Tracy Chapman wants to talk about herself

“I haven’t really made a press for a long time,” said Tracy Chapman by settling down on a bench in the courtyard of the Majestic Fairmont hotel in San Francisco earlier this week, wearing a black cap on its gray and gray back dreads.

Over the past decade, the singer and songwriter has remained almost silent, although the last two years brought a renewed fervor for her tender folk music. In 2023, Luke Combs published a Smash cover of his first single in 1988, “Fast Car”, and the two interpreted a deeply moving duo in last year’s grammys. However, Chapman remained resolutely out of the public’s eyes, transmitting interviews on the second life of “Fast Car” and refusing to run for the country music Awards, where it took the song of the year, making her the first black woman and black songwriter, to win a CMA.

But Chapman, 61, accepted this interview because she wants to talk about something that is particularly excited to her: the vinyl re -edition of her eponymous beginnings Multiplatinum, which arrived on Friday. “It is an opportunity for me to be able to say why I wanted to do this project and what it means for me,” she said, “instead of letting chat speak for me.”

Flowers flowered around her in rich shades of lilac and orange, but Chapman was defeated in discreet neutrals: a pale pink buttoned under a black zipped sweater under a relaxed blazer -shaped jacket. (“The key to your comfort is to have diapers,” she said about the unconditional climate of her longtime city.) More than an hour, she talked about the album, and as much more-like this emotional grammy performance (she recommended Roland Allep “The Notebook”. The best songs have always driven out: The American Dream.

For a figure which has become better known for its reserve than its public statements, Chapman was remarkably warm and open, quickly with an easy and kind laugh. She is a thoughtful worder and considered, speaking in complete sentences which sometimes stops for long characteristics, but always closing proper, returning to its original point.