Just in time for the welcomed warmth of Spring, Dance Music icon Crystal Waters kicks off the season with a hot “part three” remix package of her current single, “2B LUV.”
Keeping in her tradition of working with the very best producers in the industry (The Basement Boys, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, to name a few), this time around, Crystal sought the help of renowned musicians Todd Terry, David Morales, and David Anthony who also produced the original. The track made its debut on Tomorrowland Radio and the new remixes are poised to appeal to varied dance floor vibes.
Morales provides a sophisticated luscious piano mix with gorgeous strings. Todd Terry picks up the pace with a pumping, deep bassline —’hands up in the air’ summer anthem mix. David Anthony rounds out the package and throws it down with a club flashback mix for the House heads, adding old-school flair to this contemporary classic.
“2B LUV” is another stellar release from Crystal Waters that boasts her signature jazz-influenced song stylings. This unique sound helped her set House Music on a full commercial radio path that had been previously unimaginable. And her jazz sensibility is 100% authentic, the real deal. She comes from a musical family; her father was a touring jazz pianist, her uncles were musicians, and her great-aunt is Jazz legend — Ethyl Waters.
In her own right, Crystal Waters is globally regarded as the Queen of House music. Her massive 1991 breakthrough hit Gypsy Woman continues to inspire a whole new generation of fans and artists alike. Most notably and recently, Alicia Keys and Coldplay added Gypsy Woman to their live shows, introducing the mega-hit to a new global audience.
Of course, beyond Gypsy Women, Crystal released a catalog of significant hits, including the massive 100% Pure Love. Determined not to be a “one hit wonder,” Crystal’s string of hits established her as one of the most commercially successful dance music artists ever. In a brilliant recent feature article, The Washington Post credited her as an artist who helped “bring house music to the masses.” With 13 number-one billboard dance chart hits and 11 top 10 songs, she’s got over 100 million streams on Spotify, YouTube, and Shazam.
Having the opportunity to interview Crystal again for Instinct Magazine is an honor. She has inspired me as a songwriter since she first hit radio, and on a personal note, she’s been wonderfully supportive of me in my media career pursuits in recent years. I think she’s fantastic, and I implore you to “Sit Back, Relax, Take it easy, baby,” and enjoy the following excerpts from my interview with the incomparable Crystal Waters. (Watch the full interview on Youtube)
Corey Andrew:
So Crystal, before we begin, I will get my fanboy stuff out of the way. As you know, we have talked about you inspiring me as a songwriter. And I met you like 12 years ago. I went to the Winter music conference and saw you several times afterward. And then we spoke, and I interviewed you. You came out to see me perform standup comedy. That means so much to an aspiring artist that someone as established as you would come out and represent and show support. So, thank you for that.
Crystal Waters:
Well, I think it’s important. I’m getting ready to return to Miami Music Week, and everybody is asking, “Are you gonna do something?” I’m like, no. People appreciate it more if I show up to their party, you know, show up and support them playing or their event. So, that’s my plan.
Corey Andrew:
And you have this new amazing project that’s out now, 2B LUV. It’s part three of a remix series of a song you recorded and released a few months back. You’ve got remixes by Todd Terry, David Morales, and David Anthony, who produced the original song 2B LUV So, what inspired the song from the writing standpoint?
Crystal Waters:
Well, actually I wrote this song around maybe in 2016. I had run into David Anthony in Miami on Lincoln Road, and he was like, “Hey, I got a studio down here.” So we went in, and he and I came out with that track and did it together. And I don’t know; I’m always inspired by the music. If the music has an emotion to it. It was such a beautiful track, and it had this bubbly sound to it, and I just felt there was a cry in it — To be loved …all I ever wanted… But usually the melody will come first. And there may be one or two words somewhere in there that’ll give me a good clue of what I’m talking about. Sometimes the v verse will come first but most of the time it’s the hook. And if you have a good melody, it’s already hooky.
Corey Andrew:
With songwriting, there’s this myth: if it’s not written in the first 20 minutes, it’s not a hit. I used to hear that all the time, and I don’t subscribe to that. What do you think?
Crystal Waters:
Sometimes it happens. But, you know, I’ve gone to songwriter’s camps, and these guys do a song every 20 minutes, and I’m like, Nah. I don’t write like that. I need it to come through me and be inspired. And I’m constantly changing lyrics. Something can always be better, so I can’t do that in 20 minutes.
Corey Andrew:
You’ve mentioned in past interviews that you were in college when you started in the industry, right? Were you at Howard University?
Crystal Waters:
No, by then, I had my first job —in the computer room of the DC Parole Board. If you worked for the government at the federal or local level, they would send around a paper to show how much you would make in your salary each year. And I realized that if I stayed there for ten years, I still would be making no money. And that inspired me to go out and maybe do a little side hustle with music.
Corey Andrew:
So the side hustle was a combination of, like, what? Songwriting? Demos or doing background vocals? What was that actual side hustle?
Crystal Waters:
Alright, LOL, well, the story is …I’m going to tell the story.
Corey Andrew:
Yes, LOL I mean, it’s been written about before, but to have you tell it in person? Of course. Please.
Crystal Waters:
I remember getting that paper, and my friends at work said, “You know, you love music,” because I always had the radio on at work. I had pictures of Sade and other artists on my pin board. And I remember talking to my mom about it. She was really into psychics at the time. She said you should see a psychic. And it just so happened that weekend; there was a psychic conference. And my friend and I went. I remember I got up that morning, and I was fine. But by the time I left my apartment and got to the conference, I had lost my voice. I couldn’t speak. So I got to the psychic lady, and she said, “Oh, you need to do something with your voice.” I was like, yeah, right. That was an easy guess. And I thought she meant public speaking.
Then, when I returned to work, my coworker said, “Hey, I have a cousin who has a studio looking for background singers.” He said, “I’ll go if you go.” I had never sung in front of anybody before that, but we went down there; I got the job —we got the job. And then, once I got in that studio, the light bulb went off. I knew this was what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. We finished that project, and I made $600. I was rich. Lol!
Corey Andrew:
Wow.
Crystal Waters:
Yea, that’s how it started.
Corey Andrew:
Then eventually, you met the House music producers The Basement Boys, who produced your debut single and album. But you were more inspired by R and B initially. And I hear you really liked Sade a lot at that time.
Crystal Waters:
Oh, I was trying to be the next Sade, lol. If you look at the Gypsy Woman video, I have the ponytail and the Red Lips…, and I was doing more of that Sade type of style because I came from a jazz background.
Corey Andrew:
Yes, the jazz influence is definitely present in your music, especially those opening jazz chords in Gypsy Women. Most people don’t realize that Gypsy Woman is based on an actual person. Can you share the story of Gypsy Woman?”
Crystal Waters:
Yes, when I was writing Gypsy Woman, it was initially a demo for Ultra Nate’. I got the track, and all I had was “La la dee.” I could not fit any other words. There were no words that short of syllables. I said, all right, somebody’s singing this song. And there was a woman who used to stand in front of where my sister used to work — it was a hair salon at the Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue if anybody’s familiar with DC. And she would stand there, fully dressed in black with a full face of makeup, and she was singing gospel songs. I used to walk by her and had that attitude, like, “Ain’t nothing wrong with her. She needs to get a job. I’m not giving her none of my money.”
But then the local City Paper did an article on her, and they talked about how she had just lost a job in retail, I believe, at a cosmetic counter. And how she felt that if she was going to ask you for money, she should look respectable and show respect. And that’s why she was so dressed and kept on her makeup and made sure her hair was done. That article has changed my whole idea about homelessness and how you could be there one day.
I decided that she was the one. She was singing the song. Then the verse just came to me, “She wakes up early every morning just to do her hair.” There’s another verse at the end of the song that people probably don’t hear much anymore, but it asks why she has to be homeless and talks about how it could be just you or me —anytime and anywhere.
Corey Andrew:
Like Madonna and Cher, you are very beloved by the L G B T community in Europe and domestically. I was reading about your time working for the parole board, and you stated how back then, you reflected on people calling an ambulance, and the ambulance would come —but then not take the person to the hospital because they had AIDS.
Crystal Waters:
Yeah, I remember that. AIDS had hit, and it was really bad. And that bothered me — that the ambulance would go and they’d find out the person had aids. They would just leave them there. They wouldn’t even go in the house. Kind of like Covid now.
I used to park my car cause I couldn’t afford to pay for parking, and I’d park far away from work. And it was in the neighborhood where all the, well, they weren’t drag queens then. They were more trans, and they would sleep in the park. I would see them out there sick and hurting, and nobody was trying to help. You know, they would send out food trucks and things like that, but… That always stuck with me. I remember that.
Corey Andrew:
Is that part of what helped shape why you are such an ally to the community? Because I know you are also involved with AIDS research and other initiatives.
Crystal Waters:
I think it’s also because when I first got to New York, New York, it was the dancers, the drag queens, and all the houses that took me in. I was very shy. I had no clue, you know, about being on stage or anything like that. And they really took me in, and I always say drag Queens taught me how to do my makeup. Lol. They all had these big personalities. They didn’t judge me. They all loved me even though I didn’t have the biggest personality or was not very outgoing.
I just always remember that. I remember how they took me in and taught me everything about “emoting” — that was the word back then. Yeah. How to emote and things like that. So, to see them now being bashed by whoever, the media, other people, I stand up for anybody who’s a little bit of an underdog. I always felt compassion. So I stand up for them. That’s really why I do a lot of it.
Watch Instinct Magazine’s Exclusive Full nterview with Crystal Waters:
