4 hours Ago By Stephen Schaefer
“Sneaks,” the all-star animated adventure of a designer sneaker trying to reunite with its mate, was a no-brainer for Macy Gray.The singer with the distinctively throaty voice said an immediate Yes to voicing slinky Adriana, the ex-wife of JB (Martin Lawrence).“It was just one of those lucky days,” Gray, 57, reflected in a Zoom interview.
“They sent me the script, and it was very in the beginning stage. But such an amazing idea! To have sneaker culture talking because your sneakers – gym shoes and sneakers, the shoes that you wear – say a lot about who you are.“And people that wear the same shoes kind of hang out together.
So it’s an interesting concept. We do have sneaker world, which is humans obsessed with different aspects of sneakers. But we have the sneaker world where we have talking sneakers.
”Yet Adriana is definitely not a sneaker.“She’s, what would you say? a high heel. Yes, I play a heel.
A nice heel, not someone bad. A red heel and it’s cool to play a heel because I understand heels better than I do sneakers.”At the club Adriana pulls her reluctant ex into dancing.
Would Gray say she’s a bit bossy?“She’s just a woman. I don’t think women are bossy. And I thought that having that relationship with her ex-husband was pretty cool.
“That was one of the best parts about my character – that she was still friends with her ex. That’s always something to brag about. You know, I’m still cool with my ex.
I mean, right?”One of the things we hear before we meet her is, “She’s so fancy. She has friends with British accents.” What is going on here? How fancy is Adriana?“She’s traveled.
She is a shoe that’s been around. She’s a pretty shoe, so people from all over the world want to hang out, talk to her. She has access to people with fancy accents.
”“Sneaks” is a movie with lots of music. “I did one song, and it’s beautiful,” Gray said. “It was written by Jesse Reyez – she’s pretty major.
And produced by Mustard. It’s a really great song and he’s good. A talented guy.
”With her phenomenal career – 25 million records sold worldwide – is there a secret to staying alive in, not shoe biz, but show biz?“If there is a secret, I can’t tell you.“But honestly, what’s kept me going is I just love making music. I love the arts.
I love movies. So, usually, just by nature, when you love something, you tend to stick around.”“Sneaks” is in theatersMacy Gray, who voices Adriana in ‘Sneaks," performs last fall in New York City.
(Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for American Friends Of Centrepoint).
