Tracy Chapman on ‘Fast Car,’ Chappell Roan & Charli XCX, and why she won’t stream music

Tracy Chapman reissued her self-titled debut album on vinyl on April 4, which is why the reclusive artist is doing some interviews. And while the socially conscious album, which originally came out in 1988, still seems relevant today, Tracy tells The New York Times that she wishes it wasn’t.

“There’s a part of me that wishes certain songs on the record were not relevant right now. My expectation was that we wouldn’t be here,” she says of such songs as “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” and “Across the Lines.” 

“I really believed we were going to be in a better place, with more justice and more equity and less violence,” she says.

That debut album featured “Fast Car,” which became a hit all over again in 2023 in a new version by Luke Combs. Tracy says the song is technically “a work of fiction,” but it’s still about her, in a way.

“I was not, at 24, married with a couple kids,” she explains. “I did, however, feel like I wanted to be someplace where I had connection and a sense of belonging. And that’s the thing in the song that’s me, 100 percent.”

Tracy says she’s a fan of current artists like Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and, as she puts it, “all the young women in all their variety, doing their things.” And when she listens to their music, she really makes an effort.

“I don’t stream music. I only buy music in physical form. Artists get paid when you actually buy a CD or the vinyl. That’s important to me,” she says. “So to some extent, it limits what I listen to, because it’s a physical commitment of going out into the world and finding things, but I still do go out.”

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