As a former member of the Pussycat Dolls, the most successful female dance music group of all time, Jessica Sutta is well aware of her gay following. That hasn't changed since she went solo.
"Being in front of a gay audience is so much more fun," says Sutta, a Miami native who relocated to Los Angeles nine years ago where she said everybody goes to be who they want to be. "There are some really beautiful men and women there," she says, adding that she has a girl crush on Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox, but has a boyfriend who came in from Australia recently to help her celebrate her 30th birthday.
LGBT rights are her platform and Sutta plans to be the voice for millions of LGBT people that need to be heard for equality. "Everyone should be proud of who they are. Life's too short. All my friends are gay, pretty much. We joke that I may come back in my next life as a gay man," says Sutta. To show her love for the Michigan LGBT community, Sutta is coming to Motor City Pride at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit on June 2.
"I always have a great time in Detroit," she says. "It's really cool that I have the ability to do what I do. I think these festivals are a lot of fun and it's always amazing to be a part of."
While at the festival, Sutta will perform her Hollywood Records debut single "Show Me," written and produced by busbee and mixed by Grammy-nominated Veronica Ferraro. "I will show my alter ego, the theme for my upcoming album 'Sutta Pop,' and plan to get really lost in the fantasy. I love dance music. That's all I listen to really. Being from Miami, there is a heavy base of dance music there. It's very sexy."
Her catchy club-inspired song is in heavy rotation at many clubs and was selected to be a bonus track on "Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 39." This is Sutta's first solo No. 1 single and she is the first Pussycat Doll to ever top the Billboard Club chart as a solo artist. The video was shot inside the American Legion in Hollywood, a venue with classic art deco architecture mixed with a historic military motif. "The war memorabilia was really trippy. It was a cool vision," says Sutta. "The song is about walking the walk and showing me that you love me."
That's important to Sutta considering she wants to get married one day and hopes that same-sex couples will soon be able to do the same. "We're in 2012 and I feel like we're in a time when racism existed. I get really heated when I talk about this topic. Who are we to judge who people marry or how they choose their life to be? Because I have a lot of gay monogamous friends, I saw a different side to it. There are so many heterosexual people that shouldn't be married. It's time to wake up."
The anti-gay attitude, especially bullying, is something Sutta never understood, even as a young girl. "I was bullied as a kid," she says. "Girls were horrible to me. They used to call me Jessica 'Slutta' because it rhymes with my last name. I was really sensitive to it, but grew a really thick skin. There should be more punishment for bullying in schools."
Her advice to any kid getting bullied is to "stay strong," "kill them with kindness" and "don't take it personal." Sutta has some friendly advice for adults, too: "We need to be able to grow through our generation so we can help our kids. We can really hurt a child by not growing and by not teaching."
Getting beat up gave Sutta the ammunition to do what she loves and to surround herself with good people. "I had the best time of my life in that group," she says when asked about moving on from the Pussycat Dolls. "I love having that as a part of my life. I'm very proud." Now inspired by singer and songwriters like Sia, Sutta continues to develop herself as an artist. "When I'm on stage, I come alive. I'm really falling in love more and more with performing."
Off stage, Sutta describes herself as a "really normal chick." "I'm a hippy who loves to love. I'm goofy. I've become more humble throughout the years. I've grown up," she says. The more mature Sutta plans to travel the world with her music to reach her fans everywhere. "When you're on the floor, you feel the dance music in your feet, in your heart. It does put you in a trance in some ways, and I hope my music will do that."
Jessica Sutta
7 p.m. June 2
Motor City Pride
Hart Plaza, Detroit
Pride Stage
http://www.jessicasuttaonline.com
