image//ysa perez words//shaun oppedisano

Uffie is the badass alter-ego of French expatriate Anna-Catherine Hartley. She has been working on an album for about four years now, called Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans. I decided not to be one of the billions that have asked her about the hold-up. Instead, she told me about future material, plans to leave France, and weighed in on the heated Ke$ha debate.

Uffie – ADD SUV (ft. Pharrell Williams)

So where are you at right now?

I am lying on the couch in my label’s office in Paris.

We were supposed to do this last week but you were in New York.

Yeah, for 20 hours!

You’ve been back and forth a lot.

Jesus, yes. We went to New York for 20 hours to do some last-minute shoots for the video.

Which song is the video for?

“ADD SUV.”

Yeah, that was hectic. We were doing like two gigs a day, and photo shoots in between. It was crazy. I really love the festival… it’s so crazy getting across the city and trying to do everything on time… it’s so hectic but I really like the festival and Austin’s great.

Do you have any more plans for US touring?

Yes, hopefully in November.

I heard you played new songs at SXSW. Was this stuff from the album or completely new material?

No, it’s new from the album. But I am back in the studio already. So the next one won’t be too long. I’m shooting for never being asked again, “Why did it take you so long?”

You said before that the album took a while because you didn’t want to rush into it and needed to learn how to go about the process. Now that your album is finished and about to finally be released, do you feel like you’ve gotten it down?

Definitely, and now it’s all good. I was kind of having issues as well—it’s really hard to find your confidence because you have to give your heart and believe in what you’re doing. And it’s really hard when you don’t know what you’re doing. [laughs] So now that I have an album under my belt, I think I’ll be going much quicker now. I feel a lot more secure.

You also do more singing on this album. Did that make you nervous?

Yeah, because it was with Mirwais and it’s like, “You only worked with Madonna, no pressure there.” [laughs] So I was a little bit scared. But he was really cool. We sat down in his living room and he brought out a guitar and made me do the notes. That was probably the most humiliating hour of my life but I think it paid off!

There were so many different producers involved. Was any one of them most fun to work with?

Definitely Mirwais. The guy is just a genuinely good person. He became like one of best friends. A lot of the time egos are a big problem, but he isn’t like that. It is just really lovely to work with him.

It might be a bit too early to talk about, but are you planning to take a new direction with your next material?

I’m definitely going a bit more rock. It’s going to be a very alternative type thing, I think a lot more deep though.

Is there anything that’s influenced this shift?

I’ve been listening to tons of late 70s, early 80s kind of stuff, like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division.

I would love to be able to tour with a proper band one day and bring much more live stuff. You know, I love electronic music, but at the same time I don’t want everything to be completely computerized.

I think you have to totally reinvent yourself and keep revolving. If not, you don’t challenge yourself.

I wanted to mention though that I really like your song “Tik Tok.”

[Laughs!] Nice! That was a really good way to introduce the subject. I haven’t heard that one yet.

I know you don’t want to talk shit about Ke$ha, but could you take her in a fight?

I think so, because I am quite a punk. I don’t have as much hair to pull, either.

People have been getting really upset about this!

Have you seen Jeremy Scott? Wow!

But you don’t even seem that angry.

If they all want to fight this battle for me, then good for them. I’ve been working for four years at this, so I don’t give a shit if some girl stole it or not. What matters is what I’m focusing on working on. And if she did, well, time will tell…

Yes! She’s seven and a half months now.

Has she had a big impact on your career yet?

Definitely, especially with touring. It’s hard, you know, trying to balance everything. And I’m not very organized so I’ve been forced to become [organized].

Has she gone with you at all?

No, I’m in different cities every day so it’s not very nice. If I’m gone for months then she’ll definitely come, but she’s a bit too young now.

Maybe in November.

Yeah, I mean now it’s like, a crying baby on tour? I’m not going to get off stage to deal with that. But she has an amazing nanny and I only tour on the weekends now.

Do you speak French?

Yeah, I get by. I don’t have deep, meaningful conversations though.

So she’ll probably grow up bilingual, right?

Yeah, I don’t think she’s going to grow up here. [laughs] I’m considering leaving.

What are the candidate cities?

New York or London. But then I was thinking maybe something like Seattle. My sister moved there and loves it.

Are you still working on your own clothing?

Yeah, I’m actually designing a couple of collections for Diesel.

Any idea when we’ll see this?

We’re shooting for November, but you never know.

So everything happens in November?

Yeah! Get ready. Takeover year.

How would you describe Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans?

It’s totally my youth… so I’m a total punk at heart with a passion for hip hop and I’m surrounded by electro. So it’s kind like the chronicles and adventures of my youth in the past four years.

And now it’s like you’re moving on?

Yeah, moving on. Evolving… new baby, new life, and that means new city, of course.

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To check out more from Uffie, go to her MySpace page and become a follower on Twitter. Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans will be released on June 14th in Europe via Ed Banger / Because Music and digitally June 15th here in the US, with a physical release June 22nd via Elektra. Uffie’s single “ADD SUV” is available TODAY in the USA! Go to iTunes and similar online retailers now to get the single along with 4 great remixes!