Singing the blues
Negotiation is the brand new single of June Beltoft, a blues soul Singer formed in classical music but inspired by the whole life and especially blues and jazz music. She loves music and when you listen to her songs you really notice that music loves her. She’s working in her debut album but we can first listen to marvellous songs like Every sailor, Alone tonight and of course Negotiation, song with a darker sound that explains a deeply sad story of violence in a family.
What does music mean to you?
Everything! Can't live without it! It's a fantastic way to express oneself.
And what kind of music do you play?
Mostly some bluesy rock and pop. Occasionally with som elements from folk, country, latin and so on...
But you studied at The Royal Danish Music Academy in Copenhagen. Why did you choose popular music as your way to express your creativity?
I guess that's what's going on in my head.
Are you more spontaneous than classical music?
I used to play the saxophones - and I still do from time to time and years ago I tried to get into jazz, but really it's just not my primary language, so instead I became a mean, rocking blues sax player. And I like classical music, but like jazz, it's not my language. My language is the blues.
Could you tell us about your early days as a member of the duo Dr. Zebb?
haha... well, yeah, I met this guy who wrote some "social realistic" stuff and then we began to cooperate and It turned out to be a CD project.
Yes, it was "Gaden" published in 2000. Then your songs were in danish. Why have you decided to sing in english?
At that time, my friend wrote the lyrics. The songs were a lot about how people navigate in the society and in their daily life. The Danish language fitted his voice and his way of singing. He also wrote somthing in English but the Danish songs was the best. And why I mostly write and sing in English is - again - because that's what I hear.
You are a songwriter so you are involved in the whole process of the creation of the song. Is it harder to write the lyrics or the music?
Well, that depends... Mostly I hear the music first and often with some hookline and then I find out what the song is about.
And are you inspired by any writer?
I think I get inspired by many writers and many other things, but I admire songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Sting, Lennon/McCartney... and many others... I think that the music that comes out from any songwriter or composer somehow comes from the music they have heard during their lifes.
Does it mean you are showing your soul through your songs?
In a way, yes.
Aren't you afraid of that?
No, why should I? For my music without soul is uninteresting.
And do you look for a communication with the audience or just to express your thoughts?
I think the communication comes naturally, because when I sing about my thoughts there is always somebody that can relate to it. Good songs are songs that people can relate to at least that's what I think.
Your brand new single, Negotiation, has an interesting story. Could you tell us?
During the years I have heard so many heartbreaking stories about abused women and their children. And every time it makes me kind of angry and frustrated. Because you can't really do so much about it and then a friend of mine told me about one of her friends who was abused by her husband for many years and finally that woman had got enough and left her husband with their children.
That's deeply sad.
And then this song came to me when I was out jogging.
Now you are working on your new album. Is it conceived as a concept?
Well many of my songs are about how people navigate in their lifes and relationships so I guess the theme for the album is about the bigger and smaller dramas in peoples lifes. Many of my songs are about moving from somewhere to another, both literally and more... like inside...
Are you a nomade soul?
No, not really... But of course I take some smaller or bigger journeys from time to time right now I'm in the United States. Last week in Nashville and in this week in LA and a couple of years ago I got myself divorced. I guess that life is a journey - and sometimes you go far and sometimes it's the small steps. But I like to have a base to live my life from without moving too much around.
What kind of things move you?
Do you mean emotionally or litterally?
Both.
Emotionally when I watch people take some steps in the right direction - og when my children hugs me. Literally - right now the songwriting has taken me to the USA for a couple of weeks.
What do you expect from your new album?
Well it's hard to tell... But the reason for me to make an album, I guess, is to make some kind of statement. Here I am, that's what I do.
What do you expect from life?
I'm not so much into expectations, really. If you expect something there's a risk of getting disappointed. But I do my best to listen to my heart and go for my dreams. I believe that the right doors will open whenever you're ready. If a door will not open up for you, maybe it's because that's not the right way for you to go and I have a good feeling that my life is moving in the right direction, whatever may come. But my dream is to make a living from my music so that's what I go for.
JUNE BELTOFT VIDEO. Click here
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo by Henrik Delfer 2011 www.fotoprofil.dk