Sheryl Crow has left Santa Monica Boulevard with her new CD, "Detours." The singer—and new mom—spoke to Jac Chebatoris:
Congratulations on the new baby, new record — and surviving cancer. How are you doing?
I am fantastic. In fact, can you hang on a second? I'm going to move because my son's in here and he wants to play. [Baby noise] Sorry about that.
How old is he?
Nine months, and he's trying so hard to walk. He's crawling at, like, 90 miles an hour, pulling up on everything. The madness begins!
How is writing with him around?
It's interesting that you can go out and talk about the environment with college kids, but until you have a kid and you're really emotionally invested in what kind of planet you're leaving for your kid, you don't realize the sense of urgency that you'll feel.
Do you feel a responsibility as an artist to get these issues out there in your songs?
I don't feel a responsibility to write about it—I feel an urgency. It's a really compelling time, and it would feel really wasteful to not talk about the things that are right in front of me. The fact that we're not all out in the streets and trying to incite change is indicative of just how numbed out we are.
As a mom, can you even imagine what Britney is going through?
The only way for paparazzi to stop chasing people around is to not buy the magazines. I would strongly encourage anyone who's interested in that kind of stuff to not watch because every moment you spend rejoicing or distracting yourself with that is a moment that you can't get back in your life. It's fast food and it's not good for us.
You've been a tabloid target yourself.
I was never top-shelf celebrity. I was never chased by paparazzi until my lowest point—when my public relationship [with Lance Armstrong] fell apart and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What's that say?
Is the song "Diamond Ring" alluding to Lance?
That song is specifically about my relationship with diamond rings. Not to embarrass myself, but I've been engaged more than once.
