Joni Mitchell feels all your love for ‘Blue’: ‘50 years later, people finally get it’
Legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has a rare message for fans upon the 50th anniversary of Blue, her seminal fourth studio album. The latest post on the Canadian musician’s Instagram page, which is managed by her team and usually refers to Mitchell in the third person, features a video of the Grammy winner reflecting on the warm reception for Blue in recent weeks.
On Tuesday – exactly half a century after the album debuted – Blue ascended to No. 1 on iTunes’ Top Albums chart, outperforming H.E.R.’s Back of My Mind, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour and Mitchell’s own Blue 50 (Demos & Outtakes), which landed at No. 7.
“I’m so pleased with all of the positive attention that Blue is receiving these days,” Mitchell says in the video posted Wednesday.
“When it was first released, it fell heir to a lot of criticism. So, 50 years
later, people finally get it, and that pleases me. Thank you.”
To commemorate the 1971 release of Blue, Mitchell rewarded fans this week with Blue 50, which includes five previously unreleased recordings from the album.
While discussing her masterwork with writer-director Cameron Crowe recently for The Los Angeles Times, Mitchell recalled the immense scrutiny she and Blue endured upon its debut.
“The most feedback that I got was that I had gone too far and was exposing too much of myself. I couldn’t tell what I had created, really,” she told Crowe in a candid interview.
“The initial response I got was critical, mostly from the male singer-songwriters. It was kind of like Dylan going electric. They were afraid. Is this contagious? Do we all have to get this honest now? That’s what the boys were telling me. ‘Save something of yourself, Joni. Nobody’s ever gonna cover these songs. They’re too personal.’”
Blue 50 – featuring a demo for “A Case of You” with alternate lyrics, an acoustic rendition of “California” and a French horn-infused version of “River,” among other tracks – is available on iTunes, Spotify and other major music platforms.
(Los Angeles Times/TNS)