As part of the celebration for Ingrid Chavez's upcoming EP 'MY SKY (REMIXED) and Ingrid's MY SKY poetry and music journal, available here, The NightChild was lucky enough to be able to send a few questions Ingrid's way. In the answers Ingrid talks about her projects, her work with Prince and being a modern independent artist. The NightChild sincerely thanks Ingrid for this opportunity

NightChild - Your Poetry and Songs have always transported me in a very powerful way. Can you tell me a little about the story of how your new EP My Sky (Remixed) and indeed the song My Sky came to be created? What intrigues you about working on remixes?

Ingrid - My Sky was written from the same place that Justify My Love was written from. It is that point in a relationship, however brief, where time stands still and nothing matters outside of that space, you are one in body, heart and mind. Au naturel, it’s the best kind of high. I tend to write in the moment of my life which makes for very intimate lyrics.

Our manager Michael Pearson submitted the song to the Independent Music Awards and it won best spoken word song category. To celebrate the song we thought it would be a perfect time to re-release it as a remix ep. Marco and I are very pleased with how it turned out . It’s so exciting waiting on a remix to come back when you are working with such great artists as the ones who contributed to the My Sky Remixed EP.

NightChild - You are a successful independent (and award winning, Congratulations on your Independent Music Awards Win!), What advice would give to Artists hoping to achieve what you have?

Ingrid - Find your voice and then be fearless.

NightChild - You were key to a period in which Prince had a Spiritual Epiphany with the LoveSexy Album. What was that experience like?

Ingrid - It was an incredibly creative time for us both. I always carried a notebook and pencil (still do) and I was always writing him poems and letters. There was a childlike innocence to our friendship and we had Paisley park as our musical playground. For a brief time in both of our lives, we were suspended in this spiritual/poetic moment and two very intimate albums were born out of it.

NightChild - Your video for ‘By The Water’ is simply one of the most Beautiful and Stunning videos I have ever viewed. Can you tell me a little about how it was made?

Ingrid - Thank you! By The Water was filmed here in New Hampshire by Marzio Mirabella. He flew from Italy and stayed with Lorenzo and I in a house that sits at the base of Mount Monadnock. The little house that we filmed in was on the same property and was built by a friend of mine when he was studying architecture in college. We loved the quirky rustic feeling of the space. It was just the 3 of us out in the woods with a million mosquitoes shooting this sweet little video.

NightChild - In the world of music it has never been easier to put a product out in the world through the Internet but, conversely, it has never been harder to make money from a project due to Filesharing etc How do you think the music business has changed since you began?

Ingrid - It has changed a lot since I first started out. I've never received a penny for anything I did at Paisley Park. It was a different era where big money was being spent on videos, recording sessions, producers and product manufacturing. There wasn’t any discussion about how much it all cost. When all was said and done, when the labels didn't recoup their investment, the artists never saw a dime. Being an independent artist, it is a struggle to make any real money but at least I own my work and control it. These days you don’t have to sell your soul to please a label but you have to work really hard and be very clever to be heard. With the internet you can find the people who really love what you do and sell a fraction of what you might have had to sell 25 years ago for the same return.

NightChild - I can never think of some of Prince’s most celebrated songs such as ‘Joy In Repetition’ of Question Of U’ without thinking of your work in the videos on Graffiti Bridge. What was it like filming this project?

Ingrid - Well, I am not an actor and had no hidden aspirations of becoming one, so when I was asked to do a film test for the part of Aura I was very surprised. I was terrified but it was too interesting an adventure to pass up. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Morris Day and Jerome. I made so many friends on set. It was a great experience. To be honest, I’ve seen it only once and that was at the NYC premier. My daughters have never seen it.

NightChild - What can you tell us about the Unreleased ‘21 Poems’ Project?

Ingrid - Lets see, Prince made a deal with me that if I wrote 21 poems that we would go into the studio together and make a poetry record. I said ok, and I started writing, I wrote every waking hour until I had my poems. We went into the studio and he set me up in the vocal booth and he set up a keyboard in the sound booth. He would ask for the title of the poem and start playing around with sounds until he had what he wanted and then he would say start reading. We went through all 21 poems like this. Sometime after this session, weeks or months later, we woke up and I was back in my world and he was back in his and we lost contact. I went on to form a band called Skyfish with Richard Werbowenko. We had recorded a record and we were preparing to start playing live. I got a copy of our record to Prince and a few days later I came home and my apartment was filled with flowers. Prince called and wanted me to hear Heaven Must Be Near, he said it sounds like Paris in springtime. I heard the song and he asked me if I wanted to finish the poetry album we started the year before. I said “yes" and we were back in the dream of poetry and music.

NightChild - Your’ My Sky’ Poetry Journal looks exquisitely beautiful. Can you tell me about this special project?

Ingrid - Wherever I go, I have a journal and pencil on me. When we discovered these journals with the USB latch it seemed a perfect way to present the My Sky Remixed EP. Once you have taken the music off of the usb drive you can reuse it for other digital files. It will have My Sky embossed on the cover and will come with an excerpt of the song’s lyrics written out. There will be some other little surprises to discover in the pages. For anyone who does journaling it’s a great Christmas gift! (Limited number of 50 to be produced. Handwritten poem by Ingrid)

NightChild - I wore out your album ‘May 19, 1992’ a remarkable work. Did the fact that you perhaps had more independence from Prince make for a different sounding album as so much of your individuality seems to come through on the album?

Ingrid - Prince knew from day one that I am who I am. He liked his experience of me and my words and if we could capture it raw and keep it simple others would feel the same way about it. He was right. If I had not written the poems there would have been no album between us. Like Lovesexy for Prince, May 19, 1992 was my story of that winter and us slipping away for a few months.

NightChild - What is your creative process like? How do you start to create your work?

Ingrid - I like collaborations. When I start writing with someone, I like to play the piece I have chosen to write to in my car. It helps to release the mind from thinking too much about words and lets melodies form first. I try to connect that emotion to what is going on in my life. Sometimes it all comes quickly and other times it’s a struggle to bring it all in. My Sky came very easily. I remember the stretch of highway I was on when the chorus came.

NightChild - ‘Little Mama’ is such a powerful song with an important message. Why did you feel you wanted to make this statement?

Ingrid - I was a young single mother at the time and I had a dream. I had already said yes to that dream, so for the both of us I stayed on path. I wanted to inspire other young moms to not give up on their dreams.

NightChild - Did you enjoy your ‘Paisley Days’?

Ingrid - It was like a beautiful dream that I woke up from but, that’s ok because I fell asleep again and dreamt a new dream just as lovely.

NightChild - Have you heard any of Prince’s more recent works?

Ingrid - I haven’t heard anything from Prince in several years. I am curious now that I am thinking about how long it has been.

NightChild - When performing both in and out of the studio, do you ever feel nervous or are you fearless?

Ingrid - Being in the studio does not make me nervous. I really love the whole process. These days most everything I do is from home and I do miss that womb-like feeling of the studio environment. I do get a little nervous before a live show but once the show begins, I connect with my voice and the audience, I relax and truly have fun.

Thank you Ingrid !

I'm sure there is a better Graffitti Bridge movie, than the one we got. We could ask Prince when we can see all of the deleted scenes, but I'm sure the answer is, "Somebody will release them, but it won't be me". Or maybe, "If you want to see the deleted scenes, that says more about you than it does about me".

My favorite part of the interview:

It was a lot of fun hanging out with Morris Day and Jerome.

Everybody says that about the Graffiti Bridge set.

Wow that was reeally good thank you!!!!

funksterr said:

I'm sure there is a better Graffitti Bridge movie, than the one we got. We could ask Prince when we can see all of the deleted scenes, but I'm sure the answer is, "Somebody will release them, but it won't be me". Or maybe, "If you want to see the deleted scenes, that says more about you than it does about me".

My favorite part of the interview:

It was a lot of fun hanging out with Morris Day and Jerome.

Everybody says that about the Graffiti Bridge set.

I can imagine Morris and Jerome just being great fun, although I'd love to know how different they are from the characters they portray.

I mujst admit I am intrigued by some of the deleted scenes I have seen.

paisleypark4 said:

Wow that was reeally good thank you!!!!

Thank you . I wore out Ingrid's album May 19, 1992 as a teenager and so I have been lucky to be in touch with her, an underated artist.

jayspud said:

paisleypark4 said:

Wow that was reeally good thank you!!!!

Thank you . I wore out Ingrid's album May 19, 1992 as a teenager and so I have been lucky to be in touch with her, an underated artist.

Yes i have the album but havent listened to it in quite a while, should pull it back out again

Ingrid's album is arguably the best album ever released by Paisley Park besides Prince's own albums/side projects. I wish Ingrid would talk about the transition from working with P to working with Michael and Levi: it seems so organic, as if a single producer was behind the whole record when there were in fact 3. I'm glad Ingrid resumed her musical career: her 20 year long break was a great loss for the spoken word scene.

Ingrid was also the first artist (and the last until Judith Hill) to be able to take Prince outside of his musical safe zone: what he did with her doesn't sound like anything he's done before or since, while usually when he produces someone it just sounds like a Prince song with another vocalist.

Her album was a pleasant surprise.It's so breezy,moody and hypnotic.