Macy Gray: No one wanted to work with me

Macy Gray had to stare rejection in the face when she was working on her new album The Sellout — because producers kept turning her down. The I Try singer says she was like a door-to-door salesman as she tried to find the perfect collaborator.

“I just went with the ones who called me back. It’s nothing, it’s alright,” she said.

“You know, rejections are really popular in the world and the secret is you just go to the next door — you know, like those people who sell vacuums door-to-door. You’ve just got to keep going and eventually someone says ‘yes’.

“There’s this idea that only teenagers buy records and watch videos, so I think the industry is just becoming really accustomed to catering to a younger audience and therefore older artists have a really tough time.”

“You get in this rut of trying to please your label which definitely affects your creative process and the honesty of it.

“People say stuff. But not that I can or would use. Nah.”