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Birth of a Goddess
Michael Fulton

Jillian Banks is a long way away from being a gay icon, but she’s off to a good start. Like Madonna and Cher, the moody Los Angeles songstress is a one-name phenom: Banks. A touchstone of 2014, her debut, _Goddess_, is an intoxicating hybrid of James Blake-esque electronica and old-school R&B. 

Banks rang recently to chat about the calls she gets from prisoners, mistaking Tracy Chapman for a man and her mission to make everyone feel like a “goddess.”  

 

How did you become known as Banks?

Growing up people called me Banks, and my music is very fragile at points, and also very powerful and almost aggressive. I feel like Banks has masculine and feminine qualities to it, so I think it’s the representation of my music in a word and a name. 

 

Have you always embraced your masculine tendencies? Were you a tomboy?

I went through stages of being a tomboy when I was little, definitely. For me, it’s more about feeling really strong and powerful in what I do. But yeah, definitely growing up I went through stages where I was in the mud constantly. (Laughs)

 

When it comes to your persona, what’s different about you on stage versus off? 

I mean, it’s still me. But everybody has layers to them, and different attributes are magnified in different settings. Definitely when I’m on stage, I feel my most pure form. I’m just me. I just sing my music. I dive into my music and whatever comes out is what comes out on stage. 

 

Do you harness a fiercer persona when you’re playing music? Is that something you’ve always done? 

Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I’m fierce as a human, and it comes out on stage. You can’t be walking down the street and, you know, singing your songs and strutting.

 

Why not?

(Laughs) OK, you could! But, yeah, it’s just like I said: I dive into music onstage and I’m very in tune with what each word means and that comes out with strength, maybe. You could say that, I guess. 

 

Gay men are drawn to strong people. How aware are you of a gay following at this point in your career?

I don’t know. I don’t really think of whether my fans are gay or straight or whatever. I just think of all of them as people who connect with my music, and that’s incredible. 

 

How did you decide on Goddess for the album title?

Embracing your own human characteristics is a big theme in my music. I write about feeling weak. I write when I’m feeling strong and sexy and spicy. I write when I’m feeling angry and aggressive. And it’s just human. You’re not a robot. I feel like I’m a goddess because of that. And every woman is a goddess, and every man is a god. Everyone is so powerful. I just want people to embrace their own weaknesses and their own strengths and just love all of that. Just be. Breathe and be. 

 

I know many men who feel like goddesses too.  

(Laughs). Yeah, I was gonna say every man and woman is a goddess!

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You’ve always been a big Tracy Chapman fan, and when you were younger, didn’t you think she was a man?

I thought she was a man! I thought she was a male! I was listening to her in my mom’s car and I saw the album cover and it was a woman. I was just completely mesmerized by her. I was infatuated with her. I couldn’t believe this guttural, crunchy, layered, dark tone was coming from a woman. I was a young girl hearing that and it was incredible. People are not just one thing. It doesn’t matter what you look like or what people think of you – people are so layered, and you can never sum somebody up by how they look. You just have to experience their energy, and so I was just in love with her.

 

Did you have that epiphany about people being multi-faceted because of Tracy Chapman?

I don’t know if that was the only reason, but I was definitely wowed by her voice. She was definitely one of the first. Her, Fiona Apple, Lauryn Hill – I just connected to them so much growing up. But out of all of them, I was the youngest when I discovered Tracy Chapman. I mean, I feel like my legs didn’t even touch the floor when I was in my mom’s car listening to her. Like, then, my legs were dangling off the seat!

 

How long did it take for you to figure out she was a woman?

A month or two. I was just listening to this buttery voice I kept hearing – I knew all the words – and I was always like, “Play that song.” But I never knew her name. Then I heard her name was “Tracy,” I looked at the album cover and I was like, “Wow – amazing!”

 

How are you dealing with your sudden fame? Do you have any reservations about it? 

(Sighs) I don’t know. I’m trying to just be in the moment and experience things. Being known – it’s a very new thing for me, definitely. I kept my music very private for such a long time. I didn’t have a Facebook or an Instagram or a Twitter. I was comfortable not being open about my music. Now, all of a sudden, people are hearing it and they’re seeing my face. It’s a new thing for me, but I’m just so fulfilled being able to even do this. And the fact that people are connecting with it – it’s incredible. It’s amazing. I’m just excited.

 

Because you’re not engaged with social networking, you famously gave out your phone number and told your fans to call you. Tell me about the best call you’ve received from a fan. 

I get some really emotional ones, and I get some really silly ones. At one point, somehow, I think I was on prison radio, and then I was just getting calls one day out of nowhere. I got six calls from six different prisons. Now I get calls from prison all the time! So I don’t know – those are kind of cool. 

Usually when you get messages from people in prison it’s just that collect call voice – “If you accept this call from whatever prison, press pound” – but my favorite message was from one inmate who got through. This message he left was so crazy: “I’ve been in prison for 12 years. We’re not allowed to watch TV or have phones or anything in here, but I read a magazine you were in and you must be really special for them to be talking about you like that.” It was one of the most genuinely beautiful messages. I played it for my management and we were trying to find out who this guy was. I was so intrigued by him! I wanted to know about him! But his name was generic, so we never really found out. 

 

Most people would probably consider random prison calls creepy, but you call it “cool.”

(Laughs) Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty crazy – but it’s still cool! Orange Is the New Black

 

Are there personal experiences or feelings so sacred to you that you leave them out of your music?

No. You were asking me about being more public now and I have to make a conscious decision to never change how I write. My music is the safest place for me. It’s the one place I can say anything, and so I have to make a conscious decision never to hold anything back even though there's this new thing happening where people know me and they’re hearing the music, which is crazy. But there’s a song on the album called “Someone New” that was really hard for me. It was the first song that I wrote that I couldn’t listen to for a few months – it just hurt my heart. With music, I put everything into it. It’s what keeps me sane. I don’t think that’ll ever change. 

 

You have a psychology degree from the University of Southern California. How does that knowledge of human emotions play into your songwriting? 

I was writing songs before I got my degree and I don’t really think it affects my writing at all. I’ve always been interested in adolescent development and how your brain needs certain chemicals to function at certain levels. Different relationship dynamics have always intrigued me too. That’s why I got my degree in it. But in terms of my music – my music is all heart. There’s nothing in my head that creates my music. It’s just my heart and my gut, and it comes out how it does.

 

How is your heart feeling right now? 

Happy.