Not only does this mark Carlisle’s return to the recording studio since 1997, but it also marks a reunion with Diane Warren, who wrote “Big, Big Love” as well as Carlisle’s 1987 single “I Get Weak”.
The EP also includes “Deeper Into You,” “I Couldn’t Do That To Me,” and “Sanity” as well as “If U Go”, which was also written by Warren.
She recollects, “I remember when the first AIDS case in West Hollywood. It was a guy that worked at a little deli. I lost a lot of friends and, and so then I started getting involved in whatever I could to sort of help the community.”
When her son James Duke Mason was born, she said she had an “inkling” he might be gay and he came out when he was 14 and she fully accepted him. She also said, “the first thing that I think of as a mom is what kind of world is he going to have to face, as a young gay man.”
Speaking of Mason, it was because of Mason that Carlisle reunited with Warren to work on the appropriately titled Kismet.
“I was kind of in retirement mode,” Carlisle said. She said that she didn’t quit working but when her son ran into Diane Warren at a coffee shop and introduced himself. He started talking about how his mom should do new music. One thing led to another and Warren said, “Get her on the phone now!”
“You know how intense she is,” Carlisle continued. Her son and Warren Facetimed her and it led to her working with Warren. “It was out the blue [and] was kind of shocking.”
Carlisle admitted that she didn’t know if she wanted to make a commitment to making new music – because it is a big commitment. “I went to the studio because you don’t say no to Diane Warren and she played me ‘Big, Big Love’, which she had written only a couple of days before she ran into my son and she didn’t know who it was for.”
“She played it for me and I was like, ‘oh my God, this is so good’,” Carlisle said. “I don’t understand why she’d be giving it to me because normally the caliber of that kind of pop song goes to somebody who’s younger or somebody who’s in the charts.”
Just when Carlisle thought that her days as a pop star were only in the ‘80s and ‘90s, she continues her legendary status in 2023. She didn’t think that anyone ever was going to give her a good song, but thanks in large part to her son, Warren gave her “Big, Big Love”and also wrote “If You Go” with Carlisle in mind.
She will also be going on tour with Kismet, but is admittedly scared to hit the road again because she tends to go blank with lyrics – but she recently performed “Big, Big Love” in the UK and had a good time. She thinks the Decades tour, which kicks off July 1 in Georgia, is going to be fun.
Now that she’s coming out of pseudo-retirement with a new EP and a tour, she is just enjoying the journey and taking things one step at a time. “I’ve just kind of winged it as I went along and I’ve had management that, thankfully, that’s gone along with my winging it,” she said, adding that she’s going to get through 2023 and take some time of next year. After that, she will see if she wants to continue with new music and touring.
“I know that I can never say never because I’ve been proved wrong so many times,” she said.
Belinda Carlisle Decades Tour Dates
July 6 – Stephanie H Weill PAC / Sheboygan, WI
July 9 – North Shore Center for the Performing Arts / Skokie, IL
July 11 – The Rose Music Center at The Heights -/ Huber Heights, OH
July 14 – Melody Tent / Cape Cod, MA
July 15 – South Shore Music Circus / Cohasset, MA
July 17 – Sony Hall / New York, NY
July 18 – NYCB Theatre at Westbury / Westbury, NY
August 18 – Blue Note Summer Sessions / Napa, CA
August 20 – August Hall / San Francisco, CA
August 22 – House of Blues Las Vegas / Las Vegas, NV
August 24 – Libbey Bowl / Ojai, CA
August 26 – Honda Center / Anaheim, CA
August 27 – Greek Theatre / Los Angeles, CA
For more tour info click HERE