazing songwriter. It says, ‘Something’s got to give’ for us to change – not to speak to each other and move on. And I understand that message even if it’s always easier said than done. Maybe if I sing about it I can do it!’”
7. What More Do You Want?
“I just love it, because I have all these things I work my butt off for – a platinum card, a car – but what I really want is someone to lie in bed next to me at night. It’s my version of a ‘young song’ – and I’m not young!”
8. Wreck You
“It’s a song about how I want to be the last thought of your day and the first thought of your morning, and be the one who messes you up and wrecks you. There’s not a woman alive who doesn’t want to be the No. 1 woman in a guy’s life above and beyond anyone else.”
9. I Didn’t
“He though he was God – but I didn’t! That says it all. It’s about a woman, who’s involved with a narcissist, and I get to show my personality – and it’s a funny personality, which I love.”
10. Borrowed Angels
“Diane Warren wrote this song and I sang it at Ground Zero last 9/11. I did it on my Christian album. It’s about people who have passed on and are gone so soon, but heaven needs them back again because they’re ‘borrowed angels.’ I wanted to make it more intimate in this one – I wasn’t done with it, so I redid it.”
11. What If We Never?
“The song is a Diane Warren song, a ‘fate song’ about ‘what if?’ ‘What if we passed each other and hadn’t seen each other?’ but we did and we met – so it’s a message of hope.”
12. Mine to Love
“I wrote this with Desmond Child and Eric Bazilian. I knew I had the idea, and we got to sit down and work on it for several days. Basically it’s about a woman who lives with an unavailable man. A lot of people think it’s one of their favorites on the album – but think I’m in love with a married man! But no, he’s just unavailable. You can be in love with someone who’s not married but is still unavailable to give you enough – ‘You were mind, but never mine to love.’
13. Lessons Learned
“Having been through some wonderful relationships, I’ve really been bumped and bruised and scraped a little bit, and this song is about what we learn and how we learn and what we do with it. That’s the whole message of the album: I am not Taylor Swift. I love her, but I’m not 20.”
14. Higher Love (Target Exclusive)
“I call it a ‘mom song.’ I did a ‘dad song.’ I was telling Desmond Child an idea for a song, about how my mom left me in New York crying. I saw a giant rat and there was the smell of urine, but she was a person of huge encouragement in my life and said, ‘You can do this.’ It’s kind of her message to me: You get what you give, and if you put out love, you get it back. Another inspirational message.”
15. Boy (iTunes Exclusive)
“I’ve been singing this song for six years and my fans have been bugging me to record it. It’s basically a girl saying to a guy, ‘When you grow up you’ll realize I’m gone, and the woman you don’t want now is gone.” It’s mainly about a man’s growth from a woman’s point-of-view, and the lyrics and tune are incredible.”