Calling from her home in Mexico City, singer Belinda Carlisle is relaxed as she contemplates her five-song EP Kismet—her first collection of English-language music in nearly 30 years, released on May 12.
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“Being in Mexico, I’m kind of in a void, so I don’t really know what’s going on—and I kind of prefer it that way,” Carlisle says. “I used to be really worked up and nervous [about album releases]. But this time, I’m not nervous. I don’t feel any pressure.”
Carlisle can feel so at peace this time because of her enormous faith in the material, which was penned by superstar songwriter Diane Warren. “I think it’s really high-quality pop music,” Carlisle says. “The fans are going to enjoy [these songs].”
This isn’t the first time Carlisle is bringing Warren’s songs to life. The pair previously worked together in 1987 on Heaven on Earth, Carlisle’s second solo album after quitting her position as the lead singer of the beloved pop band the Go-Go’s. Warren wrote multiple tracks on that album, including the single “I Get Weak,” which became a hit in a dozen countries.
Despite their successful track record together, Carlisle admits that working with Warren again on this new EP came about because of a happy accident. “My son, who lives in LA, ran into Diane at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and introduced himself. She said, ‘What’s your mom doing? Let’s call her.’ So they called me and she’s going, ‘Get to the studio—I have some hits for you.’”
It was a significant opportunity because Warren has written successful songs for a slew of artists, such as “If I Could Turn Back Time” for Cher, “Love Will Lead You Back” for Taylor Dayne, “When I See You Smile” for Bad English, and “Un-Break My Heart” for Toni Braxton, among many others.
Still, Carlisle hesitated before taking Warren up on the offer. “I thought, ‘First of all, if I don’t like the songs, it’s going to be really uncomfortable. And secondly, if I like the songs, it’s a big commitment—a year and a half, two years out of my life. Do I really want to do that?’ So it was kind of like, ‘I don’t know…’”
Also, for her last two solo albums, Carlisle had gone down a very different artistic path. For Voila (2007), she sang French chansons. She went even farther afield with Wilder Shores (2017): Inspired by her yoga practice, the material consists of Carlisle performing Sikh chants.
“My French album, which is one of my favorite albums of all of them, even with the Go-Go’s, was the first time I got to work from the heart and not feel any pressure,” Carlisle says, “and after that, I thought, ‘That’s the only way I want to work, and I don’t care if anybody doesn’t like it. If I like it, then that’s all that counts.’ And that was the attitude I had with Wilder Shores, too.
“I decided if I was ever going to do anything ever again—and there were no plans to—I could only work that way. I can’t be on a hamster wheel like I was on all through the ’80s and early ’90s,” Carlisle continues. “I just don’t want to put [music] out there because the record company thinks it’s good or the producer thinks it’s good. I can’t and I won’t work like that.”
Even though she had decided to put mainstream music behind her, Carlisle was curious enough about Warren’s new songs that she agreed to come to the studio and give them a listen—and she immediately knew she had to make them her own. “I could not believe how great they were and how much I love all five songs,” she says.
Inspired, she instantly reversed her decision not to sing any more English-language pop songs. “That’s why the EP is called Kismet, because it wasn’t planned. It was all meant to be and magical, the way everything came together,” she says. “It wasn’t contrived in the least bit. It’s just weird how this all happened. It just was effortless—and here we are.”
Carlisle says it was no problem making Warren’s songs (or anyone else’s) her own. “To be honest, I don’t really think about it—it just becomes mine,” she says. “Whatever song I choose, I just know melodically whether it’s ‘me.’ Of course, I look at the lyrics, too.”
This time, she also took a larger role in the studio beyond being a vocalist: “It was really joyful and really creative, where I wasn’t just a voice. Where I got to have a hand in background arrangement, vocals, and sometimes structure. So I had a real creative hand in it, too, sort of producing.”
Carlisle’s creative talents emerged early in her life, and she credits Southern California’s musical environment for inspiring her. “I grew up in Burbank, over the hill from Hollywood, and music was everywhere,” she says. “I remember going to Disneyland and seeing Tommy James and the Shondells. You had the Beach Boys and that whole surf culture. You had the whole Laurel Canyon thing of the ’70s, and then you had the punk scene. We were lucky to be in that city at that time.”
She started off as a drummer and background singer in the punk scene, playing in various bands. “Then when the Go-Go’s were formed, I didn’t know I was going to be singing [lead vocals],” she says. “I had a choice of playing the drums, which I did not want to do again, or singing. I thought, ‘OK, I’ll sing.’ I never really gave it that much thought. Back in the punk days, you didn’t have to be good. You could be in a band and be horrible, and it was acceptable.”
The Go-Go’s encountered a lot of sexism in their early days because all-female bands were still quite unusual then, and none had gained widespread success yet. Still, Carlisle and her bandmates persevered. “I remember always saying, ‘Well, we’ll give it another six months, and in six months if we’re not signed, then maybe we should just hang it up,’” she says, “but then something exciting would come along. ‘OK, we’ll give it another six months.’ And then of course we got signed, and the rest is history.”
With their 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat, the Go-Go’s became the first all-female band who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to reach No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. They also became one of the top-selling acts of the 1980s, thanks to their hits “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Vacation,” and “Head Over Heels.”
In 2021, the Go-Go’s were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Well, it was about time, really!” Carlisle says. “That was an amazing experience, and it cemented the legacy of that band. I was really lucky to be the lead singer of that band.”
Still, she decided to embark on a solo career, releasing her debut album, Belinda, in 1986. In this phase of her career, she also had numerous hits, including “Mad About You,” “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” “I Get Weak,” and “Circle in the Sand.”
As for why she’s found such success, Carlisle believes that “a lot of it is just luck and destiny. Like this whole last project, Kismet, as being an example of destiny.” Also, she adds, “My voice is unique. It’s not the best voice, but I think I have a good sense of it and what it can and cannot do.”
This July and August, Carlisle will perform shows across North America, singing songs from across her career. “I’ll throw in a couple of Go-Go’s songs, too, but it is solo career-centric, for sure,” she says of her plans for this tour, adding that she’ll stick to her English-language repertoire this time.
She says she doesn’t mind performing the songs that have made her so famed, even though she’s sung some of them for four decades now. “It’s no problem for me, because when I start singing songs like ‘Heaven [Is a Place on Earth],’ for instance, people freak out, and that’s always really fun for me,” she says. “That’s contagious, to see the joy that some of those songs bring. It’s great. No song is boring or tedious for me.”
Now, as she looks back on her legacy, Carlisle feels grateful for everything she has accomplished, both with the Go-Go’s and as a solo artist. “I’m an example of, ‘Anything is possible against all odds,’ so I think the most important thing is self-belief and not really listening to any other people’s opinion on what you should do, but just go with instinct and hard work and belief in yourself,” she says. “I was lucky that things fell into place, but I think there’s something to be said for total belief in yourself and manifesting things.”
Image courtesy of Ken Phillips Publicity Group, Inc.
