Vanessa Carlton

In a sea of Britneys and Jessicas, she's the chopin-loving romantic who made waves by refusing to kowtow to the pop-music-industry rule of bare skin and attention-seeking histrionics. Now, with her new album, harmonium, the self-described "girl with the piano" has become a woman on a mission

Under ordinary circumstances, the success of Vanessa Carlton's powerhouse debut, Be Not Nobody (2002), might have been a career-defining achievement, cracking the Billboard charts dominated by prefab pop and high-rolling hip-hop on the strength of the stripped-down, emotional ballad "A Thousand Miles." But with her recently released follow-up, Harmonium (Interscope), produced by boyfriend and Third Eye Blind front man Stephan Jenkins, the 24-year-old singer is in the driver's seat. Featuring appearances by Lindsey Buckingham and Pharrell Williams, the record is even more personal than Be Not Nobody in terms of both content and creation. Here, the classically trained pianist and ballerina talks to friend and author J.T. LeRoy.

J.T. LEROY: How old were you when you started playing piano?

VANESSA CARLTON: My room says that I was about 3, but it seems to be getting younger and younger to the point where I was, like, a fetus when I was playing.

JTL: Did you take formal lessons?

VC: Well, I never got serious about it until I was 12. But my morn was a pianist, and she taught piano out of her house. I was just so excited, being a little kid and having all these other kids come to my house twice a week. I thought it was a big party. So I would sneak downstairs and watch. I was always the youngest one in the class and, you know, the piano teacher's daughter, so I'd get special treatment. My mom would give me a piece to play, but I wouldn't do any theory because when it came time to do it I would sneak back upstairs and watch TV. So, I had these kind of nonchalant lessons for years, then it just started soaking in. Plus, there were so many pianos in my house, so I couldn't really avoid it.

JTL: How many did you have?

VC: At one point we had five in one room, but the reason was my mother was selling pianos. She was a terrible saleswoman! Plus, nobody in our town could afford a piano, so they were all sitting in my house. I played all of them.

JTL: That's you on the new record, Harmonium, playing piano and all, right?

VC: Um, last time I checked--yeah, that's me.

JTL: Well, I mean, I know that's kind of an insulting thing to ask, but I've had so many people say to me, "That's not her playing piano!" And I'm like, "But it is." There's a weird way that people think these days--like, you have to be limited in your talent. Now, with production teams like the Matrix and all these computers and everything, you don't have to even know how to pick your nose to make a record.

VC: When it comes to music, we live in a very different world than everyone did in the 1960s and 1970s. Janis Joplin, unfortunately, probably wouldn't get a record deal in this day and age just because of how overexposed artists are and how they have to do photo shoots and videos. It's diluted the importance of the music, all the pizzazz and flash of having to be a star. It's intimidating to me. And it's sad because it's like a surprise to people--almost an anomaly--when artists are actually refined and trained on an instrument. That's the last thing people think about. But at the same time, there exists simultaneously an amazing underworld of music. Somehow we're able to have the crap coexist with the real bomb-diggity stuff you discover on your own.

JTL: You worked with your boyfriend, Stephan Jenkins, on Harmonium. Were you scared to work with someone who you were involved with in that way?

VC: I felt a little bit of trepidation, but ultimately, we just had similar tastes and standards and a vision of what the record should be. I mean, we definitely had moments when things got intense, and it further complicates things when you're also in a relationship with the person you're collaborating with. But it was completely worth it. If I had to do it again, I probably would.

JTL: What do you mean probably?

VC: [laughs] Let's just leave it at that.

JTL: You're both really strong personalities.

VC: Well, I never was able to co-write with anyone because I have such a specific style on the piano, so this is the first time I have successfully written songs with somebody. I believe it worked because Stephan basically deferred to me. He was just so sensitive to the way I was playing and the direction I wanted to go in. I think my approach to writing has changed so drastically over the past few years. I have grown out of that 17-year-old girl sitting at the piano just writing her diary. I actually start to feel grown-up when I realize how little I know about the world, and feel comfortable admitting my own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. So, in those ways, I sometimes feel like an alien to the whole pop machine. There was no way that I was going to make "A Thousand Miles, Part II." That just was not going to happen. At first, people might be disappointed by that, but all that matters is just writing an honest record, and that's what I did. Stephan really protected me on this record. That's what made working with him such a cool collaboration.