FEATURE:
Spotlight
PHOTO CREDIT: Daniella Midenge
I have discussed and spotlighted some promising Pop artists. One name to look out for this year is Lola Lennox. The daughter of the legendary Annie Lennox, songs like La La Love Me (her latest) highlights someone who is going to go far. Maybe aimed more at a BBC Radio 1 or 2 audience – Pop that is a bit more youth-oriented -, I feel that she has crossover appeal. I don’t think that the modern Pop music has a great deal of energy and positivity but, with artists like Lola Lennox delivering fresh and punchy Pop, there is hope of a revival. I really like her background and current sounds. Before moving to interviews, I want to bring in her biography:
“For as long as her memory can take her, Lola Lennox has always been drawn to music. Not just listening to it but making it; a then eight-year-old Lola decided to sign up for singing lessons at her school. Even as a child, Lola wanted to foster her passion for music.
She joined the choir, performed in school plays and tried every ‘flavor’ of music from classical to jazz to theatrical. It quickly became her favorite thing to do. “Music spoke so directly to me at such a young age,” says Lola, “It was a great outlet for me.”
Lola, who started playing piano at age seven, earned a place at The Royal Academy of Music as a vocalist, but decided after a short time she wasn’t meant to stay. Around the age of 15, Lola started writing her own songs. She initially kept this information to herself, stealing down to the basement and writing about whatever was consuming her at the time. “It wasn’t technically advanced, but lyrically it was honest and emotional. Some of my early music is really quite sweet.” Her love of writing songs developed from there. When working on her own, Lola often sits at her piano working on melodies, and then vowels that will work with those melodies. “It is like a jigsaw puzzle, trying to connect each sound with a word that can build a story. On a good day, it just falls out, and I don’t even realize.”
Lola’s mother is Grammy and Academy Award winning artist Annie Lenox. Her father is film maker/producer Uri Fruchtmann. Lola never felt her parents were different, however. “I don’t think I ever thought my parents were unusual, but I knew they had ‘inspiring’ jobs. “I remember going to the Roundhouse in London where my mum was shooting a music video for “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” I knew there was something exciting and fun going on.”
Now living in Los Angeles by way of London, and working alongside top songwriters such as Eg White (Florence & the Machine, Sam Smith), Dan Wilson (Adele) and Dan Muckala (Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes), Lola is creating songs that bridge the gap between nostalgia and modernity.
Lola has four singles that will be released over the course of the year. They bring her emotion, her ideas and her passions to life, almost like getting a peek into a diary. “My main objective is to connect with people through a real emotional expression. Songwriting is very comfortable for me, it is a release I am grateful to have.”
Her first single, “In the Wild,” [Writers: Lola Lennox & Jon Green, Producer: Jon Green] reflects a toxic relationship that was still fresh in Lola’s mind during a songwriting session. “The verses depict a depressive, grey city, a suffocating feeling. The chorus is a dreamscape, fantasizing about letting go of the issues to make something better. I thrive in nature, so it was important to me to have the chorus reflect that landscape.”
The next release is the ardently raw “Pale,” [Writers: Writers: Lola Lennox & Andy Stochanski, Producer: Dan Muckala. Additional Production & Mix: Scott Salinas] a plaintive song about grief. “I had lost someone really close to me and the sorrow was so intense. The words just fell out of me. When grieving, all the colors of the world feel like they’ve been sucked away. You can’t see life in a vibrant way anymore.”
The groovy “LaLaLove Me” [Writers: Lola Lennox & Carl Ryden, Producer: Dan Muckala] comes next, a girly daydream that pays homage to the 60s girl group sound.
The last track is the hooky “Back at Wrong” [Writers: Lola Lennox, Ben Schofield & Dan Muckala, Producer: Dan Muckala. Additional Production & Mix: Wayne Wilkins] about another toxic relationship but with much more drama.
“There is fighting and loving, and knowing you shouldn’t keep going back. The song has a bluesy feel, and the groove punches you in the heart.” Continues Lola, “These tracks are really personal stories from my life. They’re honestly from my heart and a true intimate expression.
In addition to her solo music, Lola was honored to be asked by Simon Fuller to collaborate with Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory on the soundtrack for the Discovery Channel’s Serengeti docu-series. This was a much different approach than Lola was used to, since these songs were guided by what was happening on the screen.
Each animal featured in the series had its own song, which Lola sang, as well as providing lyrics for the Hyena and the Elephant. “The ‘Hyena Song’ is my favorite. It’s very emotional to me because the Hyena mother sacrifices her life for the pride. The daughter has to take over as leader, and you can literally see her sadness. I was very moved by their story.”
Lola has many more of her own stories to tell.
After the first four singles come out, she plans to go back in to the Studio to finish a full album of songs. Clearly, Lola knows what it’s like to make a living as a musician. “I’ve seen first-hand how much passion, diligence and creativity you have to devote to having a career in music. I am willing to work hard and go deeply into the process. My goal is to touch people with my songs, to let them know they’re not alone and that I’ve felt a certain way too. I wasn’t in the greatest place with self-worth as a younger person and it took writing songs to help me express who I was inside. Music allows you to find your real self”.
I wanted to bring in all that information because, looking ahead at the rest of the year, and it seems like we will get an album from Lennox. With a string of individual and interesting singles under her belt, I feel like we will get something more comprehensive by the summer – maybe her mother might feature on a song or two!
Rather than compare Lola Lennox with her iconic mum, one has to judge Lola Lennox on her own merits. The two are very different artists - though it is clear that her mother has been hugely influential and supportive. I want to bring in an interview from People from 8th February, 2020. They spoke to Lennox about her great single, Into the Wild:
“On Saturday, the singer — who is the eldest daughter of former Eurythmics frontwoman Annie Lennox — dropped the ethereal music video for her new single “In the Wild,” which was inspired by past heartbreak.
“It was one of those toxic relationships where you love someone so much, but it’s wrong and you’re not meant to be together and you’re not happy in it,” Lennox, 30, tells PEOPLE. “In the song, the verses are depicting the suffocation of the relationship and being in this gritty, cityscape. And in the choruses, it’s going into, ‘Let’s go to the wild and into nature and let go of these complexities that we’ve somehow fallen into.'”
“In the Wild” is just the beginning for Lennox, who plans to release three more songs titled “Back at Wrong,” “LaLaLove Me” and “Pale” in the coming months before eventually putting out a full album.
Of the forthcoming new music, she says, “Some are upbeat, and some are intimate and more of a ballad.”
“I kind of go across the spectrum of feeling and emotion with the music I create,” Lennox says. “So I’m really excited to switch it up whenever I release new music.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Lucas
“There’s a thread, of course, of correlation,” she adds. “But as human beings we all have a spectrum of emotions and a spectrum of stories and things that we go through in life. So I want to cover all those bases.”
No matter what, though, there is one thing that remains consistent throughout all her songs: vulnerability.
“I think that’s the most potent way that you can really connect to listeners, is being very honest,” she says. “I love music that really comes from the heart and is a real window into somebody’s personal lives. I find that is the most touching, so I wouldn’t do anything other than that.”
Someone who knows a thing or two about showing vulnerability through music is Lennox’s mom, Annie, 65, whom she credits for teaching her that the “strongest thing is about connectivity and passion to what you do.”
“Like, having so much love for making something that it’s the best it can be and will inspire and touch people and maybe help people,” she explains. “She’s such a tuned in and inspired person”.
I will bring stuff up to date in a minute, as I feel this year is going to be a defining one for Lola Lennox. I am not sure when she will get to perform again – things are looking pretty fraught when it comes to festivals and live music. I do feel we will see some gigs this year, though it may be the case that Lennox will put out an album instead of hope that live music will return soon – her debut E.P. is coming soon.
Music Week ran a great feature about Lennox recently. Not only do we learn more about her early life, but we also discover how lockdown has been for her:
“Lennox grew up surrounded by music – largely Eurythmics’ legendary synth pop catalogue – and dreamt of making it on her own from a young age. She began playing piano at seven, and remembers begging for extra singing lessons at school. By 15, she was writing songs and later sang soprano in The Royal Academy Of Music. In February this year, she introduced her soulful, impassioned pop sound with a ballad titled In The Wild, which was soon followed by a performance with her mum for the One World: Together At Home concert for an audience of 270 million.
“It felt like a really nice gathering of positive energy where music was really lifting the spirits of the people watching,” she smiles.
The singer has since spent much of this year in her home studio with her musician boyfriend Braeden Wright, and while 2020 might not be the most conventional year in which to launch a pop career, she hasn’t found too many surprises so far. “Being around my mum making music and touring from when I was little, I did see the meaning it was giving her,” she says. “It wasn’t a conscious decision of, ‘My mum does this, so I’m going to’. I just felt something strong when I was listening to music and I was naturally drawn to it.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Daniella Midenge
Lennox speaks with self-assurance and determination, qualities that informed her decision to self-release her music via her label La Lennoxa. “I’m definitely learning a lot and it’s totally different to writing and being an artist, you have to put your business hat on and that’s been cool and empowering,” she says.
Empowerment is at the centre of Lennox’s artistry and as she readies her debut EP, she is calling for more representation of women in the industry. “I want to see more female producers, mixers and co-writers,” she says. “Those [areas are] so dominated by men. Women have a unique ability to tune into emotion and, by proxy, make great art. I want to see more women doing that. It doesn’t have to be a man’s world”.
If you have not discovered Lola Lennox or heard her music, then investigate her social media channels and check out the music she has released so far. Ahead of an E.P., there has been a lot of attention thrown her way. She is an ambitious and exciting young artist that has gained a lot of love from big BBC stations already. I am interested to see where she will head next and what an E.P. might offer. There are some great solo artists pushing ahead this year; I think Lennox will be among the very best and acclaimed. It is early days for her but, on the evidence of the music she has released already, it seems that her future is…
PROMISING and bright.
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