'I Did Not Want to Be a Pop Star'
All Rachael Lampa ever wanted to do was sing. Now she wants to be known for her songwriting and a much-matured musical style. And she's just 19 …
by Andree Farias | posted 8/02/2004
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Rachael Lampa is a typical teenager. Just by listening to her talk about graduating from high school, getting her driver's license, and moving out on her own—and sometimes pausing mid-thought to talk about something altogether different—you wouldn't guess the 19-year-old is behind one of most progressive and exquisite pop albums in a long time. The young chanteuse recently discussed with us the creative process for her self-titled opus, how she regrets some of her teenybopper past, and how she wants to be known for her songwriting, not her status as mini-diva or her powerhouse vocals.
You take risks with this album that you've never taken before. It's very unpredictable. Are you anxious about the reception it'll get?
Rachael Lampa Definitely. In a good, healthy way, though. I'd been working on it for so long. It feels almost as if I'd been hiding away, just working on it and praying about it, and thinking about whether people would latch onto it or not.
At times it's so quirky and experimental. Do you feel this could alienate those who know you for your lighter, teenybopper material?
Lampa I don't think so, because there are some tracks that are reminiscent of past records. I think we did a good job of building a bridge from those records to the new one. Also, my whole life I've always gone from one journey to another. I listen to a whole lot of music. I feel like I have enough control that I can say, "This is what is going in my life, this is what inspires me, and this is how I want this to sound."
You didn't always have that privilege, though.
Lampa No, before I couldn't experiment as much as I wanted. This is finally the album that reflects who I really am. I hope and pray that older fans will latch onto it. There's still a lot of lighthearted moments, but that's not my ultimate goal. My ultimate goal is making music that shows where God is leading me. I hope I could convey that.
Some songs are over six minutes long. I can't visualize some of your younger fans appreciating that.
Lampa When we were in the studio we were in a different mode. We were not trying to do music for anybody in particular. We're doing what creatively feels right and makes sense. In our minds, we weren't thinking, "Oh, people are going to hate this." The band kept playing, and I kept singing, and it just happened. If somebody thinks it's too long, then change the tune, you know? We tried not to get too wrapped up into formulas.
Another formula that you did away with was singing other people's songs. You now write or co-write your own material. How do you feel about those older songs that you had to sing?
Lampa Obviously, some songs are going to get a little old, especially after singing them night after night. But the wonderful thing is that God can make good things out of everything. Even if some of those songs are so repetitive, God always finds a way to make them mean something different to people. That helps me to still have passion about them, still mean them, and still communicate them.
Keep it real with me, though. Even a song like "God Loves You"? That song was pretty bad. "You know it, you know it, you know it!"
Lampa I can't sing that anymore! I don't even think my band has heard that song, and I don't want them to hear it. I don't want them to learn it. No, thank you. That's the one song that's out of my set list!
So you have moved on in a certain way.
Lampa Oh, yeah. Definitely. And that applies to everyone who's worked with somebody else their whole life. Everybody has those home videos that when you watch them, you're like, "Ohmygosh, throw that away!" But like I said, God can work good things out of bad ones, including this song.
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