It has almost been 14 years now that I wanted to do this album, which I have left aside repeatedly. All of us know that it is not easy to produce an album. I don’t know why it has lost its priority in mind, apart from the physical obstacles that come with the process of production of every album. However, I do remember very well why I wanted to finish this one in particular.
Like for all other albums, Sweet Talker also had a folder in one of my shelves, a light mint colored one, and a list of songs already prepared on a paper with my handwriting. I really do not know how this folder popped up on my work table again. Perhaps I was looking for something else but came across it and put it back on my table. After that, I had a revelation that I had to work on the album; and when this happens, nothing can stop me. I just do what I need to do without caring much about the consequences, like whether it will create a financial burden on me or not. Some of the songs that I had put then on the list didn’t seem okay now so I decided to replace them with ones I like more.
The reason that the album is named as it is, as Sweet Talker, goes back to the years when I was performing at a music club. The club was named Cabaret-Cine, and it was one of the best venues for live music performances in Istanbul at which many acclaimed musicians of Turkey used to perform. I performed there once a week on Wednesday nights, starting my performances with singing country songs with my guitar. After a break, I would transition to traditional folk songs from Anatolia; and towards the end I would deliberately take the performance to more flirtatious, joyful songs. I think the reason for this was to first and foremost convey a message that suffering should be overcome. Joy is part of us; it is there all the time, yet obscured by suffering throughout our journeys in life.
Sweet Talker is about love, joy and overcoming suffering. This is why there is a song of suffering for love at the center of the album, both physically and metaphorically. I see suffering as the black hole of the cosmos of our deep self. It is so easy to get lost in there. And I see joy as the shining stars orbiting around that black hole. This is how I structured the album. I see Sweet Talker as a “star cluster” made of stars around a black hole. The joyful songs represent the stars, whereas the melancholic song “Odam Kireç Tutmuyor,” which goes like “the longing for love does not go away unless we cuddle up...” These lyrics remind me a poem by Rumi, which I had used on another album of mine: “Who can part the water from the wine or me from you when we combine.”
We have to stay away from the black holes. All of us suffer, and unless we overcome and find a way out of it, we can never really taste the real joy of life. And if we cannot do that, it means that we will leave this world without actually living in it.
For the time being, Sweet Talker will be released only digitally. Publishing CD's and problems related to their distribution at music stores are big setbacks for me recently. However, who knows...