Liz Phair Explains <i>Funstyle</i>

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jul 13, 2010

Earlier this month, Liz Phair surprised fans with the out-of-the-blue release of her latest album, Funstyle. Everything about the release appeared to be completely unplanned, from the complete lack of promotional materials to the MacBook screengrab that served as an album cover. What's more, the actual music on the album was a bizarre mishmash of pretty good songs and downright terrible experiments. Now, Phair has opened up about the album, explaining the reason for its sudden release.

In a post on her official website entitled "How to Like It," she wrote, "These songs lost me my management, my record deal and a lot of nights of sleep."

She continued, "These are all me. Love them, or hate them, but dont mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free for all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens."

In a subsequent interview with the Wall Street Journal, she explained that she parted ways with her record label, ATO, following a management change. "The people who were still there didn't like, or didn't know, what to do with the music I was making, so we just stalled out and I asked to leave."

Despite her anti-industry rants on Funstyle, Phair may not have burned all of her bridges at ATO. She revealed, "A few of them [at ATO] just contacted me after I put out Funstyle to tell me how hilarious some of the songs were. All good."

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