After his trial against his ex-girlfriend Amber Heard, Johnny Depp changes air with an album and a musical tour
A few weeks after the verdict of the trial against his ex-girlfriend who has toured the world, Johnny Depp released an album and went on tour throughout Europe. He releases an album with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck, European tour at stake: the actor, with this change of scenery, tries to offer another image than that of the recent trial-unpacking with his ex-wife Amber Heard. The disc, “18”, which is released this Friday, is mainly composed of covers. This opus will not remain as a major piece in the repertoire of the monument Jeff Beck (member of the Yardbirds, accompanist of David Bowie, etc …), 78 years old since June.
The set is presented well disjointed. If the duo is doing well on “Isolation” (John Lennon), Marvin Gaye’s “What’s going on” becomes a pretext for a solo stroll by the English guitarist, while the actor’s voice does not reach the depth of the ‘original. The Velvet Underground’s “Venus in furs” is treated with a tinge of garish industrial rock, again with the 59-year-old actor’s muffled voice far from the initial spiciness.
Obviously, as the lyrics deal with sado-masochism, some will see it as a funny choice after the ultra-mediatized trial in the United States between Depp and his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard (“Aquaman”).
The lyrics of “This is a song for miss Hedy Lamarr”, one of the two original songs composed by Johnny Depp, already released as a single, are causing a lot of ink to flow. The actor from the series “Pirates of the Caribbean” sings there that he “no longer believes in humans” and describes a woman “erased by the same world that had made her a star”.
Depp was suing his ex-wife for defamation, who described herself in a press op-ed as “a public figure representing domestic violence”, without naming her ex-husband. He was asking for $50 million in damages, she was asking for double that.
After six weeks of hearings, the jurors concluded on June 1 that the ex-spouses had defamed each other. But they awarded more than $10 million to Depp, compared to only $2 million to Amber Heard.
Rock is not new in the life of Johnny Depp. Before becoming a star with the series “21 Jump Street”, he had been part of a group, the Bad Boys (now The Kids), even providing the first part of Iggy Pop, without taking off afterwards. In recent years, Depp spawned with the Hollywood Vampires, “supergroup” created with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry (Aerosmith guitarist).
A film by Maïwenn
Beck and Depp say they met in 2016, bonding over “cars and guitars.” “When Johnny and I started playing together, (…) we felt like we were 18 again. So that also became the title of the album,” said the guitarist.
The release of the disc was opportunely announced in the wake of the trial. And Beck has invited the ‘Edward Scissorhands’ actor to join him on tour currently in Europe. He must also appear in “La favorite” by the Frenchwoman Maïwenn, on the relationship between Louis XV and the Countess du Barry. The filming of the film, in which he plays the monarch, is planned for this summer, notably in Versailles.
