Just ran into this over on Youtube. A Banana Republic interview with Liz, shot out on the streets of LA I presume, with all kinds of production. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nQgePQsNc

Not too shabby

thanks!

Groovy, thanks for passing it along! Location is unmistakeably New York, my friend -- the Greenwich Village arch, the Flatiron building, the TAXIS... haha. Which makes me wonder when it was shot, because it hasn't been that warm here since early last fall. Can't wait to hear what Liz has been cooking up.

Since Jeremy pointed out that the location of this vid was in fact New York, in re-watching it one notices that all the trees are full of leaves which leads me to a possible theory on where's
Liz's new album. I may have WAY too much time on my hands, but here it goes. I believe the vid was probably shot last June when Liz was in New York for her Hiro Ballroom 'Guyville' shows.
This in turn leads me to believe that maybe this whole Banana Republic campaign was originally slated to kick off last fall?? That would have coincided with the release of the new album. Maybe the two
projects were tied in together and were to be released at the same time. The economy or whatever may have delayed the BR thing till this spring thus pushing back the release of Liz's new album?? I'm thinking the
new album has been done for months but has been waiting on this BR thing, obviously for marketing purposes, to be rolled out. Does this sound plausable or are the drugs really that good?? Just a thought

I don't know...doesn't sound very plausible to me.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news...-face-liz-phair

Banana Republic's New Face: Liz Phair
No, you haven't entered a time warp to 1993

Liz Phair has made this point so many times in so many ways over the years: She may have recorded one of the greatest indie rock LPs of all time, but she is not indie rock people. She is not going to front like she's too cool for anything. Writing music for the lame-ass revived "90210"? Recording with Minnie Driver? Incurring Pitchfork's wrath by making an album with Avril Lavigne's song-doctors? Whatever. Bring it on. She's good for it.

And she's still proving just how not-indie she is. As Billboard reports, this spring and summer, she'll become one of the faces of a Banana Republic ad campaign. (Eddie Bauer, apparently, was too cool.)
The theme of the campaign is "City Stories", whatever that might possibly mean. Phair will join such avatars of awesome as onetime YouTube sensations OK Go and "Love Song" chick Sara Bareilles, appearing in print ads, window displays, and billboards. And from February 17-26, Banana Republic customers will get free iTunes gift cards, redeemable for a compilation featuring songs from the participating artists.

But wait, there's more! In May, when the campaign's second leg kicks off, the participating artists will all release brand new tracks written specifically for the ad campaign. Banana Republic will offer all those songs for download on its website, along with videos and interviews. I, for one, can't wait to hear Liz Phair's song about pleated earth-tone khakis.

Banana Republic chief marketing officer Peter DeLuca explains the campaign to Billboard thusly: "We're really trying to establish the brand's vision of the city as an anchor point. Music is a key piece of the puzzle." Yeah, me neither.

the micro site for the BR campaign is online now. this is the link.
there's the interview, a very nice picture of liz and the link to download some free tracks from itunes. liz's song is never said, guyville version.

why does she talk like that?
i know it's her voice and everything but.. ugh.

She turned into an LA gurl.

when i saw liz in june in Chicago, she mentioned a little something about the new album - saying "I don't want to give away how it's going to be launched because I came up with the idea and i think it's genius..." or something like that...

*sigh*

The video. While I don't mind any artist doing commercials - at all - one has to pay the bills - I just find it hard to like..."trust" anything she's doing any more...which is sad.

I don't care who is "indie" and who is "non-indie" - I don't even think there is such a thing. You are either "good" or you are "shitty".

We all know "Good Liz" and we all know "Bad Liz"...after seeing the Exile tour in the summer, I know she's still capable of playing the guitar and singing in "good liz voice".

"Real Liz Voice."

I think the reason I haven't completely walked away from liz - is because her career is almost like...a struggle to FIND herself.
I remember when i saw the Gap commercial with the "Give a Little Bit/Supertramp" song...i remember thinking it was awkward and adorable, because...she didn't fit in.

Like - think back to the group of popular chicks in highschool. There was always ONE girl...who was "the nice one"...who didn't QUITE fit in...who deep down, was a bit of a dweeb... but for some reason - the popular chicks accepted her - kind of - as their odd ball, and everyone thought: "Dammit...why does she hang out with those bitches? Why does she want to be associated with airheads?"

That's what Liz's career - since 1999 has seemed lke to me. Like a woman trying to find herself, and it's fascinating.
2003 was a literal mid-life crisis..or so it appeared...
Sometimes, she seems like the little girl who holds the hair brush up to her mouth in the bathroom mirror, and lip syncs to her favourite guilty pleasure songs and her biggest dream in life is to get to do it - one day - the proper way - in front of an audience of screaming, adoring fans who will accept and love and worship and inspire her even more.

I think that drive - to be famous to "be free to be a rock and roll star" - to be loved and be an icon - that drive can trump artistic integrity and song-crafting and all those other little details that we once loved about Liz.

Looking back on the last 10 years, I don't begrudge liz any of it. I don't care for 90% of what she's released, but - I think all of it is fascinating. From a different perspective entirely, I think her work/image/songs/marketing in the last 10 years is equally as fascinating as the music on her first 2 albums.
Whitechocolatespaceegg was such an amazing transition...and it was exactly that. it was a pure limbo...it was "Beck-Mutations"....it was "Okay, so what the hell is next..?"
A small masterpiece thrown down at the fork in the road...and the rest is history.

History in the making...so after 2 disappointing albums and an infinity of let down in the last decade from the woman who - somehow - is still my favourite "artist"...I can't give up hope no matter how banana-republic she gets on our asses.

Watching the VERY real ups and downs of her career and seeing someone give it "the ole college try" is, in its own way...kind of brilliant.

Sorry for the lengthy rant.

Off to Toronto to see Antony and the Johnsons! WOO HOO!!!

It's kind of cool, but her "observations" sound kind of canned and empty. like she didn't want to seem too smart for the BR audience BUT I don't think she's unaware of that canned emptiness ... I think she knows exactly how she sounds and what she's doing. The EIG anniversary documentary proves that she's still as intellectually on-the-ball and artistically capable as ever ... so i don't think she's really become an "L.A. girl" per se...

PS/OT - it's been awhile since i've been around these parts and i can't believe this forum is still here and my account still works! lol

Well at least we know she did not kill herself having to watch 90210 each week

i like what you siad about Liz finding herself in the past decade. Cuz that's what i'm waiting for. I'm putting up with this stuff like LP and SM so see something different and new. I'm right with you on that one.

Also, I do think she seems kinda fake in the BR video. It's cute, but superficial. I just miss old Liz so badly, and I can't wait for a new album.

She really does want to be an icon, but she's trying too hard.