{"id":37582,"date":"2025-07-04T08:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T08:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/37582\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T08:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T08:23:09","slug":"karlovy-vary-2025-opening-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/37582\/","title":{"rendered":"Karlovy Vary 2025 Opening Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIf you are attending the Friday opening night<\/a> of the 59th edition<\/a> of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival<\/a>, get ready for stars, fireworks and \u201cTropical Chancer,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Not Your Toy\u201d and \u201cBulletproof\u201d courtesy of La Roux.<\/p>\n

The festival, kicking off the European summer holiday season, has a track record of free opening night concerts that get the Czech spa town grooving. Two years ago, Russell Crowe rocked<\/a> the crowd, and electronic band Morcheeba<\/a> got folks moving. Last year, Kosheen<\/a> was in the house \u2013 well, actually in the square outside the Hotel Thermal.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year, another big British name is ready to bring the party to Karlovy Vary, which runs through July 12: Grammy-winning synthpop act\u00a0La Roux<\/a>. And is tradition, the fireworks on stage will be followed by a fireworks display.<\/p>\n

\n\tLa Roux\u2019s self-titled debut album in 2009 was a critical and commercial success and won numerous awards. It produced such hits as the ones mentioned above. It was the creation of singer Elly Jackson, known for reddish hair that also inspired the band name, and record producer Ben Langmaid, who later left the duo.<\/p>\n

\n\tJackson followed up the debut album with 2014\u2019s Trouble in Paradise, followed by 2020\u2019s Supervision.<\/p>\n

\n\tAhead of the Karlovy Vary performance, Jackson, born in\u00a0London\u00a0to actors\u00a0Trudie <\/a>Goodwin\u00a0and Kit Jackson, talked to THR about how her music has changed, her next album, why she deserves more credit, and how female music creators must often still fight to get it.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow do you feel about how your music and your style have evolved and changed over time and how much you have developed as an artist? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI feel that probably the biggest difference is that, as time has gone on, I\u2019ve learned how to be more authentically myself in my work, whilst creating stylized worlds. When I first started, thinking about it from a psychological perspective, maybe there was some kind of covering up of who I really am, but under the guise of creating characters. Although I\u2019m really proud of that time and I wouldn\u2019t change it for anything, and I love all the visuals I did, it\u2019s nice to be able to take the shell off a little bit as you get older and learn to be who you are, but still in an artistic landscape. That\u2019s been a nice process, a kind of unmasking, but hopefully not in a really boring way.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhere did the name La Roux come from? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Basically, I just didn\u2019t want it to be my name, because I think that\u2019s really boring. Generally, names as a kind of artist name are quite dull nowadays anyway. And I also wanted it to be a name that meant that I could do lots of different things throughout my career. I felt there was an ability within that to have a bigger musical scope. I wanted my name to be able to encapsulate different things and feelings, and that\u2019s when I decided to come up with a project name.<\/p>\n

The guy that I did the artwork with on the first album is Alex Brown. We\u2019re friends and we met when he was still at uni. I told him, \u201cI\u2019ve given myself this week to come up with a name for the project, and if it goes on any longer than that, it\u2019s going to get silly.\u201d When I went round to his house, he said, \u201cI just found this \u201980s baby name book in a skip outside \u2013 maybe you\u2019ll find a name in here.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe first page I opened said Laroux,\u201d and I\u2019d wanted the name to encapsulate my red hair. I also wanted to have the letter X in it, because my music was electronic, and when I was a teenager, those things went together. And I also wanted it to be a bit French, because I have some French heritage in my background. And weirdly, that is exactly what those words mean. La Roux means red-haired one in French. But even more handily, it\u2019s the male version of that. So it\u2019s actually, kind of by accident, a very androgynous name as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tA friend once said: \u201cLa Roux reminds me a bit of an actress\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tTilda Swinton?<\/p>\n

\n\tExactly! Have you met her? Or was she an inspiration for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWeirdly, I didn\u2019t actually know who she was when I was younger. My mom is an actress in the U.K., and she knew who she was, of course. And obviously, I know who Tilda Swinton is now, but I didn\u2019t then. I was very young. My mum was like: \u201cThere\u2019s some similarity between you and Tilda Swinton. And I said: I don\u2019t even know who she is, so it can\u2019t be intentional.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAnything that I had been like had probably come more from listening to Annie Lennox my whole life. I just happened to be ginger, and I had short hair, and I like \u201980s music, so the things are going to get combined.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo no, it wasn\u2019t intentional at all. But then I met her, and we had a couple of pictures together, and she\u2019s very sweet. So, it was a brilliant moment. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith your family background and your talents, have you done any acting or have you created any film or TV music? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the biggest frustrations of my career is that people never asked me to produce anything when I produced my last three albums, and I play all the parts, and I arrange and compose every record. It\u2019s always been really shocking to me that no one has asked me to do a soundtrack. No one\u2019s ever asked me to write anything on commission or produce anything. I find it very strange that it makes me feel like we must still live in a sexist world that I hope we don\u2019t live in, but we do. I would love to do that, but I\u2019ve never been asked. <\/p>\n

\n\tI did get asked to audition for a film role once or twice, but weirdly, being on stage in front of 50,000 people wouldn\u2019t scare me, but doing that scares the living daylights out of me. I really like doing little bits of silly sort of acting in music videos. I really enjoy that. And I don\u2019t think I\u2019d be a terrible actress, but the setting would have to be very right. And I\u2019m not the kind of be-it-all, do-it-all kind of artist. I like music.<\/p>\n

\n\tFriends of mine in Central and Eastern Europe all know your music. It seems like you have a fan base there\u2026but have you played a film festival before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI can\u2019t remember exactly where \u201cBulletproof\u201d was a number one, but I remember it being big in that part of the world. I\u2019ve played all over Germany. I\u2019ve played in Poland. And I have played a fashion show or two. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve done a festival before. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow important was or is \u201cBulletproof\u201d to you personally and your career? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tActually, \u201cBulletproof\u201d came at the end of the first record. It was the last thing we wrote for the record. And it wasn\u2019t intentional. What happened was: Ben was on the phone, and I was in the living room on the keyboard, and I started playing the main sounds, an arpeggiated part. And he just came in and said, \u201cRecord that!\u201d And then we just wrote the song. I was pissed off at the time because I\u2019d been trying to date somebody, and they\u2019d been dicking me around. I\u2019d been listening to a lot of Yazoo, and that was a big reference on the day.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy \u201cBulletproof\u201d is weird for me is that it was throwaway when I wrote it, and it still feels really throwaway to me. It\u2019s like it\u2019s not for me, even though I wrote every single part in it and co-wrote the lyrics with Ben. It doesn\u2019t represent who I am as an artist or a person at all. For me, I would say it\u2019s outside of the catalog, which is probably also why it\u2019s successful. But I feel that track just has a completely different feeling from anything else, which is also why it\u2019s big.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019d already written the album. We were already getting signed to Polydor. We were in a very relaxed, confident space, and I think for both of us, that day was just easy, because it just flowed. And we knew we\u2019d written a really good song, but neither of us knew we\u2019d written something that was going to essentially pay us for the rest of our lives. It is crazy when you think about what an afternoon can do. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhich one of your tracks is, or are, a good representation of who you are as an artist and person?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI would say \u201cTropical Chancer,\u201d \u201cSexotheque,\u201d \u201cCruel Sexuality\u201d [on album 2, Trouble in Paradise]. \u201cColourless Colour\u201d [from the first album] was very me at that time, probably the most me track on that album at the time. And \u201cQuicksand\u201d was a big one for me back then, too. And then later, \u201cOtherside\u201d is my favorite track from Supervision and is the most me. \u201cAutomatic Driver\u201d and \u201cGullible Fool\u201d as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince these days, it seems like everything is political, any political or social issues you\u2019d like to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just: Free Palestine.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s next for La Roux?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI have a new record that is written and finished, and it\u2019s on its way. I\u2019m also working on other music. I\u2019ve gotten back into my flow now.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnything you can share about this fourth studio album you just mentioned?<\/strong> Is it different in any way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a La Roux record. It\u2019s not like I\u2019ve gone down some wild [path] or anything, but at the same time, I would say that it\u2019s a lot warmer. It\u2019s got R&B references, but I wouldn\u2019t say that it\u2019s an R&B record. It has R&B moments, but it\u2019s a pop record. It\u2019s got my own slant on an R&B flavor, shall we say? <\/p>\n

\n\tBefore I let you get back to work, anything else you\u2019d like to highlight or follow up on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe only thing at the moment is that I\u2019ve really realized how frustrating I find it that I don\u2019t get recognized in the same way as my male counterparts for my production work. That\u2019s something I want to talk about. I kind of just ignored it in the past and was just like, \u201cWhatever, it is what it is.\u201d But it\u2019s something that I recently found I actually really need to speak up about, because otherwise it\u2019s just going to continue. I am doing three years of work at a computer by myself, and then people ask: \u201cWhich guy did this?\u201d It\u2019s beyond frustrating, as I\u2019m sure you can imagine.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, I\u2019m now always trying to remind people that, when you listen to my music, I wrote and performed all of it, unless it\u2019s a saxophone or the odd bass part that\u2019s difficult. Maybe three parts across an entire album are performed by somebody else. Sometimes, I get a percussionist in at the end who specializes in percussion. Or if I want the piano to be really grandiose and old-school, then I would get a pianist in. But I would have written the basic part already. That happens maybe three times across an entire album, and still, I don\u2019t get the credit for the other 90 percent or 80 percent that I did. It\u2019s just very frustrating.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not just men who do it. Women do it as well. We\u2019re just brought up in a way where we categorize certain tasks into genders, and we don\u2019t know exactly where it starts or how we do it. It happens to all of us, and you can\u2019t really blame people for just what they\u2019ve absorbed throughout their lives. But we can try and change it moving forward. It\u2019s just about women communicating, unfortunately, slightly louder than men have to, which is also annoying. Maybe we just have to find ways of talking about it and making sure people do know, because otherwise, why would I bother sitting there all day trying to get better at something if no one even knows I\u2019m getting better at it or recognizes that I even did it in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you are attending the Friday opening night of the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,1801,30451,30452,2961,30453,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-37582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-international","11":"tag-karlovy-vary-international-film-festival","12":"tag-kviff","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-roux","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114794004799172322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}