The one where the Friends star directs a music video… “It was just great.
Courteney’s a badass piano player.
So we met on Instagram and bonded over piano music.”
Credit: Warner Music; Inset: Rich Fury/Getty Images
“I was so excited about it,” Cox says.
“I was practicing ‘The Joke’ over and over.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Where did the vibe for the video come from?
Warner Music
Brandi, you often citeDavid BowieandElton Johnas influences and your look in the video is very reminiscent of that.
She had always been telling us that we would like each other and we were just abstractly listening.
I didn’t want to be given it.
I wanted to see if my idea was something that Brandi responded to.
CARLILE:The idea was so cinematic to me.
But her idea was so spiritually connected to what the song is about.
It wasn’t on the nose; it was better than that.
I can talk myself into so many different things…
I have my own roadblocks in so many areas of my life.
I get nervous if I play the piano.
Am I good enough?
Brandi, what was it that grabbed you about Courteney’s pitch?
Was there a specific image?
CARLILE:She literally acted it out for me.
I really feel seen by Courteney.
I don’t feel like “Brandi Carlile” with her, I feel like Brandi.
That’s why the video spoke to me.
CARLILE:She’s doing the dance right now, just so you know.
I was so shy back then, and I really did not want to get up on stage.
But I love music, almost more than I love anything.
CARLILE:It’s cool that in that video she’s like, “Don’t pick me.”
It meant something to me.
And I think we all can relate to that line, however you want to interpret it.
That line really haunts me and it’s really real.
The climax of the video happens underwater.
Can you tell me more about the challenges of filming that logistically?
I don’t do it.
I do not put my face in the water.
I wanted to meet her where she was.
She set a really high standard with this idea.
And we pulled it off.
It was really peaceful and special for me.
There’s never been anything like that that’s happened to me in my life or my career.
It was pretty significant.
Brandi, this is the first single off your next album.
Why was this the one you wanted to launch with?
CARLILE:Oh man, it just told us.
It told us itself that it was the one.
Why do you think it took that long?
CARLILE:I think it’s because I don’t know if I’m always a songwriter.
Sometimes I don’t know if I ever will be again.
I’ll write a song and then I won’t for like two years.
Sometimes I wonder, “Do I still write songs?
Can I still write songs?”
And then I’ll just get smacked in the face with one.
That’s what happened.
I’ve never had a song before like I had with “The Joke.”
I’ve always been an album artist, so it’s an underdog career.
Courteney, what was it about the song that spoke to you and spurred that specific vision?
Usually, it takes a couple of times.
You hear a song, and you grow into it.
But this one, it’s haunting.
CARLILE:The first person that I played it for live actually was Courteney because I played it here.
How do you come back from these silent days, from what we’ve been through?
