WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Melissa Etheridge’s 12th studio album is called “This is M.E.” It’s a mission statement that’s about more than just her initials.
“It truly is me,” explains the Grammy and Oscar-winning singer/songwriter, about her first independent record after years on the Island label. “It was a big change last summer, sort of taking control of my career, and my choices, making the jump out of the corporate record business into the independent. … I was the boss and in charge of everything, to blame for everything. It better be me! It better be all of me.”
Of course, Etheridge has established herself over the past few decades as an artist who candidly gives nothing less than all of herself, as a singer, as an activist for LGBT rights and as a breast cancer survivor.
“It’s the choice I make. It’s so much easier for me to just speak truthfully, to just be ‘This is what it is,’” she says. “You have to have a sense of humor about it, than hide and spend all your energy keeping someone away from that which is my truth. It’s what I know.”
Right now, she’s living the truth of the recording industry, which is at a crossroads as the big companies have downsized and artists are increasingly using other means to get themselves heard. To some people, that’s scary, but for Etheridge, it’s just an opportunity.
“When the financial markets went really down, and people were scared and ‘Oh, no!’ there were people saying ‘This is a good time to buy,’” she says. “It’s not about panicking in the changing times. People love music. They will always love music. It’s a part of their lives, one of the things that makes life bearable. Those who have the talent to create it are always in demand, always wanted.”
After all, Etheridge notes that even artists like her who sold millions of records had to contend with “the big humongous middle man, making billions of dollars. It’s now the artist who can reap the rewards. Before, not so much. I never really made money on recording. The record company made the money.”
And as the industry changes, Etheridge admits that having a record is less a destination than a means to an end, giving “people something to talk about, to drive them to the show.”
The changes aren’t only in business. She chuckles when it’s mentioned that after what appeared to be a renaissance of female rockers in the 1990s with her, Sheryl Crow and others, there just aren’t many women in the mainstream making that sort of music on the charts.
“It’s disappointing for me, because I’ve been on the big end of it and it’s obviously not happening,” Etheridge says. “What really came into focus was technological music, and that’s a beautiful thing.
“It’s just that we tend to go all the way in one direction and when that happens, things get missed. But this younger generation is getting that music. My kids grew up with it, and they love when they hear the real thing.”
There’s more going on with her than the music. She’s a mother, a recent bride, having married Linda Wallem in May on their joint 53rd birthday, and someone outspoken about her bout with breast cancer. Etheridge made headlines for calling Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a double mastectomy because of increased chances of getting cancer “fearful.”
“Boy, that’s a real personal journey, the journey of your own health. It’s so much about you, so very deeply to the core. That’s one of our biggest fears, the fear of death,” she says. “That is what we’re dealing with. There are tons of different ways of looking at it. … If someone can be inspired by the choices I’ve made, in the way I spoke out about it, that’s beautiful. I’ve never regretted, never ever, being part of being healthy.”
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