Diandra Interviews Pepper Lewis: Ruling Planet Prozac
According to Wandavision, Grief is love’s way of mourning loss. I thought that definition was so beautiful, and I add to it today via Pepper Lewis’ interview. If Love mourns loss via the grief we feel, then music is how it learns to feel better again. No one can replace another person in terms of how you love them, and that is, particularly, when you lose a mom. At age 15, Pepper Lewis lost her mother, and music was her reason to keep going. In our interview, we discuss what it is to use music as a way to figure out life after learning one of its darkest truths: everything and everyone, including you, is temporary.
Diandra: As a title, what does She Told Me To Sing My Heart Out” mean to you and who is “she”?
Pepper Lewis: SHE was my beautiful, electric lady, dancing queen of a momma. She passed away when I was 15 from lung cancer, and she was my biggest cheerleader. When she was sick, she couldn’t come see me play at an open mic, so she left me a voicemail that plays at the end of my EP. It’s her telling me that she’s not going to compromise her health and I’m not going to compromise my music, so I better get up there and sing my heart out. This EP is dedicated to her and focuses on how the loss of my mom, at that age, affected my perspective on life and the parts of life that I have to figure out without her.
Diandra: If you could be a planet, what would be your name, your look, and three laws for living in your world?
Pepper Lewis: This is an excellent question. My planet would be called Planet Prozac. Planet Prozac’s aesthetic would look like a Pinterest board titled “funky eclectic home decor” threw up alllll over it. There would be lots of coffee machines and a borderline illegal amount of scented candles. Entities that live on Planet Prozac are born wearing press on nails from Rite Aid. The first law of living in my world would be no shoes on carpets. The second law would be that Judge Judy is the only tv show anyone is allowed to watch. No news, no weather, just Justice Judy Sheindlin. My third law would be that the only books people would be allowed to read are transcripts of daytime television shows that are illegal to show on tv because they are not Judge Judy.
Diandra: What makes a song feel “true” to you?
Pepper Lewis: Great lyrics are usually sung because a person would be too embarrassed to speak them. That’s how I know I’m hitting a nerve lyrically – if I would be scared to speak them.
Diandra: Writing stories into songs, what is a movie, tv show, or book that you feel would be a good concept album as a story? What would be its themes?
Pepper Lewis: South Park. Just kidding. Probably the Sopranos. There’s themes of hypocrisy, duplicity, paranoia, what “loyalty” means to different people, power imbalance… there’s so much to write about.
Diandra: If music was a friend or lover, how would you plan the perfect date for you two and what would you say music would like the most about you?
Pepper Lewis: I would want to go on a walk around the east village with music. I would show music how much New York’ sounds, sights and smells shaped my lyrical imagery. I would give it a big hug and would hope music would appreciate how much I care and respect it, as if it were a person. Maybe we’d go to a record store… Or go to a Planetarium!
Diandra What is one song of yours that most embodies love to you on the new record and one that most embodies heartbreak? What of these songs do you feel embodies how you handle both?
Pepper Lewis: “Lisa’s Song” was written for my mom. Grief is the ultimate embodiment of love and heartbreak. I love her SO MUCH. She was my best friend and the song emphasizes how, in my eyes, she was the coolest person in the world. As the story progresses and it’s clear my mom passed away, I say “I don’t know what to do” – which is the total truth, still to this day. I wrote that lyric about 20 minutes after I found out she died. That was all I knew how to do, was write.
Diandra: How has music helped you observe depression, from a distance? What has it taught you about it?
Pepper Lewis: Good question! When I’m writing about how I feel, I’m only concerned with observing the truth about myself. I wrote “Same Stuff” as an effort to snap myself out of the depressive episode. I was taught the “meaning skill,” which is to make meaning out of your suffering, so you don’t become a victim of yourself. That’s something my dad taught me very early in life and has shaped the way I write and work through the traumas I’ve experienced.
Diandra: What is a lyric from an upcoming song that really moves you and makes you feel proud?
Pepper Lewis: “Your purse is empty, but it’s Gucci, baby.”
Diandra: Putting your life experiences into song, what is a life experience you really want to, but have yet to channel into a track?
Pepper Lewis: Another excellent question! I’m currently trying to write about what I need to look for in a boyfriend vs how I have been treated by boyfriends. They better watch out!
Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory with music?
Pepper Lewis: Ahh. Excellent question after excellent question. My favorite memory of music when I was a child would be having a dance party with my mom in our kitchen to the song “Rosalita” by Bruce Springsteen. She would scream “and the record company Rosie, just gave me a big advance” and point to me and give me hugs.
