It’s been a whirlwind few years for Courtney Love. The rock icon moved to London in fall 2019 on something of a whim, after watching the Downton Abbey movie in Los Angeles, she told Vogue in a new interview. “I saw all of the greenery and landscapes of England on the big screen and just thought ‘Holy shit, that’s where I need to be,’” she said. The COVID-19 pandemic then left Love stuck in England, and by August 2020, she was “really, really sick,” weighing just 97 pounds and anemic. “I like to think it was in sympathy with the earth,” Love said. Her recovery led her to Big Moon’s Juliette Jackson, and the two are now collaborating on a cover series Love is calling Bruises of Roses, a ditched name for an upcoming fragrance. (“I actually drew up a will once in 1992 which stated I’d like there to be a rose named after me,” Love added.) The first cover is “California Stars,” the Woodie Guthrie song made famous by Wilco and Billy Bragg, which Love claimed she’d “been prohibited by various gatekeepers from ever truly enjoying.” Her cover is low-key and warm, and she indeed seems to enjoy singing it in the video (which also premiered on Vogue’s website).
Love told the outlet, from her bathtub, that she’s now “fully embodied and here in the moment” after her recovery, and recording songs for her first solo album since 2004’s America’s Sweetheart. “They’re all — and I’m just gonna say it — outrageously good,” Love admitted. However, the former Hole leader has no plans to tour in the future: “I don’t look forward to ever having to play the Ventura Theater again with a plate of cold cuts backstage,” she explained. “Life’s too short and I’m not doing that bullshit anymore.” Instead, she’s also using some of her energy to mentor up-and-coming musicians like singer-songwriter Baby Queen, noting that she’s “something of a village elder now” in music. Oh, and making wonderful memes, like this one she posted to Instagram:
Here’s to Courtney Love continuing to live her best life!
