Multi-platinum, award-winning Canadian vocalist LEE AARON is back with a collection of 12 brand-new originals that invite you to tune into the heartbeat of your personal radio dial and hear the best of what this rock ‘n’ roll legend has to offer. The new album, Radio On!, is due for release on 23rd July 2021.
“There’s definitely an element of just strong melody, classic rock and roll to what I do.” she tells us, “Although I would like to think I’m writing songs with slightly more mature subject matter these days, because some of these artists that are out there and it’s like, okay, you know, you’re like 50 and you’re still singing about drinking and chicks.”
Like the FM stations that once ruled the airwaves, Radio On! is full of classic, melodic rock hooks, nasty guitar riffs, big harmonies, and inspired songwriting. Themes explored on the album include mortality (“Radio On,” “Twenty One”), materialism (“Devil’s Gold”), empowerment (“Vampin'”), addiction (“Wasted”), love (“Cmon,” “Had Me At Hello”), and society (“Soul Breaker,” “Russian Doll”).
Throughout her career, Lee Aaron‘s music has always had a sense of classic rock n roll, although she has also ventured into blues, jazz and even a Christmas record. But she does admit the lyrical content may have changed over the years. “Obviously, the most dramatic thing to shift your world view is becoming a parent, right? All of a sudden all your priorities shift. You go, oh, that’s important. It’s not all about me.”
“I wrote a song on the new album called Great Big Love. It’s got almost like rock and roll gospel elements to the chorus of it. And I wrote it about how people that are complete can still be attracted to each other and be the glue that keeps them together.
And yeah, I wrote about some more mundane things like, you know, I’m not domestic, you’re a pretty good cook. It’s meant to be kind of tongue-in-cheek and funny. So I think that if you do it in a tongue-in-cheek type of way, you can incorporate those things into your own rock and roll.”
During our chat, we also talk about female empowerment and how, early in her career, Lee had to deal with female stereotypes in the world of rock n roll.
“Women like myself and Girlschool and Joan Jett, Lita Ford, The Runaways, even Joplin and Grace Slick, Heart and Fleetwood Mac, and all of these women that were coming up in the eighties were really fighting hard against sexual stereotypes. There was a double standard where if you were attractive and you looked good, people went, oh, well, she’s just a pretty face that sings.”
Lee gives her opinion about new female artists like Miley Cyrus, her biggest “pinch me” moment and who she thinks could play her in a movie about her life.
You can watch the full interview below:
LEE AARON – Radio On! will be released on July 23rd on METALVILLE RECORDS
