A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
In the 1990s, Linda Perry's band 4 Non Blondes had a huge hit with "What's Up?"
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT'S UP?")
4 NON BLONDES: (Singing) And so I wake in the morning and I step outside, and I take a deep breath and I get real high. And I scream from the top of my lungs, what's going on?
MARTÍNEZ: This song keeps finding new life, whether screamed from the stage at countless karaoke nights or even in mashups on TikTok.
LINDA PERRY: It's one of those songs that there's always somebody screwing something up in the world.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
PERRY: And nowadays, it's amplified because of social media. But all the stuff we're going through we've gone through before. We just didn't know it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT'S UP?")
4 NON BLONDES: (Singing) I said, hey.
MARTÍNEZ: That is Linda Perry. 4 Non Blondes' debut album was their only album. They broke up shortly after that. But Perry went on to write some of the biggest pop songs of the 2000s.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET THE PARTY STARTED")
PINK: (Singing) I'm coming up, so you better get this party started.
MARTÍNEZ: She wrote that one for Pink. Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani - they all had hits with Linda Perry songs as well. Now she's back to performing her own material - Linda Perry's first album in 25 years. It's called "Let It Die Here."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET IT DIE HERE")
PERRY: (Singing) I said save me. Set me free. Let it die here. Rest in peace.
MARTÍNEZ: So what exactly do you want to let die here?
PERRY: "Let It Die Here," the album, is about my mom and experiences that I had - trauma, the abuse, all of that stuff. So let it die here means exactly that, you know? I want to let that trauma die here. I want to let this past go. I want to let that anger and the guilt and the shame and the blame go.
MARTÍNEZ: How easy is that? Because mothers and daughters - I mean, how does that get let go eventually? Is it possible?
PERRY: Well, I spent pretty much my whole life trying to figure things out. And one day - I don't know - it was, like, before my mother passed away - I realized my mom was never going to change. But, you know, I hold onto things, you know, when it comes to emotions, your parents. I mean, I want to understand, why did you make a 5-year-old feel so bad? Why would you hit that little child? Why would you abuse them in such a way? Why? Why?
So it wasn't about what she did. It was more about why. It already happened. I get it. I can't take that back. And I would never, actually. You can ask me right now, is there anything I would change about my childhood, and I would say, absolutely not because I'm an awesome mom. I am not my mom. I'm an understanding mom, and I'm a supportive mom, and I make mistakes, and I - I'm accountable.
MARTÍNEZ: There's a song on this album called "I Am Daughter." Let's hear a little bit of "I Am Daughter."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I AM DAUGHTER")
PERRY: (Singing) Lead (ph) me down the shallow reef. Hold my head above the water. Help me mourn what I have lost, for I am a daughter.
MARTÍNEZ: Is it me, or is a little bit of a bossa nova thing happening with this song?
PERRY: Oh, yeah. My father's from Portugal. My mother was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She loved Sergio Mendes and...
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So that's what I was hearing there. Yeah.
PERRY: You know, she loved Brasil '66 - loved them. So that was me bringing in my culture, my...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
PERRY: ...You know, where I come from. I had written this song that was basically saying, I hope now that you don't have any guilt or shame and you're free.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I AM DAUGHTER")
PERRY: (Singing) I hope you're free now, Mama. I hope you're free now, Mama.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, looking back on your career, Linda, it seems like you made two big decisions that have kind of defined things for you. No. 1 was leaving 4 Non Blondes. Why did you leave that band?
PERRY: I didn't know how to be in it anymore. Money, success is not going to keep me in something that is - I wasn't happy. I still needed to find who I was. That was the first band I was in, and when you're in that situation, you're kind of almost locked in for a little bit. Everybody wanted the same record again, kept on like, write another "What's Up?" It's like, I don't even know how I wrote that one...
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
PERRY: ...Let alone try to do it again.
MARTÍNEZ: So you said you wanted to explore who you were as an artist. Did that mean that you had to give up performing and become a producer to do that?
PERRY: So I made this record "In Flight," and when that record got no love, then I just discovered, oh, my feelings get hurt too quickly, so maybe I'm not supposed to be in front. Maybe I'm supposed to be in the back.
MARTÍNEZ: Because when I think about the people you've collaborated with and the songs that they have done - so Pink, "Get The Party Started," Gwen Stefani, "What You Waiting For?" - I mean, these are very different songs than "What's Up?" I mean, it just seems like...
PERRY: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...If I were to tell someone that the person who wrote and performed that song produced and wrote those other songs, they'd be like, wait a second. These two things don't belong together.
PERRY: Yeah, but that's me.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
PERRY: I love country. I love R&B. I love all styles of music. So it made kind of perfect sense to me to become this songwriter-producer.
MARTÍNEZ: You also wrote and produced this Christina Aguilera song, 2002.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEAUTIFUL")
CHRISTINA AGUILERA: (Singing) Every day is so wonderful. Then suddenly, it's hard to breathe.
MARTÍNEZ: So that won a Grammy for best female pop vocal performance, nominated for song of the year. Quarter century later, Linda, here is you singing it for your album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEAUTIFUL")
PERRY: (Singing) I am beautiful, no matter what they say. Words can't bring me down.
MARTÍNEZ: Why did you finally decide to record your song for your album?
PERRY: When I finished my album, we talked about recording a version of "Beautiful" to release in front of it, just to remind people that, you know, I'm an artist and, you know, here's a song I wrote. I recorded it, like, so quickly. Like, that recording was so fast. And then once I heard it, I'm like, oh, this goes on the album. It's the missing piece because my mom was always bringing me down - always. And her words are - were harsh, you know? And I felt like this totally helps the story. It's full circle.
MARTÍNEZ: That is Linda Perry. She's a singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Her new album is called "Let It Die Here." Linda, thank you.
PERRY: Thank you - really appreciate it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEAUTIFUL")
PERRY: (Singing) Ain't that the way it is? But you are beautiful, no matter what they say. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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