Robin Thicke |
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Thu. March 27.2003 12:00 AM EST |
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Thicke: He's Your Soul Man, Yes He IsSoulful son of Alan Thicke proves it takes “different strokes” to move the world. by Gil Kaufman |
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Thicke (Publicity) |
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Robin Thicke has heard all the puns about the "growing pains" of being a celebrity offspring. It doesn't faze him. This kid's been a professional songwriter since he was old enough to drive; he's not going to be thrown off by jokes about his silver
Cherry Blue Skies is the blue-eyed soul debut of 25-year-old Thicke (yup, he’s already doing the single name thing), son of famed TV dad Alan Thicke and soap opera actress/singer Gloria Loring. The singer may have guested on dad's show, "Growing Pains" as a teen, but his lover man come-ons are miles from dad's jingly work on the theme songs to sitcoms ("The Facts of Life") and game shows ("Wheel of Fortune"). Channeling the spirit of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Santana and Prince, Thicke’s 12-song debut uses songwriting lessons learned as a youngster (he’s supplied tunes to Marc Anthony, Brandy, and Xtina herself). The results are impressive; they might have Justin Timberlake looking over his shoulder. Join us as we get between the sheets with this guy, discussing what it feels like to have a gun shoved in your face, how nasty girls sometimes get too nasty, and how one goes about taming a wild Aguilera. VH1: The only harder path a white, Canadian-born singer could have chosen was to come out rapping. How'd you end up going the blue-eyed soul route? Thicke: My father's Canadian, but I was born in L.A., so I have that experience. My mom was a vocalist, so I grew up singing as a kid. I was always attracted to great singers: Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie, Aretha, Marvin Gaye. It wasn't until my teenage years that I got into the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, and the Police. VH1: Were you gathering stories for this album for a long time? Thicke: I've got 50 songs and some of those are 4-5 years old. I had a vision for the album when I met (NuAmerica Records president) Andre Harrell. He pushed that vision to mach 10. I had the songs, but the album really took shape when I met Andre. VH1: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you do your own mountain bike stunts in the video for "When I Get You Alone." Thicke: I did all the riding, but the couple of jumps were by this guy named Lars, a great professional rider. VH1: I didn't think your handlers would risk you cracking up and ruining that face. Thicke: It had nothing to do with the handlers. If I were good enough, I would have done it. But as is, I would have looked kind of dorky doing it, and I don't know if they were going for that. VH1: From some of your lyrics, it sounds like you are kind of a jock. Thicke: I was your regular sports player. I played them all. Then, in high school, it was either get real serious and hit the gym and run the track, or make music. I was like, “I'm making music, man.” VH1: Smart move, because either way you get the girls. Thicke: Right, either way you get the girls. But music just came so naturally…I felt I had some talent. Whereas in basketball and football I knew I was going to have to work my ass off. Of course, I ended up working my ass off for eight years in music. VH1: What went on during those eight years? Thicke: I was always writing and I had a couple of record deals, but I was never given the opportunity to make the album I wanted to make. Two years ago, when I had enough money from working with other artists and had my own studio, I started work on my album. Three songs in, I met Andre, and he had a new label with Babyface. We shared the same goals. People at record companies always saw me differently than I saw myself, as a bit more commercial. They saw the white guy with the soulful voice and they wanted me to do some Mariah Carey move... Actually I don't know what they wanted me to do because I didn't listen. VH1: How'd you decide to sample "A Fifth of Beethoven" in "Alone?" It's not the hippest sample you could have chosen. Thicke: One night when the album was about halfway done, Andre said he'd just heard some "Saturday Night Fever" songs in a club. He thought I could do something with the strings and the good beat. He played "Jive Talkin'" and then got to the Beethoven song. There was no singing, so I just started freestyling over it and he said, "That sounds hot, you need to do that tonight!" I've never used a sample before. But because there was no vocal I didn't feel like I was copying anybody. It just happened to be a co-write with Beethoven - which isn’t bad company to be in. VH1: On the one hand, that song sounds like a dis of a gold digger, but one that you still want to get with. Thicke: It's about, "Whatever I got, you can have it. I don't care about all that stuff, let's just get sexy together." It's also about being out and having all these guys grabbing at a girl you're trying to get with. There are all these things getting in your way - the music's too loud, whatever - and [you're] just saying, "When I get you alone, you'll see why you need to be down with me." VH1: You've said "On Shooter" is about a real bank robbery you witnessed when you were 17. It's awfully mellow for a song about a violent situation. Thicke: It gets a little hectic at the end, which is what the emotion was as [robbery] was ending. I don't know why, but I have this feeling of calm that comes over me in the most stressful situations. When that was going down, I was laying on the ground and the guys looked so harmless to me. I thought, "These look like the guys I hang out with all the time and they're in here robbing the bank." It was so surreal to me that I ended up smiling at them, which I talk about in the song. Then, he directed his gun at me and said, "What are you smiling at? Put your head down!" It wasn't until they left that my heart picked up the pace and realized what had just happened. I tried to write the story word-for-word how it happened. VH1: "Brand New Jones" makes it seem like you are a hard man to share a bed with. Thicke: "Some like to keep heat on, some are never hot enough." Those are true stories about fighting over the heater, the air conditioner. VH1: It’s not stuff you hear about a lot in songs. And you don't often hear guys comparing themselves to puppies, either. Thicke: “I feel like a puppy when I get time to play.” Some of that is about the compromises you make in a relationship, some of it is about masturbation and some is about feeling like a seven-year-old with a new toy to play with. It's about having a new thing that gets you off. VH1: "Stupid Things" kind of makes you sound like a jerk. Thicke: For me it's the ultimate “I'm sorry” song. Like, “I'm sorry I did that, but that's just how I am and it doesn't mean I don't love you.” That's really what happened. The fight about me hanging out with the guys went to level 10 and she wanted some alone time. I was telling her I'm a guy and sometimes we do stupid shit. VH1: Are you still with that person? Thicke: Yeah. We've been friends for 10 years, since we were 14 or 15. VH1: The girl in "Suga Mama" sounds like a bad girl. Is that the kind of woman you're attracted to? Thicke: Yeah, I like a little bit of bad girl, there's nothing wrong with that. You want to be able to introduce her to mama, but when you're alone she's got to have a little naughtiness in her. VH1: What's the baddest thing a girl has done to you? Thicke There was a girl who just kind of attacked me and it was almost a turn off, because there's nothin' left for you to do but be the prey. VH1: How do you approach writing a song for someone like Christina, who fancies herself kind of a bad girl? Thicke: I just try to embody what they want, which is why I had to stop doing [those kind of jobs]. There was something inside me saying, “You have all this music of your own to share and you're just changing it for other people.” Nothing against what I made for those people, but I wouldn't sing them because I would do them differently. I wrote what I thought they'd like, what they wanted to talk about. Christina's a sexy little girl and when she came up here I wanted to write something that I thought went with her, so I wrote "When You Put Your Hands on Me." VH1: Your dad has written some of the most recognizable theme songs of the modern era and he was on a couple of big shows, did you ever think you'd follow that path? Thicke: No. When I was 12 and 13 I did a couple episodes of the "Wonder Years" and "Growing Pains" to have a couple of bucks and meet chicks. But I never took it seriously or enjoyed it. After I did it four or five times I was like, “Ugh, I'm out of here.” It was just playing a friend of one of the leads, a line here or there. VH1: Was it tough acting in front of your dad? Thicke: The very first time I was pretty shook up and nervous. VH1: Your dad's also a pretty prolific songwriter; did you pick up any tips from him on that end? Thicke: The great thing about my dad is that he didn’t worry whether [the stuff] was great or not. He just loved to be a part of making music. He was a great influence in terms of getting up early, staying up late and always creating, learning, trying something new, seeing what touches you. I tried painting and I sucked. I tried basketball. Then, music took over and I ended up doing nothing else for seven years. While my friends were going out I was in the studio all the time. VH1: For a soul record, there aren’t a lot of ballads here. Is that the kind of guy you are? Because I get the sense you like to party. Thicke: I'm a pretty hype guy, which is why the ballads are few and far between. I like the energy, the movement. I like going to the club and dancing and drinking for hours on end. Between the ages of 16 to 20 I was working my butt off. So once I had a couple of bucks in my pocket I said, “Let's party.” The last couple of years have definitely been extreme and exciting. VH1: What's your ideal soundtrack when you go out and party? Thicke: There's the stuff I like to feel when I'm on the move, then the music I like when I'm alone. I like to study it and drive with it and imagine my own world with it. When I do that I want more lyrical, melodic things like the Beatles or Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, old Radiohead, Biggie and Tupac. But when I'm going out to party I like to hear hip-hop: Noreaga, Jay-Z, the Neptunes, Missy Elliott. VH1: You meet up with Justin Timberlake in a dark alley and have a showdown. Who wins? Thicke: I don't want to dance with him. I'm more of a free-floating guy - I don't do the choreographed thing. I just feel the music and go with it. But at the club you'll see me groovin'. I've never bought any of his records, so I don't know the extent of his vocals. He's obviously a very talented guy. I like listening to my record, so I'd have to go with myself on that one. |
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