Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory's highly anticipated self-titled album is out today, and Chris just published a File interview with the singer to celebrate. Last night, Van Etten and her band performed album single "Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)" on Fallon.
Coincidentally, Van Etten spent a portion of her File discussing her debut Fallon performance of "Serpents" in 2012. Spoiler: She doesn't think it went great, but the late-night host was really cool about it.
[I remember] that I fucked up and I had to do it again. I was so nervous, and I was learning how to use my pedals, and I was trying to look nice while also rocking out. And you know, I’d played it 100 times probably at that point. When the camera’s on, I just got stage fright or something, and where I’m supposed to hit the pedal, where it boosts it, it muted it. And then I looked down, and I realized what I did. And when I looked back up, I hit my head on the mic, and I looked at the camera, and I said, "Shit." We finished the song, and it was, who knows how obvious that was to the audience or whatever, I knew. And Jimmy was so nice. We finished the song, and he did the closing out, you know, the ending, whatever. And he’s like, “How was that for you? Did you feel good about it?” And he’s like, "Do you need to do it again?" I was like, “Can I do it again? I definitely fucked up.” He’s like, "No problem." You have a bit more time because I don’t think it’s live live most of the time. So I felt like that was the best first show experience I could have had, and he was so kind about it, and I am so grateful that I got to do it. Yeah, I was very nervous.
Watch Van Etten's gothed-out "Southern Life" performance below.
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory is out now.
