It’s been 25 years given that the globe was presented to Rufus Wainwright with his launching self-titled cd, which included tracks like “April Fools,” “In My Arms” as well as a lot more. To commemorate, the singer-songwriter took a seat with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly to review his profession.
“I feel awful,” he jokes regarding just how it really feels to commemorate 25 years given that his launching. “No, I’m very proud and excited to be alive and still making music and happy. That first record I made has proven to have lasted, and I worked very hard on it. It took me three years to make that first record. It cost a lot of money.”
As for the 25th wedding anniversary re-issue that appeared early this year, Wainwright stated that the cd was remastered as well as has some perk product also. “What’s interesting about the record is that it was made in the mid to late 90s, and it really was part of the last breath of the grand record company-artist relationship, where they’d sort of write all the checks and then let you do whatever you wanted to do. They really didn’t expect you to be popular until your third or fourth album,” he remembers.
“I wasn’t trying to be a trailblazer or anything,” he proceeds. “AIDS was still very much — it’s still part of our world today — but at that time, it was killing a lot of people, a lot of gay men, and I just didn’t want to end up in the situation if I did get AIDS at that point, that I would be dying and also have to come out of the closet. I just wanted to avert that tragedy. Thankfully it didn’t happen.”
If his launching cd was launched in 2023, Wainwright thinks “it would be considered very unique and very unusual and very romantic, especially, because we live in such a tough world.”
Watch Billboard‘s complete meeting with Rufus Wainwright over.
