Anastasia Elliot recently crossed our musical radar with her video “Cigarettes and Gasoline.” We get tons of requests daily about artists with new video releases. Most days, they are lyrics videos or unoriginal videos that we can hardly get halfway through without skipping. So, on that day I remember asking myself, ‘why should I watch this one?’ Well, there was just something about this one; call it a feel. I sometimes call it the universe giving me a nudge because it knows I’m going to dig it. Well, I pressed play and not only made it all the through, but I found myself watching it several times in a row. It’s dark, intriguing and visually compelling despite the fate of a mannequin and its symbolism. We looked into finding out more about her, but she’s a bit of a mystery. How could that be in this digital age where there’s an over-saturation of information on the internet? We were recently given the opportunity to sit down with this talented artist. Going into it, about the only things that we knew included her new “Cigarettes and Gasoline” video is stunning on many levels, she is a brilliant artist visually, she possessed an amazing voice, she had a successful cooking show and she intrigued me like no other artist has in a very, very long time.
Anastasia Elliot: How are you today?
It’s been a pretty good day so far. How about yourself?
I’m pretty good. The weather’s getting cool and it’s pretty beautiful here so I cannot complain.
Where is here?
Nashville; where are you?
I’m in Raleigh, North Carolina.
I have driven through Raleigh briefly, I’m sure.
It’s a cool day and the leaves are starting to change. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year.
No doubt; it’s the best time of year.
In this day and age of social media where there is too much info out there, you seem to be a bit of a mysterious and intriguing person. I’m not sure if that’s on purpose, but I like it.
I absolutely love that you’re leading with this and I can tell that we will be great friends. It absolutely is on purpose and exactly for the reasons stated in your question. I believe that keeping an air of mystery makes things a bit more interesting and it gives me room to grow.
It reminds me a bit of the early days of Prince where he would rarely give interviews. If he was on a television show and talked to the host, his answers were kept to a minimum. My first step into your world is your new video which is as intriguing as you. Part of what I’d like to know is if the video was your vision going into it?
The line between fantasy and reality is very thin and we are constantly dancing that line. I hate to say that it was a vision and it was created or manufactured because that definitely was not what it was. When we create things it’s not like a sit down like ‘here’s what we’re making and here’s the song. We’re going to write a treatment for it and it’s going to be this or that.’ It is what it’s supposed to be. The reality and fantasy are always blurred and waiting to be captured.
If it’s blurred between reality and fantasy, then I think I need to be a little cautious based on those mannequins that I feel like are a male symbolism. As far as those mannequins go, were you letting out some built up rage or fantasies of rage? They definitely went through a rough treatment.
They did and you only saw what happened to one of them. The song is about an incredibly toxic relationship of two people that feel the worst desires in each other and in their demise. There’s definitely real life symbolism that’s brought in there. This video is the prologue for a very long project and a collection of songs and the story will continue with the next one.
You beat me to that! I was going to ask if we could expect more. I was wondering how many people caught that next to the title of the video.
Yes, many, many more.
There a lot of artists who use visuals, but it’s more style over substance. You seem to have an amazing balance between the two. That’s another thing that fascinates me about you because I don’t think you find too many artists today who have that balance. Your voice is rather amazing and it made me curious about the evolution of your voice. Did you have any kind of training? Was it the choir in school?
I began opera training when I as eight or nine years old and it was solely classical for a while. In my journey becoming the artist that I am now, it was important to keep up those roots. Not so much in rock, but especially in pop music, the want for the vibrato is not really there and they will typically want to get rid of that. I owe everything to that training to the voice that I have today. That carries into the ability to sing this record as it is in my live shows plus a little.
When you started first discovering this vision of yours was it during your high school years. Those are very formative years and being different is often a cause of getting picked on and bullying. Was it difficult for you?
I actually left my high school in my junior year and moved to Nashville to pursue my career because honestly where I was just was not the place for me and it was time. My mom always said that it was upsetting her for me to be there in choir because there was so much more that I wanted to do. I did finish and get my degree so I’m not a dropout. In my freshmen and sophomore year, I was in choir and finding any way that I could to do music. I was not much of a social butterfly. School definitely wasn’t my favorite place, but I made the most of it.
I understand and I get it. I’m not sure how extensive your live dates have been, but how tough is it to take that artistic side onto the stage since you have the visuals to go along with the voice?
Oh man, I can’t wait for you to see the show.
I can’t wait either!
I’ve been working very hard on this live show. I’ve been making sure that it is an experience, especially if what you see on the video and hear on the record is what you’re coming for plus a little. It’s very much an experience.
I don’t mind seeing a singer/songwriter live who is not literally just standing there, but doing so and delivering a great show. I really love the visuals being part of the show and have always loved them growing up. Prince, who I mentioned before, was like that. It really seems to be missing today, not totally but it is missing. You don’t see a lot of artists carrying that torch from artists like Prince or David Bowie or even artists from the 80s.
Oh, absolutely. That kind of project has definitely been my goal and I’ve been creating it for many, many years so that I could come out of the gate with something that could be impactful and leave that kind of impression. So, that is the best type of compliment that you could give me.
I have a fan question. The question was when did you discover that music was your passion and were you always drawn to weird, dark things?
I absolutely was; there’s a movie called Pollyanna which is an old movie and I’m not sure if you’ve seen it. At one point in the movie, the girl falls off of the roof and breaks her arm. That was my favorite movie and I would rewind that part and at some point the woman that asked that question had to disappear the movie. I definitely always have liked darker, weirder things. When my grandfather passed away, The Houston Grand Opera put on Don Carlos The Devil’s Opera in his honor. I was 5 years old and my mom told that I was glued to the railing and obsessed to The Devil’s Opera. The sonics of darker music really strike a chord in me. I don’t tend to write happy songs. I mean, that could change, but up until this point I just love when something is dramatic, dark and epic.
There’s something about non-happy songs that seem to draw a lot of people. It’s like they can relate to it on a degree that’s different than happy songs.
I’m glad!
Was there an artist that really affected, impacted your visual side?
Sonically, when I young my father always had on stuff like Billy Idol, Queen, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush and Enya. I love dramatic, powerful vocalists. Visually, I can’t honestly say that I was ever really exposed to the visual nature of any artist’s projects. I think, probably, that visually inspiration comes from films, books and whatever else influences my brain. I didn’t really discover people like David Bowie and the impact of their visuals until, much, much later in life. I probably still haven’t even scratched the surface in artists like Bowie.
Although I feel like I can talk on and on to you, I see that my time is just about up. Is there anything that you’d like to close with?
I am so excited for 2020 and for you to see everything roll out. I can’t wait to bring my live show to all of the cities and all of the fans and create a movement.
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
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