1/19/07, 6:15 pm EST

Assignment Two Finalist: Elyssa Pachico - 10 Questions for Tori Amos

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Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Elyssa Pachico

Age: 21

1. Your new album features a blend of harpsichord, piano, Rhodes and organ. In the ultimate keyboard catfight, which one would come out on top and why?

2. In these songs, is there a different approach to confronting current political events than you’ve shown in songs like ‘I Can’t See New York?’

3. Is this a return to a more confrontational Tori, or do you still feel a need to censure your subject material while your daughter is still young?

4. What would you say to the argument that the sociopolitical context and religious symbolism in these songs overshadows the music itself? That is, does everyone need a crash course in Mary Magdalene in order to understand what these songs are all about, or is okay just to bob our heads along to the beat?

5. You’ve recorded and toured with Matt Chamberlain on drums and Jon Evans on bass for the past several albums now. Does it ever give you a cloistered feeling, like being stuck in a monastery cell with the same two monks for years and years?

6. As an artist known for her brutal honesty, how far do you feel you’ve moved away from exposing your most intimate emotional experiences in these later works as compared with earlier albums?

7. Did releasing last September’s retrospective boxset “A Piano” influence the new album in any way?

8. Have you sensed a change in the way radio treats solo female singer-songwriters since ‘Little Earthquakes’ came out?

9. Last year’s ‘Fade to Red’ music video compilation features Adrian Brody playing a very sexy arm in ‘A Sorta Fairytale.’ Which actor plays which body part in your next video and why?

10. Can we expect any more Bon Jovi and ACDC covers during this next world tour?