Benjamin Jones
The music coming from a North Hollywood studio may not be familiar – yet – but you’ve definitely heard that voice. Recently Kate Hudson was fine-tuning her songs for her new album, “Glorious.” It’s a role the singer-songwriter was born to play.
Asked how long she has been writing songs, Hudson replied: “Very poorly, all my life! I guess I wasn’t ready for it until now.”
And why is she “ready for this” now? “Because I just don’t care what people think anymore, probably. It never felt right, whether it was because of my own stuff or fear of messing up my film career – it just never felt right. this.”
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She made her stage debut this year at a few small events, but she didn’t seem like a newcomer – perhaps because she’s always been on stage (or very close to it).
Her first major film role was as “band advisor” Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,” which earned her an Oscar nomination:
Smith asked, “How appropriate is it that your breakout role was in this film that is essentially a love letter to rock ‘n’ roll?”
“It makes sense,” Hudson said. “Probably a reason why Cameron hired me.”
She could act, but she also had the flute: as the daughter of Bill Hudson of the 70s band The Hudson Brothers, you could say music is in her blood. “Those Hudson Brothers are extremely talented musicians and wonderful songwriters. My dad is a great songwriter.”
Bill Hudson and his wife Goldie Hawn separated when Kate was a child, so she grew up with her mother’s longtime partner, Kurt Russell, and has been estranged from her father for some time.
Asked what her relationship is now with her father, Kate responded: “I don’t really have one. [with] all this happening. But it will be whatever, you know? I have no expectations of that with my father. He’s like, I just want him to be happy.”
And what makes her happy is singing – on stage, on camera or both. “Any musical you’ve seen in the last 15 years, I auditioned for!” she laughed.
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As? “Oh, oh God, I’ll never forget that one of my favorite auditions of all time was ‘Moulin Rouge’ with Baz Luhrmann. And we had so much fun. And at the time, it was written for – I was like 19 at the time – at truth was written for a young girl, and Nicole [Kidman] ended up doing it – she wanted to do it! And I was like, Well, my chances are over!
“I mean, all of them, a ton. That’s what we do: we take a test!” she laughed.
And in between auditions, life happened: relationships, kids, and the kinds of things that inspire songs. Perhaps not surprisingly, the one Hudson song that really rips your heart out, “Live Forever,” is about Ryder, her son with her ex-husband, Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson.
You and I will be forever
You will go out alone
Through the streets you’ll call home
And I will watch in melancholy wonder
How will you find your destiny
I’m there, why aren’t you free
Take control, don’t rush
Oh, I was just a little girl
Went deep into the world
I thought I could accept this
And you appeared right next to me
My witness and my light
Now we grow by leaps and bounds
Hudson said: “It’s the strongest love I’ve ever had. So when you had your first child, I was very young, and when I was writing this album two years ago, Ryder was leaving for college. like, oh my god, my entire adult life, I’ve had an amazing partner, and now I have to like, say goodbye? So this is really like all the things I was thinking about in the song.”
The album will be released next month and she will definitely go on tour: in her words, she can’t wait to get back on the bus. “It seems normal,” she said. “They say when you’re ready to do a solo for the first time, you should kick the instructor out of the plane, like, Get out of here! I’m ready! And that’s how I feel now. I just feel like I’m ready to do it. I’m not afraid. I’m just excited. It’s wild.”
At 45, she’s still very involved in acting projects, but for Kate Hudson, following one dream doesn’t mean giving up on another.
She remembers when someone told her that she didn’t know how to make music: “There was someone who told me – and it kind of shook me a little – it was when I was in my early thirties, and they basically said, ‘It’s done, already. passed. You can’t, you’re too old. And you know, for me it wasn’t just about being an artist, it was about wanting to write music. So that kind of resonated there for a while.
“And then I was like, ‘Eh, fuck it,’” she laughed. “No, no one tells me what to do!”
To hear Kate Hudson singing the single “Gonna Find Out” from her new album, “Glorious”, click on the video player below:
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Carol Ross.
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