The sign of a great interview is that it doesn’t feel like an interview. Instead, it feels like a conversation between friends. This is exactly how it felt to sit down and chat with Christina Perri. Extremely talkative, Christina told me her entire life story within 10 minutes of meeting her. And that’s always an enjoyable interview.
Christina titled her sophomore album Head or Heart because while looking back on her past relationships, certain times she used her head while others she used her heart. That combination proved disastrous so she used her music to try and figure things out.
“I don’t have the answer yet because I haven’t figured it out,” Christina told me. “Where I’m at right now is I’m still unsure. The album is a collection of my little stories and my truths over the past couple years of choosing between one or the other and in the end still not knowing.”
Christina told me that a major theme throughout her album is change. A song called “Burning Gold” is about her decision to move from her home in Philadelphia to L.A.
“I don’t know where you get that type of courage. It’s something that has to happen inside of you. I was 20-years-old and it was the week before my 21st birthday and my brother said, ‘Move to California,’ and I said, ‘OK,’” she recalled. “A lot of times our dreams aren’t where we grew up. We have to go find them…I would not stop until my life was burning gold, which I think it is now.”
At the end of our interview, I told Christina that “Burning Gold” struck a chord with me because I’ve been thinking of moving to Nashville for a while and I guess I could see myself in her song. Since I grew up in New Jersey and have been living in New York the past four years, the thought of moving away from everything I know is daunting. Her advice to me?
“Do what you’re afraid of. That’s what I do.”
Read more of my interview with Christina Perri on Radio.com.