Interview The-Mary

Here's her latest interview with The-Mary.

So I love "Give Me Your Love"; tell us all about it.
Well, I cowrote it with another Canadian artist named Bobby Blake. I met him through a songwriters conference that a radio station here in Toronto put together, they partnered us up and we wrote the song together. It's a love song where you know, the guy is tryin' to get the girl, and she's not really wanting to get with him but in the end he wins her over.

Aw, so it's got almost a '50s vibe.
Yeah, kind of a Grease feel! The video is definitely that storyline, everybody's going out after the club to the diner, the girl's there with her friends, the guy's there with his boys, and he's all trying to get me and I'm all like, "Nooo."

Do you love that decade? Do you wish you were born around then?
I always wish I'd been around for that decade and the 40s, 'cause i really love that era. It's so classy.

Right, like with the sophisticated chanteuses...
Everyone wanted to get dressed up all the time! And then I also wish I was born in the '50s so i could have been alive and aware for the '60s!

Really? What do you love about the '60s?
I guess it's just the music! Everything about it. And naturally I have really big hair, so I think it would have been cool.

Hey you could have been a Ronette!
Yeah!

Who are your favorite artists from the whole old school era?
I listen to a lot of like Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan... I mean I'll listen to anybody. Sometimes I'll just go to the store and just buy CDs from artists from those eras that I don't know yet...

That's great! Have there been any discoveries, like you buy something that you have no idea who it was and then you totally fall in love with it?

Actually yeah! There was this artist named Candi Statton, and I think her CD is just like a picture of her face and no title, but I just picked it up and I love it. It's really old soul and she's got kind of this aretha franklin voice and I'm so glad that I got it.

Is there any historical singer you would like to portray in a biopic?
Ooh, maybe Whitney Houston! 'Cause it's such a good story, you would have so much drama.

Yeah, word that.

So how was shooting the video?
It was a night shoot, so it started at 7 pm and went 'til like 7 am, so that was crazy. But a lot of my friends came by and hung out and my family was there, like my grandma was there.

Did any of your friends get to be extras this time like they did with "Superwoman?"

Yeah, actually some of them did walk around in the background. They were like "we're here, why not" but with the editing of the video it's kind of in close up so you can't really see them. But it was just exciting to be there.

Yeah, it's fun just to go, I bet! Even though you're up til like 7 am. So is "Give Me Your Love" on an album that's coming out?
Yes! This song is going to be on my upcoming album, out September 20th.

So what is the general vibe on the album, what can we look forward to?
It's pop R&B with an old school twist. The CD is called Float Away. My music is really easy listening and really just relaxing.

Do you think you'll go on tour?
I want to go on tour, definitely, but it may be more toward the winter season because right now I'm filming Degrassi so it's kind of hectic.

How's Degrassi going?
It's going really well, the storylines are getting really good and our mall tours are really fun...

Yeah! How was San Francisco!?
It was a lot of fun. The weather there is actually colder than in Toronto, so that kind of caught us off guard, but it was really fun. Adamo and I got these really awesome oil paintings of ourselves from these two guys, so that was definitely one of the highlights. We couldn't stop talking about them! Adamo's like "I'm gonna put this up in my room" and I brought mine home to my mom and she was so excited. And Stacey also got one before in LA, so I thought it was so cool that the guys came all the way up to SF, too.

Seriously, that's like a 6 hour drive! That dude is going to be so stoked when he reads this. OK, so what woman in music do you think is doing it perfectly right now, as far as image and music and the whole package?
I'd have to go Beyoncé all the way. 'Cause everyone wants to be Beyoncé when they grow up, and she's doing everything perfectly, she's got great style, she's a well-rounded artist.

She could have done well in the '40s, too!
Exactly... and she's the type of artist too where she's always starting lots of projects.

What's your ideal career path? Do you want to concentrate on acting, or let that go for a little while you do music?
I'd definitely like to incorporate both but right now I'm really focused on my music. I really want to get out there and establish myself, like as a real artist and an actress and not just an actress that's jumping on the bandwagon. I want to establish credibility and then I'd really like to incorporate both, because I've done both all my life, but it just so happens that i started professionally acting.

Like you got Degrassi and then acting just sort of floated to the top?
Yeah, and other roles.

So with all the musicians on Degrassi are you guys gonna do a musical show?
You know we talk about it all the time... I mean the cast talk about it all the time but I don't know what they're going to do with that. I mean it's so weird that there are so many different musicians on our show. So a musical episode would be good, but they probably won't because we're such a dramatic show.

Do you guys trade CDs with all the music you're creating?
Yeah, Aubrey lets me listen to some of his songs, and I always let him listen to mine. Jake always invites us to his shows and Cassie always tells us what's going on... You know we all try and support each other, 'cause even though we all have different styles and we all listen to different types of music, we all have that common bond.