Fildza | 4th August 2000

It was already 3.30pm and Anastacia was nowhere in sight. We were all ushered into the room and were waiting anxiously for her arrival. At about 4.10pm, this blonde lady in red with a black Kappa headgear came in and started to apologise for her lateness. Apparently she couldn't open her luggage which was sealed very tightly by the Bangkok immigration. Anastacia Newkirk is a very good talker.

Throughout the press conference, she kept on talking and talking although she said that she was very tired. Probably not accustomed to the "shyness" of the Asian people, she asked the media whether they had any questions for her. This was of course a fresh change from the norm where most of the time, some artistes do not talk at all during press conferences. A jovial character and very hyper indeed. With her facial expressions and hand movements, Anastacia did not fail to entertain the attendees at the press conference. Beneath all that, she is one serious lady.

When asked about how she feels about her music being associated with the gay community, she thinks that it is not a problem at all. Her mum was involved in theatre when she was young. Coincidentally, the leading men were all gay and throughout her life, she sees a lot of gay people. On top of that, her sister's husband is stricken with AIDS, which is often contracted by gay people. Basically gay is just a word for her. She feels that no one should deserve not to appreciate music. The underlying message in her music is one has to write from the heart without trying too hard and not to forecast things. A free thinker, she believes in the Buddhist philosophy; to be honest and to find out who you are. Emotions should come out raw and thinks that fabricated and formulated music yucky. When she was younger, she always wanted to be an archeologist. There wasn't a slightest hint that might aspire her to go on stage. There were even no posters in her room! But then she realised that talking was not as exciting as singing and she didn't want to study so much just to be an archeologist.

Anastacia's describes her music as loud, soulful and shocking (people need some time to process her music). Initially people thought Anastacia was a black woman because of her big voice. But it was from her mother that she inherited the "big" voice. Her mum has a theatrical voice and her dad was a great tenor. There were days when people would ask her if she was singing in a church choir or is she a mixed blood. She didn't know where she got it from either but feels that it has something to do with the passion in the song. If you didn't know, Anastacia is actually shortsighted.

She has 20 pairs of glasses of many shapes, sizes and tints in her collection. She wears them so much that it has become a necessity to wear her glasses. She sometimes wears them to the shower even! One could continue chatting on and on with Anastacia because there is no stopping her. The press conference ended about 50 minutes later. Anastacia is big in Europe now but she has always been who she was. Cutting an album is already sufficient for her but getting it to the top spot in Europe and UK in three weeks was something else. She is also the first artiste to have sold as many albums with one single, it is no wonder that everyone was looking forward to her showcase.