LEGEND :: Ultra Naté has been topping dance charts for over two decades. Coming out of divorce and emerging from a struggling music industry with her eighth studio release, Ultra explains to TheGGN publisher Shaun Proulx why Hero Worship is more than just an album title – and how she’s remained free to do what she wants to do for an astonishing twenty years.
Listen to their fun and open conversation in its entirety – including their scheme for saving Justin Bieber, and what it was like for Ultra to sing “Free” before 300,000 – or, read the condensed version, below:
Shaun Proulx: I have to tell you this: A, it’s so great to hear your voice again. B, Hero Worship is packed with what I’m going to call “beautiful, old-school, hands-in-the-air, smiles-on-the-face” music.
Ultra Naté: Thank you! It’s been a while in the coming. We’ve been going through a lot of changes within the industry, and wanting to work with quality producers and co-writers puts you at the mercy of everybody’s schedules. So just trying to line up the sun, the moon, and the stars to get everybody on the same page, to get them to the studio, and trying to be creative and not watch the clock. You realize that it’s been so long, but creativity happens when it happens.
SP: Are you in a really good place?
UN: I wanted the tone of the album to be very uplifting and happy; I wanted it to be inspiring. That is the premise of Hero Worship: finding that inner strength, finding that personal hero within yourself. I was divorced, the American recession has been going on, and a lot of changes were happening. We all felt the brunt of it. With the recession the music industry began collapsing, and things were getting kind of wiley out here in terms of putting things like music out.
I felt that there was a need to embrace the idea of hero worship, and be a source of encouragement, as opposed to being a Debbie Downer about how jacked up everything is right now. Like, “we got it”. We all know, but let’s get through this moment. This is a really tough moment, but we’re going to come out of this, not necessarily unscathed, but for the better. We’re going to be the better for it. That’s what I chose to focus on more.
SP: It’s always about what you focus on, and the idea of worshipping who you are is not as airy-fairy as it sounds to some. To do things for yourself that are loving, to make a life for yourself in which you’re loving yourself, no matter what’s going on around you. Have you had to find your own inner strength and figure out that’s the most important thing you can do for yourself?
UN: Oh, absolutely! You cannot be positive, you can’t be a positive person, you can’t be a source of inspiration for anyone else, you can’t be a source of strength if you’re not giving yourself what you need. Sometimes people look to others to make them happy, or to encourage them – as opposed to looking to themselves first, and figuring out what do I need to do for me, what are the tools or resources I need to acquire for me to keep the chain moving forward every day. There are mountains in everyone’s lives that are overwhelming. You feel that you’re under this huge pressure and stress, and you can’t find your way out of it. I choose to look at things in the short term and figure out how can I move forward.
MEET US IN MEXICO! Enter to win a trip for two to Puerto Vallarta here!
SP: What do you do, what are your practices?
UN: It’s a very important thing to feed your mind, body and your spirit. It’s very important to me to eat a certain way, to eat correctly. I work out. I do yoga, I practice a little bit of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) with my ex-husband – because we’re still very amicable, we’re still really good friends – he’s an MMA coach for UFC fighters. MMA is a physical challenge that actually grounds you, and sets you within your body and within yourself. Feeling physically strong translates into feeling emotionally and mentally strong as well. I also stay very close to my friends. Without a doubt, relationships are very key to my sanity. I have a son, and seeing him turn into this incredible human being feeds my soul all the time. With the music business there are things that I would like to see done one way – but it’s happening completely differently. However I know that I can, at any given moment, find a piece of music and write a great song, and that it becomes a work that reaches people. It’s about taking control of the things you can control in your life, deciding what your goal is, what your dream is, and then working backwards from that.
SP: I don’t think there’s anyone checking out this interview who wouldn’t love to live for two decades doing what they love. I want you to tell us about being someone who has walked that path. How do you do what you love to do for two decades, because you’re rare among people for that.
UN: The time goes by so fast. You’re so focused on making music, and your next tour date, the next gig, the next venue, and you just kind of rack up the years. It’s kind of overwhelming, because I’m thinking: “Wow, this has been an amazing journey, and I’m still challenged by it, I’m still inspired by it, I still have a platform to be able to do it, and it feels amazing.” I’ve come to the place where I know this is what I would like to do until the day that I die. I’ve been blessed with the good fortune of being able to live the way I want to live, on my own terms.
But for most people, they have these jobs that they’re miserable in, and they haven’t figured out what their true calling is, and they haven’t stepped out into that place. I didn’t know at the beginning – straight out of high school – that I had the ability to do any of this. I never sang before, I’ve never written a song before, I’d never been in a studio. I just knew that my instincts were guiding me, and the opportunity presented itself, and I just went with my instincts, with the “I have nothing to lose” kind of attitude, and it has kept me fortified for all these years, with that same attitude: “I’ve got absolutely nothing to lose”. Win, lose or draw that’s it.
SP: I read an interview where you also used the word “dedication” and I think a lot of people really want the big things you’ve achieved, especially in this day and age, in this Internet age, this reality show age. They want them yesterday, and they don’t want to have to necessarily put the hours in, the sacrifices in, they’re not willing to be “blinders on, eye on the prize” the way I think you have to be to get these big things we’re talking about. What do you say?
UN: I think it’s a little trickier now with the Internet. The Internet is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a bottomless pit of instant gratification for everyone, and everyone is just trying to go for shock value of everything: what can I say that’s the most shocking, what picture can I post that’s shocking. They’re not really building substance or content, so it’s all really smoke and mirrors. If you don’t build your foundation on solid ground, on solid work – and that means you do have to put in the man hours in, you do have to go through the fires, you do have to bleed, sweat and cry over it, in order for it to be fully realized, truly valued, you have to put in the time, there’s no way to cheat. Not if you want to build something really solid.
SP: You mentioned, “walking through the fire”. It makes me want to ask you about a song on Hero Worship called Save Me, which sounds like a song about walking through the fire, and it sounded like that song was special to you.
UN: It was definitely special to me. It really gave me that feeling of heavy burden that you’ve gone through. Something that you and I both just said: got to bleed, sweat and cry over it, and come out on the other side like you feel like you’re a champion. That’s what Hero Worship is about as a story.
SP: The other song that I want to talk to you about is the one I’ve got on repeat. It’s just so feel good.
UN: Which one?
SP: My Love.
UN: I call that my ABBA tribute, because it’s very “ABBAesque”.
SP: Are you in love?
UN: No, but I would really like to be. I’m seeing a pattern over these years: I usually have my biggest career successes when I don’t have a good relationship situation going on.
SP: Damn! The damn artistic struggle with exploiting your own experience is sad!
UN: It’s so typical, right? Apparently, I need to be single and looking or not looking, or whatever.
SP: I thank you so much, and I wish you nothing but the best and joy.
– Follow Ultra Naté on Twitter and join her on Facebook. Hero Worship is available on iTunes. All images of Ultra Naté by Karl Giant.
