Anni B Sweet: Gathering Momentum

With her album Chasing Illusions she is chasing the dream of consolidating herself as a band artist, a live artist, putting her monsters in the closet, finally learning to play electric guitar for good. Her new lyrics talk about dancing, about speaking with the freedom that maturity brings and the light of a new, more pop sound. And yes, she is in love. Anni B Sweet introduces you to Ana.

ANA LÓPEZ (MÁLAGA, 1988) walks into the offices of the Subterfuge label as if it were her second home. She is no longer a beginner, as the first track on this album is titled — Beginner, which came after listening to a lot of David Bowie. In it she realises her dreams are full of dust, admits she is different after understanding life’s ups and downs, even «in love everyday». In this song she cannot find words to shout out loud, though she does find them later, alongside the life change she wants and that she sums up very well in another song, Knives: «Melodies were made to dance and cry, and I choose to dance».

«This song — she tells Rolling Stone — I wrote in a hotel in Mexico; I was worried about the album, I felt the knives over my head, my body wanted to dance even though it came from something sad; it’s that Mexican thing of dancing and crying as connected feelings, feeling the music without prejudice, and this time I chose that — I chose to dance».

These good intentions are backed by instrumentation carefully prepared to transmit energy, with Noni of Lori Meyers and Javier Doria as producers, and Juan de Dios on the mix.

«Like now, everything was full of posters and dolls; I couldn’t stop looking — it was the first time I was in a record company like the ones in the movies», Anni explains. Gema del Valle and Carlos Galán, the founders of Subterfuge, also remember what they thought the first time they saw her: «She hypnotised us with her voice, her taste for melodies and her attitude. She opened a new generation of artists who want to do things themselves from top to bottom, who row with you and make a team».

«I think at that moment I wasn’t aware of my limitations; it was all fun and I let myself go», Ana says. So much so that she played FIB and other stages without yet having an album; people knew her songs thanks to Myspace. Soon would come the release of her debut and a national and international tour that she lived with a naturalness she now, in a way, misses.

«I saw it as impossible to get into the music world». Who would have told that to the Ana who played at making songs in her Fuengirola home and sold them to her family, or imitated Christina Rosenvinge and Luz Casal in front of a mirror, spurred on by the music her older brothers played at home? «I didn’t sing loudly in front of anyone; I hummed quietly in the car; I didn’t like my voice even though I could tell I could control it and do things with it».

After finishing school she decided to study Architecture and Fine Arts in Madrid. She begged her father: «I want to go to Madrid, Dad — lots of things happen there». And they did, in another direction: three years later she called home to say she was parking her studies to jump on the music train.

The first to invite her in was her friend, the musician and producer Javier Doria. He put a name to her voice. «He heard me and liked it. When he asked me for a song I’d make him turn around so I wouldn’t see his face while I sang», Ana López says. He convinced her to sing in public for the first time at a Malasaña venue called La Leyenda. She was 20 and took on an Etta James song, At Last, and one of her own called I Am So High. «I called it that because of the vibe around me, but I haven’t drunk much or anything in my life», she clarifies.

«When they congratulated me on the feelings they’d had, I got excited — they were the same ones I felt watching other artists». That night she barely slept. In the days that followed, her shared flat saw dawn over her first lyrics written in capital letters. Anni B Sweet had been born, a name she chose without thinking much, inspired by Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode.

«Sometimes I’ve regretted my stage name because it seems people only keep the “sweet”, but back then I didn’t think I was going to release an album». In 2009 her debut in the record world came out: Start, Restart, Undo, with a sound close to American folk. «Just because I played guitar I was already a “cute little folkie”. I’ve struggled a lot with labels and being tied to a trend». She recognises herself in that innocent, lovestruck, hopeful period, influenced by the Beatles, Bob Dylan or Cat Power. «I’m grateful for every interview I’ve been given, but the fragile image gets tiring. I have a bad temper like everyone else, but out of respect for others I don’t show it; the sex, drugs and rock and roll as the only valid image for a musician is already in the past».

«The fragile image already gets tiring. I have a bad temper like everyone else, but out of respect for others I don’t show it».

Her first tour was «play and play without stopping; it was all so fast that it’s been hard to steer, and now I’m starting to enjoy it». Including that cover of A-ha’s Take on Me, used in an advertising campaign and requested endlessly. «That song was recorded at my parents’ house, in the room where I was born. Now we play it little so it isn’t forever associated with Anni, but it opened many doors for us», Javier Doria recalls.

After that brilliant start, heartbreak and fear dimmed the artist’s light. In that context came her second album, Oh, monsters! (2012), in which she sought a change from the previous one: folk was joined by dreampop, straight pop and even rock with a strong presence of electric guitars. «I wanted to reflect the darkness and solitude that accompanied me at that time; it got labelled dark-indie and even freak pop». Labels again.

«I went to live alone, made a small studio at home and stepped away from everything. I wrote at night, with everything calm».

She arrived at Subterfuge with almost everything already put together and there was no going back. «If you talk to Guille Galván of Vetusta Morla, or Ángel Luján, the producers of that album — Ana continues — they’ll tell you I was very stubborn because I didn’t want them to change a single feeling, even if there were things that were badly played». She needed to let it out, but the relief was only temporary. «It’s like when you tell someone a secret and then completely regret it: I shared it with everyone».

It was the period when she felt most insecure on stage. «After seeing so many musicians I realised I was bad at playing and I crashed because I wanted to reach what the bands I liked were doing. Once you know more, innocence disappears; I was losing the spark without noticing, I hit rock bottom».

Anni went to Lori Meyers gigs as just another fan, thrilled by the Granada band’s live energy. «They make you dance, they shine. I want that force on stage too».

At one of them, Noni (vocals, guitar and keys) invited the Málaga singer up to sing with him. It went so well that she ended up joining the group through all of 2014 on the Impronta tour. «We even wondered whether it was okay or not for us to sing together at their shows. On Twitter there were all kinds of opinions, those who wanted it and those who didn’t, but without realising it we spent the whole tour that way».

«I don’t care about saying it any more: we’re together; he has changed things in me; he has a way of seeing the music world that comforts me».

«He’s infected me with the hunger for live shows; I want people to start knowing me as a band artist, beyond the acoustics». Noni met Ana at a band concert and that is why he has encouraged her to keep going that way. «It’s what every musician wants — to go with their band, lose the fear on stage, have fun, let go», the Lori Meyers frontman says: «I’ve told her I’ve already been through certain things; I’m a few years older and I’ve been at this for 15 years. Sometimes you need help from other people to make what’s in your head real; for me it’s been very attractive working with her».

Two years ago Anni left the city to move to a country house with her partner in Granada. «I needed a change; I had time and wanted to travel; I wanted to see myself with other people and in other situations».

A large part of the lyrics for her new album were born there; she has looked a lot at the sky with her telescope. «Granada awakens a special attraction to space in artists. Look at Los Planetas, Lagartija Nick and so many others, and now Anni», Noni says. The second song on the album has those stars, Onyx stars. «I’ve found nature and things I liked in their purest state», Ana says.

The other part of the album was written on the road with the Meyers family and on the trips back and forth so as not to neglect her professional commitments in the capital. «Travelling makes me think; many little bits of the stories have come out on the road; I record them on my phone», she says, showing the nearly 800 home recordings stored on the phone. No wonder another track on the new album is called Drive.

At several points during the making of this album, which took place between Madrid, Granada and Los Angeles, the team lived through small blackouts. «At first I didn’t give it importance but by the third time I took it as a message with a double meaning: the light — that was what was missing, and these songs have come out with it».

Many expected to find something in Spanish. «I had songs in Spanish but they didn’t fit here; I couldn’t find the sound to dress them and I didn’t want to put them out even though I was really keen; I wanted to enjoy what I already had».

Nor has she felt the call to put social lyrics in despite everything happening around her: «It’s a very delicate country for taking an ideological position; if I say I’m for Podemos or another party I cause a fuss, and if I don’t take sides with anyone it seems I don’t care about politics. My blood boils over many things but written down they come across very strong, so I prefer to leave my lyrics open to each person’s interpretation».

One of the films that has marked the new Ana is Into the Wild (2007), directed by Sean Penn. Based on the true story of a young man who left everything to lose himself in Alaska seeking real contact with nature, with a beautiful soundtrack (Into the Wild) by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

«After watching it came I spoke to me, a transitional song between my previous album and this one, in which you try to get out of everything, like when you’re a child and nothing embarrasses you. In the end nature always surprises you».

Amaral’s song Hacia lo salvaje, one of the few Spanish female references Ana turns to, also matches her desire for freedom and a return to her roots. «I saw Eva Amaral live and I flipped out; she has lyrics that hit you and a live energy I’d love to have. She’s a good reference for me».

To sum up what we’ll find on this release, Noni gives Anni a definition: «Your melodies and way of writing are very ’60s but you dress them ’70s–’80s style». This time she has let herself be advised from the start. «Before beginning I already knew I wanted to record the album with a band — with Chumi (bass), Martí Perarnau (keys), Nacho García (drums). Javier Doria and Noni also recorded guitar, among other things».

«We wanted to do something more upbeat and we managed it — more intensity, more rhythm; we adapted Ana’s personality to that without losing her essence; we let ourselves go», Doria notes. «We racked our brains to make it sound this clean, toward her big reference on this album, Fleetwood Mac», Noni says. Anni: «Rumours (1977) is my favourite album from top to bottom».

Ana has included her own homage to the world’s most famous bang-bang, Nancy Sinatra’s, in Watch me shoot you. We have to ask who she wants to take down. She laughs. «The track has two sides: on one hand it goes toward those who have treated me badly and on the other toward myself; sometimes we are our own worst enemy, and the song served as therapy».

The title of another song, Everyone talks, could be aimed at social media: «Sometimes very harsh comments have reached me because I manage my own accounts and I get the bad and the good that is said. If they criticise my music politely I don’t mind, but I don’t understand it when they set out to hurt. Freedom of expression doesn’t justify everything; it seems some people don’t like seeing me happy». By contrast, we can reveal the song’s true meaning: a love lyric.

Chasing Illusions has already received its first reviews. «They’ve told me I’m becoming more commercial, as if that were a bad thing. Were the Beatles bad for reaching more people? This album is more pop and maybe that will make it sound more — nothing more».

«They’ve told me I’m becoming more commercial, as if that were a bad thing», she replies.

She also understands that some people may not get her image linked to fashion. «I see myself as ordinary and I don’t like myself much in photos, but they call me. I’m comfortable if things are done with care; if publicity helps people talk about my music, welcome».

She is happy with the new album’s result: «the only thing I ask of the audience is that they listen with clean ears, as if it were the first time they’ve heard of me».

At the back of a dark bar room a voice stands out — a certain Ana, the first to arrive before all the «Anas» we have come to know. She is the one who sang At Last a long time ago. She remembers the lyric: «My lonely days are over». «Life is like a song». It is neither sweet nor salty; «it is how I want it to be», concludes Anni B Sweet, who wants to make you dance. And she is gathering momentum.

Source: Rolling Stone no. 185, March 2015.