In Outs June issue, we sat down to talk with the folksy pop star about her gay fans (including especially enthusiastic lesbians) and her new disc, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. Here are some exclusive outtakes from our chat.
I have a friend who always complains that his hands are too small. He occasionally breaks out in your Hands song My hands are small
[Laughs] There was once a girl hitting on Ty [Murray], my boyfriend. She was hitting on him right in front of me. It was so blatant. He was doing a local morning news show to promote a book. Its so unlike me but I was so pissed that the girl was hitting on him on local television. Shes like 10 feet tall and I had to look up at her. She comes over and introduces herself, and she had just been on TV saying, Good thing your girlfriends here, otherwise Id give you a run for your money. It pissed me off three ways from Sunday. I looked up at her and said, My hands are small, I know, but they will choke the fuck out of you if you hit on my boyfriend anymore. [Laughter] My boyfriend was so shocked because it was so unlike me. So Ive quoted my songs in tacky ways myself!
Whats a great thing about having gay fans?
My Intuition video the only fans I feel got it and watched it were my gay fans. None of them were asking me what I was thinking. They thought it was the funniest video. They were like, That was the hottest, you looked totally great, it was so fucking funny. You know what I like about gay fans? I think that as a singer-songwriter, you get held up to this standard where youre supposed to be so serious all the time and stand for all this stuff. Ive never really felt that way. Youre supposed to shy away from sexuality and be taken seriously and never show cleavageall that stuff. Even though I was trying to make a comment in my Intuition video, it really bothered people that I was dressed as sexily as I was. My gay fans are like, You go for it! You look good in that shit and you should show that shit off while you got it.
You did look good!
It didnt even seem like a conflict to my gay fans. Other fans know me well enough too, but a lot of people saw it as some sort of conflict of morality. I thought most of my fans were fairly liberal but its funny I remember fans almost disowning me for smoking a cigarette in a still photo. It was actually a lollipop, but they thought it was a cigarette, and I cannot tell you the debates that went on! Do we still like Jewel? Does she still stand for everything she stands for even though she smokes? You wouldve thought I went down on the devil or something! It was bizarre.
Read more about Jewel in the June issue of Out.
