By Cristina Carrazza-- Regional Head, Midwest
Canadian singer and songwriter Lights has had a pretty amazing career so far. This twenty two year old has a successful EP, full length, a Juno Award and even a collaborative mini video comic series with Marvel Comic’s artist under her belt. With songs that range in subject from boys to World of Warcraft, Lights is slowly conquering the hearts and ears of anyone who will give her a listen. Currently on tour with Owl City, Lights is promoting her debut album “The Listening” across America and Europe. At the Chicago stop, I caught up with Lights to learn more about her fascinating career.
Cristina: First of all how would you describe Lights?
Lights: It’s really hard to say. It starts with the music. That’s the core of it; everything is there. It’s really hard to pin point something you’ve built your whole life in a couple of words. Especially from a biased point of view, I imagine it would be easier from someone to say it, other than myself. But mainly, it’s just good music branching out with different avenues of presenting of to people and different ways of keeping them entertained whether it’s one thing or the other. It’s meant to reach out different people in different ways.
CC: I know you’ve sometimes described your music as “intergalactic” and “fantastical” which makes sense to those of us who are familiar with not only your music, but also everything else you’re involved with. But for someone who isn’t, can you elaborate on that? Because they’re very interesting words to pick
L: I also say intergalactic to describe everything surrounding my music. Like I said, the music at its simplest is just pop songs. But everything around it is me inflicting my interests indulgently on what I do. Comics, Sci-fi and fantasy seem to inspire me. What’s most inspiring about all that is that we’re unlimited as far as creativity goes. That opens the box. The worst thing that can happen to you as a songwriter is feel like you’re in a box. It’s a bit freeing for me, and that’s why I tend to, at this point, do a lot of sci-fi stuff because no one is going to tell you you’re wrong. It’s sci-fi!
CC: Definitely. You’ve worked on other mediums apart from your music itself; you did the artwork for your first EP and you collaborated with Tomm Coker from Marvel Comics on Audio Quest: A Captain Lights Adventure which was super awesome.
L: Thank you! One of my ambitions is trying to use that is happening now in technology, like social media, to my advantage. I think the only limit to social media is what you limit yourself to. It’s limitless. So I’m trying to find new ways to put my music on those platforms. I do youtube videos showing acoustic stuff, video blogs, tweeting pictures, artwork, other people’s artwork, remixes, music videos, Captain Lights. I’m just trying to make it accessible, whatever people might find here or there.
CC: Talking about social platforms, you got your start on myspace back in the day. I know that enables you to post so many things apart from your music, so how did you use that to your advantage?
L: I made my first myspace in 2006 and it was liberating for me. I thought it was officially the moment when people would begin to hear my music. At that moment, I started to force myself to be myself. It was actually really awesome for me because it narrows down what you are. There’s a name, a picture of you, your music, and a little description. You have to describe yourself in that much space and that really forces you to channel the direction you are headed. It was a really cool direction for me to start off. I put it out there and I was ready. I was so proud of it and people started to find it. Amid all the stuff that’s out there, if your music get found and talked about that means you stood out and that you have something good there. That’s how I got started, virally people passing on the word.
CC: Considering the type of music that was out at that time, where everything basically sounded the same, you really had something very unique going. How were people reacting to your music?
L: It seemed cool. People were really commenting on my voice. They were trying to draw comparisons. People were trying to sound what I sounded like, because my voice was a little different. They were interested in the way my voice sounded and quirkiness of the production. At that point, I felt like I was doing something fresh. I was doing the music I wanted to hear that I couldn’t find anywhere. I think that was intriguing for people. I think the fact that people started to do everything themselves really inspired me to be like that. All my pictures were taken at home, everything was hand drawn by me. I wanted to let people into the side of artistry and musicianship that I had.
CC: Something you keep bringing up in interviews is that music, for you, was a journey of discovery of yourself and your sound and how you try to turn dark emotions into something positive through your songs…
L: Exactly! Your taste as a music listener changes over time. Whatever I am listening to at the time. I try to apply to my own music. Whenever I hear something really cool in a song, like a bass line, I try to build a song around it, through that inspiration. IN the process of that, you find yourself changing and evolving as an artist. As far as the artwork around it, it’s me picturing what needs to match it. The music always comes first, but the video or album cover is something I come up with by closing my eyes and imagining what the best way to depict this from my angle would be.
CC: So you’re also involved with your music videos? Because you have some very cool concepts behind them.
L: Yes, definitely. I always have the core treatment going. It’s just a matter of finding someone who can make it better than I originally thought it could be.
CC: Your full length, “The Listening,” came out a little less than a year ago. You keep referring to the EP as the appetizer that came before it, so what are some of the developments that you had on there?
L: The EP was just stuff that was ready. It was fuel to put something out. It’s ready, it’s there, we might as well make it available. I had ambitions of making a full length; I just didn’t want to force one out and rush it. I knew those were six songs I was really proud of. I continued to work on the full length and did until I felt ready with it. It was really exciting. It felt very natural, nothing was forced. I learned so much about myself in the process. I wanted to leave a little bit of mystery with the EP too. I didn’t put any pictures on the cover, because I didn’t want it to be about that. I wanted it to be about just my music.
CC: Your EP did really well and it definitely put you on the map. Were you nervous at all or felt like you needed to live up to it?
L: I feel like you’re at a big state of confusion if your work rivals your other work. I hope I never get afraid of that. Everything is its own entity. Everything is its own thing that stands for itself. When the album came out, it felt so good.
CC: And how was the reaction to it?
L: It’s been awesome! Obviously, it’s not for everybody. There’s always going to be people that dislike it. But that’s normal! I would be very concerned if everyone liked it. There must be something wrong with it.
CC: You’re currently on tour with Owl City. Or have been for a while now…
L: I know, since January!
CC: It’s pretty interesting considering people have been calling you the “female version of Owl City” for a while now. So how has the tour been going so far?
L: It’s been awesome! We’re so close to being done now, we only have around four more dates left. I would say it’s the easiest crowd to play for because they’re there to listen to electropop music. They’re there to sing along to pop music and see cute boys on stage, which is what I love to do. So it’s easy, and it’s been fun. I’ve been making so many fans on this tour it’s been amazing.
CC: I just want to compare this to the crowds you met at Warped Tour this summer. Because Warped isn’t very electropop friendly, yet people were still going crazy for you. So how was the reception there?
L: It was really exciting to see, literally, twitter numbers going up. That’s another cool thing about twitter, you can actually track your progress. I saw it happening every day at Warped. At the end of the day, it would go up by a significant amount. It was crazy. I don’t think people at Warped knew what to expect. Warped tour is now expanding into some other genres to keep it alive. I was going into it weary, but not like thinking I was going to be persecuted or something. The way it was ten years ago is definitely different from the way it is now. So I went into it prepared for non-acceptance but ready to play with integrity, and passion and do what I love. I wanted to be honest and have a good time in the process and I think people could sense that.
CC: Going back to Owl City, I know Adam did a remix for “Savior.”
L: I thought it was really cool! I love hearing different artist’s interpretations of my songs. I actually released a “Savior EP” with a bunch of remixes on it
CC: The same for “Ice” too…
L: Exactly, “The Ice Pack.” Everything that I put out, I have to make sure it’s 100% done my way before I release it. But remixes is the only thing that I allow, because it’s their interpretation of my songs. I’ve heard so many different remixes of songs and so many interpretations; it’s really exciting and flattering. He put his own spin on it, and it’s really awesome.
CC: What do you want people to take away from, I’m going to say Lights because there’s so much more to you than just your music?
L: There are a number of things that I think would be nice to influence people with. One of them is girls in the music industry. I know there have been some girls that have done that for me. They just go up there and do their own thing, with confidence. They’re not looked down on, or disrespected. I want to be like that. That’s what I want girls to feel like when they see my show. That would be awesome. I love that.
CC: What are some of the women in the business that have had that influence on you? I know Bjork is a big one.
L: Yes! Joni Mitchell is one of them. She’s a really talented singer and songwriter. She’s had such an influence on my own songwriting. She’s a big influence. Even seeing other young artists, like my age, on the cutting edge of music is very exciting to see too.
CC: So after this tour you’re going to Europe.
L: Correct.
CC: Apart from that, what are some of the things we can expect from you in the future?
L: After Europe, we’ll be doing some festivals like Lilith Fair. We’re doing Reading and Leeds this summer in the UK. Possibly, I’ll record some acoustic stuff this summer. Who knows? Then this Fall, hopefully a headliner across North America.
CC: Tell me something random to end this with…
L: Anything? Hmm. The best thing ever, right now anyways, is rolling up pieces of deli meat and dipping them in mustard. And reading books on how to become ninjas. |
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