Almost 60, Lenny Kravitz talks workouts, new music and why he's 'never felt more vibrant'
Lenny Kravitz has turned into his grandfather.
“I do all of the things that he did, and it works,” Kravitz says.
He’s talking about the reality that he’ll hit 60 in May. But anyone who has seen his video for “TK421,” where much of Kravitz’s sculpted body is on display, or admired his many abs-spotlighting mesh shirts will share the disbelief of Kravitz’s march toward Social Security eligibility.
The deeply spiritual and Zen-like Kravitz shared vivid anecdotes about his beloved grandfather, Albert Roker, by way of explaining his own commitment to health and fitness.
But we’ll get back to that.
After a six-year gap since his last album, “Raise Vibration,” Kravitz will drop the brawny “Blue Electric Light” May 24. He'll continue the rollout of his 12th studio album March 22 when he releases the kinetic single “Human,” stuffed with a thick groove of clattering percussion, chimes and a soaring chorus.
In a conversation from Los Angeles, Kravitz dug into why he postponed the release of “Blue Electric Light,” how he’s an “antenna” when writing songs and why he’s finally making time to “smell the flowers.”
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Question: I saw that you caught one of U2’s final shows at the Sphere in Las Vegas. What did you think of the experience?
Lenny Kravitz: I thought it was absolutely incredible. Dynamic. We’re living in the future, and this was seeing a new way to present a rock concert. Amongst other things, I think it’s an incredible medium to present art and messages and vibes and inspiration. There were moments that were almost like an out-of-body experience or a psychedelic trip. I found that Bono’s delivery – his soul, his voice – was as big as everything (surrounding him).
When you see something like that, does it start to generate inspiration about what you might want to do on your next tour?
Anytime I see some thing, I see art and I learn something. You learn what you want to do, what you don’t want to do. It gives you ideas and shows you it’s all the same equipment available − it’s just a matter of what you do with it.
“Blue Electric Light” was initially announced to arrive in March, but you pushed it to May. How does your admiration of (political activist) Bayard Rustin and your song “Road to Freedom” fit in with that?
As I was finishing the album in Paris last summer, I got the call to write the track for the Rustin movie (“Rustin”) and it was very important to me. I came out to LA and I basically was working for Netflix and the movie for a couple of months, so I pushed my album back. That was what was important at the time. I was honored to be part of the storytelling. I have no problem doing what I needed to do for the legacy of Mr. Rustin.
Let’s talk about a couple of songs on the new album. “TK421” – does the title really have something to do with “Star Wars”?
It ultimately comes from “Star Wars” by way of “Boogie Nights.” (Director) Paul Thomas Anderson was doing a little shout-out to George Lucas, and there is a scene in “Boogie Nights” that the character Buck (Don Cheadle), he’s trying to sell a stereo system and he’s telling (the buyer) he has to get this "TK421 modification" to make it work better and to perform better and to sound better. So I used it as my metaphor for improving any situation. Positive energy, positive thinking, love. It’s makes no sense, but it makes sense. I’m a cinephile, and I love that film.
Did you have fun filming the video?
Yeah, does it look like it? It was the video director’s (Tanu Muino) idea, but it was a lot of fun. Before she came over, she said, "I’m going to have you get up, get ready for your day, get dressed and leave the house," and I thought: "What is that? That sounds really boring and I don’t understand what you’re talking about." I found out when she showed up and told me what to do.
Meaning, to take off your clothes?
That was the first thing she said: Take off your clothes and get in bed and wake up like you would and open the curtains, and we’ll go from there. What was nice was we weren’t taking ourselves seriously.
In “Love is My Religion,” you talk about there being too much hatred in the world and also sing that “love is my God.” Did anything in particular inspire that song?
With songwriting, I’m just an antenna, so I just hear what’s out there. But when I’m working, I can then intellectualize it. For me, the song was just about a stadium anthem, where people would be chanting these lyrics all together, “love is my religion.” Love is what connects us all … and to begin by having that mantra, I can picture it when I’m playing it live, putting that energy into the atmosphere.
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How are you feeling about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination?
I’m honored. Anytime someone is trying to give you some flowers, you should take them and take the moment and smell them. When I was much younger and coming up, I did not do that. I was moving so fast, and I wasn’t concerned with the accolades. I was just moving forward: What am I doing next, stay focused. I didn’t take the time to smell the flowers. I made myself a promise years ago that as flowers would come in front of me, that I would take the time to enjoy them. So I’m doing so.
So your exercise routine … please enlighten us.
I work out five or six days a week. I’m very serious about my training, about what I put in my body. I try to get as much rest as possible, but that is my weakness.
I had a grandfather who always looked 25 years younger than he was, and he did the same thing. I was not into this as a young adult and he used to wake me up to do chores, but he wanted me to work out with him. He used to get on his bike in his late 80s and ride for five hours. Five hours! When he was 9 he became the head of his household to provide for his mother, who was bedridden, and his four brothers and sisters in the Bahamas, where there was no electricity. He learned to roller-skate at 80 because he didn’t get to have his childhood. This is the kind of guy he was.
We have this thing about age, like we have about race or religion, and these stereotypical ideas about at this point in life you should be doing this or that, and it’s not that way. You can be 30 and you can be destroyed and you can be 80 and you can be young and vibrant. If you asked me "When were you in the best shape of your life?" it’s today, right now. Mentally, physically and spiritually, I’ve never been better. That’s all I can tell you. I’ve never felt more vibrant, and youthful. I’m not saying that in an egotistical way. All of us have the possibility to have that if we have the basic blessing of health, and we should go for it.