Ariana Savalas’ world of glitter is now open for entry. It’s full of glamour, class, burlesque, and music that will elevate your fabulousness.
Her new single, ‘What Do You Wanna Know,’ is emotionally moving and vulnerable, carrying the force of the ultimate FML anthem of 2022. During our conversation, Savalas discussed how a momentary pandemic induced low point wrote ‘What Do You Wana Know’ in 10 minutes.
In her previous project, ‘The Dead Dance,’ Ariana Savalas encapsulates the true essence of cabaret by making glitter out of the darkness. She also explains how she found herself on legendary stages such as Radio City Music Hall and the O2 Arena in London from prior 50-seat theaters.
Hello Ariana, how are you doing today?
Absolutely fabulous, thank you! I resisted the urge to respond in the way my great Aunt always used to… which is “anyone I can, and the good ones twice!!”
How did you get into music in the first place?
My mother jokes that I came out of the womb doing jazz hands. I began in theatre actually, performing in musicals at the Catholic Convent I went to school at. I remember seeing the Kander and Ebb musicals Chicago and Cabaret for the first time, and the Baz Luhrmann movie Moulin Rouge, none of which were Convent approved but which inspired my entire life and career. I remember thinking to myself, I don’t want to just play these characters on broadway, I want to be a cabaret queen like the women in Fosse musicals
Could you elaborate eon how you became one of the founding members of Postmodern Jukebox?
I got my start in Los Angeles night clubs, performing Frank Sinatra and Julie London tunes in slinky sequin dresses for 50$ and a drink ticket. Eventually I was discovered by Corky Hale, who was Billie Holiday’s piano player and music director. She and her husband Mike Stoller (yes, that Mike Stoller) became dear friends of mine, and she began producing my first shows. From there, I began performing in much fancier cabarets and making a name for myself in the cabaret jazz world.
I really thought my career would begin and end in 50 seat theaters, but one day, my dear friend Dave Koz the saxophonist invited the manager of Postmodern Jukebox to one of my shows in Beverly Hills. He came up to me afterwards and asked if I’d like to work with their band PMJ. I ended up flying to New York that very next week to make my first collaboration with them and became one of the band’s founding members. That year, I went from playing 50 seat theaters to playing Radio City Music Hall and the 02 in London. It was truly wild.
What were the most valuable lessons from being part of it?
I evolved into a burlesque performer while touring with Postmodern Jukebox, and I learned so much about the art form from developing my strip acts on those PMJ tours. I remember performing in Paris at the Olympia with PMJ, and on our days off, having the great pleasure of seeing the Moulin Rouge and the Crazy Horse cabarets in person. I’ve never been so inspired, and immediately began incorporating burlesque and tease into my acts. Little did I know then that it would be one of the main art forms I’d eventually be known for.
What is the best piece of advice you got from a fellow female artist?
Don’t be afraid to age. The burlesque world has always known the power and worth of a mature women, and the music world is finally (if not barely) starting to catch wise. Do you think that you’re a failure because you haven’t hit your artistic peak by 19 years old, or you haven’t become a big star by 25? Bullshit. How many genius female artists has the world missed the opportunity to hear because some idiot at a record label decided that female artists over 23 are worthless? We make the rules now. It’s a different world than the bubblegum pop universe of the early millennium I grew up in. Take your time. Learn your craft. The world will be waiting for you when you’re ready. I’m 35 damn it, listen to your elders!!!!
What was important to you to express in your debut album ‘The Dead Dance’?
The album was heavily inspired by Weimar Cabarets of Germany and Parisian burlesques. There is a pretty obvious melancholia to the album, it’s rather thematically dark as the title suggests. But it was very important for me to express through the record the main element of cabaret that I adore, which is the ability to make glitter out of darkness. What the vintage cabarets were known for, and geniuses of, is their unique ability to take the most tragic elements of society at the time (whether it be poverty, war, governmental oppression), and transform it through performance into something fantastical and fabulous. As it pertains to my life, I’ve always found peace with the tragedies in my past if I am able to create beautiful music from them. And that’s what the Dead Dance means, transforming death into beauty.
What do you hope to achieve as a solo artist?
It’s always the same really. Whether listening to my albums or coming to my shows, I want my audiences to just forget about all of the nonsense in their lives for a bit. To enjoy my world of glitter and glam and rock and roll and fantasy, maybe to hear a song I’ve written that makes you feel or think or cry or want to have sex with your husband for the first time in a while. I want you to leave the experience feeling a bit more fabulous than when you came.
How would describe your sound?
Scott Bradlee, the founder of PMJ, once described my sound as emo burlesque rock, and I almost spit out my drink laughing. He fucking nailed it. Sadly, there’s no Grammy category for that particular genre! I’ll have to start a petition.
Two years later, you’re back with a new offering, how was your experience during the global pandemic?
The pandemic was, and still is, a heavy weight on my heart. A weight I share with the rest of the world. Personally, I wasn’t able to perform for over a year, as burlesque is an intimate art form, one that requires me to be within six inches of my audience, not six feet. Obviously, the WHO rightfully did not approve of such shenanigans, so I stopped touring and spent all of my time at home in Los Angeles. Which was, despite the state of the world, honestly lovely. My boyfriend and my dog and I had the most delightful quarantine together, cooking and watching TV and singing and rubbing each other’s butts.
What is the inspiration behind your new single ‘What Do You Wanna Know’?
‘What Do You Wanna Know’ is a song I wrote during my darkest time in the pandemic. For very personal reasons, I was feeling truly hopeless, not knowing what the future held for my life, feeling like a (pardon my French) complete fucking failure. My boyfriend was trying to console me one night, and asked what was going through my head. And I just started speaking what eventually became the lyrics to the song… “what do you wanna know, how I’m 34 can’t get my shit together?”. I then went upstairs to my studio and put into music everything I wasn’t able to say to him in that moment. The song wrote itself in about ten minutes.
What can you reveal about your second studio album ‘Drama’? What themes will be touching upon?
The album is about love, sexual fantasy, heartbreak, told through my melodramatic operatic rock and roll cabaret lens. Big dramatic emotions deserved big dramatic productions, and that’s what Drama is all about. My fans call me Big Drama Ariana, and with this record I’m definitely living up to that title.