Page five: Not that she's viewing the trip as a sociological experiment. Instead, Carlton who recently ended a four year relationship with Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins,hopes the trip will yield clarity and serenity.
"I love the desert," she says. "In the summer my family goes to this ranch in Arizona,and I'll ride horses or go on these long runs. "I'll sit and meditate because everything is still. There are no leaves,so the wind blows and thothing moves-thats a big part of why i love it. The desert brings me the most peace."
In the song "More Than This," from her upcoming album,Heroes and Thieves, Carlton uses the desert as tha backdrop for her musings on a turbulent and ultamately doomed love affair. "I was in a relationship, and I [felt like] when yolu're with someone else,they can never have enough. I'ts like they don't realize that if they wanted to declare peace, it would just be peaceful. The song is saying how you could experince euphoria if, in this moment, you decided you didn't need any more than this.But I don't know....Maybe it's hard to actively make that decision."
Carlton's debut single "A Tousand Miles," introduced the world to a new brand of pop star :a classically trained pianist with a gift for intricate melodies and a pleasant and sweet,if not necessarily extra ordinary, voice. As i watch her eyes wander into the distance, it's clear Carlton's no longer the naive ingenue she was five years ago when she sang those lyrics.
She lets out a small, cynical laugh. "That was such and idiotic thing to say;I would never in a lillions years say that agian," Carlton says of her breakout song's chorus,"Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles/If i could just see you tonight."
"There can be an amazing connection between two people, but at the end of the day, theye're human, and there are a lot of flaws.There's so much frailty to that love. I was listening to Amy Whinehouses's 'Love Is a Loosing Game,' and I just feel like in some ways it is. More often than not, love is a loosing game."