Cynthia Erivo
Appearances
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. There's no one like her. Where did you meet? East London. I want to say we met at one of the theaters or something.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Are you comparable ages? I think she's maybe a year or so younger than me. Younger? Yeah. What a bitch. Yeah. But I love her. She'd written some songs or poems with songs and asked me to sing. I think it was when I was dancing. She asked me to dance to one of her songs that she was performing at a church or something random. And we just stayed in contact. And we've been friends since then.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yes. So I was born in Southwest London, a place called Stockwell. I went to school in South London, Clapham South. But I moved to East London when I was about 14, about Upton Park, East Ham, that kind of area, but properly East London. Okay.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yes. My mom bought a house in East London and that's when we moved. That was a really big moment for us because it was like, oh, we have our own house. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I thought that South London was pretty chill. I really enjoyed it. I remember there's open spaces, those are like cool little parks that you can go to. It's very walkable. You can walk all around South London and mostly downhill.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The bus is your best friend at that point. I mean, it's lovely going. Coming back is a damn nightmare. Or you take a tube. There's loads of cool outdoors activities where I lived. You could go go-karting, stuff like that. Go-karting. And East London is really vibrant. It's busy and alive. Loads of different cultures. Is it like the East Village in New York? No.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I don't know if there's anywhere like it. You have the African community and different African communities. You've got Ghanians, the Nigerians. You have the Pakistanis. You have Bangladesh. You have the Jamaicans there as well. There's like a smorgasbord of different types of people, which means that there's different types of food everywhere. everywhere. And like, it's super vibey.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I can go to the corner of East Ham right after the tube station. I know that I'm going to walk into the store that has all of the saris and all of the 24 karat goals. But then if I cross the road, there's the shop that has Jamaican patties. And if I walk far enough, there's the auntie that does the Nigerian materials. It's like that. And then there's the market, which has everything.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I love it in East Ham because of how easy it is to just get everything. But then next door, Larry, who's like the plumber who fixes your roof and your backyard if he needs it, who's very, very Essex, who sounds like this and wants to talk to you about what the weather's been like, is also there. So you have all of these people who sort of exist in the same way.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And then West Ham Stadium's over there. For what you call soccer, we call football.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Early 90s when I was still very, very young. I think it was Arsenal. That terrible, awful thing that happened at the games where people were like, there was a stampede. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, something happened. Because Burberry was not that. Then it became part of that culture. I think it's been, in a way, reclaimed and changed again.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Beckham saved it, yeah. Yeah, what a style icon. We're going to give him props for that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, it's changed hands enough that the style has changed enough for it to become, for the aperture in it to become wider.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yes, I believe so. Yeah, from war. And then my mom moved to London when she was 24.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I don't know if she had a game plan. She was just like, arrive, what do I do? And then she was told that she was to do catering, to which she said yes for a second and then was like, I don't know if catering's for me. And then studied nursing at King's College, became a nurse.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
then expanded and kept expanding and then got better and better and then started doing her papers for what we call health visiting. There's a position in the UK, I always explain it because I think it's a really beautiful position that everyone should have, called a health visitor.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And it is a nurse or a nurse who's at the level of what you call a sister at this point, who can make visits to people's homes who have just had children. She will take care of mother and child, make sure the vitals are good. Her particular area of expertise was cognitive health. So it's, are your children developing in the right way? Are they able to pick things up?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Can they spot color from birth to the age of three before they go to kindergarten?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
No, but it's weird because I think those are part of her duties to take care of mother right after birth. When mother comes home with a baby, when parents come home with a baby, that first couple of weeks, months, my mom is the person that you see first.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
That's when my mom steps in. Yeah. So she will tell you what's next.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I don't know why you don't have this position here because it's so helpful. Because that bit between birth and kindergarten, it seems like there's nothing in between. Yeah. Which is so odd to me because my mum is the person in between.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
That means that a parent who has postpartum depression, someone who might have been already depressed, someone who is finding it hard to latch, all of that, that's my mum.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
That would be her. And she's very good at it. She's like the child whisperer. It's very strange.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think so. She loves children and children love her. It's really magical to watch. They all just sort of go to her.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She might be. And I don't know if she knows yet. I think I have to break it to her. But the thing is, I want to satisfy that need in a very different way because I do want to be the person that's able to put people through school, take care of young people who need care. I do think that's a gift that's come from her because I do think I am actually very good with kids and good with young people.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I want to still be nurturing without necessarily being the biological parent.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Do you know what I love? I love what Oprah has been able to do where she essentially has been taking care of these young women, building them up enough for them to move into whatever careers they want to move into. And they're all excellent women. I think I aspire to be able to do that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I start singing at the age of five without realizing that that's actually what I'm doing. I know I'm making sound. I feel very good about the sound I'm making. Good. I like the reaction that people are having because of it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yes. So I know that something is good. I don't necessarily know that it's the most tuneful sound. I just know that I'm having a great time doing it. And I'm seeing people's faces, smiles, applause is happening. Good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Approval.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's very good. I think for a little bit, I was just chasing that because it was nice.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But the thing is, I don't think I've ever thought of it as control necessarily. I think I've always thought of it as a way to encourage and connect people with emotion.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe I am. And by the way, it can be all things. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think I love the conversation of singing. I always think there's a real big conversation going on, especially when I'm singing live. It's a big old conversation. I can see it because I'm looking at people's eyes. I am urging them to connect with me. I'm trying to tell you this story. I can scream. I can yell. I can whisper. I can caress with my voice. I can do all of those things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But I want the energy exchange. And I guess selfishly, that energy exchange is like a high for me. It's a rush. And when I can see that it's happening, there's nothing better than that. It is a really vulnerable place to stand and be like, I'm going to open up myself and I'm going to tell you my stories with my voice. It's just me. And that's always a really vulnerable place to be.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
People don't realize that when you have to sing in front of an orchestra, they either love you or hate you. The orchestra. The orchestra. Why would they hate you? Because some singers will come in and there's an entitled thing that people come to an orchestra with where it's like, I'm the singer. You play behind me. You're serving me. You're supporting me. Exactly.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
When actually it's the complete opposite. It's not that at all. You're all in it together. The music doesn't make sense without them and they don't make sense without you. They can play the song, but the lyrics communicate as well. But they help with the emotion. If you don't do it together, it will feel disjointed.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I always get really nervous before I have the conversation, but I always urge myself to do it. Before we even start rehearsal, the first thing I ask the orchestra to do is to let me come with you and let's do this together because I'm not going to do this alone. And if you're sat there not enjoying this, everyone's going to feel it. Right. Because there's 20 of them and only one of me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And if 20 of them aren't enjoying it and if they can't go with it, their audience will feel that immediately. And we're off in the wrong direction.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yes. And I think the actual fear is that the singer who comes in, who does have the latitude, isn't respectful of the fact that they have maths to do as well. They have a box to stay in. You can have your latitude. But if you're aware of I need to make sure I make it back to here.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
If you don't and you're just all over the place and you're not paying attention, you're not looking at the conductor, you're not listening.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Exactly. Now we're not doing this together. Now you're just doing whatever the hell you want to do. And I'm over here playing these notes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Why are we even here? You're doing this on your own. You don't need us.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think very few. A lot of singers just get excited that they get to sing in front of an orchestra.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And they're nervous. They haven't really done it before. Sometimes an orchestra is a novelty to a lot of singers.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yes, but the weight becomes a hell of a lot lighter when you know it's not just you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
People are seeking out the worst of things. It's very strange.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. So is Monica. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was very bossy. I knew exactly what I needed to do and what I wanted. And if I didn't like something, I was the worst version of a Capricorn that could exist.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Probably. I would just say what I thought. And sometimes that would not be nice. I wasn't a mean kid. I just was really honest all the time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think it comes from my own past and my history with my dad and all of those things. Maybe feeling a little lied to in that expectation of a parent and not getting it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I know what's going on. I was a clever kid, so I didn't necessarily need much babying. So when a person did baby me, it still pisses me off.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Please don't call me cute. I haven't been cute in a long time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
A small squirrel. Cute. My dogs, who are five pounds and eight pounds. Cute. Vulnerable, too. Vulnerable. You know, some babies. Cute. Do you think that's a small person complex thing? I think it's a small person complex thing to other people. I know I'm short. I'm very aware of being a small five foot one person. But it's when people think because you're small, you're also very young and dumb.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The two things don't go together just because I'm small. You know what I mean? I'm good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I try not to swing. When someone's like, you look so much bigger on stage, I understand what that means. Okay. I think if you'd told me that 10 years ago, I would have been like, what do you mean? But now I understand what you mean by someone's presence when they're in performance mode, as opposed to when you meet them. They're two different things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Where you get to be a part of my life and then when I get to have my life for myself.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
So the look of someone changes when they're in their sort of element. Yes. They do seem bigger. You can't help it. And that's what happens. So I totally understand what that means.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
What's happening? It's hard to know. The thing is, it's very hard to know. And at any point, it could be either one of those things. Yes. Or all of it. Yeah. Because sometimes it is, you're so sweet. Oh, my goodness. I didn't expect you to be.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I mean, these are very dog whistly. You're so well spoken. Oh, my God. I love the way you speak. How else am I supposed to speak?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I like to think I'm somewhat discerning. And you can tell by the way someone says something and the intention behind it. I think you can always sense... It's through the way a person approaches you and what they're trying to say and the context through which they say it. I also just try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. If I was to run around going, what are you trying to say?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The whole time, I would be exhausted. And some of this is exhausting as it is.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
This is not the fight I want to even get into. And sometimes it's just a, yeah, thank you so much. Right.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
What they actually want to say is, I think you're great. And I watch your shows. And I know what about you. And I know what about you. And they want to have a whole conversation and nothing comes out. Yes. But I love your wife. Yeah, exactly.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm telling you, this is Capricorn shit. It is, right? I swear to God it's Capricorn shit. I just won't stand for it. It really is. But you suffer from it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
No. They go home afterwards. They're like, okay, that was good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I wonder if there's a world in which you just like ask the question.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Are you being condescending or are you... Watch them short circuit.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You'd think he would move. But there is something in the asking that made him have to think about it. Yeah. What he said was rude. Yes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I will say that that is a really simple question to ask. And it's actually the simple answer, yes or no. It's a yes or no answer. And I don't think he knew the answer.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think he said a joke that he realized could be an insult as well, but thought it was like okay to say because he felt familiar.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I understand that there are people who short circuit and they just don't know what to say. And sometimes some of the sweetest interactions come out of that. My favorite types of those interactions are those where they just say, I don't know what to say. And I have no words, but you're amazing. Yeah. Because I get it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Exactly. I'm really overwhelmed. I don't really know what to say because it's so honest. It's so endearing and it's so real. There are times when you're like, I don't know what to say here, but I know that this is a really cool moment and I'm glad you're here. And I'm scared right now. And I'm scared because I don't want to say the wrong thing. It's an honest, emotional reaction.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The flip side of that is someone saying something and they say it in the wrong way. And if you look closely enough, you'll see it in their faces that, oh my God. What did I just say? Immediately you'll see it. But if that doesn't show up at all, then it's, oh, I said the best thing in the world. And then it's like, did you mean to hurt my feelings?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
There's one answer. You know, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or I just wanted to connect. I'm so sorry. That came out wrong.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, I think for me, that particular kind of connection has been happening since The Color Purple, really and truly. So that kind of cathartic release and people's stories and people coming together, breakups, the stories of abuse, those things have come up and people have been really open with me about that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The things they've been going through because of these women that I've been able to play and the stories that we get to tell. And during my concerts as well, people come together. There's something that happens in these spaces. I'm really grateful that that is what people experience with me. But I do have to be like... Protective. Yeah, because otherwise I'll just arms open wide all day.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. And it's very hard not to because I actually care every time someone takes the time to tell me a story. I'm listening. I feel their feelings because there's nothing worse than trying to tell someone a story and them not even bothering to like look you in the face.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And I never want anyone to feel like that with me. So I take a lot of time to speak with people and be with people after shows. And I can be there for like an hour and just be there with people.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's not healthy. So after those shows, after those performances, whenever I've had all of that outside of it, I have to find spaces for me to just be like me, find places where I could be meditative. And for me, running or walking gives me space to just like, I'm just going to think I'm going to reconfigure my brain.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm going to free up some space for myself because it's really the only way I can do it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's so great. It has really helped me. I went to Greece and I filmed a little film called Drift. And that was really terrifying and hard and heartbreaking, the whole lot. And what I would do every day before we would start filming is either run or walk miles. And it would just sort of reset everything. The practice has just never changed. That's great.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
If we think about it, even Wicked isn't really a silly project.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, I'm pulling out everything from the depth of me. I think on the outside, people go, oh, it's fun. And then they get in there like, what?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I really appreciate people who have not seen it at all and are coming to the movie fresh.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You're so good in it. Thank you. But I do have to do something silly at some point. I don't know what the silly thing is. I just did a really cool. I mean, there is silliness in it and I had a great time doing it. We did an episode of Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne and Brian Johnson and I had the best time doing it. And there is a lot of silliness. I got to use my funny bone there.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But I think drama is always going to follow me. I think the dramatic bone is always going to be there. There's always going to be heart in something.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
There is a part of me that is like, yes, sometimes I want to just do some great stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the politics of me being a black queer woman. Fashionista. I try. But I don't know if I have that choice. And so I kind of just accept it and try my very, very best to pick the things that have the widest view of what humanness looks like.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I want to dance in the gray area always. I'm not particularly interested in characters that are only liked. I'm not particularly interested in characters that are just heroes. I want the complicated, icky space. The Gary Oldman career. I want that. I want to be able to do all of those things and I want it to be okay. I have less worry about it than often sometimes studios and streamers do.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
They're like, oh, but what makes her redeemable? Do we like her? And I'm always like, I don't know if the character cares if you like her or not.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Nobody asked if Tony Soprano is likable. We just watch it. Nobody asked if American Psycho was going to be liked. I think it's okay if we can get those kinds of characters where the face is mine. We'll all be okay if we start really diving into those spaces and not being like, it's because she's black. It's just because she's human and she has darkness and light in her.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, it's all the difference that a person can be. I loved the idea of being able to play her because... There is no requirement for me to play her as just good or perfect the entire time. She makes mistakes. She fucks up. She gets it wrong.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And that's the thing. They're both fallible beings. They're both fallible humans. They rub up against each other. They're not great with each other either. It's not like Glinda's horrible and Elphaba's doesn't give it back. They give it to each other. They're mean to each other for a long time. They say horrible things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Things to each other until they realize, oh, we feel just as outcast as each other in spaces. Yours is more obvious. Mine is not. I'm trying to live up to something that is beyond me. And I can't get to a place that you are in. And I'm in the difference my entire life. So the experience of the world is very, very different.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Because neither one of them at the beginning actually take on who they're meant to be. It takes them having to be like, this could be to my complete destruction, but I have got to be myself because it's the only way that I can actually fully exist. And that's when shit really takes off.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Truly is one of the most incredible people on the planet. Just a good human being. Watching him work is really fun. He's so excited by it. And he's like finding things at the same time we're finding things. And then the ideas keep going back and forth. Should we try this? Do you want to try it one more time? And it's just so thrilling the entire time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And this is what it's like for months and months on end. And the thing is, he won't say he's tired. I'll be like, John, you're tired. I need you to sit down. You need to take a break. Have you had something to eat? What are you eating? This is trash. I'm going to get you some vegetables and some like nuts.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Let's get you some sugar free sweets instead of having like all that sugar because it's not going to help. He's the kind of person that you want to be well because he wants you to be well. He's creating this atmosphere that is so infectious and it sounds really cliche and very facetious, but it's not. That's how we did this. And that's not to say that it was easy.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's just to say that because the atmosphere was set up in the right way, the things that were difficult were pleasurable at the same time. You could actually enjoy doing the hard work.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And really caring because he asked me at the very beginning whether I wanted to do the makeup or whether I wanted to do CGI. There was a question. It was like, so here's the deal, Sin. If you do this makeup, it's going to add three hours to your call time every day. And it's going to be hard to do that because these are long days and you're going to add to it. I'm more worried about taking it off.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The taking it off took an extra hour, hour and a half.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You know what? My skin was in the best. So you said yes. I said yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I didn't want to leave my trailer and have like dots on my face.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
No, my nails were done. Nothing was happening with your hands. Nothing was happening with my hands. I have very long fingers. Yeah. Very long fingers. My nails are very long right now.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Everyone's afraid to ask it. No, no one's afraid to ask it. Oh, is everyone asking that? Everybody asks that question. All girls, though? No, everybody asks that question. Okay, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And my answer is nobody uses just their fingers to wipe their backside. You use tissue.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, no, Anne's phenomenal. Well, now's your chance. Go.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
No, because the tissue's there. You don't feel none of that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You're annoyed by it. I'm annoyed by it. I'm like, come on, guys. But I get it. But it's also like I'm a functioning adult and I've never walked around smelling like, you know.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
That's a problem with them. And here's the thing. There are people who do not have nails who need to check how they're wiping. I agree. You know what I'm saying?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
People are always like, how do you get anything done with those nails? And I'm like, I mean, I'm here. Yeah, I got here somehow. I'm dressed.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Thank you so much. But yeah, because the nails would change with the scene. Sometimes you would shoot two different things in one day. So the nails will change in the middle of the day.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It is the study of the way in which music affects the psychological state of a person based on where they live, their social standing. What's the word I'm looking for? based on like elitism, socioeconomic standing, status. And then when you get down to the fine points of it, what is within music itself.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
So the way in which the note structures can affect the way a person hears the music and what it does to a person's mood and a person's psyche. So this is sort of layman's terms. If you hear a song in a minor key and the lyrics happen to be sad or without lyrics, it tends to evoke a sad emotion. Or if you hear music with a major key, even if the lyrics are sad, you will evoke a happy mood.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
There's a song, and I hate to pick this, but I pick it because it's the one thing on my mind and she's with me all the time. It's a song called One Last Time that Ariana Grande has.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But her version, which is the seminal version, is in a major key and it's up-tempo. When you hear it, you don't realize that it's actually a heartbreak song. People dance.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Then there is a band called Third Story who changed the key and took the tempo right down. Ah. And now it becomes a heartbreak song. And now people are crying. And now you make people cry. Whoa.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm the camp that sits right in between. Because I think both of those things have inherent value. Let's take Mozart's Lacrimosa. Nobody knows what those lyrics are. Lacrimosa means to cry. But you wouldn't know that unless you go and look up the lyrics and you know Latin. But you know that the music itself is deeply sad.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But the lyrics, though they mean to cry, it is actually about forgiveness in a way. So it's actually not a sad song necessarily.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Which is why I'm in both camps. Because even the happiest song can actually mean something very, very different. We can dance when we're happy. We can dance when we're sad. Both have value. Like I'll listen to the lyrics all day long. But sometimes I just want to hear the music. Sometimes it's the music that moves me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think it's what's really interesting about what's happening with, there's a music called Afrobeats, which is happening right now, and it seems to be growing tentacles and spreading out everywhere. Whereas before, I grew up with it. And it's developed and it evolves and it changes ever so much. So it's become a little bit popularized.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But if you go back 50 years, the rhythms are still very similar. The tonal qualities are still very similar. So you still hear the same types of notation, but lyrically it becomes different. And the way we've put it together has become different. And young people have started to listen to it. That was why I was interested in this particular subject. But I think I was too early for it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I needed to go and do the thing I'm meant to do, which is this. Because you bailed, right? I didn't even go to RADA straight away. I went to like a young actors company program at a local theater. Because I was like, I'm not doing this. I don't think this is right for me. So I left and I went to this young actors company. And at the young actors company...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I was I mean, I use the word forced fondly to go and study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. And I say it because this wonderful mentor of mine would not allow me to do this particular program unless I signed up for an audition.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She blackmailed you. Yeah. She was like, you sign up for an audition. You come to this. You don't. You can't. And I was like, OK.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But grudgingly signed in to do an audition thinking this will be short lived. It's not going to happen. I'm not going to get in. We're cool.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
There was no point because I was not going to get in.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I was not going to get in. I'm just asking to get rejected. You mean me, a girl from Southwest London who moved to East London is now going to go to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts? In what world? That's a nonsense idea. No one's ever flagged it for me before. So why on earth? It's not going to happen. And then I got in. Wow.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's so, I swear to you, it's the most ridiculous thing in the world. Because here's the thing. My time at RADA was not easy. I was the oddball. I was a true East London girl who just was myself. And I was like the one girl who really loved music. And like I left RADA. I was going to do a backing vocal gig before I came to the school that was going to pay for the school.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And they said, no, I was doing gigs at night. And I was the only person that was doing that kind of thing in this school. So I really had figured out my jobs.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, they might have some sort of connection. I think they have a little connection. If not, I'm trying to make it happen. Well, that should be one of your tasks as vice president. I've given it to myself. I think that might be a really good idea. Like exchange studenting, maybe. Some professor swaps? Maybe. Everyone wants six months in London. Here's the thing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I would go to Juilliard and sit and chat with the students because I do actually teach at RADA. You do?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I try not to, but I think it's going to happen. I think it's going to happen this year.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I do. I think it's going to happen because there's just like a lot going on. And I'm actively trying to work at RADA and do the things I need to do because I don't believe in taking on a title if you're actually not going to do the work. I vehemently detest that. I don't want to be the vice president just because... Ceremonial.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's like you aged backwards. It's very strange. It's a good joke because it's absolutely the most untrue thing in the world. I think you could still play Anne. I couldn't pull off Anne at all. Petra was perfect.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And I know that there's stuff to be done. And I also love working with the students at RADA. And I try and get there every year for at least a week intensive workshop with the third year students. What I want to do is meet them in the first year, have a little time with them in the second, and then have the intensive in the third. So there is something that they work with throughout.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
They're not just meeting me the first time in the third year. But now they'll see me more often because, well, I'm there.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
In love as in in love? Crushes? I was in love with one of mine.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm going to ignore any of this. I'm going to be like, don't know. Don't want to know.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm also aware of what I'm walking into the school with.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, no, you are. Yeah, I think I would. For sure. Yeah. But I don't know that people would fall in love with me as a me. I think they're falling in love with the idea.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
We fight about this all the time. I think so. I think people fall in love with the idea of a person until they allow themselves to fall in love with the actual person.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But when it comes to the school of it all, I'm here to teach you and take you through and help you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I would never. I'm also aware of what I walk in the room with. I know that there's a lot and I think I'm getting used to what that even is.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And the thing is, I would say to that person, you do not want to be me. You want to be the best version of yourself. You don't know if you want to do all the things or go through all the things I've already been through. My shit's made for me. But when you're that age, you really... You can't tell. Yeah, it's hard. I'm looking at Nicolas Cage and I'm like... And I want to be that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think for me, in a perfect world, I think I would be like the love child of Cicely Tyson and Barbra Streisand.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I was going to leave you out. You've got to look her up. She passed away a few years ago at like the age of 94, I think it was.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
We really wanted her to get to 100. And she was strong. She was one of the most incredible actresses ever. British? American. Oh. And she shaved her head just like me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I read her autobiography. It's the most fascinating thing. She had a torrid relationship with Miles Davis.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She tells you all about that. She was in Sounder. She was in Roots. Most people probably know her best for How to Get Away with Murder. She was Annalise Keating's mother. Oh. Okay. But she's just brilliant. The way she used her hair as a statement constantly throughout her life was just really inspiring.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I was happy it was only four nights because it was manic. I was doing 59 other things at the same time. On one day, I opened something in the morning, did something in the afternoon, which was like a full 20-minute set show for Pride Weekend and ran from the Pride Weekend show to the Lincoln Center. That was the Stonewall. That's right. To do night music.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
So whether it was doing bantu knots or getting it cornrolled or shaving it off or leaving it as an afro, there's a really beautiful image of her when she is nominated, I think, for Sounder for the Oscar, where she goes with like flowers in her hair. She's special, special, special. So that combination of her and Barbra Streisand, and Barbra Streisand I picked because of
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
the Renaissance woman effect that she has over her own life and the way in which she was able to translate music and song and acting and do all of this vast arena of things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I want to kid myself and be like, I'm really ready for it. I think in a way I am. But there's always the aspect that you have no idea what's coming. You can't know the future. I have no idea what this will be full stop. But I think I'm open. That's as far as I can take myself. I'm open to the possibilities of what this might be.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm very, very, very grateful for the chance to do something of this magnitude because it doesn't come along often.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But I was 16 when my dad decided not to be a part of my life.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Maybe two or three times a week. His choice. My mom was really, I think, kind.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I honestly can't believe it. And gave him the space to come and visit if he wanted to. We would go over to his from time to time as well. She like really made the space for us if he wanted to build a relationship to build a relationship. And he just didn't.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
No, I think he just was not set up to be a dad. I don't think it was his bag.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I read Jada Pinkett Smith's book and there is a section in the book where she talks about her father. And it really clicked for me when I read this part. She said that there are some parents who are meant to be parents. They're meant to shepherd their children into the world, make sure that they are taken care of and they are good with them.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And there are other parents who are meant to literally get them healed. And that is it. And we can't forget that each parent is still a human being. They are a human being before they're a parent. And I'm okay. That made everything really clear for me. That doesn't remove hurts and pain that I had been through and have worked to work through.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
There was actually a night where I had to stop because it's also dangerous if you're not moving at the right speed. If it slows down too much, your brain switches on. It's one of those songs that you need your brain to be on autopilot so you can actually just reel the words off.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But yeah. Thank goodness for good therapists. Because that shit really helped.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You know that they're predisposed to like actually go away at some point.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's ridiculous. Until you get your head around it and you get some control on what it is that you're actually looking for, what you're trying to fix in that, it just will keep going.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. I had to be alone for a second. I have to figure out what the heck this is. What am I running away from? What do I want for myself? And also, I think I was using for a small amount of time my career as a conduit to like find a way to get him back.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Look what you gave up. You're going to regret leaving this.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Until it leaves you empty and you're like, what am I actually doing this one? I've not done this for myself. And now I have to figure out how to do this for myself.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Let's change direction. Pivot. Let's go somewhere else now. I got here.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I did. So my music teacher there, Miss Rycroft, who is so awesome. No one really understood her, but I really got her.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
she would pretend to be like this curmudgeonly teacher who just didn't like people but actually she was the funniest most brilliant most kind teacher to me ever she was like oh I have your number right I know what you are you are a musician and I'm gonna make sure that you're always a musician I see you I was like quickly accosted and I learned to play the clarinet.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And if it slows down and it felt like it was slowing to a grinding halt, it's like that weird sort of, oh my God, I'm in the room. What are the words again? Is that the word I'm saying? And I just was like, okay, we have to stop. I am a big, big advocate for if it's going wrong, stop.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
So I learned to read music that way. And then she got me a viola. So I started doing that too. And I can't play any of these anymore, but it meant that I could really actually read music. And I did music proficiency, all of that stuff. and did graded tests, the whole lot. Singing was happening in concert with all of that. They had a choir. I don't know how this happened.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And I think it's because of Miss Rycroft. And strangely enough, my science teacher, Mr. Safo J, who somehow put this together, we started singing with a big choir in the UK and we would do like requiems every year. I loved doing that because of the big sound of all these voices together. So Requiem is a huge choral piece with all the voices, tenors, bass, soprano, alto, mezzo soprano.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And occasionally you'll have recitatives in between where they're like solo lines that would end up with big choral numbers. And usually it's a long piece written but separated by particular movements. We did Carmina Burana. And Carmina Burana, you wouldn't know the name, you would know the sound of Carmina Burana.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I bet if you do ten more measures, I might get it. Have you ever watched Romeo and Juliet, the Baz Luhrmann version? Love. That musical, big choral thing is that. And we did another piece called The Rutter Requiem by John Rutter, and that is one of my favorite pieces ever. But it contains a piece called P.A. Yesu, and there are like three different P.A. Yesus.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But these are the pieces that we would do. That's how I learned about... Classical singing. And so she made me learn Schubert Lieder, the whole lot. So I expanded my classical taste in music at secondary school. Wow. Whilst running alongside with everything else and learning how my voice worked elsewhere. And just my outside love of music anyways.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And my mom is playing Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross in the car.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. And I'm learning all of that. How about Window Seat?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She's brilliant. She's one of the artists, singers that has gotten better and better and better as time has gone on. I just recently saw her in concert in London. How late was she? Because I've seen her four times.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She wasn't late. I think she was maybe like 20 minutes, 10 minutes or something. Oh, wow.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And she was on. It was amazing. Yeah, good. Boomer came out as well. It was so good. There's an artist called Duran Banar. He does her backing vocals, but he's an amazing vocalist on his own. He was out. It was amazing. I went with my sister on my best friend. We had the best time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Oh, my God. Gosh, she had her jewelry and her hat. She had these really cool trousers, pants that were like chaps actually, but had like teddy bears on them. It was just wild. The whole thing was wild. I was obsessed. It was brilliant. But yeah, that's how my proficiency for music, because I've had such a vast experience of it from loads of different sources, onwards.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
There's like 30 to 40 voices singing at once. Yeah. Or at the top of their voices.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's transcendent. There's nothing like it. And it's ringing in your ears, but you can feel it in the back of your head at the same time. It's like a short circuit. And sometimes it's what I feel when an orchestra is playing all together. There's nothing like it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
We're not going to do a car crash. I can't. I'm going to say, you know, I'm going to pull over to the side of the road. We're going to just start again. Let's get back into the right space. And I'm going to take you exactly where you're supposed to go in the right fashion. We're not focused here.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
My experience is sort of enhanced by the fact that I experience anesthesia. So I see color. You have that. I see color when I hear music. So for me, it's like a full sensory thing. You're on acid.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You can talk about the science all day long and what it is and sound waves and all of that. But actually, we can't really crack the code on why it affects people the way it does. We can't crack how this piece connects with that person but doesn't connect with this person. Why do we all understand this particular language? We might speak it differently, but there are a finite amount.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The notes are the same. It's just how we experience it. Why do we experience it like that?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I believe that. This might sound like the nerdiest thing I've ever said, but my favorite scale is chromatic. Say it again.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
all the notes in between a chromatic scale a chromatic scale yeah because it leaves none of the notes out oh but it's not just humans animals yes they do yeah and they won't shut the fuck up whales whales they're all tonal notes and music however you experience it it's the one thing that connects every single being on the planet it's the one thing we all have in common
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, we're swerving too much here. It's not good. We're all over the road.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I really have enjoyed this immensely. This has been really fun.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The second one is coming out the same time next year. Oh, okay. 22nd November next year.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
That took about a year. We started rehearsals August 2022, started shooting December.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Yeah. We needed it. Of course. It was a mammoth.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Started shooting it in December, came to a halt in June or July. I can't remember for the writing strike or actor strike, both. And then came back top of this year in January, finished in February. Wow.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She's great. She's experienced a lot and she's a sweetheart. And what people don't realize is that she's experienced real heartbreak.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
And it's the wrong thing to be taught. Sometimes you keep going. Sometimes if you can and you can get back into it quickly, keep going. But if you need to stop and refocus, stop and refocus because the audience will say, oh, you know it too. You were experiencing it too. Okay, so I wasn't insane. That means you're taking care of me. I can trust you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I love her. She's a bright spark, but you just want to like... Take care of her. Yeah. Give her a big old hug. And we really took care of each other. This was like a big one for us. We used to joke that the two of us were like dust by the end of it because we were working to the bone. I mean, whatever scratches, scrapes, cuts, bruises you think you could get, we had them.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
The flying in harnesses, chafing, we had it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chafing was like a funny word to me until I realized what chafing actually looked like when you had it repetitively.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
My gosh. It took months for my hips to just heal. Scratched palms, bleeding. I had a bloody nose. Like it was mad. We were in this. The whole way. Outside, she's got basically her arms out all the time. When it's cold, it's cold. There's nothing you can do about it. You want to fly outside? Okay, we're flying outside. Is it windy? Yes. Tough.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Is it raining today? Yep. It won't show on camera, so we're going to do it. That kind of thing. We were willing to do whatever it took to do this. You want to be in at 3 a.m.? Be in at 3 a.m. We're going to finish this makeup because we need to be on set by 5.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But here's the thing, I'm gonna top you there. I'm gonna say, think of putting on a harness and then throwing a corset at the same time. No thanks. Because the corset's already hitting your hips, right? And now you put the harness on top of the corset.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Can I come back even if I don't have to promote something? Yes, of course. This was fun.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I would love that. A choir club? It's really cool. Do you know how lovely that would be?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
This ain't it. And this is not what I want to do. This is not what you want to listen to. We're going to go back to the beginning. It also says that I'm in control of this and I've got you. I won't take you down this road where it doesn't make sense.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
However, what he didn't do was continue on with what was already pre-planned. What he did was start something totally new.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You see what I'm saying? Great counter. Which means that he was completely in control of the situation. He said, what we were planning, out the window. There's no power. I can't do this. And then just let me filter whatever I can filter through in the present moment.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. That she gave it a shot for something she loves. That is sweet. And also, I feel really cool.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I feel really cool that your 11 year old was like, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
It's weird because when I first moved here, I moved to New York and that felt the most similar to London specifically. But the thing that America and the UK as a whole have very similarly is that there are cities, places that it feels really multicultural and it's really like busy. And then you move further out and it becomes really disparate.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I'm not having the same experience in London that someone is having in, I don't know, Yorkshire. Yorkshire is a beautiful, beautiful place. The vibe is very different and it just feels different. So it's the same as if I'm here in LA or I'm here in New York. It's very different than if I'm in Georgia.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Because we have to. Why do you have to? Well, there are certain things that we're just not allowed to have in our food that you're okay to have in food here. Oh, like chemically? Oh, like poison. Yeah, chemically. Yeah, yeah. We're like not allowed to have certain things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Well, I don't think we have. Do we have the UFC? Yes, Conor McGregor. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I feel like there's a part of him that's just like the most gentle, sweetest thing in the world.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think so. Yeah. It's just like gone one step too far. But oh, I hope he finds a little bit of healing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
But I think there's something that has to be healed within himself first. It's also easily passed on to his kids. And that anger, that dismay, it's easily rubbed off.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Do you have kids? I don't, no. Do you want them? I don't think so. I'm good with kids, though.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I think there's a part of me that does believe in it because I'm very Capricorn to a T, which disturbs me somewhat because it annoys me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
They're annoyed by the fact that it's accurate. The predictability. I hate it. I'm like, okay, so I'm stubborn. Good. Great. Overachieving. Yes. Understood. Do I like nice things? Yes. I like nice things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
All the time. Do I plan people's lives? Yes. Am I emotionally adept sometimes? Yes. Do I keep my feelings to myself for a really long time? Yes. Am I working through it? Yes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
Completely. Am I right a lot of the times? Yes. Does it annoy people? Yes. Do I like saying I told you so? Not always.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You don't have to sneak out. You can come back if you want to.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
She's one of the most phenomenal human beings in the world.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
You have to see it. Also, before you see I May Destroy You, see Chewing Gum, which I'm in for like an episode or two. But it's just brilliant. Oh, I'm so excited. And people don't realize that is originally based on a long-form poem that she wrote. I remember the first time I saw this poem, because she performed it live.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Cynthia Erivo
I can't even remember where we were, but it was like somewhere in Holloway or something, like this small little theater. And it was like a one-woman poem where she played all these different roles. And then it just expanded into this TV show.
Bongino Report Early Edition with Evita
Blasphemy: Hollywood Casts Queer Female Jesus (Ep.143)
black woman who is queer, who shows up in this way, there's something that I have that many other Elphabas don't have. They don't know what it is like to walk through the world like this. I do. And so that innately, immediately makes me completely different. And the way he shot it, the space that he gave me to do it, it's fucking awesome. I bet it's so sick.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
How do you build a community? How do you grow a group of riders to get to know each other, to get to know you, to want to come back every week to take the same class from the same person?
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
I was working on a screenplay to describe my life at SoulCycle. Looking back, there was a lot of coyote ugly energy of like appear available, but never be available.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
Without saying it, I think there's the side of, well, you have to look good on the bike.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
Even broader than sexuality, it's about like what's attractive in a class, whether that's your availability, your vulnerability, your speech pattern, your body. There's a very gray area that I'm kind of comfortable with because I grew up doing like theater and musicals and like you're playing with emotion, you're playing with experience.
Fresh Air
Ariana Grande Loves Being In A 'Beautiful Coven'
Offering to help someone that you don't know with skills that you don't have. I'm sure everyone is duly impressed. I could care less what others think. Couldn't. What? You couldn't care less what other people think. Though, I doubt that.
Fresh Air
Ariana Grande Loves Being In A 'Beautiful Coven'
What? What are you staring at? Do I have something in my teeth? No, it's just... you're green. I am. Fine. Let's get this over with. No, I am not seasick. No, I did not eat grass as a child. And yes, I've always been green.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
So we don't differentiate the two so far apart that we're afraid of one of them because they're sort of one and the same. And I think that because I was already in tune with my singing voice, what Philip did with me was encourage me to try new things. try more. So he would have me singing arias from Othello.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
So we don't differentiate the two so far apart that we're afraid of one of them because they're sort of one and the same. And I think that because I was already in tune with my singing voice, what Philip did with me was encourage me to try new things. try more. So he would have me singing arias from Othello.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I was comfortable classical music was sort of a love of mine and then when I went to drama school my voice was already sort of ready to try that and it's the same whilst I was doing The Color Purple my singing teacher June
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I was comfortable classical music was sort of a love of mine and then when I went to drama school my voice was already sort of ready to try that and it's the same whilst I was doing The Color Purple my singing teacher June
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Joan Lader, rather, who's wonderful, she would give me classical music or opera to sing, because she said that the best way to allow my voice to be open enough to sing what I was singing on stage was to just try something that was totally opposite to it. So you weren't taxing your voice the same way the entire time. You were just sort of opening it up and exercising it, but not stressing it.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Joan Lader, rather, who's wonderful, she would give me classical music or opera to sing, because she said that the best way to allow my voice to be open enough to sing what I was singing on stage was to just try something that was totally opposite to it. So you weren't taxing your voice the same way the entire time. You were just sort of opening it up and exercising it, but not stressing it.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I'll do one of the first things I did, um, at secondary school, actually, because we'd always do sort of like the end of year, um, like choral show. And, um, this one year we decided to do, uh, Rutter Requiem, the Rutter Requiem by John Rutter. Um, And I was asked to sing P.A. There's a version of P.A. Yesu for the Gianratto Requiem, and it's very special.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I'll do one of the first things I did, um, at secondary school, actually, because we'd always do sort of like the end of year, um, like choral show. And, um, this one year we decided to do, uh, Rutter Requiem, the Rutter Requiem by John Rutter. Um, And I was asked to sing P.A. There's a version of P.A. Yesu for the Gianratto Requiem, and it's very special.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Who knows if I can still do these notes, but I'll give it a go. Ahem.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Who knows if I can still do these notes, but I'll give it a go. Ahem.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Dona eis requiem Requiem aeternam Dona eis domine Dona eis domine Then it would change keys. Pies o domine And this key change is always really difficult. Oh, so beautiful.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Dona eis requiem Requiem aeternam Dona eis domine Dona eis domine Then it would change keys. Pies o domine And this key change is always really difficult. Oh, so beautiful.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I guess there's a couple of things that are happening. Your breath is different. The way you place, the way you use your tongue is different. The tongue placement is different in your mouth. It's almost like even the way you use the muscles in your face, often to make those sounds, they're Your jaw has to be slightly lowered and relaxed.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I guess there's a couple of things that are happening. Your breath is different. The way you place, the way you use your tongue is different. The tongue placement is different in your mouth. It's almost like even the way you use the muscles in your face, often to make those sounds, they're Your jaw has to be slightly lowered and relaxed.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And often, I don't know if you, when you watch me sing, you'll see that I sing often with a bit of a smile on. One, I'm enjoying myself. But two, when you smile, everything else is relaxed.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And often, I don't know if you, when you watch me sing, you'll see that I sing often with a bit of a smile on. One, I'm enjoying myself. But two, when you smile, everything else is relaxed.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
When I meet the wizard, once I prove my worth. Then I meet the wizard, what I've waited for since birth. And with all his wizard wisdom, by my looks...
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
When I meet the wizard, once I prove my worth. Then I meet the wizard, what I've waited for since birth. And with all his wizard wisdom, by my looks...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
She surpassed a lot of her dreams. Her dream was to be a nurse, so she got that and then had to change it. I watched her sort of go, okay, I got my nursing degree. And now what else do I want? I think she definitely wanted to be in the UK with children. I know she wanted children. I think she wanted more children than she has, but she's very happy with the two that she does. And I think...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
She surpassed a lot of her dreams. Her dream was to be a nurse. So she got that and then had to change it. I watched her sort of go, okay, I got my nursing degree. And now what else do I want? I think she definitely wanted to be in the UK with children. I know she wanted children. I think she wanted more children than she has, but she's very happy with the two that she does.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
that she sort of learned after the dream of being a nurse came true that she had this sort of passion for taking care of children full stop and so she focused her studies on the cognitive health of children and ended up becoming there's a position in the UK called a health visitor and
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And I think that she sort of learnt after the dream of being a nurse came true that she had this sort of passion for taking care of children full stop. And so she focused her studies on the cognitive health of children and ended up becoming, there's a position in the UK called Health Visitor.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And her job specifically is to help new mothers with children from the age of, say, one month almost to the age of three. Just with like learning cognitive skills and making sure that the mother isn't suffering from postpartum.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And her job specifically is to help new mothers with children from the age of, say, one month almost to the age of three. Just with learning cognitive skills and making sure that the mother isn't suffering from postpartum. And if they are, then she can help and she makes sure that the children are latching in the right way or...
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And if they are, then she can help, and she makes sure that the children are latching in the right way, or if there's anything going on, or if there's colic, all of those things. All the things that you might panic about if you don't have any guidance, my mother is there to help you with. That's what her job used to be. And she sort of flew with it.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
If there's anything going on or there's colic or all of those things, all the things that you would you might panic about if you don't have any guidance. My mother is there to help you with. That's what her job used to be. And she sort of flew with it. She got rose to the top of her ranks on that one. Yeah.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
She got Rose to the top of her ranks on that one.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, she's cool. It's really fun. I realise that she's like the child whisperer. It's really fun watching her with other people's children because they don't really know how it's done and I don't know how it's done. I feel like I've been... It feels like it's in our genes because I end up being the same with kids and I don't really need to do very much and...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, she's cool. It's really fun. I realise that she's like the child whisperer. It's really fun watching her with other people's children because they don't really know how it's done and I don't know how it's done. I feel like I've been, it feels like it's in our genes because I end up being the same with kids and I don't really need to do very much and
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Kids sort of are like, oh, look, what's this interesting looking being sitting next to me? I want to know who that person is. And we're off to the races. It's hilarious. I think she passed it on.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Kids sort of are like, oh, look, what's this interesting looking being sitting next to me? I want to know who that person is. And we're off to the races. It's hilarious. I think she passed it on.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
He told just me. He told me that he was out of our lives. And I sort of had to relay the message to everyone. Yeah. What was your reaction? Could you see that coming? I didn't see it coming, although in hindsight I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn't see it coming because, you know, what 16-year-old would?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
He told just me. He told me that he was out of our lives. And I sort of had to relay the message to everyone. Yeah. What was your reaction? Could you see that coming? I didn't see it coming, although in hindsight I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn't see it coming because, you know, what 16-year-old would?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
At the time I was heartbroken because it was in public when it happened as well, so it was just, like, not fun. But, yeah, it was deeply disappointing, deeply heartbreaking. And I think I... felt bad for having to have to bring that information back to my house, to my mum and my sister. And I remember it was in the middle of a school day, so I still had to go through school.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
At the time I was heartbroken because it was in public when it happened as well, so it was just, like, not fun. But, yeah, it was deeply disappointing, deeply heartbreaking. And I think I... felt bad for having to have to bring that information back to my house, to my mum and my sister. And I remember it was in the middle of a school day, so I still had to go through school.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
That was not fun. Did he give you an explanation? No, not really, no. No, I think he just had, I think he was finished being a dad.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I, I, I don't know if I was thinking about that. I, I never really compartmentalized it. I just saw someone doing something that hurt me. And I think it was just sort of as simple as that. He was doing something that he knew would hurt me to be mean and spiteful, but I knew that he was going to stick to it. I knew that it wasn't like a jab that he would take back at some point.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I don't know. I, I, I, I don't know if I was thinking about that.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I, I never really compartmentalized it. I just saw someone doing something that hurt me. And I think it was just sort of as simple as that. He was doing something that he knew would hurt me to be mean and spiteful, but I knew that he was going to stick to it. I knew that it wasn't like a jab that he would take back at some point. Have you spoken to him since? No. Wow.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Have you spoken to him since? No. Well, actually, tell a lie. I bumped into him randomly at a cousin's wedding. We had an awkward sort of hello, and that's it, when I was 25.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Actually, tell a lie, I bumped into him randomly at a cousin's wedding. We had an awkward sort of hello, and that's it, when I was 25.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Yeah. So when I wrote it, we had gotten to a point where I knew that we needed an up-tempo song. We needed something that felt upbeat and that felt fun. But I love writing ballads. I love writing love songs.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Yeah. So when I wrote it, we had gotten to a point where I knew that we needed an up-tempo song. We needed something with like...
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
that felt upbeat and that felt fun but I love writing ballads I love writing love songs I can't help it it's sort of I'm so I'm a mid-tempo don't need to apologize that's what I do and like I enjoy them um I enjoy singing because of the space in them but then and so as we started writing I thought what can you make this about and my friend who is also the EP on this album with me he said
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I can't help it it's sort of I'm so I'm a mid-tempo song that's what I do and I'm like I enjoy them um I enjoy singing because of the space in them but then and so as we started writing I thought what can you make this about and my friend who is also the EP on this album with me he said that he had been talking to a friend of ours about the relationship that she had had with her
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
that he had been talking to a friend of ours about the relationship that she had had with her father. She said that the relationship wasn't great all the time, but they were starting to rebuild and that they were starting to have some really good moments. And then he passed away. And then she said, but she just wants to remember the good.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
father she said that the relationship wasn't great um all the time um but they were starting to rebuild and that they were starting to have some really good moments and then he passed away and then she said but she just wants to remember the good And the light bulb went off, and I was like, that's the song. That's the song.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And the light bulb went off, and I was like, that's the song. That's the song. The song is about remembering the good, even when something ends maybe not in the best of ways.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
The song is about remembering the good, even when something ends maybe not in the best of ways.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Doesn't spring from anywhere. Watching the world forget to breathe. Wish we could stop and feel the pain. what i can see holding my chest as all my tears fall out my mind's in a spin as all the pain pours down what can i do to make these days go by i haven't the strength to make the rain fall i just want to remember Darkness surrounds me, but I see the light. Just want to remember the good.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Doesn't spring from it see holding my chest as all my tears fall out my mind's in a spin as all the pain pours down what can i do to make these days go by i haven't the strength to make the rain fall i just want to remember
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I don't know because I never, I mean, the thing is a lot of people don't realize I am as short as I am. I did not realize it. I was reading about you and I was like, really? I mean, I spend a lot of my time in heels, but like often when I'm with other people, they're also like dressed up or in their heels. And so when I'm standing next to them, they're like, oh my goodness, you're really small.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I don't know because I never, I mean, the thing is a lot of people don't realize I am as short as I am. I did not realize it. I was reading about you and I was like, really? I mean, I spend a lot of my time in heels, but like often when I'm with other people, they're also like dressed up or in their heels. And so when I'm standing next to them, they're like, oh my goodness, you're really small.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I think there have been times often that people assume that because you're small, you are weak or because you're small. Sometimes people, they often decide that because you're small, you're also childlike, which sometimes is really strange because you have to sort of correct people and let them understand, well, actually, I'm a fully grown adult. I just happen to be small. So...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I think there have been times often that people assume that because you're small, you are weak or because you're small. Sometimes people, they often decide that because you're small, you're also childlike, which sometimes is really strange because you have to sort of correct people and let them understand, well, actually, I'm a fully grown adult. I just happen to be small. So...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
my understanding of what you are saying or what anyone else is saying is just the same.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
my understanding of what you are saying or what anyone else is saying is just the same.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
As if your legs are swinging off the ground. Right, exactly. Yeah, that's a thing. So you end up having to like perch to the edge of the seat so your feet can touch the ground. Podiums? Podiums are hilarious because sometimes you're also like, you know what, today I'm just going to swallow my pride and ask them for a little step so I can reach the podium and feel like I'm a normal height.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
So your legs are swinging off the ground. Right, exactly. Yeah, that's a thing. So you end up having to like perch to the edge of the seat so your feet can touch the ground. Podiums? Podiums are hilarious because sometimes you're also like, you know what, today I'm just going to swallow my pride and ask them for a little step so I can reach the podium and feel like I'm a normal height.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
and reach this thing so I'm not having to tiptoe ever so slightly or wear, you know, 15-inch heels. That it's sort of like, it's that. You have to take the good with the bad with it, definitely. Stools, high chairs are really sometimes quite difficult because... You know, if you're singing and you want to sit, you're often on a stool.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
and reach this thing so i'm not having to tiptoe ever so slightly or wear you know 15 inch heels that it's sort of like it's that you you have to take the good with the bad with it definitely um stools high chairs are really sometimes quite difficult because you know if you're singing and you want to sit you're often on a stool so you have to try and make sure that the stool is not too high for you to sit on
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And so I always make the compromise with whatever dress I'm wearing or whatever clothes, because if they cover my feet, you can't see how far my feet are from the ground.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. This has been so much fun. You are wonderful. So thank you.
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
This has been so much fun. You are wonderful. So thank you.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
That I'm stuck like glue. Cause I ain't never, I ain't never, I ain't never, no, no, loved a man the way that I, I love him.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
That I'm stuck like glue. Cause I ain't never, I ain't never, I ain't never, no, no, loved a man the way that I, I love him.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
When I was a kid, and we were... So there's this radio station in the UK called Magic FM, and it plays everything. Everything from, let's say, I don't know if you know a band called Mike and the Mechanics, to the Eurythmics, to Kate Bush, to Aretha, to Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Lauryn Hill, the whole lot. And so when we were only...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
When I was a kid, and we were... So there's this radio station in the UK called Magic FM, and it plays everything. Everything from, let's say, I don't know if you know a band called Mike and the Mechanics, to the Eurythmics, to Kate Bush, to Aretha, to Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Lauryn Hill, the whole lot. And so when we were only...
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
be on the way to school, my mum would always have that radio station on. And the first time I heard it, it was from there. I think, I want to say the first thing I heard was sisters are doing it for themselves. And then I heard, I think it was Till You Come Back to Me. So I had heard Aretha in like two different ways. One with Annie Lennox and then one on her own from two different times.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
be on the way to school, my mum would always have that radio station on. And the first time I heard it, it was from there. I think, I want to say the first thing I heard was sisters are doing it for themselves. And then I heard, I think it was Till You Come Back to Me. So I had heard Aretha in like two different ways. One with Annie Lennox and then one on her own from two different times.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And I just sort of fell in love. I didn't really, I didn't really know because I didn't know who that was. And then I started asking questions and my mum told me it was Aretha Franklin. And so I was aware of How much I loved music and that I wanted to be a singer and I just sort of fell in love with her voice.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And I just sort of fell in love. I didn't really, I didn't really know because I didn't know who that was. And then I started asking questions and my mum told me it was Aretha Franklin. And so I was aware of How much I loved music and that I wanted to be a singer and I just sort of fell in love with her voice.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
The fact that she could do that with Annie Lennox and then that on her own just was astounding to me. Did you try to emulate her? I don't think I tried to emulate her. I just wanted to listen to everything she had. And I started learning her music pretty, pretty early. Yeah.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
The fact that she could do that with Annie Lennox and then that on her own just was astounding to me. Did you try to emulate her? I don't think I tried to emulate her. I just wanted to listen to everything she had. And I started learning her music pretty, pretty early. Yeah.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
It's time to try. Defying gravity I think I'll try Defying gravity And you can't pull me down Can't I make you understand You're having delusions of grandeur I'm through accepting limits
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
It's time to try. Defying gravity I think I'll try Defying gravity And you can't pull me down Can't I make you understand You're having delusions of grandeur I'm through accepting limits
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Oh, yeah. Why was that important? Because the breath, I think, tells you everything about what the person is trying to say. You know, if you look at a sentence, where the comma goes tells you what the sentence means. If I say, today I've been feeling really, really bad. But, and now I say, today I've been feeling really bad. Bad. But it'll be all right.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Oh, yeah. Why was that important? Because the breath, I think, tells you everything about what the person is trying to say. You know, if you look at a sentence, where the comma goes tells you what the sentence means. If I say, today I've been feeling really, really bad. But, and now I say, today I've been feeling really bad. Bad. But it'll be all right.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Well, now it's one is I feel ill and one is emotionally I feel bad. You see? And so when she would breathe in different places and it would change the sentence structure, it would change the meaning of the song. Another person might sing it a completely different way. Can you sing us an example of what you mean? Sure. I use the song often to explain it because it's one, it's a beautiful song.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Well, now it's one is I feel ill and one is emotionally I feel bad. You see? And so when she would breathe in different places and it would change the sentence structure, it would change the meaning of the song. Another person might sing it a completely different way. Can you sing us an example of what you mean? Sure. I use the song often to explain it because it's one, it's a beautiful song.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And two, I had to really, really dig in and learn it. And three, just is a wonderful example of how the breath work changes. It's called Never Grow Old. I had to learn it for the Amazing Grace episode. And it, It goes like this. The sentence is, I have heard of a land on a faraway strand. That's the sentence. The normal way to sing it is, I have heard of a land on a faraway strand.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And two, I had to really, really dig in and learn it. And three, just is a wonderful example of how the breath work changes. It's called Never Grow Old. I had to learn it for the Amazing Grace episode. And it, It goes like this. The sentence is, I have heard of a land on a faraway strand. That's the sentence. The normal way to sing it is, I have heard of a land on a faraway strand.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Right? She sings. I have heard of a land on a far, far
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Right? She sings. I have heard of a land on a far, far
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Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
She just has this way with music. The way she manipulates it and uses it to tell the story is really special. And it's that sort of making you wait for the explanation. Because it's a difference between... Moving from one note to the other really quickly, I have heard, as opposed to I have heard. of a land, you know?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
She just has this way with music. The way she manipulates it and uses it to tell the story is really special. And it's that sort of making you wait for the explanation. Because it's a difference between... Moving from one note to the other really quickly, I have heard, as opposed to I have heard. of a land, you know?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I think I was that. I didn't really know what to say, but I was also sort of disarmed by how funny she was. She was so, like... jovial she joked that when I first met her she sang the last sentence of my big song back at me and so I almost fell over because Aretha Franklin is singing and I'm here back at me and I just I didn't know what to to do I think I just laughed I was like oh my god um
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I think I was that. I didn't really know what to say, but I was also sort of disarmed by how funny she was. She was so, like... jovial she joked that when I first met her she sang the last sentence of my big song back at me and so I almost fell over because Aretha Franklin is singing and I'm here back at me and I just I didn't know what to to do I think I just laughed I was like oh my god um
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Cause someone says they're so Some things I cannot change But till I try I'll never know Too long I've been afraid of Losing love I guess I've lost Well if that's love It comes at much too high a cost I'd sooner abide Defying gravity
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Cause someone says they're so Some things I cannot change But till I try I'll never know Too long I've been afraid of Losing love I guess I've lost Well if that's love It comes at much too high a cost I'd sooner abide Defying gravity
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And I remember her saying, well, you can sing. I was like, oh my God, this is nuts. It just, you know, I don't know if I needed anything more meaningful than that, to be honest, because if the Queen of Soul can remember you as the person who can sing, well, wonderful. Wonderful.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And I remember her saying, well, you can sing. I was like, oh my God, this is nuts. It just, you know, I don't know if I needed anything more meaningful than that, to be honest, because if the Queen of Soul can remember you as the person who can sing, well, wonderful. Wonderful.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I did grow up in church, but different because I'm Roman Catholic is what I was raised on. But I was a bit of a rebel. So when... I was in church. It was a lot of like Christian hymns. And I wanted more because I was sort of, I was listening to gospel music and I was learning about gospel singers and I was learning about that sound. And I wanted to I wanted to hear it in my own church.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I did grow up in church, but different because I'm Roman Catholic is what I was raised on. But I was a bit of a rebel. So when... I was in church. It was a lot of like Christian hymns. And I wanted more because I was sort of, I was listening to gospel music and I was learning about gospel singers and I was learning about that sound. And I wanted to I wanted to hear it in my own church.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
So one of the churches, when we moved to East London from South London, and that church had a choir. So I remember they asked if I could join the choir, and so I did. And then somehow I managed to... end up being, like, one of the conductors of the choir. And I would just, like, sneak gospel songs in from time to time and just have them, like, sing a couple gospel songs.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
So one of the churches, when we moved to East London from South London, and that church had a choir. So I remember they asked if I could join the choir, and so I did. And then somehow I managed to... end up being, like, one of the conductors of the choir. And I would just, like, sneak gospel songs in from time to time and just have them, like, sing a couple gospel songs.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Consequently, I got into trouble for it. And they were like, you can't sing those songs in here anymore. And I never understood why, because I felt like All music that was for the same reason was equal and was meaningful.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Consequently, I got into trouble for it. And they were like, you can't sing those songs in here anymore. And I never understood why, because I felt like all music that was for the same reason was equal and was meaningful.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I think it's the style of singing. I think the style of singing was where the objection came. There's a particularly straight-laced way of praising that's correct music. for the Catholic Church. There's a specific way that you should do it and a specific thing that you can sing. There are specific songs and anything outside of the lines is too far.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I think the style of singing was where the objection came. There's a particularly straight-laced way of praising that's correct music. for the Catholic Church. There's a specific way that you should do it and a specific thing that you can sing. There are specific songs and anything outside of the lines is too far.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Yeah, I just because I didn't know that that was even a possibility. When I was going through primary school or secondary school, no one was like, you can go to drama school. No one gave me that option. So the whole thing was revelatory. Like the first year was both discovery and a struggle and a half because I just like, what am I doing?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Yeah, I just because I didn't know that that was even a possibility. When I was going through primary school or secondary school, no one was like, you can go to drama school. No one gave me that option. So the whole thing was revelatory. Like the first year was both discovery and a struggle and a half because I just like, what am I doing?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
doing here and i so there's so many things i don't really understand is what was my strong suit was that i was a little bit different to most people that i was one of the kids that was good at singing and we had a particularly musical year so there were a couple of other kids who could sing too and actually being able to sing was really useful and and when i started to embrace
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
doing here and i so there's so many things i don't really understand is what was my strong suit was that i was a little bit different to most people that i was one of the kids that was good at singing and we had a particularly musical year so there were a couple of other kids who could sing too and actually being able to sing was really useful and and when i started to embrace
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
that I sort of could see where the opportunities were. Some people were really wonderful at the classics and at Jacobi's and, you know, those kids that came from Eton who had read those things were brilliant at those things. But I wasn't that. My raw talent came from and understanding music. So when we started talking about Sondheim and learning those songs, for me, I was in heaven.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
that I sort of could see where the opportunities were. Some people were really wonderful at the classics and at Jacobi's and, you know, those kids that came from Eton who had read those things were brilliant at those things. But I wasn't that. My raw talent came from and understanding music. So when we started talking about Sondheim and learning those songs, for me, I was in heaven.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And when we started reading Seven Guitars by August Wilson, I recognised myself in those people because, well, it was a black writer writing about black people and I could see myself in them. And those are plays I had read and there's a playwright I'd heard of. And when you're passionate about music,
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
And when we started reading Seven Guitars by August Wilson, I recognised myself in those people because, well, it was a black writer writing about black people and I could see myself in them. And those are plays I had read and there's a playwright I'd heard of. And when you're passionate about music,
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
acting, Shakespeare was where we all sort of like joined hands because, well, we all knew Shakespeare, but now I could have a sort of a real grasp on the scope at which he wrote.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
acting, Shakespeare was where we all sort of like joined hands because, well, we all knew Shakespeare, but now I could have a sort of a real grasp on the scope at which he wrote.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I loved Being Alive, and I loved The Middle Son. Have you ever heard The Middle Son?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I loved Being Alive, and I loved The Middle Son. Have you ever heard The Middle Son?
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Yeah, that's one of my favorite songs. That is one of those songs where you're like, if you don't breathe in the right place, you won't make it to the end of the sentence. Can you give us an example of what you mean? Oh, my God. I don't even know if I can remember the lyrics. I haven't done it for such a long time.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
Yeah, that's one of my favorite songs. That is one of those songs where you're like, if you don't breathe in the right place, you won't make it to the end of the sentence. Can you give us an example of what you mean? Oh, my God. I don't even know if I can remember the lyrics. I haven't done it for such a long time.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
They say, it's a wink and a wiggle and a giggle and a grass and I'll trip the light pandango.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
They say, it's a wink and a wiggle and a giggle and a grass and I'll trip the light pandango.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
A pinch and a diddle in the middle of what passes by. It's a very short road from the pinch and the punch to the porch and the pouch and the pension. It's a very short road to the 10,000th lunch and the porch and the pouch and the sigh. In the meanwhile, there are mouths to be kissed before mouths to be fed and a lot in between in the meanwhile. And the girl has to celebrate.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
A pinch and a diddle in the middle of what passes by. It's a very short road from the pinch and the punch to the porch and the pouch and the pension. It's a very short road to the 10,000th lunch and the porch and the pouch and the sigh. In the meanwhile, there are mouths to be kissed before mouths to be fed and a lot in between in the meanwhile. And the girl has to celebrate.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
What passes by, oh, I shall marry the mill of sun.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
What passes by, oh, I shall marry the mill of sun.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I had a really lovely teacher at Rada. It was Philip. He was just... He was wonderful, actually. I will say that my singing teacher at Brada, we're all sort of assigned a singing teacher. Most of us, because we've never sung before, um... So we can learn about what that is and learn how to connect the singing voice and the singing breath with the speaking voice and the speaking breath.
Fresh Air
Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
I had a really lovely teacher at Rada. It was Philip. He was just... He was wonderful, actually. I will say that my singing teacher at Brada, we're all sort of assigned a singing teacher. Most of us, because we've never sung before, um... So we can learn about what that is and learn how to connect the singing voice and the singing breath with the speaking voice and the speaking breath.
Pivot
Elon's OpenAI Bid, Trump's Judicial Strategy, and DOGE's Shock and Awe
I think part of doing this tour is to make sure that everybody understands that it's not just a chick film. It's not just for little girls. It's not just for kids. That it's actually for everyone. It is something for everyone in it. And that just because there are two women protagonists, that doesn't automatically mean that No men can understand what's going on.
Pivot
Elon's OpenAI Bid, Trump's Judicial Strategy, and DOGE's Shock and Awe
We don't say that of films that are mainly male. And most films are mainly male. I mean, we have the Irishman, which was quite frankly, all men, but nobody is saying this is a do film. No, we go and we watch it because it's a good film. We go and we watch good cinema. That's aimed at you, Scott.
The Brett Cooper Show
Is Taylor Swift Lying About Her Role in the Blake Lively Drama? | Episode 31
She told me Taylor Swift helped her get the role, like signed off on her audition.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Because that's where my pulse is. Right. Or I put it, like, on my hip.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Like, just trying to get the steps in full stop. Like, if we're on a break, I'm not sitting down.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, but the thing is it was sort of like nice to be like, oh, this is where I'm going to move to this now. On my little mini breaks, I'm going to do some steps. I'm going to walk. I'm going to move. As opposed to like being sedentary because that's the thing on set sometimes. You can fall into being really sedentary and just not moving.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, I'm not going to eat it ever, never. I'm like that weird school kid who only brings her own food to the set. I make my own food and bring it to the set.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, I can't change out of the costume. I'm just like moving.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Boots, but it was a proper heel. So depending on what part of, what stage of which I was, which changed. So at the beginning, there was sort of a shorter boot with a shorter heel. And the heel got higher and the boot got taller as she changed.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I love them. They're great. They're really comfortable.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
If I'm walking, I do the ones that are closer to the ground. But if I'm running, I do the Cloud Boost, I think.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. You're way up there. You're too high. However, there is a Nike one that has, like, it's a Zoom, I think. It's got a weird shape to it. I use those to run the marathon. They're amazing.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I do a full marathon. I've done a couple full marathons and a few half marathons.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It does, which is why I don't do it as often as I want to. But I try and do one, I mean, every couple of years I'm probably doing a marathon.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, here's the thing. That's an interesting question. People think that when you're running, you're running from something. I think I'm running from like, I think I'm all running to all of the things I'm thinking of because I kind of use running to process things.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, because I think you are actually like paying attention to what is around you when you're.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yes. Because when you have music on, you're listening to lyrics and you know how long the song is. And then you know how long the next song is. You do songs about three minutes. So if there's only one song playing, it's only three minutes gone. So it feels like the time is taking a really long time. If you're not listening to anything, you don't know what.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You're just going with what your body wants to go with. And essentially, trying not to sound hokey here, but you are listening to what your body needs to listen to. Yeah. So if you need to put more energy into your thigh or your leg, then that's where it goes. If you need to put more energy into your breathing, that's where it goes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Or if you need to be in your head for a second, then you can be in your head for a second. So that's why it doesn't take as long, I think, when you're not listening to music.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It doesn't work. If I'm on the treadmill, I put an iPad up and I just watch something. And I'll find a film that is stupid amounts of time so that I know I'm not going to finish the film.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Just find a film, find a book, something, anything. Or I'm like a busybody and I visit everyone if I'm sat for an email at the time.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, I don't necessarily eat. Well, I mean, it's regular for me.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
But it's probably not regular for other people.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I've been vegan for a long time. You're vegan? Yeah. But I'm like, I love fruit and veg. I'm like a proper like fruit and veg eater.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And occasionally I'll go and have like a meat replacement. Not much? Not much.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Because there's no need. Mushrooms do all of the work for you.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. You can make them taste like anything.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, I try to get protein because I try to do a protein shake in the morning. And I'm trying to be better about it. I think I can probably find it in beans and things like that. That's what I do, yeah. That's basically it. Tempeh? I don't like the texture of tempeh.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Oh, I like the texture of tofu. But here's the thing. Because you can do things like, what's the thing I like to do? Mousse, chocolate mousse. You can make chocolate mousse with tofu. And it doesn't, there's no, it's like the texture of mousse.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
See, I just, I like, I'll make it myself. Yeah, me too. I'll do what I want myself. Yeah. I feel the same about like smoothies. Yeah. If you get someone else to make a smoothie. Too much sugar. Too much sugar, but also not enough ice ever. So it's always like liquid and I want it to be a smoothie, which means it's supposed to be thick.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And then they make it into like milk. Yeah. And I'm just like.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
That's what I'm saying. That's what I want.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I want this to fill me. I want it to be filling. I don't want it to feel like a drink.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
But you just don't need that much sugar in a smoothie if you put the right ingredients in. Everything else has, it's like fruit is naturally sweet.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I would love to work it out. Why have I not?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And I use them until they are, like, dead in the ground.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Please, can someone do that for me? Do you hear that? Because my shoes are torn up. I am wearing them till they are nothing.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Please, because I've been like, I vacillate between the two. So I'm wearing the On Cloud Cloudburst ones. Okay, getting specific. See, this is what I'm saying. Now you know I actually wear them, right?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And then the way it does like a flat runner.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I love them because of how the sole moves. It's like really like dexterous. I can hike with those and feel great.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
This is like fatalistic thinking to the max. Oh, yeah, I'm good at that. How did you get from the dog bit my ear to I can't hike?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I once did a hike, and I really, I actually really almost got completely lost, like, in the middle of the forest. That can happen. I went on a dead trail.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It was bad. Where was that? I was, where was I? I want to, I can't even remember where I'd gone. But, like, was it Laurel Canyon or something like that?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It might have been up here. Was it hot? It was very hot.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It was really hot, and I was following a map, and it took me down a dead trail.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So it was, like, covered in leaves, and I was like, well, I don't know if this is the right direction, but it's the only direction it's giving me, so I'm just going to keep going.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And I'm like, I could feel like I was coming away from everybody else. Everyone is going in a different direction, and I seem to be going in a different direction and down.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, but it felt like I was in the middle of nowhere.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And when I got down there, there was a tree that had fallen over. So that was in the way. And then there was – so I went over the tree. I couldn't get over the tree. It's not crazy.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
There's like a fence. Okay. And I was like, oh. This sounds like up here. How do I get out?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
When I tell you I have no idea where I was, because this map took me... Oh, you just walked up a hike? I just walked up a hike and said, go here. Because sometimes I go to a trainer occasionally. And because I think I might be a glutton for punishment, or sadistic, whichever you want to call it, I walk there. And it's seven miles away from where I live. So I walk the seven miles.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I live Studio City. Okay. So I walk from Studio City. I had to walk into, so you have to walk.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Seven miles to, it's like West Hollywood is where he lives, just past West Hollywood.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And on the way back, it didn't give me the same directions. It took me a completely different route.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, it's all the way up the hills. And then you end up going down the Laurel Canyon Drive. It's horrible to walk on. Yeah, terrible. Because there is no sidewalk. No, it's dangerous. It's very dangerous. But I do it anyway, which don't do it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, and the thing is I'm used to it now. And the last, but for some reason the last time it took me a sensible route so I could go. Oh, good. But the sensible route is all uphill, so.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Not when it's never ending and you're on a razor scooter.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So I took the razor scooter the last time thinking I could help myself. I didn't. It was bad.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, I moved from London in 2015 to New York for us to do a musical. And then I moved from... For The Color Purple? For The Color Purple.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
They are nice. I never won them. That's all right. The prize is life.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. You are working on it. That's what we're discussing right now. That is what we're discussing.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You shouldn't. He was so wonderful. I loved working with him, man. He was really cool.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
We did a couple episodes about pregnancies. Because she was young, man. She was like a baby.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No. And she was sort of. We did that to the first husband. It was bad.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, she's just closed down. It's just closed down.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Yeah, and I think that was the hardest thing to sort of like figure out how to sort of like navigate that. Because what I loved watching in her interviews is like over time, she sort of like, it was like watching her sort of like inch out and come out of her shell. That's when she starts making jokes when she's like... Oh, yeah. By the 60s and 70s, she started to make.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
When she gets out from under that guy. Yeah, she starts making, she starts being herself in front of people. A little bit shadier. Yeah, yeah. A bit more jokey. Yeah. A bit more poke fun. Yeah. You know, saying the things that she actually wants to say. Yeah. Even though she, it's like a velvet, iron fist in a velvet glove.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And I don't think people realize that the sound was a mess.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
She didn't want it to come out, I don't think. She didn't? I don't think she did. It's kind of amazing. It's brilliant. Yeah. Brilliant. And really interesting to watch her.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It's really interesting to watch the relationships that are happening in the room. Like when her father comes in.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And what that does to her. Yeah. Like it shuts her down.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It felt like he was sort of like the North Star. As long as he was around, she'd be all right.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, I think she was maybe twice as many. Right, right.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And also, I would never have done it if I didn't think I could, like, do her justice and if I didn't.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
care yeah you know yeah well yeah i really like put myself through it on that one yeah i could tell and how could you not yeah with the vulnerability of just wandering around with you know your clothes all ripped up yeah and your hair all out it was it was hard it was really hard even on set huh we would like it was we would we were filming in the like elements we were outside yeah all the time yeah and it was cold because we're shooting in virginia in the middle of like the winter yeah
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So we, and I made a point with the director, with Casey, who I love, to just be like, whatever needs to be done to make this make sense, to make it happen, we do it. So if it means we have to shoot this in the pouring rain, In the cold and I have a ripped up dress on me, then that's what we're going to do. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
If it means I have to literally wade in the water, walk in the water up to my neck in a dress. Yeah. And then that's what I'm going to do. Don't put a wetsuit on me because I know it actually makes it colder and she wouldn't have had a wetsuit on. So that's what we're going to do.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So, you know, it was just and I, you know, because I don't have I think there was one stunt that I wasn't allowed to do. And that was jump off a bridge. Yeah. Jump off the bridge into raging waters. You're ready to go, though. But yeah, everything else, that was me.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Yeah. And I think I was... slightly depressed by the end of it all.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I really didn't know how to let go of it. I didn't know how to let go of her.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
But that's the thing. You say it's brain bending in the other direction. It is brain bending full stop. You have to bend your brain to make yourself believe that there is a cutoff on humanity. You actually have to do that first. You have to believe these people are more human. And these are less human. Which is crazy. Insane. It's insane. And horrible and has happened over and over again. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
In the history of humans. Yeah. And we're sort of watching it happen. Totally. Again. And it's horrifying.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You know, I think the UK has, you know, tried its best to rectify some of it. But because of where we are, some of it is rewinding itself. We just had all those horrible, horrible riots. And people... Calling for people to go home and just the worst side of humanity rearing its head. But I think the thing that gave me hope watching things like that happen is that parts of society that...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
let's say 50, 60 years ago would have joined in.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Absolutely not. That's not what we're not doing that. We don't do that here. That is not what we want.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
We don't want it. Take it back. That's not what we're not. This is not, we're not going back to that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So that I think I was really, that made me really proud to, to watch and, And, you know, we were fast becoming that way with our government as well. And that was a big rewind to – we've gone back to labor, which has work to do. They all have work to do, but you just want it to be manageable. Yes. We can actually still move forward.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. One is quieter than the other, I think. One is better at it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, she came to London, I think, when she was like 24 or something.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I've been. The last time I went, I turned 13 on the plane back. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I do, but a lot of my family have passed, and so my grandmother died just recently, and I have a couple of aunties who are still there, yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
What's Africa? But also, it's all different. I know, I know. The different places are so, so different. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You know, I also wish I had a better sense of like the grander space that is Africa because I've only been to Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, and Egypt. And I really want to go to South Africa because I have a couple of friends who live there and I haven't been yet.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Ish. And there's just places I want to go. Like I want to. Both your parents from there? Both my parents are from Nigeria.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Oh, yeah. I mean, like things like food, the way we eat, like the food that we have, it's different from the food you get in London. But what's really interesting is because of the way London has sort of like developed, there's loads of places to get the things that we know of. That you need. That we need. Yeah. Or we want, that kind of thing. Like what?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So, like, there's a particular meal that I love. It's called okra soup. Oh, yeah. But it's interesting. Again, the way the diaspora sort of, like, tricks us into thinking that we're really, really different. But if I go to New Orleans and get gumbo, it's very similar to okra soup. It all comes from the same place. From the same place. It's like music.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It's like mofongo, which is Puerto Rican with plantain. And we have, you know, yam porridge, which we mix with. It's the same. It's exactly the same.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Her sort of speciality is sports sciences. So she really wants to do restorative health using sports, using fitness. And she wants to sort of bring it to people who don't.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, that's interesting. But preventing things like diabetes by making sure that people have the right fitness regime.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, my mom was a nurse, and then she became – well, you don't have this position here, but it's called a health visitor. Yeah. And a health visitor, it's like the bit between – Let's say kindergarten and birth. So that bit in between where your kids are growing, but they're too young to go to kindergarten and they're older than just born.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
My mom would come to your house and she would check on you and your baby up to the age of three sometimes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And this is the thing. And it's one of the most incredible things because she gets to know mother and child. She has the right to help administer any medication.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, this service. Especially if the mother happens to have postpartum depression or if the mother is in danger before, if the mother might have any mental health issues, my mom will come in and make sure she'll check on them before a social worker comes in. So she will have a relationship with this family temporarily.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
To make sure baby and mother or child and mother, especially mothers who have children before their newborn. Yeah. She's like that person.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, but I was good at the sciences. And so I felt like there was like a fluke that happened and I happened to like love performing as well.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I was going to go into psychology because I was very good at working with people and working through people's feelings. But music was always my love and I started studying music psychology. What is that? So essentially it's the study of how music affects the psyche based on where you live or your social standing or what it can do.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
That was a major, yeah. I started studying at university, and then I think I didn't feel as stimulated as I wanted to be, and I knew something was amiss. I didn't necessarily need to go to the lectures to pass an essay.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. How music evolves. Exactly. And that was what I was really interested in. You know, right down to like the semantics of like note pattern, chord structure, how that changes a person's mood.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You know, the major minor. Yeah. What difference that makes in the sound of music and how you receive it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And that can lead you into... So you start talking about classical music and what that means within social standing and elitism and things like that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Whilst I was going to the university to do all of this, I did a youth program for acting just because I still wanted to do it. It was a theater around my area.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I always sang, yeah. I've been singing since I was five.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, in the Catholic school as well. What kind of Catholic? We went to a place called Lara Trait. It was a Roman Catholic school.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
not as much now I think it's a little it's a little strict for me and it's slightly problematic in places so yeah I'll say you know so I I hold my faith to be true like I do believe in God yeah but I don't know if I don't know if the way I think I the way I believe is slightly different to way yeah the way a Catholic might believe
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
My mom wasn't Roman Catholic. My mom, she's Anglican, which I loved. When we went to her church, it was really like...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It was so much more relaxed, so much more fun.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It wasn't really any of that. The ceremonies, the services weren't as long. It was just so much more open. I loved that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, I think we... Well, my mom never really mentioned hell ever in her life. Leaned into the hell? No.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And I think that's because she was Anglican. So they don't really talk about the hell too much. It's more a Roman Catholic thing.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, I always sang. And I think that's probably why I've held on to that sense of faith. Because I know there's a weird sense of connection and... It's hard to describe what it is when I sing to people.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It's a really open, you have to be open when you do it. Like literally, you're as open as you possibly can be to anyone who's around when you're singing. Because who knows? You don't know how they'll receive your voice. There are waves, sound waves literally coming out of you that you have to mold and shape.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So your body and your brain and your mind and your vocal cords are doing something that have to work in complete harmony And sometimes they might not work in harmony, so you don't know when that will happen. You kind of have to just go with... It doesn't matter how much practice or how good you are. There are days when it just won't work as well as you want it to work.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. And then you add on to it. If you're singing something that means something to you that you know is really emotionally connected, you're giving that piece of yourself to other people and you hope that they'll accept it. Uh-huh. And you don't know if they will. You've got to detach from them. Yeah. But if they do, that's also really vulnerable.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Because you're like, oh, I don't know how you're connecting to it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You have to do two things. You have to do two things at the same time.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. It was insane. So right out of Color Purple, I did Widows with Steve McQueen. Then I did Bad Times. And then I did Harriet. So it was insane.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
At the big place, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, because I didn't audition for anywhere else. And I didn't, that wasn't the intention. The intention at the beginning was not to go to drama school because I just didn't know that I really even had the chance to do that. To act. Yeah, no one... You knew you could sing. I knew I could sing. Right. But no one had said to me, hey, there are these places you can go to to act, to hone your skill.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
You can do that. And nobody said it to me until I did this little, like, youth acting program at the theater.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And that's where I bumped into a really cool woman who ended up being, like, a mentor for a while. Her name is Ray McKen. And she... had run a young acting company at the Young Vic like five years before this.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Where we did like a version of Romeo and Juliet and I played Juliet. And I didn't see her until that day. Yeah. When I was about to go and do the young actors company at the theater. And I met her at the – it was at a theater. And I met her at the foyer at the ticket office and she was like, oh – I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm going to do this. And she was like, well, I'm running it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I can't believe it. This is amazing. She goes, yeah, you can't come unless you're going to go to drama school. I think you should train. I said, what do you mean train? What do you mean train? She said, well, you should go to drama school. What do you mean drama? What?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No idea. Yeah, I think you should go to drama school. I think you should go to this place called the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. She called it RADA first. I was like, what the heck is RADA? She was like, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. No, I'm not going. She said, why? Because I'm not going to get in. Why would I go to the, it's literally called the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I'm not going to a place that is called that. I'm not going to get in. There's no way. She said, you should apply and I think you have a chance of getting in. I was like, I'm not going. That's that. She said, okay, fine. Then you can't come and do this. You can't do this actor's company. She called you on it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
She wouldn't let me go to this thing unless I applied for the school. And what was the audition? When I went, it was four rounds of audition. The first round you went, you prepared two speeches from two different shows, one Shakespeare, one modern. Yeah, right. And I did a piece from A Winter's Tale. The character's called Hermione. And then a piece from a play called The Colored Museum.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
She did. She coached me. Yeah. I did that. It worked, to my surprise. I got through to the second round.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, you do. Well, you now prepare a third just in case.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, yeah, but I was also like, what do I do that just feels, like, cool and different and I can, like, emote and, like, tell stories through? What did you do? She was like, well, you can do, why don't we try a fine line from Avenue Q? So we did There's a Fine Line from Avenue Q. And I think I redid... The speech by Hermione.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And then the third round, they put you into groups where you have to prepare a speech.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And this time you have to prepare the third speech. So I did Amelia from Othello. I think it was. Yeah. Amelia from Othello. And then they sort of watch you in groups. Yeah. And see how you are with groups, how you work with people. Yeah. And in the fourth round, those people who get through to the fourth round do their speech in front of the faculty and the rest of the auditionees.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And the day I did my speech in front of everyone, there was another girl. I remember her name is Naomi, who had the same speech as me. And when she went up, she froze. And she had the same speech. And so I fed her the lines. So we were sort of back and forth for a little bit, feeding the light. Until she got on her. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I was so happy to see her. I was the one person that was like, oh, my goodness, I hope she gets in, please, later again. Because that's a good moment for both of us here. That was a good moment for her, too.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Why wouldn't I? We have the same speech. I would have looked crazy if I didn't. Or just competitive. I would have felt crazy, yeah. I wasn't going to let her freeze out there.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. It was such a good moment. It was also so like... Like, felt good to just be like, ooh, this is what it could be. You take the line. You know what I mean?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I love Shakespeare. I haven't had the chance to do it on film or on stage. And that's what I studied. So I would love the opportunity to do it at some point.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I just start doing plays and musicals. The first thing I did out of Radha was like a little play with music in it because it wasn't really a musical. It just like was a play. Was it Willie Nelson that wrote the music?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I think it was Willie Nelson that wrote the music. Those are pretty songs.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Umbrellas of Cherbourg in a West End theatre. That didn't last for very long, but it was fun to do. And it was the reason I got my next thing, which was like a big old UK tour of Sister Act.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It was crazy and fun and wild. We were exhausted all the time. Lots of music to sing, lots of things to do. But it was crazy. Those UK tours are so interesting because you... You don't really know what you're walking into until you walk into the theater. And you don't really know what you're walking into until you walk into wherever you've decided to stay.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Because the pictures that they give you about where you're supposed to stay never match where you're staying. And sometimes you luck out and they really do match. Other times, they really don't. And you're stuck. And you're like, I'm... For what, a month? It's bad.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, well, by the time we got to Color Purple, I was back in London. Because the first time I did the Color Purple, we did a little stint of it at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. And I was at home again, which is fine. And obviously when we came to Broadway, it was lovely.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
That's a long, complicated conversation. Well, that's probably why. I probably shouldn't even get into it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It just was like, it's one of those roles. And because, you know, it's eight shows a week.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And I think we did over 400 shows. It ran for 14 months.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I knew it like the back of my hand. Yeah. And yeah, I just, I remember I said to someone- After like time 400 or something, you get called ugly on stage. The line stops, the line between you and reality and the character. I mean, before time 400, before show 400, the line's already kind of gone. Yeah. Because your body starts to do whatever it needs to to get to where it needs to faster.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
So you stop... It becomes really thin. The veil becomes really, really, really thin. And so it stops being the characters being called this and it starts being you are. And you start feeling it. You start believing it. And it's really hard every day to do that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Because if you're lucky enough to run for six months, that's a good run.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
But we ran for 14. Yeah. So for me, and because I really try to be as honest as I can, whatever I'm doing. Sure. Because I want to believe myself as well. I want the watcher to believe and I want them to connect. I think the only way a person can connect is if it's coming from an honest place.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Exactly. So to be able to sing I'm here and to get to a place where you can say I'm beautiful, you have to believe to some degree that that isn't the truth until you believe it. You have to make yourself believe it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And so for me doing that show, after like four months, everything started to wear away. So you're sort of like, I'm just being as honest as I can. I'm not myself, but I am funneling all of my things.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. I had a complete breakdown one night on stage. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It was very tangible. I was lucky because Isaiah, who was playing mister at that point, noticed immediately and just stared into my eyes and, like, mouthed, I'm right here. I'm here. You're okay.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I don't even know. It was just, like, the strangest experience of just, like, I was like, not even where am I, but the hurt, any hurt that I was feeling as this character.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
cut through me as well yeah deeply yeah and i couldn't get words out oh no and it wasn't i had i hadn't forgotten the words yeah i just couldn't say them yeah i just couldn't find i could i didn't have the my my voice had gone so well so maybe it was like you as you yeah wouldn't be able to do it It was so insane.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It was like, you know when, let's say, if you're just playing something and all of a sudden someone ripped the character out from underneath you and you're on stage. It was like, I realized I was on stage at that point. And I realized that I was saying these words. And I was there. Cynthia was there.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Oh, my God. It was the wildest, most horrid, most, I guess, opening experience I've ever had. It was opening? Yeah, because it meant that I...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
No, just for me as a person, because it was like, oh, you are telling the truth, which is good.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
That's good. You just want to keep building. You want to keep finding that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I did love the show, actually. I really loved the show. And I think I connected with the idea that someone who was different could be ostracized because of it. Mm-hmm. And so when I was asked to do it, when I finally was told that I could, a part of me was like, How do I, because, you know, you want to make sure that you're paying homage to the thing that exists already.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
But also I really wanted to be able to inform it with my experience. Yeah. Because I do live in the skin. Yeah. And I know what it's like to be the only person in the room who looks like this. Yeah. And I know what it is like to have people be like, Okay. You know, that kind of thing. So I wanted to make sure that that could be funneled through this particular character.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And the experience was like, it was tough sometimes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
John was incredible. Yeah. But for this particular character's journey, it's hard. She has to figure some stuff out on her own. She has to.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. And she experiences a lot of loneliness, a lot of ostracization, if that's a word. Yeah. And then has to. figure out how to accept herself and then accept the things that other people won't she you know finds these relationships that i don't think she even expects to have well it's fortunate that you're magic yes but even that comes at a price yeah yeah sure even for her it's like
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Her magic doesn't really expand until she allows herself to be the thing that people don't want her to be.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. So that comes from the book. Okay. Gregory Maguire wrote a book that was actually very political. Yeah. And I think that's probably what is coming through in the book. The musical has a small amount, but not as much as the movie, I think. But that's because we have the space now to combine both the beauty of the stage and the book.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And I think that is actually what allows us to tell a fuller story. And I think that's why it feels quite political, because that's how we wrote it, really.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. It's like what forces a person into being the way they are. The two things are being discussed at the same time, like turning a person or creating a villain or creating a common enemy.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And what pushes that person into that space in the first place. At some point, she accepts that, her role.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It's coming. You'll be so surprised about how fast another year will go.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
It's ready. Well, it's not ready, but it's shot.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. So we started rehearsals in August 2022. We started shooting December 2022. We finished. Well, we went until June or July 23. We went on strike. Everyone went on strike. So we had to wait a while. And we came back top of this year and finished in February.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
She's like a little Lucille Ball. Yeah. Yeah. She's phenomenal. I'm really, really proud of her, actually.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Just the Academy. So it's often to raise money. I think it's mainly to raise money to keep the Academy Museum open and going and expanding. Is that where it was? That's where it was, yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. It's really beautiful.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
The history of film specifically. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. So like everything from the actual academies themselves. Yeah. And then film throughout the ages. And sometimes they'll have like retrospectives on particular.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They did Kubrick one. I feel like they did Pablo Amadova as well. Oh, that would make sense. Yeah. That was really cool.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. They did, yes. They did some cool bits on Barbara Streisand. Yeah. It's like some really lovely things to see. Yeah. There's like a costume retrospective of all the different things. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And it changes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. The thing is, I like singing live anyway. And if I can have a live band or a live mini orchestra behind me, I'm happy. Was there a host? Yes, there were a few hosts. Oh, yeah? There wasn't like one main host for the night.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Who hosted? Saoirse Ronan hosted for Paul Mescal. John Travolta hosted for Quentin Tarantino.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
He actually did not. It was really succinct and sweet. And I think he donated his handwritten script for Pulp Fiction. Oh, that's nice. Which was really cool. And, oh, Steven Spielberg for Rita Moreno. It was wonderful.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Black tie. Everyone's dressed up. Yeah, everyone's dressed up. Very black tie.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
But sometimes, the thing is, right now, I feel like tuxedos are sort of like, if you want.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Although that's kind of like a throwback to the 90s, really.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I mean, I ended up wearing a kilt when I was at secondary school, and there was no real reason for me to wear a kilt except for that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. I had a plaid skirt. Like a plaid skirt. It was a kilt. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I actually think it comes from, now I may be wrong, but I think it originally comes from, strangely enough, Japan.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I think so. I might be wrong, but I think so. I was doing some weird research for some reason.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And if I'm wrong, I apologize, but I'm so sure about it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, yeah. It's further back than we realize.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah, the day was okay. I woke up very late. Oh, really? But I think my body had been asking for a lot of sleep because I've been on different time zones for a while.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I don't anymore. I think it makes me become really obsessed with it. I love fitness. I'm a fitness freak. But when I have my fitness watch, it just... What were you using? Both. Fitbit and Apple.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, if you're doing it compulsively, I think it's probably as much as me.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Sometimes that happens. Occasionally. I have to have a conversation with myself sometimes. If I'm not working out today, you don't need to work out because you worked out yesterday and you're totally fine. It's okay. Don't get so upset because you haven't. Don't feel guilty. But most of the time I do.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Maybe just like your breathing, the oxygen is coming in.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I don't know if I want to be made to feel guilty by my watch. That's a little intense.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. Well, the thing is, so, like, I'll set the problem with the Apple or the Fitbit. But both work really well because they sort of, like, keep you on track. But if you set, like, a... You set an amount of steps to do, right? And then one day you just don't do that amount of steps. And then you sort of like, then your watch will be like, well, you're behind on your steps by this amount.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
And like, it'll keep coming up until you beat your steps. So then you keep going until you beat the steps. Sometimes there are days where you just can't.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
A little bit. Yeah. So I take breaks. Yeah. Me and the watch separate for a little bit sometimes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, here's the thing with Fitbit. You can take the wrist, the band off. Yeah. And you just pin it to you.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
I did. I'm not even joking. When you're walking up the stairs in the castle? No, I'm being so serious. I had it on me all day.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1592 - Cynthia Erivo
Well, I mean, that's... I can either put it in my boot.