Lauren was interviewed by NRK Radio P2 today, about Barack Obama becoming the next president.
I have written down a transcript:
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Radio host: The need for change mobilized actors, musicians and other artists in a whole new way during the American presidential campaign. The musician Lauren Waaktaar-Savoy, married to a-ha's Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, feels that Obama will open brand new doors to the rest of the world.
Lauren [on telephone]: Right at this moment we have to be quick, because Obama has just come on the stage, and he's gonna be talking to the American people. And I'm, you know, dying to hear what he has to say!
Reporter: Around midnight, New York-time, an excited Norwegian-American musician was sitting in front of the TV to see Barack Obama's victory speech to the American people.
Lauren: You know, I thought I was gonna be so nervous tonight. I knew it, and I couldn't believe it. And it was just this happy kind of like "Wow, is it really true? Could this actually have happened?". It's kind of like an American fairytale.
Reporter: Lauren Waaktaar-Savoy is overjoyed by the election result, and she thinks that USA was ready for a complete renovation.
Lauren: You know what it is? It's like America is like that house that you go to, that your grandparents own. That hasn't been renovated since 1970. You know, it has the old IKEA furniture from 1965 - which is great, it still works - but it needs, like, a fresh code of paint. And it needs some re-do, it needs an architect to come in and kind of fix it up a bit, freshen it up. And I think Obama is that architect.
Reporter: Lauren Waaktaar-Savoy is working on a new album, and lives both in USA and Norway with her a-ha husband Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. As the election campaign was coming to an end, she was actively working to mobilize voters through Obama's big internet campaign.
Lauren: They had, you know, Obama had one of the most clever online internet campaigns ever. I signed up on his website, and I would get text messages and e-mails when they wanted me. So I, like, you could do, like, cold calling - "cold calling parties" they called them - downtown, where you go to someone's apartment and everyone bring their cellphones. And you just get a list of names and you call people.
Reporter: Lauren Waaktaar-Savoy in New York feels that Barack Obama as the new president will completely change the American identity and self-esteem. And it will also affect the cultural scene.
Lauren: It's huge. Suddenly I think everyone's realizing "Oh, America isn't, you know, what we thought it was - America is a different place". A much more open, progressive, modern country. So it's, you know, for playwrights and for songwriters and, you know, artists who are doing, like, oil paintings, it's gonna be huge. I think it's gonna be number one in everybody's mind, so as artists that's what people are gonna be expressing.
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Online article:
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/1.6296240