Sheryl Crow says creating albums is a waste of time and money

By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

American musician Sheryl Crow has said that creating albums is “a waste of time and money” because “people don’t listen to records as a full body of work”.

The singer, 62, known for hits including All I Wanna Do and If It Makes You Happy, will release her new album Evolution, on March 29th.

Crow, who described her latest offering as a “compilation of new songs”, told a US publication in 2019 that her studio album Threads would be her “last full artistic statement” because “you can spend a lot of time and emotion” making albums only to have people not listen to them.

Speaking to Red magazine for its May issue, she said: “I still think (creating albums) is a waste of time and money!

“People don’t listen to records as a full body of work, but I had all these songs that felt very timely…

“So, I thought, ‘Okay, I’m not going to make a conventional album, thinking about the beginning, middle and end.’

“Instead, it’s a compilation of new songs.’”

Discussing how she got into music, Crow said: “It was what I went to when all my friends started drinking and smoking pot and I felt left out.

“It was an identity crutch, and when it came time to figure out what I wanted to be, music was the thing I was good at.”

Reflecting on the moment she got noticed, she added: “I was singing in a bar when a producer came in and asked me to sing on a commercial.

“It was the first time somebody said, ‘I think you’re good, and I’m going to help you utilise what you do and you’re going to get paid for it.’”

The singer also discussed life with her two adopted sons Wyatt and Levi and said: “They’ve changed my life in every possible way…

“It put everything in perspective and made it super easy to say no to things, because there’s not enough money in the world to make me uproot my kids or miss out on time with them.”

The May 2024 issue of Red is now on sale.