“We were kind of outsiders”: St Vincent’s ode to life growing up in Dallas
There are some artists who simply don’t fit in anywhere. Not because they are not wanted or have nothing to offer us, but because of the opposite.
Take St Vincent, for example – her artistry is so elusive and blends endless ideas from all four corners of the globe, that confining her to the limitations of one place feels inherently contradictory.
But the truth is St Vincent, whose real name is Annie Clark, actually hails from America, but her wildly experimental art-rock sensibilities would naturally thrust her into the city of New York, where you would be forgiven for thinking she grew up, absorbing the myriad ideas that surrounded her and her densely populated musical brain.
Clark was born in a state that represents somewhat of an antithesis to the Big Apple: Texas, one that developed pioneers like Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, and Roy Orbison and helped give way to a distinct country and honky-tonk scene, yet felt so far removed from the free-spirited futurism of an artist like Clark.
Remembering her upbringing, Clark explained, “There are great things about where I am from, and I spend a lot of time there, I was self-alienated and strange and was dreaming of the day when I could go and see the broader world, which I knew was out there, but I didn’t have access to.”
Ultimately, the roots of that alienation helped form Clark’s artistic position as an outsider, which, in the development of her career that has extended beyond the realms of the Lone Star State, has made her one of the most elusive and interesting artists of the modern day.
But after conquering the musical world, with an artistic brand that embraced the escapism of a time gone by, namely 1970s New York, Clark realised that when it came to understanding Texas and more specifically her home city Dallas, as a matured artist, there was still an itch that needed scratching.
So she returned to it on her song ‘Teenage Talk’ which she wrote while in Austin, Dallas’ neighbouring city. It directly addressed that feeling of alienation, while also seeing the romance in the close friendships she forged through a sense of youthful recklessness, and so finally, with her childhood in the rear view mirror, she could see the romance.
“I have a whole lot of love for Texas still, you know, roots, and friends, family, connections; [the song] was reminding me of my best friends in my youth,” Clark explained. “It was incredibly formative. I feel super, super blessed – which is not a word I even use – to have met them in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas and to have forged such a strong bond. We were kind of outsiders, and we had to find our way through the malaise of suburban Texas childhood.”
It’s a pivotal track in understanding Clark as an artist and humanises her in a way that not many of her other songs can. But more than that, it proves her ability to pen something heartfelt, universal and dare I say it, commercial, while maintaining her signature style.
