Revisiting "Ingenue" with Joanna McNaney Stein
Charles talks to the author of a new book on k.d. lang's classic
In November 2023, Joanna McNaney Stein released a fantastic new addition to the 33 1/3 Series focused on k.d. lang’s 1992 classic Ingenue. For Joanna - an Assistant Professor of creative writing at CUNY-Kingsborough who has written for publications ranging from PopMatters to Bust to LGBTQ Nation among others - Ingenue not only represents a pivotal moment of creative and personal breakthrough for lang, but helped the author understand herself in ways that resonate throughout the book’s pages. With close listening, deep research, and big-picture context, this is the kind of book that sends you right back to the source material and makes you hear it in new ways. It was my pleasure to chat with her - check out the book here, and learn more about Joanna’s other work here!
CH: This book is obviously focused on this essential artist and album, but you also incorporate some beautiful sections about yourself, particularly as you discuss what lang’s music meant to you in terms of your own journey. I’ve done some similar mixtures in some of my work, and I’ve always found it tricky to find the proper balance between incorporating memoir and keeping the focus on the artist. How did you approach that part of the project?
JMS: Ingenue was so critical to me as an adolescent that including personal experiences about my sexuality felt important. In the proposal to Bloomsbury, I said I wanted the book to be 33 ⅓ memoir, 33 ⅓ artist biography & 33 ⅓ album review. Figuring out how to make critical analysis flow structurally with the memoir sections was challenging. I’d written something like, “Feel free to ignore the personal sections…” in an early introduction draft as I assumed most readers would only want to hear about k.d. lang. The content editor encouraged me to remove that self-conscious disclaimer and really own the memoir parts, so I took her advice (even though I still feel insecure about those parts).
CH: You do such interesting work tracking the richness of lang’s voice (singing, writing, public) and the way she developed different voices (of all kinds) through her career. I remember when lang spoke at the Pop Conference a few years ago, and she said that the best thing you could do with your voice was just “to use it.” Your book gets to the many ways that she’s built upon that simple, powerful idea in her career. What makes her voice so distinct, and why is Ingenue such a compelling demonstration of how she uses it?
JMS: Ingenue was a risky venture for both k.d. lang and co-writer Ben Mink, and neither knew if that risk would pay off (though ultimately it did). Since lang was moving away from her roots (and her fan base) in country music, where she went full force with her vocal power, she needed to adapt her sound somewhat. Listening to Ingenue, the vocals feel much quieter, more nuanced, and more vulnerable than her previous album, Absolute Torch & Twang (though there were hints of her subtlety on that record). She definitely “used it,” as you mentioned her saying at the Pop Conference, in many different ways, including publicly when coming out in The Advocate.
CH: Revisiting Ingenue as I read, I was really struck by the resonances I heard with the work of Joni Mitchell, who you reference several times in the book. There are obvious points of connection between the two Canadian singer-songwriters, but I’m wondering if you also hear the two artists as being in conversation. Also, are there other artists who you hear lang in conversation with on Ingenue?
JMS: Since the album has such European influence, I’d say k.d. is definitely channeling Marlene Dietrich, even more so than Joni Mitchell (or even Patsy Cline), on Ingenue. Since Dietrich was a stage performer, and lang had a background in performance art, that dramatic cabaret sound of some of the Ingenue tracks definitely links them together.
CH: You have some great interviews with several of lang’s collaborators, both from the Ingenue period and other eras of her career. But you didn’t get to talk to k.d. lang, though – at least not yet! What would you ask k.d. lang if you’d had a chance to interview her about Ingenue?
JMS: I would have loved to ask her what advice she’d give to her younger self in the early 90s. Obviously, I had many other questions I wanted to ask, though I would’ve probably started with that one.
CH: You refer to lang as a “lesbian folk hero” whose influence can be heard in contemporary artists across genre and generation embodying lang’s “fearless queerness.” What artists do you hear right now who you especially recognize as working from lang’s example?
JMS: Ok, hearing “lesbian folk hero” aloud now sounds a bit overdramatic, but I suppose I still stand by that idea. I see that same spark or bravado that lang had in the 90s with Brandi Carlile, and seeing Courtney Barnett live last year also reminded me of k.d. (in that as an audience member, I was completely transfixed). I also think Tegan & Sara, not only in their Canadian-ness but also in their playfulness and pining, especially in older songs like “Living Room,” where there is a bit of a country vibe, gives k.d. energy!
CH: What’s your favorite kd lang song that isn’t on Ingenue?
JMS: “Trail of Broken Hearts” from Absolute Torch & Twang.
CH: What are you listening to right now?
JMS: I’ve been re-listening to the soundtrack from the 2001 film Amelie by Yann Tiersen, the track “La Valse d’Amelie” is one that I’ve always loved (and the accordion is reminiscent of “Constant Craving” to some degree).
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