She had one of the biggest hits of the 1990s and is bringing her unique blend of pop, folk and rock to Agoura Hills for a live show.
What if God was one of us was the philosophical question posed by Joan Osborne’s debut song. One Of Us became an unlikely but huge hit record, earning three Grammy nominations and topping the charts around the world in 1995.
“It was a song about God, it was a song about faith -but it wasn’t telling you what you were supposed to think,” Osborne said as she reflected on the song’s impact.
“It was asking you, ‘what is your relationship to this’? And bringing up concepts like the story of the Good Samaritan, where people pass by this homeless person on the side of the road and all these different people pass by without helping. And yet the Good Samaritan helps the person. And it turns out that that that is an incarnation of God there,” said Osborne.
“So it makes you think about – as you treat the least of mine, so you treat me. So it makes you think about that. How do we treat each other in this world? And it brings up a lot of questions. So I think that’s the reason that the song was so successful in the first place is it has these deeper questions, and yet it came in this very sort of beautiful, sparkling pop package. It seems to continue to resonate with people, I think because it’s this open ended thing. It’s not didactic, it’s not saying you must think this or that. It’s asking you what you think. What is your relationship to this question?” she said.
Osborne is back on tour, bringing her live show to the Conejo Valley and Osborne says that there’s so much more to the show than just her best-known hit.
“That song was a bit of a Trojan horse in the sense that it was this giant pop song, but it was also part of an album that people connected with beyond just that one song,” she said.
The singer is now in her 60s and has a new album out, one that’s reflecting on her life now – especially the challenges of being the parent of a teenage daughter in today’s America.
“From my experience having a teenage daughter, she does not have any interest in what I’m listening to, music or what I’m talking about musically. And in fact, one of the songs on my new record, I wrote it for her,” explained Osborne.
That song is called Nobody Owns You and Osborne says while she doesn’t know if her own daughter will get the message yet, she hopes that it will resonate.
“It seems like there’s this very narrow version of what girls think is okay to be. I find that to be such a shame, and I think that really leaves them open to being manipulated by people who do not have their best interests at heart. So I just wanted to put it in these very simple terms of nobody owns you, not the people that you love, not me. Not the people that you’re trying to impress. You are complete in and of yourself,” she said.
“So I think that that is an important thing to say. Now, you know, whether my daughter is going to listen to that, I don’t know, but it’s out there in the world,” she said.
Joan Osborne is playing at the Canyon in Agoura Hills on Friday.
News
BREAKING: Kate Martin sparked controversy on social media when she demanded that the WNBA organizing committee review the VAR and ban Angel Reese from playing for her unsportsmanlike act of punching Caitlin Clark in the head. “We must eliminate the dirty elements to make the game cleaner.”
Kate Martin has sparked a social media uproar by publicly calling on the WNBA organizing committee to review the incident using VAR and to ban Angel Reese from playing. This demand stems from Reese’s unsportsmanlike conduct, where she was seen…
Brittney Griner asked Angel Reese instead of Caitlin Clark to compete in the 3×3 Olympics after Cameron Brink suffered an injury. I think “Angel Reese is better than Caitlin Clark”, causing fans to argue fiercely on social media.
In a surprising turn of events, WNBA star Brittney Griner has chosen Angel Reese to compete in the 3×3 Olympics, following an injury to Cameron Brink. Griner’s decision, and her accompanying statement that “Angel Reese is better than Caitlin Clark,”…
Caitlin Clark’s GPA Has Been Revealed In The Wake Of Her WNBA Debut, And It Will Shock You
Caitlin Clark (Photo via @caitlinclark22/Instagram) Caitlin Clark was bossing college both on the court and in the classroom. The new Indiana Fever guard left the NCAA as its highest-ever scorer and has already put on a show in the WNBA, having made her professional…
David Portnoy Slams Team USA for Excluding Caitlin Clark from Olympic Roster, Citing Missed Opportunity for Women’s Basketball
You can love Caitlin Clark. You can hate Caitlin Clark. You can love her Iowa roots. You can hate her Iowa roots. You can like her because she’s white or dislike her because she’s white. The same goes for being…
Indiana Fever Rookie Caitlin Clark Causes A Massive Stir With Her Unusual Social Media Activity
Caitlin Clark (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)© Provided by Total Pro Sports Caitlin Clark made a curious move on social media this week, liking a certain post. The Indiana Fever point guard has made it a point to let folks know…
OUT OF BOUNDS: David Portnoy – El Presidente harshly criticizes Team USA for leaving WNBA rookie sensation Caitlin Clark off its Olympic roster. The Barstool Sports founder argues that the league missed a golden opportunity to grow women’s basketball.
Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy, better known online as “El Presidente,” is throwing shade at the selection committee behind the USA Women’s Olympic Basketball team. The controversy? The omission of WNBA rookie phenom Caitlin Clark from the roster. Clark, a…
End of content
No more pages to load