Dionne Warwick refuses to listen to her own music.
The iconic singer — whose songs “Walk On By,” “Alfie” and “Don’t Make Me Over” are in the Grammy Hall of Fame — insisted that she would be happy to watch herself “live” in an ABBA-style hologram avatar show, she doesn’t enjoy listening to her tunes in her day-to-day life.
“Oh, yeah. I’d love to see me. But I don’t listen to my music. I listened to it one time when I recorded it,” she told the Metro‘s “60 Seconds” column.
“I am so critical. I will say things to myself, like, ‘Why didn’t you sing this other note?’ or ‘Why didn’t you do it this way?’ So I refrain from listening to me. I listen to my peers,” she added.
The star admitted she would rather listen to the likes of Johnny Mathis, Tina Turner and “a lot of Brazilian music” instead.
She “fell completely in love” with Brazil when she first toured there in the 60s and feels “a mutual love affair” with the people and their music.
“I describe it as happy music. Music that makes you smile, makes you move,” she replied when it was suggested that there is a big difference between Brazilian music and her own.
And while some of her own material may seem quite sad, she thinks of it in a different way.
“I think the songs are basically songs [about] reality. Hal David wrote lyrics [to Burt Bacharach’s music] that he felt were needed to be heard,” Warwick said.
“‘Walk On By’ is a song specifically about the way most people don’t want things to turn out[the way they want]. But if things don’t work out the way you want then, ‘Bye bye!’ So there are different phases of life that I sing about,” the legendary singer explained.
While some people might try to label her sound, Warwick likes to point out that music should simply be enjoyed for what it is.
“I don’t categorize music. Music is music. They try to put you into a box all the time. But you can’t put me into a box,” she added.
