When Macy Gray steps on to stage at Dubai's Coca-Cola Arena this Friday as part of her 25th anniversary tour for On How Life Is, she will be performing songs that were born of rejection and disillusionment.
In the mid-1990s, Gray thought her chance of recording any kind of album seemed impossible. “We made a whole record with Atlantic Records – and then they dropped me,” she tells The National. “That was rough. I was really discouraged. But I kept writing, kept playing. I started demoing songs for other singers, writing for friends, anything to stay in it. Eventually I built enough momentum to get another deal, this time with Epic. That's where On How Life Is came from. So if I'd quit after Atlantic, none of this would have happened.”
Those songs, written sporadically while Gray was raising three young children as a single mother and performing at jazz cafes in Los Angeles, became On How Life Is. Released in 1999 to rave reviews, the album's 10 tracks feature her distinctive raspy vocals.
Considering the earlier setback, Gray recalls the positive response as genuine surprising to her. “Generally in the business you try not to expect too much and a lot of it also had to do with what was going on when recording the album,” she says. “I was basically broke and raising children while trying to make these songs.”
One of those tracks, the towering ode to resilience I Try, with its spare horns and warm strings, would go on to define her career. Perhaps shaped by her earlier disappointment, she didn’t initially trust its appeal.
“My label loved it, but I thought the song wasn't immediate enough to be a single. It had too many words and it was a little repetitive,” she says. “But that song went on to become this big thing, win a Grammy and basically change my life. Thankfully, I am not one of those artists who hate their most popular song. I love the reaction when I perform it live because it means a lot to people.”
Gray also wonders if I Try, released two and a half decades later, would resonate on the same scale. “The time between has seen so many changes in the music industry that it's hard to tell what can work today,” she says. “I don't know what it means to write to get more streams or more social media. I have always worked the way I do. Now, that doesn't mean I haven't made some mistakes or worked with people I shouldn't have, but I've learnt along the way and you get better and wiser.”
The setlist of the anniversary tour, which began last year and has travelled across Europe, Australia and North America, tells that story. Gray performs most of the album alongside newer work such as songs from her 2018 record Ruby, and choice covers including American soul singer Bobby Hebb's Sunny and Radiohead's Creep. Together they trace her evolution.
“These concerts are all about celebration, in that we play the songs you know as well as some surprises,” she says. “The album came at a special moment and with each concert we are trying not just to recreate the music live, but also to make a place for people to connect with each other.”
The nod to the past is also shaping the present. Gray is using the momentum of the shows to finish her eleventh album, due before the end of the year. This, she says, will feature new songs that are more direct and instinctive.
“We are finishing it soon and it sounds less polished when it comes to the production,” she says. “It's just my voice and the band, and it sounds very good at the moment. I am looking forward to people hearing it.”
Macy Gray performs at Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai, on Friday. Show starts at 8pm; tickets from Dh99
