AVIVA-BERLIN.de im April 2024 - Beitrag vom 04.11.2005


Interview with Lisa Miskovsky
Sharon Adler, Maren Westensee

The professional Snowboarder girl who was part of the Swedish national league is the new Popstar of Scandinavia. With her song "Lady stardust" she had a number one hit which remained for weeks…

...on the Swedish charts.

Lisa Miskovsky was raised with a lot of music. She began very early to play a lot of instruments: piano, drums, bass, guitar. Soon she started to write her own songs and became known for it. Before she started her own musical career, she wrote songs for other musicians, for example the hit "Shape of my Heart" for the Backstreet Boys. Meanwhile she started to do snowboarding and soon was very good in doing it. But sports life became too stressful for her – she is someone who doesn´t like competitions. So she quit the sport to do what she likes best: music. The open-minded and natural woman talked to us about her experiences, hopes and her love for music.

AVIVA-Berlin: How old were you when you wrote your first song?
Lisa Miskovsky: I was 6 or 7 years old. That´s the first song that I still have. I was singing about the weather, about animals…then I also made a song of a fairy tale, I made a melody to the lyrics. The first time I was on stage I was 10 or 11 years old. In the beginning I was so nervous when I was on stage, I was scared to death. Two weeks before I couldn´t sleep. It took such a long time to get rid of that. It´s strange, it´s like a photographer who´s scared about taking pictures, or a journalist who´s scared about interviews. But in the end I did it. Today I am still a bit nervous but after a tour, let´s say after the thirtieth concert, I´m not so nervous. And then it also has it´s energetic side. It gives you power.

AVIVA-Berlin: What inspires you? Does the melody come to you when you´re developing the text or do you come up with the melody once the text is finished? Or does the melody come first? How does the process work for you?
Lisa Miskovsky: I´m inspired by a lot of things, by my surroundings. If I see a movie and there is a phrase or a situation that affects me, I start to think about it and then something grows, a melody, and it needs to come out. Also, when I talk to people, my friends and family, or when I see a great nature scene, it all affects me and I start writing a song. It all makes you think, makes you reflect on a situation. Friends, people, my daily life, hometown, family … . Travelling is also very inspiring.
Other songs also inspire me, for example Bruce Springsteen´s song "River" inspired me to write the other side of the story. Men normally write about love problems about how they are out in the world and how they leave the family. I try to take the position of the woman who is left behind. How does she feel? What is she doing?

AVIVA-Berlin: You play a lot of different instruments. In which situation do you prefer to play which instrument? Is there a new one you would like to learn how to play?
Lisa Miskovsky: In a dreamy mood I play the piano a lot. It´s kind of meditative. You can just play some notes, but I also like the guitar. You can just grab it and sing to it, but then you can not just play something, you need to play a song. I usually sing to it. I love drums, I always wanted to play the drums. I used to go to the alternative concerts and I liked the drummer a lot. You know, the drummer is in the back of the stage, he can see everything, he has the power. I play the drums when I´m in a bad mood. I would like to play cello, too, but it´s too hard. I also tried violin but I was too bad on it.

AVIVA-Berlin: So you also listen to heavy metal. What do you like about this music? What is a ´good song´ for you? What does it have to have musically, and as far as content is concerned?
Lisa Miskovsky: A good song needs a good melody, and good lyrics. Melody and lyrics need to be a unit. If there is a song with a good melody but bad lyrics, it´s still OK though. The same with heavy metal songs. I mean it´s very different from my songs but as long as there is a beautiful melody I like it.

AVIVA-Berlin: Your father comes from Chekoslavakia and his family name is Miskovsky. Do you have Jewish roots? Have you been to your father´s homeland and were you brought bi-lingual?
Lisa Miskovsky: I did some research about the name "Miskovsky" in school but don´t know about Jewish roots. I was only once in Prague. It´s such a beautiful city. I´d like to go back. All my relatives there have passed away though. My father played the contrabass in the conservatory over there.
I only speak some words of Chech, unfortunately. My parents had problems to communicate in the beginning because my father is Chech and my mother is from Finland. Both didn´t speak a lot English, so they decided to move to Sweden to learn the language together. It would have been beautiful to speak Finish and Chech, too.
It´s such a beautiful love story how my parents got to know each other. My dad had been on tour for ten years when he met my mother at a concert and stayed with her. It makes me so happy to see how my parents look at each other. After 35 years they are still in love. Everytime my parents tell me about it I´m like: "Wow, what a lovestory."

AVIVA-Berlin: You seem to be on the go 24 hours a day. How do you relax while you´re working so hard? Or is work actually relaxing for you?
Lisa Miskovsky: (Laughs) Well, I like watching movies, it´s relaxing. Music is also relaxing for me. And I´ve started playing poker. I play it on the internet. I actually taught my dad how to play, and now he´s pretty good, he plays quite aggressively and knows all the tricks.
Making music really pleases me. I have a friend who is always on the run because of his work, he has only time to eat on the train. But he does what he loves so it´s OK. As long as it´s fun it´s not only work, it´s also a pleasure.

AVIVA-Berlin: Do you want children?
Lisa Miskovsky: Yes, but in these times it´s not possible. Friends of mine have children now, I adore them, its so beautiful, it´s a miracle, I like to play with them. But I see it´s also a lot of work.

AVIVA-Berlin: When did you start snowboarding?
Lisa Miskovsky: I was actually quite old when I began, I was 18. In the beginning I was so bad, it was really frustrating. The first month I fell so often and it really hurt. But after a while, a month or so, I wasn´t scared any more to fall, I was already used to it. And my friends who were so good in the beginning were afraid of falling because they hardly fell, so in the end I was no longer afraid of falling and could try all the hard stuff. I do also surfing, which is better because you cannot fall, or if you fall, you don´t hurt yourself so much, I mean, it´s only water. It can be scary though if you are under water for a while, but at least it doesn´t hurt.

AVIVA-Berlin How would you define success?
Lisa Miskovsky: It´s a two sided-coin. People want to be popular but don´t know what it means. It´s less glorious than you think. In my home town I don´t go out any more because there are people who approach you, that come too close and shout at you, or are aggressive. And I want to say to them, I´m still the girl that I was before, I´ve been living here for ages. They´ve known me since I was a kid, when I planted the flowers but now they act so differently. I prefer meeting my friends at my house. It can be very lonely to be famous, you close yourself, you don´t talk about your feelings like you did before. It changes your life. It´s not as glamorous as people think.

AVIVA-Berlin: What do you do when you have love problems? Or what would you recommend?
Lisa Miskovsky: Depends on the sort of problem. If someone doesn´t treat you right, I´m out of here. When I´m in love, I´m a chicken. I can go out and take risks by doing sports, I just take my board and go…but when it comes to love I´m a coward (laughs).

AVIVA-Berlin: You´ve written an autobiography ´How Dare You, Lisa´. Why did you decide to write one? And do you see yourself as a role-model?
Lisa Miskovsky: No, I don´t want to act as a role model because I also make mistakes. But I wanted to explain that one can be different. When everyone was going out dancing, I was home with my parents learning how to play the guitar. It is easy to pick on someone who´s different. I wanted to show people that whatever you want to do or what you are good at, you should do, doesn´t matter if your parents want you to become a swimmer or something else. One has to find her own way.

AVIVA-Berlin: Your recording label – Universal – and the Burda publishing company had the idea to let you sing the title song ´Lady Stardust´ for the friendship campaign. What did you think when they came up to you with the idea? What kind of magazines do you read?
Lisa Miskovsky: Usually I don´t do commercials. This is the first time. When they came up with the idea, I first wanted to see the magazine, and I liked it. I work with a lot of guys, which I like of course, but I wanted to do some girl´s stuff, too. I also read a magazine which is like a Swedish Freundin, it´s called "Amelia". I get it every week. I also read car magazines, I love cars. Everyone has a dream car. Mine is a dodge, and a mustang. It´s so beautiful, it´s like an animal. Plus I read poker magazines.

AVIVA-Berlin: If you had 3 wishes…
Lisa Miskovsky: I´d like to rule the weather, to be the weather ruler. It would be nice if it´s rainy you go outside and it just stops, the sun is shining (laughs). Then I´d like to cure people by laying hands on them. And I want to continue making music. I want my music to be heard. I think it is worth to be hearing.

AVIVA-Berlin: Thank you so much for the interview. We wish you all the best!
Lisa Miskovsky: It was fun doing this interview with you. Thank you, too!

Lisa Miskovsky´s official site: www.lisamiskovsky.com