Taylor Momsen Talks New Album & “Gossip Girl” Departure

"Gossip Girl" teen Taylor Momsen is gearing up to release her debut album with her band, The Pretty Reckless, but doesn't want to be compared to the likes of other female rockers, such as Courntey Love.

"All of my influences are male influences," Taylor told Access Hollywood on Monday in New York. "So to translate that into a female vocal and to have a female rock singer that isn't someone like Joan Jett or Courtney Love… They're great, but it's not based on melody and range as much as it is attitude and cool and well written songs.

"Our record is based on the melodies and the lyrics and the detail to it, so to translate to you, it's more like Robert Plant with a chick," Taylor added.

The actress will be departing The CW show that made her a household name for a number of episodes of the show's fourth season, due to what has been described as creative reasons.

However, Taylor chalked it up to more of a scheduling conflict, as she will instead be promoting her album in place of filming, including on the Warped Tour.

"The show's been really great and I'm going to be missing from a little bit of it because I am finishing the Warped Tour," Taylor explained. "I'm on tour this summer and the show starts back up during the middle of the tour."

While she will be leaving her character, Jenny Humphrey, behind this summer, Taylor said she's enjoyed playing the Upper East Side teen queen.

"It was a really great arc. I've had such a great time playing Jenny because she is the most transformational character," Taylor said. "She's the one who transforms the most and is constantly kind of reinventing herself from figuring out who she is… This season, she kind of hits a peak of insanity and loses her mind a little bit and I think the audience will be very shocked and surprised to see where the story goes."

As for Taylor's own story, it will follow a musical line.

"Music is a really big part of my life," she said. "Honestly, I would be nowhere without music. It saved my life and I want to share that with other people."

Taylor — who is also working with the organization NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) and their music education "Wanna Play Music?" campaign — said she'd like to collaborate too – her dream being with Chris Cornell and his grunge outfit Soundgarden.

"Soundgarden just got back together — I'd love to play with them. That's something I could do," she said. "Collaboration is a weird process and it's gonna be based on vibes and how everything works, not just strictly musical tastes. But I can tell you I would absolutely die to play with Soundgarden. That would be awesome."


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