sweetnpetite
Intellectual snob
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No labels for Sophie B. Hawkins, please
By Beth Berlo
Published: Thursday, June 6, 2002
Sophie B. Hawkins
Singer, songwriter, and self-described "omnisexual" Sophie B. Hawkins, first drew the attention of lesbians in 1992 with her hit single, "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover."
Both her sound and lyrics have been likened to everyone from Janis Joplin to Patti Smith. Her sexuality is invariably the focal point of most press interviews as she alludes to loving men and women equally. Hawkins cringes at labels and thinks too many people confine their sexuality to a single identity. Of the word "omnisexual," Hawkins says, "I believe I invented the word."
She remembers first being asked about her sexuality by The New York Times shortly after her album "Tongues and Tails" was released, and even though her lyrics clearly invoked lesbian lovemaking, she was jolted by the question. "No one had asked me that before," she told Bay Windows. "Not even a friend. I would say I wasn't gay. And even [now] when I'm with a woman, I'd say I'm not a lesbian."
Today, Hawkins still responds to questions around her sexuality the same way. Not to be evasive or controversial, but to allow her to evolve more individually, she says. "My sexuality is connected to my soul more than my physical craving, no matter who I'm attracted to. I don't act on an attraction impulse unless there's a deep soul connection. And sometimes the soul's in a man's body and sometimes the soul's in a woman's body."
As this year's headlining entertainment at the Boston Pride Rally on the Boston Common June 8, Hawkins said she is thrilled to able to participate. She performed at Chicago's Gay Pride festival last summer and had a blast, she said. Gay Pride events, she says, are "the greatest thing in the world. Being gay is special." It doesn't matter if you consider yourself lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender or omnisexual, she said. "It's all so fucking deep."
Hawkins declined to say whether she's currently dating a man or a woman, but rumor has it she's for years been with a woman. Lesbian-themed movies are a big turn-on for her. "To me, the greatest movies are like Aimee and Jaguar," she said.
Of her boundless approach toward sexuality, her lyrics, she observes, often incite untapped awakenings among her straight audiences. "So many straight people are turned on by my love and support of women and the way I express it," she says. "I watch them change around me. Straight men open up around me and always end up revealing that they're not as straight as they seem to be, and these straight men who are coming on to me," she laughed. "And inside every straight woman, there's a lesbian dying to do it once."
Long rumored to have once dated Rosie O'Donnell, Hawkins when asked replied, "I can't answer that question." Among the other mysteries surrounding this enigmatic songstress is her age, which she has long kept secret, though she appears to be in her 30s.
After the lesbian community embraced "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover," it later served as a bone of contention among lesbian activists who thought Hawkins should be incorporating more lesbian lyrics in her songs. "They gave me shit for not being lesbian enough," she recalled. "But the interesting thing is that I'm the only woman who ever said 'making love to her'" in a song ("Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover"). Even today, Hawkins says, those lyrics remain a powerful and reaffirming notion to many lesbians. "It's like when I saw Aimee and Jaguar. There's just no question about women in love. It's the most beautiful thing. Everybody knows it and it's what all the fear is about."
Currently, Hawkins is hard at work on her next album, to be titled "Sweet Cantaloupe," which she described as "sexy, fun, deep, and really diverse."
"Emotionally, it goes places I haven't gone before, and I just love it," she says, adding, "Every time I put on demos, people just start tapping their feet."
Comparing it to her last album, "Timbre," she says, "[It] was more somber. On this, it's a celebration of emotions and relationships." Hawkins also promised that there was at least one song on the album that lesbians will be able to identify with and take pleasure from, perhaps even her lesbian detractors.
Asked what Pride meant to her in 2002, Hawkins said, "It means that gay people are celebrating the freedom to be pillars of society, to be leaders, and to be regarded as special people. Gay people are forward-looking and incredibly courageous. ... Even though I call myself bisexual, I'm under the umbrella of gay preferably, and gay people. We're the shamans, the visionaries. And it's obvious. It doesn't mean that people have to be consciously gay, but clearly gay people are super-conscious in order to even live as a gay person."
Spiritually speaking, she said, "Look how fucked up the world has gotten. Straight people have lost their mind. No one's perfect, but there's a helluva lot to glean from gay people."
By Beth Berlo
Published: Thursday, June 6, 2002
Sophie B. Hawkins
Singer, songwriter, and self-described "omnisexual" Sophie B. Hawkins, first drew the attention of lesbians in 1992 with her hit single, "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover."
Both her sound and lyrics have been likened to everyone from Janis Joplin to Patti Smith. Her sexuality is invariably the focal point of most press interviews as she alludes to loving men and women equally. Hawkins cringes at labels and thinks too many people confine their sexuality to a single identity. Of the word "omnisexual," Hawkins says, "I believe I invented the word."
She remembers first being asked about her sexuality by The New York Times shortly after her album "Tongues and Tails" was released, and even though her lyrics clearly invoked lesbian lovemaking, she was jolted by the question. "No one had asked me that before," she told Bay Windows. "Not even a friend. I would say I wasn't gay. And even [now] when I'm with a woman, I'd say I'm not a lesbian."
Today, Hawkins still responds to questions around her sexuality the same way. Not to be evasive or controversial, but to allow her to evolve more individually, she says. "My sexuality is connected to my soul more than my physical craving, no matter who I'm attracted to. I don't act on an attraction impulse unless there's a deep soul connection. And sometimes the soul's in a man's body and sometimes the soul's in a woman's body."
As this year's headlining entertainment at the Boston Pride Rally on the Boston Common June 8, Hawkins said she is thrilled to able to participate. She performed at Chicago's Gay Pride festival last summer and had a blast, she said. Gay Pride events, she says, are "the greatest thing in the world. Being gay is special." It doesn't matter if you consider yourself lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender or omnisexual, she said. "It's all so fucking deep."
Hawkins declined to say whether she's currently dating a man or a woman, but rumor has it she's for years been with a woman. Lesbian-themed movies are a big turn-on for her. "To me, the greatest movies are like Aimee and Jaguar," she said.
Of her boundless approach toward sexuality, her lyrics, she observes, often incite untapped awakenings among her straight audiences. "So many straight people are turned on by my love and support of women and the way I express it," she says. "I watch them change around me. Straight men open up around me and always end up revealing that they're not as straight as they seem to be, and these straight men who are coming on to me," she laughed. "And inside every straight woman, there's a lesbian dying to do it once."
Long rumored to have once dated Rosie O'Donnell, Hawkins when asked replied, "I can't answer that question." Among the other mysteries surrounding this enigmatic songstress is her age, which she has long kept secret, though she appears to be in her 30s.
After the lesbian community embraced "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover," it later served as a bone of contention among lesbian activists who thought Hawkins should be incorporating more lesbian lyrics in her songs. "They gave me shit for not being lesbian enough," she recalled. "But the interesting thing is that I'm the only woman who ever said 'making love to her'" in a song ("Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover"). Even today, Hawkins says, those lyrics remain a powerful and reaffirming notion to many lesbians. "It's like when I saw Aimee and Jaguar. There's just no question about women in love. It's the most beautiful thing. Everybody knows it and it's what all the fear is about."
Currently, Hawkins is hard at work on her next album, to be titled "Sweet Cantaloupe," which she described as "sexy, fun, deep, and really diverse."
"Emotionally, it goes places I haven't gone before, and I just love it," she says, adding, "Every time I put on demos, people just start tapping their feet."
Comparing it to her last album, "Timbre," she says, "[It] was more somber. On this, it's a celebration of emotions and relationships." Hawkins also promised that there was at least one song on the album that lesbians will be able to identify with and take pleasure from, perhaps even her lesbian detractors.
Asked what Pride meant to her in 2002, Hawkins said, "It means that gay people are celebrating the freedom to be pillars of society, to be leaders, and to be regarded as special people. Gay people are forward-looking and incredibly courageous. ... Even though I call myself bisexual, I'm under the umbrella of gay preferably, and gay people. We're the shamans, the visionaries. And it's obvious. It doesn't mean that people have to be consciously gay, but clearly gay people are super-conscious in order to even live as a gay person."
Spiritually speaking, she said, "Look how fucked up the world has gotten. Straight people have lost their mind. No one's perfect, but there's a helluva lot to glean from gay people."
