Lenny Kravitz’s ‘Rustin’ Song “Road To Freedom” Is “A Call To Action”; The Story Behind ‘Let Love Rule’ & “Surprises” On New Album ‘Blue Electric Light’
12.01.2024 - 22:15
/ deadline.com
Lenny Kravitz usually waits for music to come to him, like the way he wrote his iconic 1991 song, “It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over”.
“[I was] in the hotel room after my breakup with Zoe’s mom, which was extremely emotional and painful, and I was just staying at this hotel in LA with the curtains drawn, very sad, depressed,” he says. “All I had was a Fender Rhodes, which is an electric piano. And just sat down one day and just started playing these chords.”
Kravitz’s creativity functions “like an antenna” he explains. He had a similar process writing “Let Love Rule”: “I’d written [the words] ‘let love rule’ on the wall outside of my apartment, next to the elevator. And I kept passing this thing for months, in and out of the apartment, in the elevator, in New York. And then, one day, I walked in the apartment after looking at it on the wall for the 500th time, and picked up a guitar, and just wrote the song. I never intended on writing a song, I just liked the phrase.”
But when producer Bruce Cohen called Kravitz, he needed a song right now for the George C. Wolfe-directed Rustin—the story of Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo), whose work with Martin Luther King Jr. was vital in organizing the 1963 March on Washington.
Kravitz felt the voice of his mother urging him to accept, so he worked with the tight turnaround. The resulting song, “The Road to Freedom” got a Golden Globe nomination and is Oscar shortlisted. Here, Kravitz describes that songwriting process and what we can expect from his upcoming album Blue Electric Light, set for release in March.
DEADLINE: You’ve known George C. Wolfe since you were a teenager. Tell me about that connection?
LENNY KRAVITZ: Well, I met him when I was 17.