The Unexpurgated interview with Azealia Banks

This musician has been known to shoot her mouth off about anything and everything - and she’s a fashion icon too. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you: Azealia Banks

HOW DID IT FEEL TO BE INVITED TO HEADLINE THE AUDI FASHION FESTIVAL AFTER PARTY? It’s fun, it’s great! I’m always honoured when I get invited anywhere to play. You know there’s the big fashion weeks: New York, Paris, Milan. And then there’s like LA fashion week and Singapore fashion week and what does that even mean? I guess I’m just really interested in what happens during Singapore fashion week. Like who are the designers? I know that Chanel has a cruise collection.

THERE ARE SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS AS WELL AS LOCAL DESIGNERS SHOWING. There are a lot of international designers showing? Because there’s a lot of money here, right? (laughs)

IS FASHION A BIG PART OF YOUR LIFESTYLE? I think that style is a bigger part of my lifestyle than fashion. I feel like fashion is very trendy you know so fashion is like an exclusive club kind of thing. It’s almost kind of like music. It’s like when all of the kids listen to Emo music it’s like this is us. It’s a sense of belonging, fashion, whereas style is more like you have more individuality.

YOU DON’T SEEM LIKE THE TYPE TO FOLLOW TRENDS THEN. Yeah. It’s so weird like whenever trends are happening I’m like ehhh. I like beauty trends a lot like make up trends but clothing trends ... er, you know there are like 50 other people with this necklace on right now and I’m like I don’t really want to wear that. There are 50 other people with this Versace necklace on that everyone is wearing right now and I’m like ughh. So I’m gonna get a vintage Versace suit and do that instead.

WHAT INSPIRES YOUR STYLE? I’m inspired a lot by older woman. You know, like conservative suits and skirt suits and stuff like that. I like really clean two-piece set stuff like that. I don’t have time to be a fashionistia, play fashionista or even pretend to be fashionista. Whatever looks serious and professional, whatever will make people take me more seriously.

ISN’T IT FUNNY THAT DESPITE YOU FEELING THAT WAY THERE ARE TONNES OF PEOPLE WHO STILL VIEW YOU AS A FASHIONISTA AND WANT TO HAVE WHAT YOU’RE WEARING? I know right? Like dude, I got this at a thrift shop for $10. It’s not even that serious.

DOES MUSIC INFLUENCE YOUR STYLE IN ANY WAY? My favourite style of genre is House. I love House music so I think I’m very inspired by the 90s. 90s House had a lot of style. If you look at all the 90s House divas, they’re all in suits: Robin S and Crystal Waters. They wore suits and turtlenecks. So 90s businesswoman is my look, there you go!

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR STYLE WHEN YOU’RE HANGING OUT WITH YOUR FRIENDS? When I’m hanging out with my friends I’m wearing something very dirty, probably something I’ve been wearing for three days. When I’m on stage I wear things that are bright and colourful and interesting. I have this guy named Brad Callahan who custom makes all of my stage wear so I feel like he’s really the head behind my staging. I’m like I’m going to give you this money and you go and do it because I don’t know what I’m doing here.

IS THERE ANY GENRE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH APART FROM HOUSE AND RAP? Once I’ve got all my kiddy giggle out I would really like to go into jazz. Go get trained vocally and learn how to play instruments and really just learn music mathematically because I’ve really got a sense of it mathematically like via software like Pro Tools and just figuring stuff out like that. Really knowing music theory of the bat in an old school way. It’s so strange because technology ruins EVERYTHING, you know what I mean? Everything that’s real and true, technology has completely ruined it. When you listen to music from the 70s, there are artists who are trying to replicate that like the Ceelo Greens and Bruno Mars. I feel like Amy Winehouse was the only contemporary artist who kind of got close. Even replicating the true soul of that era of music, none of that exists anymore. That real, true soulful sound for all genres, even house music from before. So basically I just want to get to a point where I’m as good as the musicians were before Pro Tools. Because I don’t feel anyone is that good, not even Kanye West is that good.

SO IS THERE NOBODY YOU WOULD LOVE TO COLLABORATE WITH IN THE FUTURE? Actually Ariel Pink. He’s a mad man. I know him personally, he’s one of my really good friends but he is literally one of the most talented people I’ve ever met in my life. I feel like he is last of the Mohicans I feel like his soul is just from a different time. He’s got an album called Before Today and the name of his group is Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. He’s contemporarised every important era in rock music in one album and it’s really mind-blowing and just amazing. I’m trying to get to where he’s at and I would definitely want to collaborate with him in the future.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER MUSIC ICONS? I don’t know I feel like my icons have changed now that I’m a musician and a musician-musician in the sense that I make music and not in the sense that I’m a rapper or whatever. Now I’m actually making beats and pulling things apart and writing horn sections and harmonies and melodies. Granted, I’m doing it off the top of my head and I’ve got a vocal producer who’s making sure it’s mathematically correct and stuff like that. I’m really idolizing Ariel Pink right now though.

I DON’T SUPPOSE YOU HAVE ANY STYLE ICONS THEN? Nah. Fashion at the surface, it’s cool and interesting but in depth, it’s really not that interesting. You throw your money in the air to buy a bunch of stuff to impress a bunch of people who don’t like you because the people who like you don’t care what you have on, you get what I’m saying? Like, who cares? And oh my God, I always get in trouble for saying things like that about fashion because the fashion industry loves me so much but I’m really, really, really like a musician. I nerd out to music and could talk about it forever. The fashion conversation with me is really short.