They gush over how cosmic this meeting is, after years of mutual admiration from afar.
Now it all makes sense!
Its always really fun and refreshing to see.
THE STUDIO:Electric Lady Studios, New YorkOriginally built for Jimi Hendrix shortly before his death in 1970, Electric Lady is one of the most famous studios in the world, with countless classic records and new hits coming from its rooms over the years.HIT LIST:Patti Smith, ‘Horses’; Weezer, the Blue Album; D’Angelo, ‘Voodoo’; the Roots, ‘Things Fall Apart’; Lorde, ‘Melodrama’; Taylor Swift, ‘Folklore’
Rapp agrees: Youre, verbatim, exactly the same way.
Like, 100 percent.
Rapp:I first saw you when I was 16.
On another planet, on another level.
I immediately was so enamored with you because your presence is equally as amazing as your voice.
I was like, Oh, people are reallysinginghere.
And I was obsessed.
Erivo:Thats so insane.
I cant believe that was your second show to have ever seen.
How soon after did you experience Broadway?
Rapp:Two or three years later.
Erivo:What was that like for you?
Theres so much time for all of that to happen.
You were literally discovering yourself.
Rapp:Bro, super early.
I innately knew I didnt want to go to school.
The style was changing, and it was becoming far more varied, which is great.
Rapp:Well, I had watched you do it.
It was just different.
I would listen to your stuff in the car, and I was like, Shes doing it!
And its just who you are and how you show up.
Its not like youre doing something to be different.
Its your voice, its your tone, its your presence.
Erivo:Did [Broadway] help give liftoff into who we know now?
Rapp:One hundred percent.
I had auditioned forMean Girls,and my agents were like, Youre just too young.
I was like, I would like to know them.
So if you agree to help me, Im doing this.
Erivo:So you worked with them for the purposes of getting music done?
Rapp:I just knew what I wanted.
I just think thats bullshit.
So I was like, I appreciate this.
Im doing this to do more, not doing this to stay here.
Because the growth beyond also means that if I come back, Im gonna be different.
Im gonna feel different.
It has to have elevated.
I felt the same….
I knew I wanted to doThe Color Purplewhen it came to London.
Im gonna do that.
Someone was like, Would you be [an understudy]?
And I was like, I would, but thats not what I want.
I want the role.
I was meant to play that role.
There was nothing anyone could tell me that would stop me.
So many people said no….
I went in and didnt hear back for two months after the audition.
Then they were doing it in London at this little theater, 200-seater.
I knew I was supposed to do it.
I was like, I just love this show.
That [production] is the reason we did it on Broadway.
Rapp:Thats so cool.
My entire life changed.
I know exactly what I want to do, but trusting it is sometimes tough.
Youre constantly convincing yourself of this thing.
You actually believe it, but to [everyone] else
Erivo:It looks insane.
I know I sounded absolutely insane.
I know I sounded crazy.
And nine times out of 10 its the best decision to make.
Some people call it happy accidents, but I dont think theyre accidents.
Rapp:I dont think so, either.
This is taking me out….
But Ive been such a huge fan of yours for a long time.
But more important than fan, Ive always looked up to you.
Erivo:I would have never known that!
I would never have thought that at all.
I feel so sure that Im obsessed with it.
Ive had my album name for months.
Now Im like, This is gonna be amazing.
Rapp:Youre like a vocal bible to teenagers in theater!
Erivo:Im blown away.
Now Im getting emotional … because its not just showing up and singing.
Its not just being in a room and making sounds.
Its also trying to give permission to people to just be themselves.
All Ive ever really done is be myself, and it means a lot.
Rapp:You know how everyone is like, Dont meet your heroes.
It will change your opinion of them?
I definitely have had that, literally, so many times.
But you are exactly as I imagined, pictured, seen and like 10 times more.
Rapp:Its kind of the same thing that were talking about….
I feel so sure that Im obsessed with it.
Its everything that I want it to be.
Ive had my album name for months.
Ive known exactly what were moving into.
This is the world were going into.
Now Im so stubborn.
Im like, This is gonna be amazing.
Erivo:If your DNA says things is good, then its probably great.
Rapp:Its that innate sort of feeling.
Ive recorded so many songs here [at Electric Lady].
Theyve all been ass.
Writing is just kind of like that, I guess.
Do you feel that way?
Then Id go back and finish filming.
Then we finally had this concentrated amount of time to move through everything.
Theres no partying in my studios.
Theres no alcohol in my studios.
Its just me and a microphone, a writer, and a piano.
Its exactly what I dreamed of.
Im still proud of it because we made it in a pandemic.
Rapp:You probably have more space to be thoughtful and really intentional.
Especially in a fucking pandemic, right?
I feel deeply connected to what weve managed to write.
It feels almost like this is the first album.
Rapp:This is a dumbass question, but do you feel gassed for the rest of the year?
Im gassed for the rest of your year.
Erivo:I saw [theWickedfilm] for the first time a couple of months ago.
Im just really excited.
Weve worked through the soundtrack me and [Ariana Grande] have been working hard.
Were just excited for it to all come together, for people to see it.
Rapp:Do you feel nerves?
Erivo:Yeah, obviously!
The day I stop feeling nervous about something I give a shit about, we got a problem.
Theyre the right kind of nerves.
Ive learned to decipher.
Ive definitely not listened to the nerves that go You shouldnt be here, you shouldnt be doing this.
It bites me on the ass.
But the other nerves, that feel like butterflies … those are the ones Im getting right now.
Rapp:How do you decipher?
Erivo:Theres a difference.
It always feels different.
But then I get nervousness in my tummy, and its fine.
The day I stop feeling nervous about something I give a shit about, we got a problem.
Rapp:Thats a good point.
I get a lot of nerves that are in the head.
Im like, You should just push through.
You dont know whats best for you.
I always you-dont-know-whats-best-for-you myself.
Erivo:We sometimes convince ourselves that we have no idea, but we do.
Rapp:Bro, Im the most hard-headed person on the planet!
Erivo:[Youre] genuinely a Capricorn [laughs].
Rapp:One hundred percent!
But I also think Im clueless at the same time.
Erivo:It means you havent got to a place of I know everything.
I dont think we should ever get to that place.
All of that stuff.
So its fine not to know all of the time….
But Im feeling very excited about the next couple of months.
Rapp:Speaking on behalf of everyone, were all thrilled.
We as a collective are thrilled.
I, specifically, am very thrilled.
Very, very thrilled.
I sawBowen [Yang]
Erivo:Oh, I love Bowen.
Rapp:Hes the greatest.
I saw him beforethe first trailercame out, and he was like, Youre gonna lose your shit.
I was like, Really?
You think Im going to lose my shit?
He was like, Definitely.
Im gonna kill myself.
Erivo:I love what theyve allowed us to do with the music in this piece.
Rapp:It shows!
Erivo:Its been really lovely.
But there wasnt any of that.
It was like, You know the music.
Do what feels the most truthful to you.
And that meant that singing this music was really pleasurable.
I loved doing this.
Rapp:Im so excited.
Rapp:Im sure.
Youre gonna be tired.
Hit your 3 a.m. workout and then go to work [laughs].
How are you taking care of yourself these next couple of months?
Because I know that youre trying to come out with [new music].
Rapp:I mean, I dont know.
I want to verify that I have hit every possible turn.
I want to spin up the creative part of my brain into the ground.
I need to be so sure.
Erivo:I get that.
Rapp:Do you like to write any specific way?
Do you start on piano all the time?
Erivo:Weve been doing different things.
Rapp:Oh, sick!
Erivo:Or it will be piano or guitar.
Sometimes theres a story that I want to tell, so we start with the story.
I have synesthesia, so I see the color.
Ill be like, Can you play something more in red?
And then I realize its actually more pink.
Can you play it more pink?
Rapp:Do you feel that ever when youre acting?
Or is it just music?
Erivo:Just music.
Ive learned how to turn the dial down a little bit.
It was hitting me in the back of my neck.
It was the most visceral, physical experience.
Its a full-body experience.
But that feeling is wonderful.
Co-Executive Producer:TARA REID.
Erivo: Styling byJASON BOLDEN.
Seamstress:LAREN LEBLANC.
Rapp: Styling byKATE LI.
Producer:DRE VELARDE, Director of Photography:WILL CHILTON.
Camera Operators:HALEY SNYDERandEMU HAYNES.
Audio Engineer:RYAN NORTHROP.
Photographic assistance:THOMAS MILLER&SAONI FORTUNA.
Digital Technician:ZORAN JELENIC.
