Viva Interview 2007

Most people become more and more at ease when they grow older, but not Tori Amos. While she sung about rape, religion and female sexuality on Little Earthquakes, on her new album American Doll Posse she’s also on a hunt.
The singer says women like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton show themselves off by their looks, while women like Condoleezza Reece lost their sexuality a long time ago.
“It should be different. Women should restrain power over their own bodies. You’re never just sexual or frigid. We all have different personalities within us and it’s about time we release them.”
She appears to be relaxed in her room at the hip Amsterdam hotel “The Dylan”. Although….relaxed. As soon as she gets the idea people put her in a box and label her, her green/blue eyes become fire.
Those who skim trough the booklet of her album, could get a bit confused. Cause not only Tori’s name is mentioned behind the vocals, but also the names Pip, Clyde, Isabel and Santa. Eh? Did she start a girl band or something? Maybe in a way she did. While she was writing the songs for her new album, she started to notice that the songs seemed very different from each other. “With earlier records there was always a theme. I was telling a story. At first I couldn’t find that with these songs. Until I started to organize the songs that seemed similar to each other. In the end 5 groups were formed and I soon started to feel that I had to deal with 5 alter-ego’s. That’s how Tori, Pip, Clyde, Isabel and Santa came to life. These women all got their roots in the early Greek mythology.
Why that era? Because back then womanhood, in all his glory, was still worshipped.
Of course Zeus was extremely powerful, but he had some pretty good female gods in front of him.”
Oh, yeah…for those who paid good attention during Greek mythology classes: Isabel is a reflection or Artemis, Clyde of Persephone, Pip of Athena, Santa of Aphrodite and Tori of Demeter and Dionysus.

It was important for Tori to go back to an era before Christianity. In this faith, she says, two archetypes approach: The holy mother Mary, and the whore Mary Magdalene.
“That’s too black-and-white-stereotyped. One of them is very sexual, the other very spiritual, but not sexual at all. Even today we still have these beliefs. When you’re a workaholic and a woman, you can’t be sexy.
On the other side: there’s also loads of young girls who like to show off their body in every possible way and who don’t seem to be intelligent at all.
I want to recall all females of this world. Trust your own instincts and intuition. Be a mother, but also be a whore at times.”
Tori starts to sound like one of the earlier feminists.
“I’m a woman, and I think men are no better than me. So yeah, I guess that I have to wear the label “feminist”.
Years ago women fought for our rights. If they could see what we are up to these days, they would turn around in their graves. In the last seven years so much has changed and in a negative way. It feels as if we’re back in time. From the moment Bush was in charge, things went downhill. America went downhill, the world went downhill and especially women’s rights went downhill.”
Tori wouldn’t be Tori if she wouldn’t have a lot or religious people against her.
On her new cd there’s a picture of her, holding the holy Bible in one hand, and having all kinds of signs on her other hand. There’s blood streaming down her legs.
When asked what her father must think of that picture (he’s a minister after all) she becomes fierce.
“Out of all the people in the world he would be least surprised. He knows me by now. My mom thought the picture was fantastic by the way. Whether or not I can explain what I mean with it? Everyone should find that out for himself or herself. It’s like art on a wall. You have to put in your own thoughts.”

4 out of 5 stars