It seems like whenever we connect with Bif Naked to talk, a lot has gone on in her life. Our recent chat, coinciding with the release of Bif Naked Forever: Acoustic Hits & Other Delights is no exception. Asked to sum up her life in the last few years, she can’t help but laugh.

"No. No I can’t! I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been going through a divorce, I’ve been on tour, I made a record, am writing a book. I’ve had heart surgery, my dog almost died twice. So many things."

The new album is available now, and features acoustic re-workings of classic Bif tracks like Spaceman, I Love Myself Today, and Moment of Weakness as well as three new tracks. The idea to do an acoustic album came from doing a series of acoustic shows. Rather than release a concert recording, Bif returned to the studio to create the album.

"We had been doing acoustic shows for a couple of years and kept getting so many requests from the audiences for us to put it on a disc they could buy at the shows that it inspired us to make it. Doing it in studio meant we could do it the way we wanted to - to use the instruments we wanted to and pick and choose in an intimate setting and really think about the production. I wanted to work with Doug Fury who doesn’t tour with me. We wanted to play around with the songs and use lots of different instruments. It was so much better this way."

One of the biggest challenges she said was selecting the tracks to appear on the album.

"It was very difficult, many of the songs we recorded didn’t make it on the album. It was very hard to select, there is just so much in the repertoire. I think we will just have to put out another acoustic record with those songs on it. I really wanted Henry on it. I love that song."

The lead single from the album, So Happy I could Die,  features Bif singing "My whole life I was never good enough," a feeling everyone can identify with.

"It is very self explanatory. All of us feel like we are not good enough at some point, or someone has made us feel that way and reinforced it for us. Whether it was a bank teller that was insensitive to our needs that day or a lover who was cruel or a teacher that was not polite to you, and you carry it with you. The song is about deciding to just get on with your life and not feel bad about yourself anymore, get rid of your shame."

The other new tracks The Only One and Nobody Knows are happy relationship songs. With a long history of break up songs, it’s a different direction in some ways for Naked.

"I have never actually written an angry song, they have all been breakup songs. The delivery probably seems angry in a way. I always thought Tango Shoes was a joyful song, and Spaceman is a song about longing. I think the direction is very similar. I have all of the same hopes and dreams that I always did, the wish we all share to love and be loved and speak up if somebody hurts us."

The album streamed on CBC music from November 27th – December 3rd, allowing fans and possible new fans to hear the album. The business of making music has evolved drastically since she released her self-titled album in 1996.

"The industry has changed a lot. Music is digital, which is different, and it is free. When I first started making records and selling out cassettes out of the back of our van, music was not free, now it is free. It makes you adjust a little bit, your attitude and how you put value on your work and your self-value. How much are you worth if you’re simply free. You aren’t worth anything. I had to change my thinking. Because I have been in the business for so long, it has been very gradual how music has changed and record stores are closing down. Kids today don’t get their music from record stores. I can make a record as a body of work and painstakingly decide on the order and meticulously try and put things in a certain way and it doesn’t matter. People want a single or to make their own order. I just have to let it go and be grateful that someone would even listen to [my] songs. It doesn’t matter how they get it, it’s just for the joy of making the art. That is what has changed more than anything, artists today have to do something simply for the love of doing it. That is how we all started and that is how it will end for most artists. I feel so happy that I can still be absolutely smitten with songwriting and being able to perform. After all these years I feel lucky every time that I walk on stage. Everybody knows the songs, it doesn’t matter how they got it, I am so happy that they like it."

The other major difference in the internet age is the connection with fans. Through her tweets and Facebook interactions, fans feel they know Bif Naked in a way that wasn’t possible before.

"It is very simple, the fans have access to the artist. We all have access now, it wasn’t there before. It is the only thing that has changed. That is one of the beautiful things about our era in life and technology. It allows people to have access to organizations and people they didn’t have before. It allows people to have a voice, impact and affect, make change. We didn’t have the same ability before all this technology. It is a gift really for any artist or organization to be able to directly communicate with the people that are reaching out to you. It is a miracle how different it is. I used to have a post office box that was written on the back of my CDs. I would take the bus to my post office and pick up the mail that came in. We would go through the fan letters and mail letters and (backs of) postcards. Now people don’t have to wait, they just click and you are talking."

It also brings her long history of activism to a new level. A simple tweet or post can expose people to organizations and causes that she supports.

"It means everything to me. If I was told tomorrow that I couldn’t promote charities or causes that I feel passionate about I would just deactivate my account. What is the point if we can’t try somehow? It is such a small thing to do to promote something for the well being or benefit of others. It is the least we can do as people who use technology. I think it is my responsibility, and I feel so fortunate to be able to do it."

Soon she will return to the road for both acoustic and traditional rock shows.

"We played festivals in the summer with the full band and then in the fall did acoustic shows. I like to be able to do acoustic shows because I can talk to everybody.  With rock shows I don’t have the same opportunity. It is my preference to do acoustic shows for sure and I always hope to do more of them. There is not a lot of money in touring - that is a myth. Gas is expensive, for a band to go on tour is an expensive process. As a result sometimes ticket sales will be higher and people will not pay. I have to take that into account that the band I want to see may have driven to Vancouver from Virginia, I have to go "yeah that is just how it is." It costs a lot to get here and that is included in the ticket price. It is a tough living but it is all I know. Like any artist that has health issues that is all they know. Once you are recovered you get up and go back on tour, it is just what you do."

Naked is also working on her autobiography. As someone who has never shied away from painful subjects in her lyrics, the book will continue to share stories from her life, some of which are painful to revisit.

"It is a labour of love. It is uncomfortable to write a lot of the stories. It is a little heart wrenching some of them. People are interested in it, and I can see it to a point. As a kid who was adopted in India whose parents are missionaries I can see why there is an interest. I am trying to honour my parents in the book and it is an interesting thing to be able to objectively try and endeavor to record your memoir. It is a pretty difficult thing to do, you second guess yourself all the time and cut things out that somebody somewhere might be interested in. It is not for me to say, so it will be dependent on the creative editor and what they think is interesting. I am really lucky as a lyricist I’ve always written about painful things. My very first single in my lifetime was a song called Tell On You about being raped. Once I put that out there everything was easy. I wrote a song called Chotee about terminating a pregnancy that I didn’t want to terminate. It was already out there in the world. So it wasn’t that difficult for me to write about painful stories in the book because I have been writing painful stories in my songs for many years."

At this point in the conversation her beloved bichon Niklas barked in the background. The senior dog is Bif’s love, he even has his own twitter account. She has gone so far as to get rid of her bed because he had fallen off.

"Niklas had a big year too. Right after I was in the hospital he went into the hospital and was intubated. I had to sign a DNR order for him this year, his trachea is flat and he has cushings disease. As you can see from his twitter he is just doing so well and thriving. He is the sweetest little companion and I am so privileged to have taken care of him for 16 years. I will never forget how lucky I am to have been able to be his mom. Getting rid of the bed was easy. Anastasia (her dog who passed away a few years ago) she had 8 back surgeries, so I never had furniture ever. It was never an option, never had it never wanted it. A boy moved into my house a few years ago and he was a big boy and needed a bed so I got one. When he left my home I got rid of it, and then my dad and his wife came to stay with me and I got a bed so they could sleep in it. Now I got rid of it again. It is really nothing for me not to have a bed or furniture. All I need is a dining room table that seats 20 people and a dog bed for Niklas, I am happy."

Bif Naked’s life has always had its ups and downs. Since 2007 she fought and defeated breast cancer, had heart surgery, married and divorced Vancouver sports writer Ian Walker, said goodbye to her dog, and still managed to tour and release two albums. Where even a few of the recent events in her life could break a person spiritually the one thing that is clear in speaking to her, reading about her, and following her in social media is she is relentlessly positive.

"Because I know that I don’t have to watch my parents get disemboweled in a war which is what goes on in the rest of the fucking world. The perspective is pragmatic, I don’t think it is special, it is reality. Having a global awareness about what real struggle is keeps all of us positive and feeling gratitude every day. We are so lucky and blessed every day that we are not trying to escape war or being killed. It is not possible to not be positive really, no matter what happens. It is so simple. In Canada there is a lot of shit that we have to deal with for sure, a lot of human rights issues that we can’t even conceptualize especially in remote communities in the north. We live in a fucking bubble in our cities, and we need to be mindful of the people who do not have water, or a toilet. Kids don’t want to think about it because they have a hard enough life, but it makes us grateful and more respectful of other people knowing how much they go through all the time."

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