After a painstakingly long five minutes of technical difficulties on Zoom, I managed to have a great conversation with up-and-coming pop artist Lo Lauren. With plenty of new singles being released, and an EP on the horizon Lo spoke to me about her music, background and inspirations…
Kiaya: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your musical background?
Lo: I started off songwriting – actually let’s go back a bit. In school I always loved performing arts, performing singing and acting, but I also loved studying English lit. I was very into school. I loved school, I loved learning and revising weirdly – which is always surprising to people! When I was about seventeen I started songwriting as I realized it could combine everything I love: writing and analyzing language but also performing. So I started writing in and around London, then I eventually started writing for other artists, then started writing my own stuff. Yeah, it took a minute to figure out the type of music I wanted to make because there’s so many different avenues and lanes you can go down genre wise. But it came to a point when I realized I wanna make the music I love listening to. That is out and out pop so that’s what we made! Started releasing last year and now we are six singles in.
Kiaya: Amazing. I mean I do an English degree so I get the love of literature and writing – can’t say I’ve ever written a song though!
Lo: I remember the first song I wrote was so english lit coded – every lyric had like three meanings. It is so unnecessary and deep and thought out. And now I make simple pop music!
Kiaya: It’s fun though! Would you describe your music as simple pop fun then? If you were to sell your music to a new listener is that how you would describe it?
Lo: I would say glitter pop: fun feel good music that is pretty sing along hopefully.
Kiaya: I’ve seen that your music is a lot about being a young woman, womanhood in general and the fun side of all that. What are you trying to say about those experiences in your music? Is it meant to be a reflection of your own experiences or are you trying to make a statement about womanhood today, or is it simply just fun?
Lo: I think honestly it’s just a reflection of my experiences and the people around me’s experiences. I base a lot of my songs around my best friends. I find them so inspiring in terms of concepts and them as people. It’s really a social commentary on the feelings all me and my friends are having right now. It’s not supposed to change the world or make a statement in that sense but it’s just… hopefully other young women can feel like they connect to it. And whoever to be honest – it doesn’t have to just be women.
Kiaya: I do feel like those sorts of stories are relatable to most people. If my friends are going through things, usually I’ve gone through a similar thing before. But it’s nice to have that girlhood, I guess.
Lo: One hundred percent yeah.
Kiaya: I was listening to your newest single earlier, ‘Before the kiss’. I watched the music video as well. What do you want listeners to think about this new track?
Lo: Well it’s very specific, this new song, it’s about the moment when you first kiss someone. I hope it takes them right to those moments where you feel like you are gonna die or curl up in a ball of excitement. When you are standing across from someone you really like it’s very specific. I hope they are taken back to times like that. Times with a bit of nostalgia, but also celebrating good feelings.
Kiaya: That’s cool, also the music video was so cool because you filmed it backwards right? How was that and what was the inspiration behind it?
Lo: One of my managers was like “why don’t we try a backwards video?” and I was like “sure I am up for anything”. I love a challenge. When it actually came down to it, it was like learning another language. If you were pointing to yourself or pointing away it would have to be at the right time or the right lyric. It was honestly mind boggling and really really hard. But I’m really happy because it’s something different. I haven’t seen pop do a backwards video. Coldplay did it but not a pop girlie.
Kiaya: No, not a pop girlie! I haven’t seen many people do that either. I didn’t even realize at first and I was watching it and realized “something else is going on here” then I figured it out. Do you like the visual element side of music? I am one of those people that loves watching music videos on repeat. You have done quite a few music videos, do you feel like the visual side is important?
Lo: Yeah, if I can I try and do it for every song. I love performing and I think it is an opportunity to show that and just explore the song more. I’m like you, I could watch music videos back to back. When the new Sabrina (Carpenter) stuff was coming out recently I was straight on to watching the videos. I feel like music videos are actually coming back again – their importance and the value they have. So I just wanna be a part of that in my own way.
Kiaya: I definitely think the storytelling of music videos is coming back. I used to love an album progression over videos, where they would release new tracks and have the music videos play into each other. The bands that did that were so clever with it and I feel like that is starting to return a lot more. Like you said with Sabrina Carpenter – she did a similar thing.
Lo: Yeah hers are so good.
Kiaya: Yeah they are really fun. We have talked a bit about your writing already, but I was wondering if you had a particular writing process and how – other than your friends – you gain inspiration for your music?
Lo: Hmmm. It honestly changes all the time. But my favorite way of writing is on writing camps. There will be four or five of us all staying together for a week, bouncing ideas constantly. It can really change how we start a song. Usually, I would say we start with the synths and the melodies and then we write lyrics. Or it can be with a concept. My best songs I have written always have started from a concept. I think it’s easier to write when you know exactly the story.
Kiaya: That’s cool.
Lo: But yeah it can change each time.
Kiaya: Definitely. And do you like the live performance side of it? I feel like artists now are feeling a resurgence of the live performance elements of music that was taken away I guess by COVID and the current technological era.
Lo: Yeah I think, again, i’ve always loved performing live. It’s my favorite thing ever. All I wanna do is loads of shows. It’s just nice seeing artists like Chappel Roan really bring back the theatricality in live performances. It’s so exciting to see. I love it.
Kiaya: I wanted to ask – just out of my own curiosity – about your style. I think it’s pretty significant and I was wondering how you would describe your type of style? Your clothes and fashion seem really fun.
Lo: Thank you. I am still figuring it out to be honest. I just wear stuff that I like. I want so many clothes right now, but like it’s not happening you know! I guess I am inspired by – I just wear miniskirts! That’s the honest truth. Miniskirts, long sleeve stuff and cute outfits are kind of the agenda.
Kiaya: That’s fair. Do you have any inspirations – like other artists – that you take from either for your music, or performance style or your fashion?
Lo: I mean yeah I absolutely love 2010s era musically. Vocally I love Gwen Stefani. I loved ‘Teenage Dream’ as an album. All the Max Martin big pop, golden era pop massively inspires me. And then currently – I know everyone loves them – but I love Sabrina and Chappel. I just think that’s the pocket I would love to be in. They are bold and brave and fun all at the same time. They inspire me as well.
Kiaya: I think for me Sabrina especially, I mean I have loved her for years, has really come into her own in the past year and a half of her music, it’s so interesting.
Lo: Yeah it’s so good.
Kiaya: I will finish off by asking what’s next for you? Where do you wanna go with your music? Do you have anything interesting coming up that you want to tell us about?
Lo: Ummm well honestly, what I love about music is that stuff can just happen. We just had this song – ‘Before the kiss’ that we were just talking about – end up in a movie trailer within a week. So really so much can happen that I would never even dream of. But we are releasing more songs next year and it’s gonna lead into an EP…Well I don’t know exactly when it will drop but it will be next year, which is so fun because it’s basically my first project. But yeah, hopefully lots more live shows!
Kiaya: Okay cool, amazing! Thank you for speaking with me today.
Lo: Thank you so much and sorry about the tech difficulties, at least it worked out in the end!
Kiaya: Yeah no worries. Bye!
Lo: Bye!
You can find Lo Lauren on Tiktok, Instagram, Spotify and Youtube.