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empowerment? For example, I live part of the year in Florida, not too far from Parkland. When the Parkland school shooting happened, I went into a depression where I was feeling helpless as a parent. Then I thought, I'm a writer. I can contribute something by writing a piece about this. Was it a similar process for you?" LK: "I react to the world. Just as you say you did, I have a reaction. I actually recorded the song twice. I was trying to find the direction for the record. The way the song started, the first version of "It's Enough" was a full-on guitar, bass, drum, punk rock song. It had an angry tone to it, because that felt like the proper reaction. And then I thought about it and ended up changing it and finding this groove, which is the polar opposite of what it started out as. I found that by being calm and by being centered and by being quiet, it was more effective. It brought out a whole new feeling in the song, and I think it enables the listener to hear the lyrics even better." And you feel it brings more of a positive energy, as opposed to the original version, which would have brought forth anger. LK: "Absolutely. I'm all about positive energy. I'm stating the facts, but in the end, I always take an optimistic and positive tone that, 'People, we can do this!' We can do it. It's just a matter of waking up." What does the title of your album, Raise Vibration, mean to you? And how do you raise your vibration? Do you meditate? Do you pray? LK: "It means exactly that; waking up. I meditate, I pray, I try to be still, I try to be quiet… and listen. It means having the desire to learn, to improve, and to face my faults and learn from them. I'm always looking to go higher. And taking as much ego out of myself as possible." How do you define God? LK: "I believe that God is my creator, our creator. Whether we realize it or not, I believe we are all created by the same God. I believe we are all one creation, we are all connected, and I believe that God is the ultimate source of love and all we are looking for." Do you consider yourself an activist? LK: "That's a difficult one. I use my music to express myself, and if it inspires others, then that's a beautiful thing. I don't know that I'm initially doing it for any other reason than to express myself. But I do see myself going more in that direction where you could call it that." I ask because when I listened to "It's Enough", I could tell you're at a point in your life, and in your career, where you have no problem stating your opinions on societal issues. LK: "Right, but for instance, from my first album, Let Love Rule, up until now, I haven't had that problem. It's always been within me to express myself truthfully." I always say that when I enter a room, or wherever I may be, that I never walk alone because I can feel the presence of God beside me, as well as my great grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, siblings and my son. I walk into a space with the energy of those who made me who I am, walking beside me. When you enter a space, who walks beside you? LK: "God is with me at all times, which I am always aware of. And the energy of my mother, of my grandmother, of my grandfather, my daughter [actress, Zoe Kravitz], who is here with me on this earth, is always with me. And like you said, knowing that and feeling that, and knowing that spirit is far superior to anything here. The physical presence is wonderful, and something that we require and crave as human beings. We're spiritual beings living a physical experience, but as you say, you recognize that you have these people with you and it just shows how strong spirit is and how strong energy is. My mother's [the late actress, Roxie Roker] been gone for twenty plus years, and I can still feel her every day. I can still sense her presence because the energy she left is so powerful. That's an awesome thing." Your music really transcends any one genre. It's a blend of rock, punk, blues, soul, pop; it's really everything. You can't categorize your music. And I remember seeing a clip of you, I believe it was on Oprah's Master Class, where you tell the story of sitting in a classroom as a young boy and you didn't know which box to check off on a piece of paper asking you to identify your race. Everyone's life has a theme, and that theme repeats itself over and over again because it's tied to something we're supposed to learn while we're here. In your case, it seems to be this ongoing theme where people want to put you in a box and label you, and you railing against that. Photo credit: Mathieu Bitton