Taylor Momsen on wild riders, living her rock and roll dreams with Pretty Reckless and closing door on Gossip Girl’s Jenny Humphrey-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro

Taylor Momsen talks The Pretty Reckless on tour and her Gossip Girl milestone (Picture: Getty)

Taylor Momsen has opened up closing the chapter on Gossip Girl, and touring the world with the Pretty Reckless.

The Makes Me Wanna Die singer, 29, has lived much of her life in the spotlight, having joined the cast of the teen drama in 2007, when she was just 14 years old, playing the iconic Jenny ‘Little J’ Humphrey alongside Blake Lively, Ed Westwick, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley.

She took an indefinite hiatus in season four to concentrate on her music career with her award-winning group – also made up of Ben Philips, Jamie Perkins and Mark Damon – and they have delighted hordes of fans across the globe in that time, pulling out show-stopping performances and dominating the charts.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk during a recent stop on their Death By Rock and Roll tour, which is currently in the UK, talk turned to her time in front of the camera and the recent 15-year anniversary of the Gossip Girl pilot.

When asked how she celebrated the milestone, she laughed: ‘I didn’t celebrate. I went, “Oh, crap. I’m old!” I think the older I’ve got, the more I can look back on that experience… It’s hard to see things from an outside perspective when you’re living it.

‘I don’t think I realized what a cultural impact that show had while I was doing it. Now looking back on it, and 15 years later, hearing people still talking about what an impact it had on them, it is very cool to have been a part of that show. It was a very unique experience for everyone involved. It changed my life in so many ways.

Gossip Girl – also starring Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick – recently turned 15 (Picture: CW)

Taylor was a teenager when she first hit our screens as Jenny ‘Little J’ Humphrey (Picture: CW)

‘It was incredible. It was a great experience and an honor to be a part of.’

A lot has been said about the iconic fashions of Serena Van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, played by Blake and Leighton respectively, but it was Jenny’s style that got fans the most excited, from her coveted wardrobe and incredible accessories, to that infamous eyeliner.

Reflecting on her character, Taylor explained that costume designer Eric Daman incorporated the cast’s personal style into their wardrobes, something she found both fun and confusing.

‘You can see the transition of Jenny’s style from season one to season two, it starts to get more Taylor-ized – pun intended – as the show goes on, which was very fun for me,’ she continued. ‘In the beginning, as a young girl, it was a little confusing to be photographed in such a massive way as a character, and then be put into the tabloids dressed as a character, but put in the tabloids as Taylor.

‘I started to kind of have a weird crisis of identity, almost, where it was like, “Hey, that’s not me, but people are talking about it like it is me.” So, as the show progressed, and Jenny’s style evolved into more of my own style, that became a much more comfortable place to live, at least on the fashion side of things.’

She soon became a fashion icon in her own right (Picture: FilmMagic)

Despite the odd, fleeting appearance, Taylor eventually left the series behind at the end of season to pursue her music career full time, and – more than a decade later – is still full of thanks to creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage for being ‘very supportive’ and allowing her to leave and focus solely on the Pretty Reckless.

‘They didn’t need to do that, they could have kept me on the show,’ she explained. ‘When I approached them about wanting to leave, they were very supportive of it. I’m incredibly thankful to them for that, because I wouldn’t be where I am now without them doing that. And I just forever want to thank them.’

Gossip Girl was a huge phenomenon before it ended in 2012, but a new batch of students took their places at the steps of the Met last year when HBO released a reboot, starring Jordan Alexander, Whitney Peak and Eli Brown. While some of her former co-stars have reprised their roles, including Zuzanna Szadkowski and Michelle Trachtenberg, we won’t be seeing Little J on our screens again.

‘I think my chapter with Jenny is [done] at this point, but the show itself, the fact that they’re rebooting it and doing it again for today’s era is cool,’ Taylor admitted. ‘I haven’t watched all of it, but I did watch the first episode.

Taylor has toured around the world with her group (Picture: Getty)

‘Just to see how they’ve transitioned the show into the modern world of social media is very interesting. You have to remember that when the show started, we didn’t have Instagram yet, there wasn’t any of that. We had the flip phone.

‘It’s cool to see that they can keep Gossip Girl alive and keep reinventing it and moving it forward as the world progresses. But, as far as my character and acting, I put that to bed a good 10 years ago at this point, and it is rock and roll all the time.’

Luckily, Taylor has plenty of that to keep her busy, as it is something that her band are well versed in.

The Pretty Reckless were first formed in 2008 and released their debut album, Light Me Up, in 2010. Their first single, Make Me Wanna Die also hit the airwaves in that same year, and it hit the top spot in the UK rock and metal chart.

The Pretty Reckless’ new album is out next month (Picture: Getty)

Since then, they have released critically acclaimed albums Going To Hell, Who You Selling For? and 2021’s hit, Death By Rock and Roll. But their latest record, Other Worlds, is a huge departure in style for the group, giving fans a selection of acoustic tracks and covers.

The album was developed in lockdown, when Taylor was already busy promoting the offering that they had just released, but started recording acoustic tracks from home to ‘fill her time’.

‘It’s a more intimate look at us musically, it’s a little softer, a bit more vulnerable,’ she told us. ‘Overall, it has this very mellow, but still exciting, energy to it. I personally find the record very pleasant to listen to – I keep using the word pleasant – it’s very pleasurable to put on and it provides this escape to listeners. At least it does for me, so I’m very excited to share it.’

Other World will be released on November 4, right in the middle of the band’s UK leg of their current tour for Death By Rock and Roll – they are performing in Newcastle tonight before traveling to Birmingham tomorrow and between Bristol, Southampton and Norwich next week, ending their run in London on November 5.

After years away from the stage due to the global pandemic, a packed tour schedule is something that Taylor is thrilled by.

‘It feels fresh,’ she said of returning to the stage after lockdown. ‘Touring is very much a grind. It’s like going to war without the violence, you’re in a battlefield on tour. But it feels amazing. We went so long without playing and I didn’t even realize how much I miss that aspect in my life.

‘Now getting to tour and be on stage every night, creating that symbiotic relationship with the fans in a new town, it’s so invigorating. Playing live is like a drug that you can’t get anywhere else, nothing else is like it. I think I was going through withdrawal and I didn’t even know it, so it’s great to be back.’

While it might be great to return to performing, she revealed that they have ‘certainly calmed down’ with their rock’n’roll party lifestyle over the years, joking that it has taken a toll on them.

Taylor opened up about life on tour with the group (Picture: Getty)

‘Now my party is a really good cup of English tea,’ she teased. ‘I call that the Hollywood side of rock and roll. That’s what people think it is. In reality, what rock and roll is about is putting on a good show. It’s about playing your best every night, getting on stage and getting off stage and feeling like I accomplished something, and I’m proud of what I just did. That’s really the focus.

‘We’re having a lot of fun on this touring cycle, more fun than we’ve had in a long time, where it’s really just about the four of us playing music and sharing that with the audience. That’s what it should be and so it feels really good to be in that headspace.’

The fun-loving, rock and roll reputation may have come at a cost in terms of their rider, as she revealed that their requests haven’t always been taken seriously in the past.

Other musicians have been known to ask for ridiculous items, such as having entire walls repainted and furniture in one very specific color, a selection of booze and snacks on tap and even some animals in their dressing room, and Taylor shared that her requests are still quite out there – but necessary for their shows.

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‘We’re still putting together a rider, if you can believe it. Lemon, tea, water, turkey, fruits, real crazy!,’ she added. ‘A lot of bands put jokes on their rider to see if people are paying attention, like “I want 12 puppies” or something stupid.

‘Our rider used to say, “lube, condom and a banana.” If you read those items in order, it sounds like a joke. So, a lot of times we wouldn’t get those things because they would think we were kidding – and I actually needed all these things.

‘Because I was wearing latex, I needed the lube for latex. I needed condoms because I would put my in-ear pack in a condom, so I didn’t sweat through it and make the electronics short out. And I eat a banana before a show. Those are still on the rider but I think people think we’re kidding half the time.

‘It would be 30 minutes to showtime and we wouldn’t have those things, and they go, “It was a joke”. I would say, “No, no, I need you to go get those things right now please, I can’t do the show without them.” I can’t get my pants on without the lube.’

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