Cher Dishes on First-Ever Christmas Album and Early Days of Alexander Edwards Ro
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00:00 First of all, how proud are you of this album?
00:04 I am proud.
00:05 It sounds so stupid to say it.
00:07 No, it doesn't.
00:08 And I didn't know what I was doing when I started it.
00:11 I mean, I didn't know, I didn't have a goal.
00:14 I just didn't want to do a Christmas album.
00:16 I wanted to do an album that was like,
00:20 with a Christmas theme and that would make people feel
00:24 happy during the holidays.
00:26 But I just wanted to do a Cher album.
00:28 How was it working with Alexander?
00:30 I was apprehensive because I know he's good.
00:35 He's produced big people, he's written big songs,
00:39 but my feeling was because when we first met
00:44 and he said, "Why aren't you working?"
00:48 And I went, "I don't know.
00:51 "I'm just not feeling it or whatever."
00:53 And he brought me one song, "Fairness" it was called,
00:58 and it was like, killed me.
01:01 And then he brought me another, "Love to Love"
01:03 and killed me and I wanted them to be my songs
01:06 'cause he hadn't given them to me, he just had played them.
01:09 And then I thought, he knows me so well.
01:12 And, but what I also thought was, if this doesn't work out,
01:16 it's not gonna be good for the relationship.
01:19 But then finally, I just thought, I have to bet on him.
01:23 How is that?
01:27 I mean, the way you guys met is fascinating.
01:30 You're hanging out with Tina Turner in Switzerland.
01:33 He asked for your number.
01:34 He asked my friend, Lori Rodkin.
01:37 They didn't know who Alexander was,
01:38 but my friend Nebby kept pushing me
01:39 to ask him about his teeth.
01:41 She was like fascinated with his teeth.
01:43 And so I went up to him and he's very shy,
01:46 but I said, "You know, that's a cool grill."
01:49 I knew that much.
01:50 And he said, "It's not a grill, these are my teeth."
01:53 And we talked for a few minutes
01:57 and then we took this picture.
01:59 And then Alexander called Lori and said,
02:03 "I have this picture that was taken of us
02:06 when we were all taking those pictures."
02:09 And I just thought she might like to have it.
02:11 So would you give it to her?
02:13 And she said, "Well, why don't you give it to her yourself?"
02:16 So he texted me and said, "You know, what are you doing?"
02:20 And I said, "I'm on my way to Switzerland.
02:21 I'm gonna see Tina and then I've got to do
02:23 some other things."
02:25 And then he said, "Okay, well, I hope you're
02:27 gonna get a good rest."
02:29 And I thought, "Okay, I hope you have a good time, whatever."
02:33 And then he text me again.
02:35 It doesn't make, like nobody else gets it,
02:39 but he put three Ys on the end of baby,
02:42 which he always does now.
02:44 And I just said, "You don't know me well enough
02:47 to put three Ys on baby."
02:49 So, and then we started texting,
02:52 which is something I told my friends.
02:54 I had just told my girlfriend,
02:55 got really hurt in a relationship.
02:58 And I said, "You're too old, don't text.
03:00 It doesn't work, blotty, blotty, blotty."
03:03 And so we started to text 'cause I was in a place
03:07 where I couldn't do much.
03:09 And I kept saying, "I'm not the right woman for you.
03:12 First of all, I'm a hundred years older than you.
03:14 And secondly, I wouldn't, your friends would think
03:17 you weren't cool if you were trying to hang with me."
03:21 You know?
03:22 And he said, "Why don't you let me be the judge of that?"
03:25 And then it just happened.
03:27 - Wow.
03:30 How would you describe your relationship?
03:32 I see ya, I hear ya.
03:39 Okay, I love that.
03:40 I wanna ask you about Tina real quick.
03:43 How was it seeing Tina?
03:44 - Yeah, I've known Tina for a long, long time
03:46 and I'd been going to see Tina.
03:47 In the beginning, I think she thought
03:50 she was a lot sicker than she was
03:51 because I would go there and then we'd be talking
03:54 for a couple of hours and then she was up
03:56 and she was laughing and showing us everything
03:58 and we were having the best time ever.
04:00 She was just being Tina.
04:02 And then it was kinda going like that for a while
04:05 and then it started to progress to not so great.
04:09 And then the last time I saw her, not so great.
04:12 And then I could tell, it was like my mom,
04:15 when it's just not, when they're just not feeling it,
04:19 you know, and I know Tina so well
04:22 and she's energetic and that laugh is like,
04:26 you know, what you get when you're there with her.
04:29 So I was pretty sure that it was gonna be our last fun time.
04:34 ♪ Wish you'd never been so brave ♪
04:37 - I'm singing with Stevie Wonder.
04:39 ♪ Wish you'd never ♪
04:40 - Come on, it doesn't get better than that.
04:43 - Okay, let's talk about Stevie Wonder.
04:44 I love the Motown feel of that.
04:47 What was it like working with Stevie?
04:49 - I thought only Stevie can do these Stevie parts.
04:54 You know, I said, Stevie, I just, I want you to do my song
04:59 and I'm gonna send it to you, what I've done,
05:02 but I can't do certain parts of it
05:04 and they're just Stevie parts, you know?
05:07 And I was nervous, I was so nervous.
05:10 I'm hemming and hawing, ba-da, ba-da, ba-da.
05:13 And then finally he said, "Sure, Cher."
05:15 And then at the end he said,
05:17 "Do you want me to play harmonica?"
05:20 And I was like, "Yes, I do, thank you, God."
05:23 - It was perfect.
05:25 - Right, and then I ran around my room
05:27 and I got on my bed and jumped up and down.
05:29 - Really?
05:30 It turned out perfect, it has such a Motown sound.
05:33 It feels like it was from that period.
05:35 It's authentic and it's great.
05:37 All right, Michael Bublé.
05:39 - Okay, I didn't know him,
05:41 but Susan and Dion and my publicist, Liz,
05:46 knew him and they were talking about it
05:51 and they said something like,
05:53 "You should do a Christmas album
05:54 "and one of the songs should be with him."
05:56 And then he was the one that said, "Sure, yeah," you know?
06:00 - It worked out perfect.
06:02 How did you pick the song?
06:03 - It's one of the most different songs, I would say.
06:07 It is probably the most different song.
06:10 Our duet together is pretty much of a tearjerker,
06:13 but you know, that's Christmas too.
06:17 - Your voice is still your voice, it's still perfect.
06:22 - I know.
06:23 - How did you pull that off?
06:25 'Cause it sounds like,
06:27 I'm a kid who grew up watching Sonny and Cher
06:30 and it's the same person still singing to me.
06:32 - You know, I've said this before too,
06:34 but my doctor has said for years,
06:38 you've got like 25 year old vocal cords.
06:42 When I was having the idea to do it,
06:44 I went to him and went, "Okay, what do they look like now?"
06:48 And he said, "They look the same."
06:50 And he said, "This is some sort of weirdo thing
06:52 "that's happening to you."
06:53 - Your voice was perfection.
06:55 Okay, two things that I never thought
06:57 I'd say in the same sentence, Cher and Tyga.
07:00 [laughing]
07:02 - How did that happen?
07:02 - And I'm the only person who says that.
07:04 - How did that happen?
07:05 - Okay, so I asked Alexander if he would do "Drop Top."
07:10 And T's a friend of mine
07:11 and T and Alexander are best friends.
07:14 And so T heard it and I thought Alexander
07:17 was gonna have to like twist his arm.
07:19 And T said, "I'd like to do that."
07:22 'Cause Alexander said, "You know, I need a third verse."
07:24 And T said, "I got it."
07:26 - He just said, "I got it."
07:27 - Yeah.
07:28 - I wanna ask you, do you have a favorite song on this album?
07:30 - I love "DJ," that was the first one we did
07:32 and it sounded like, oh, here comes this,
07:35 here comes the big one.
07:37 And I really love it because it's funny.
07:41 And I love "Angels in the Snow" because it's so strange
07:47 and explaining it, you know, wild child, you know.
07:52 - Cher, I've never heard the line, "Drop top sleigh ride."
07:55 I've never heard that, "Drop top sleigh ride."
07:57 - I said to Sarah, I want something that kids,
08:01 that would usually be for kids, like candy canes.
08:04 But so she put, "Candy cane high," you know.
08:07 And it was like, it just worked for me so much.
08:09 And then when Alexander got it, he made it so fabulous.
08:13 So I think that one's really my favorite.
08:15 - Yeah, I'd never heard that line.
08:16 And from LA to the North Pole, Oakland to the North Pole.
08:20 - Oakland was me.
08:21 - That was you?
08:22 - Yeah, 'cause he's from Oakland and I went, you know,
08:25 I never hear anybody talking good about Oakland,
08:27 so let's just do it.
08:28 - I wanna show you something real quick.
08:29 We were with you on the set of "Believe."
08:34 Do you remember this?
08:35 - Is that during the video?
08:37 - That's during the video.
08:37 We were on the set.
08:40 - Do you believe in life after love?
08:41 - Absolutely.
08:43 I mean, we've all been in love and gotten our hearts broken
08:46 and there is definitely life after love,
08:49 just not immediately after.
08:51 - See that thing?
08:52 There was a guy sitting at the bottom of my trailer
08:55 and those are little plastic things.
08:57 And he was just making them.
08:58 And I just said, "What is it?"
09:00 And he said, "Oh, it's nothing.
09:02 "I'm just weaving this stuff together."
09:03 And I went, "Well, could you make a big one for me?"
09:06 And he said, "Yeah."
09:08 And I put it on my hair.
09:09 I put it on the back of my head.
09:11 - You just said, "I'm gonna wear it."
09:12 - Yeah.
09:13 And he was like, "Oh, all right."
09:16 And it was perfect.
09:18 ♪ Do you believe in life after love? ♪
09:23 - What is it about that song that connected
09:25 with so many people and made it such an iconic hit?
09:28 - I think the sound,
09:31 since nobody had ever heard that sound before,
09:34 still using it, but you know,
09:36 it was the sound and the sound was out of desperation.
09:40 It didn't come out of happiness.
09:43 It came out of a big fight.
09:45 Somehow your ear just responds to it.
09:48 It just, because everybody did, you know?
09:51 It was a sound that everybody responded to.
09:54 And it was like that kind of weird,
09:56 how not a bubble, not a, you know,
09:59 just, you didn't know what it was.
10:01 - And it just, it changed music a little bit, right?
10:04 - Yeah, it did.
10:05 - It's fair to say, right?
10:06 You continue to relate yourself
10:08 to generation after generation.
10:09 So does that mean there's another album
10:11 that you've got in you?
10:12 Now that you see this-
10:13 - Oh no, no, I'm planning it.
10:14 - Really?
10:15 - Yeah.
10:16 - A tour also?
10:17 - I'm, from mouth, your mouth to God's ears, you know?
10:21 That's what I wanna do.
10:22 And if I feel like I've got it,
10:25 I feel like I've got one more in me.
10:28 - You know, everybody always says one more
10:29 and then they do one more.
10:30 So I'm not mad at you.
10:31 I say keep doing it.
10:32 - No, no, but I mean, come on.
10:33 - Yeah.
10:34 (upbeat music)
10:37 (upbeat music)
10:39 (upbeat music)