411 Music Interview: Eric Benét

Posted by Tony Farinella on 10.09.2008

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Eric Benét for an exclusive interview about his new album!

Eric Benét is a Grammy-nominated platinum-selling American R&B and Neo-soul singer. Recently, he released his fourth studio album, Love and Life, which features the hit single You're the Only One. In my interview with Eric Benét, we talked about his new album, his Milwaukee roots, the music industry, and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy my interview with Eric Benét and be sure to pick up his new album, which is currently in stores everywhere.



TONY: It seems like you put so much time and effort into every album that you release. What is the process like for you, from conception of the album to the finished product?

Eric Benét: Well, Tony, I guess I've always been the kind of artist who writes whatever is in my heart or wherever I'm at in my life. You can kind of feel it in the project, so this particular album, I'm at that very up, positive, having fun, dancing, and making love. And that's kind of where I'm at right now, so it was very important for me to infuse a lot of that into the music and the lyrics and to get back to almost like a sense of home. Not just home for me, but home for music. I mean, I feel like there was a lane out there, especially in R&B, where songs and music used to be crafted a certain way, and we've kind of gotten away from that maybe a little bit too much. The melody or the chord structure, somebody will either pick up a guitar or sit there on the piano and construct a song and the melody or the lyrics and the chord structures were conceived at the same time and there was a climax. It went somewhere and ended beautifully. I just feel like we've gotten away from that, so it was really important for me on this album for it to almost be like an homage to different eras of R&B.

TONY: What kind of pressure do you put on yourself with each album?

Eric Benét:: I've never really felt any of those, 'I gotta outdo the last sales of the last record' vibe. I mean, I really don't put a lot of pressure on myself at all, because songwriting and music has always just been a very natural, flowing thing for me, and I think I put an expectation on myself to be as honest as I can. And fortunately, when I'm as honest as I am, that's when my music, to me, sounds the best. So I guess I'm my best barometer for where the record is at or how it's gonna be received, because I feel like if I'm getting the goosebumps, then I know it's gonna eventually find its audience.

TONY: You mentioned earlier in this interview that this album was about coming home musically, so I have to ask you, what do you consider home?

Eric Benét: Musically speaking, home is the kind of music that made me fall in love with the idea of being a recording artist. Home is artists like Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder, Queen, Al Green. That's musically home for me. And because thematically this album was so much about going home musically, I thought literally I should go home as well. So I went back to Milwaukee, actually, and soaked up some of the vibes from walking down the streets where I kissed my first girlfriend. Or I'd be in the studio in Milwaukee and after I laid down an instrumental track, I was like, 'OK, let's go to my mom's house and get some of my mom's cooking. Let me go hang out with my brother or my sister.' So there was a lot of this feel good and being back home vibe, literally, while making the record too. And like I said before, musically, it was all about the going back home vibe musically for me as well.

TONY: Speaking of Wisconsin, are you a fan of the Green Bay Packers?

Eric Benét: (laughs) Well if you are not a fan of the Green Bay Packers, they kick you out. And that's why I got ejected from Wisconsin, because I've never been a huge sports fan. I mean, it will pique my interest right around playoff time or Super Bowl time, but, for the most part, I'm what you call a disappointing fan.

TONY: You also mentioned earlier in this interview that you always write about how you're feeling and what's going on in your life. What are some life lessons that you always carry with you?

Eric Benét: Well, I would have to say probably one of the biggest life lessons for me over the past few years is how important it is to be honest with yourself. I think before learning this lesson, I've always been the kind of person that if I was angry about something, I would just brush it under some rug somewhere. Or if I was afraid, I'd do the same thing. And I think the biggest factor in maintaining happiness and growth as an individual is to be honest about what you're feeling and identify whatever it is that you're feeling and talk about it to somebody that's very close to you, friends or family or something.

TONY: I know you've done a little bit of acting in the past. Do you ever want to act again in the future?

Eric Benét: I've done little tidbit things here and there, but I've never really gotten bitten by the acting bug. But I've always been a writer with music, so I've been working on this screenplay for the past four years, and I'm on the fourth draft of it right now. Worst case scenario, it was a great exercise in creativity. Best case scenario, next year, I might be trying to see if I can get some finances or some green lights around me to make a movie. That would be a very exciting journey to go on, to go into the movie production world.



TONY: Musically, what kind of changes have you noticed in the music industry from your first album to your current album?

Eric Benét: Well, I think we're still trying to figure out how to deal with people stealing music and pirating music, and the mentality of the young people now is that somehow it's just not stealing. You go to You Tube and you can see whatever videos you want, so why shouldn't I be able to take whatever music I want? We haven't quite figured that out yet. However, I feel like because of You Tube and because of so many social networks on the Internet, the ability for people who have the chops and have talent, the opportunity to be heard is there. So I think if there is a positive side to it, I think if you have talent, somebody's gonna hear you, which I think is gonna force everybody to step up their game, because you know you're gonna have some very talented people being able to get exposure where they never have been before. And it's also been interesting to me how R&B, when you look at the numbers and look at the sales, it's growing strongly as Hip Hop is kind of on the decline, the sales of Hip Hop. I think that's good news for people like me and albums like this one. It's almost like an homage to R&B from days gone by, really.

TONY: Does it ever bother you that people focus so much on gossip and negativity instead of the music?

Eric Benét: Yeah, I think that's a trend that's not only in the music industry but throughout the entertainment industry. You don't really have to have any talent at all to be a huge celebrity now. Just get the right deal or the right reality show, and you're a huge entertainment force to be reckoned with. And I think the whole reality television world has fed into that. You watch the stock of magazines like In Touch and television shows like TMZ rise and rise, and it's very disappointing, because people aren't paying attention to substance as much as they are to personalities. That's kind of feeding itself into this presidential election as well. If it were all about substance, I feel like this election would be a landslide and the polls would be in a landslide right now. But it is what it is, and I trust that we'll be able to get back to the meat of things sooner than later.

TONY: For you, personally, what did you get out of this album compared to previous albums?

Eric Benét: Well, this record was the first time in my career where I had complete control, and I guess I got a sense of liberating empowerment and joy for that reason. Since I've been signed, I've wanted to do a record like this, where the record label just wrote me a check and said, 'Boom, make your record.' No record executives knocking on the door or checking in, 'OK, we want you to write with this producer.' I've been trying to make a record like this since I started, so to be able to do this at this stage in my career and to have it received so strongly, it's so validating and feels good and ensures to myself and my record label that my next couple of records will be done the same way. So I'm very excited about that.

TONY: You talked earlier in this interview about your musical barometer and how you usually know what's going to affect people and impact them. How did you build up that barometer?

Eric Benét: I think it's all about how you develop musically. For me, I'm the baby. I grew up with three sisters and a brother, and each one of them have perfect pitch and this incredible taste and collection of music, so I grew up in that environment. I think it's a combination of that being my whole musical development, and I think it's also the fact that I kind of dropped out of college, which I don't recommend, but what I did when I dropped out of college, I joined a Top 40 band, so, for three years, I was traveling from obscure Midwestern city to obscure Midwestern city and doing the Top 40 songs that were on the radio at the time but maybe every ten songs or so, I would slip in an original song, so I got a really good feeling for what works with people. Even though that was fifteen, twenty years ago, a hook is still a hook. Just getting a very strong feeling of what works, what doesn't, and I think a lot of those sensibilities, every time I sit or write a song, they're right there with me, so a lot of that barometer is based upon those two things greatly.

TONY: As an artist, how important is it to have a good live show? No matter how good your album is, if you can't connect with your audience on stage, people are going to be disappointed.

Eric Benét: Oh, man, it's extremely important. I mean, you get to see exactly what kind of an artist you are. Are you an artist who basically relies on Auto-Tune but you're a great dancer and a great performer? That type of artist has its audience and is very talented in his or her own right as well. Or are you the kind of artist who you're not relying on bells, whistles and a bunch of dancers on stage but you're just trying to connect with people emotionally and doing it with just real, raw vocals and the musicians on stage with you? Each particular type of artist will definitely have their own audience, and I think I would fall into the category of the latter. I just really like to be real and raw and assemble an amazing collection of musicians on stage with me and, god willing, I've been able to write some very, very strong songs, and by the end of the night, the audience is gonna feel good from the inside out based upon the live show that they've seen.

TONY: Thank you so much for your time, Eric. It was great talking to you. I appreciate it.

Eric Benét: Hey, I really appreciate it, too, man.