We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lily Marie Antonini (Lil-E). We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lily Marie below.
Alright, Lily Marie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
During my time as an artist, I would say every artistic opportunity to me is a meaningful project, no matter how big or small it is. I have had the honor of performing numerous shows across the globe with groups of up to 50+ and to me, each and every concert is a blessing.
My biggest highlight so far performance wise would have to have been given the honor of being the FIRST synesthetic, bilingual artist to perform all originals (18 bilingual songs) at my own Berklee Performance Center Show. It is available to watch by typing, “ Lily Marie Antonini BPC” The concert was themed around my life till that point, using songs that describe events in my life, such as my younger self and my growth, both in love and life. I will forever be thankful to all those who helped make this production possible. Now, for my songwriting’s meaningful moments, I would need to also say that every song, every album, and every EP is as important to me.
Since I was 3, I would always start to improv with scat and sing random melodies and words, while beatboxing and making all the instrumental sounds with my mouth. I have so many recordings of mini songs I would make throughout the years and one of my life goals is to make my younger self proud and make, if possible, every single one of those “songs” into real produced songs for my portfolio. I started some of this in 2019, and I professionally released 4 of my first ever albums on Spotify, ITunes, Apple Music, and everywhere else, on February 14, 2019. These albums, as all of my albums, usually have 12 songs in them. The 4 albums released were: “Love Polar”, “Time For Adventure”, “Gravitational Pull”, & “Miracles”, amassing 48 songs for my debuts.
Although I would say my favorite music genre and specialty is bilingual dance pop music, I have done almost every genre, in hopes to make the world a better place with meaningful messages of connection and for everyone to be able to enjoy; Pop, dance, christian, edm, disco, acoustic, funk, hip hop/rap, latin, jazz, acapella, rock, and more.
When I am creating these works, I tend to imagine the scenarios as a movie/music video with fictional and non-fictional characters, rather than writing about personal things, although I do a bit of both and always try to connect what I have lived with the fictional.
A goal I had for my New Year’s Resolution this year was to make and release music EVERY month of 2023, and thanks to God, I have been able to do this so far. I have released more albums, singles, and EPS, as well as collaborations with other artists, amassing over 200 songs out on all music platforms.
I can go a little in detail and summarize each released meaningful project as the album or EP, rather than each specific song, since that would take forever, but I also love leaving the vision open to the listener so that they can make what they want with the music and lyrics and create their story within my musical base.
My first released album, “Love Polar”, is about a fictional girl who falls unhealthily in love with someone who does not deserve her and only till the end of the album does she realize she is worth more. Each song from the 1st to last in this album is a viewpoint of her journey and an episode in her life. Her toxic partner says she is crazy and takes her to a “love” asylum, where she gets diagnosed with being “Love Polar”, basically bipolar, but in a love state, due to his toxic behavior. I believe I made this album when I was around 11, so it may not make much sense to adults, but it is a feeling many can relate to, especially at a young age – feeling misunderstood.
My second released album, “Time For Adventure” , is supposed to transport the audience to wherever their mind pleases, with the help of the theme and lyrics! It is an album for escapism when you may not be able to physically have a vacation.
My third album, “Miracles”, is a compilation of Catholic worship songs from my youth that I made and is meant to bring hope, faith, and positive vibes to those who believe in God.
My fourth album, “Gravitational Pull”, is an album full of outer space themes with metaphors that can be used in day to day life to bring optimistic spirits, as well as some love songs here and there, but I feel almost all of my albums have some “relationship song” dynamic to them, since it is something I notice many people can connect easily to. Moral of the story is, I have always been obsessed with space & probably would’ve also wanted to become an astronaut if it weren’t so difficult!
“Young Love Diary” is my fifth and first album I made and finished during my time at Berklee College of Music, during my first two semesters. It is an album that’s meant to be like a diary, filled with happy and sad love topics. It is probably one of the most vulnerable albums I have made, so it is definitely one of my favorite personal albums yet!
“Conflict” is my sixth released and second album I made and finished at Berklee College of Music in my third semester somehow, even though I was taking a trillion classes per usual during a summer semester because I’m a crazy workaholic. I somehow managed to make three albums in that time and don’t even know how because summer semesters at Berklee are insanely fast. Anyways, this album has a lot of break up or sad love song scenarios, as well as other “Conflict” like themes, since many people feel these emotions like to resonate to music with those messages to remind them that they are not alone.
My seventh album released, “Synesthesia” is my 3rd album I made and finished at Berklee in my second semester somehow. This album is very colorful & “senses” themed, since I have Synesthesia & wanted to showcase a lot of the types of Synesthesia I have, such as seeing music, sounds, letters, and numbers in colors, feeling music and pain of others physically on my body, tasting sounds and colors, and many more. I wanted to teach people about these topics, but also add metaphors so that people without Synesthesia can understand better.
My eighth album released, “Proud Hispana”, is my first released spanish singing album, expressing a part of me that I am very proud of! (Being half Mexican) I wanted to showcase that pride for all hispanic people, especially with the craziness of this world that’s full of hate sometimes. We are all beautiful, inside and out, and God willing one day, we will live in a better world full of peace and love for one another, no matter how we look. All of the songs in this album are different types of latin genres, with bilingual and some songs just in Spanish.
“Life Of Varying Emotions” is my ninth released album and is, quite literally, an album about the varying emotions in our LOVE lives. (Hence the first letter of each word in the title spells “LOVE”) It is a mix of bubblegum pop, dance oriented tunes, and more genres with romantic songs, as well as break up songs, and everything in between. I believe the time of this release was during the beginning of the COVID lock down.
“Talent” is my tenth released album and first full acapella album, meaning I ONLY used my voice for all the instruments and sounds. It is a bilingual album filled with positive messages and morals about “Not giving up”, “Seeing your worth and unique talents”, and again, some love and heartbreak songs. I also created this album during the COVID lock down.
“Kid At Heart”, my eleventh released album during the COVID lock down, is an album for that kid in your heart. Sometimes, we wish we can just go back in time and live our lives as we did as children, without worries, stress, just fun. That is what this album is about. It is about the transition of childhood to adulthood, but realizing that a piece of your childhood will never leave you at the end of the day. It is filled with nostalgic emotions and future growth.
“Homesick”, my twelfth released album during the COVID lock down, is an album about missing the place you call “Home”. “Home” can come in many ways, such as in a person, or a setting. For me, it was about how I sometimes felt in Boston and how I sometimes missed my hometown, Arizona, and ofcourse most importantly, my family and friends. It was an album filled with emotions of confusion on if you’re doing the “right thing” in life, love, self-growth, positivity, the future, and more topics.
“/ t.i.d.a.l /” is my first released EP and thirteenth meaningful project release. It is a sad and short EP with five emotional songs about heartbreak. I do not tend to like making sad songs, but I want to make music for everyone and make songs with every human emotion is also a goal, so that somewhere out there, the feelings of the song can resonate with someone and make them feel “understood”. I noticed many young and older audiences alike like these “sad girl hour” vibes, so decided to give it a try! It is called “ / t.i.d.a.l. / “, because I made up that word from the first letters of each song in the EP and realized that life is full of tidal waves, washing away meaningless things and bringing some back out to shore – Tidal meaning rising and falling.
“Euphoria” is my second released EP and fourteenth meaningful project release. This EP is an uplifting from my previous EP and full of happy and confident topics within love and romance. It is very suitable for Valentine’s Day, or those who want to feel “good about themselves” too.
“Out Of This World (Lejos De Aquí)” is my third released EP and fifteenth meaningful project release. This EP is my first bilingual EP, with each song being in English and Spanish. I tried to make it as EDM-like as possible, as that is the type of music I hope to be known for in the future. It is also full of sweet, dreamy love songs for you to dedicate to your SO.
“Power Of WOMEN ” is my sixteenth album release and was released on Women’s History Month, in honor of all the beautiful women on this Earth. Each song is meant to be a powerful statement expressing how hardworking women are, while some of the songs break the “norm” of what a woman is “supposed to be” because women are independent at the end of the day and do not need to obey any rules of society. (Breaking stereotypes of women and using sarcasm to prove points in the songs)
“ODD” is my fourth released EP and seventeenth meaningful project release. It is my first EP filled with odd meter time signatures that progressively get more abstract and harder with every song. The genres of the songs in here include alternative pop, acoustic, reggae, and futuristic sounds, with themes of love, life, and time.
My fifth released EP, “Philophobia”, is my eighteenth meaningful project release. Like the title implies, “Philophobia”, meaning “The Fear of Love”, is an EP about someone loving again finally after having gotten heartbroken before, just to get their heart broken again and again in a cycle of repetition, causing them to have this fear. Even though the EP starts off with sad relatable songs, there is hope as the end of the EP approaches. The protagonist finally realizes their worth and moves on at the end, or at least tries to, and promises not to fall in the same mistakes again.
“L A T I N A” is my nineteenth album release and is an album I made for Hispanic Heritage Month in September. It has 12 songs that are all in spanish and each song is a type of hispanic or latin genres from many different places. The interesting thing about this album is that I put the songs in chronological order of when it is thought that each genre was invented, so the first song would be in the style of Mariachi, being one of the oldest styles of music. Following that genre comes Flamenco, Mambo, Samba, Merengue, Cumbia, Corrido, Bolero, Salsa, Bossa Nova, Bachata, and finally, Reggeaton. There are a variety of topics, from being a picky eater, to enjoying going to the mall, to your stereotypical love and heartbreak songs, so there is a song about anything for everyone!
“Happy Birthday Jesus (Merry Christmas)” will be my twentieth and last released album of 2023 as far as I know, God willing! It will be a bilingual Christian + Christmas album with prayer and worship songs, as well as songs for the holidays!
For singles, I have two singles that I released that are teasers for my upcoming meaningful projects in 2024! One of them is called “GUCCI”, which is about how one loses things to earn better things in life, such as losing a partner, but excelling in your career and being able to afford things yourself – Not relying on others. The other single is called “START ALL OVER”, which is about how the protagonist does not necessarily want to “Start All Over” with a new relationship, but rather keep the one that wants to break up and try to fix things with them.
I am very excited for 2024, as I already have the ideas of my meaningful projects planned out for that year! Feel free to check out all of my musical topics on Spotify, ITunes, Apple music, Tidal, and everywhere else under the name, “Lily Marie Antonini”. You can also learn more about me by typing that on the main google search bar! I hope you all will enjoy my music and can find the ones that resonate the most with you and thank you for listening to my “Lil-E Talk”!
~!!!”GODBLESS”!!!~
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My full name is Lily Marie Antonini, but I also go by “Lil-E” and “STAR 🌟 ” for stage names. All of my music will be found under “Lily Marie Antonini” on all music platforms, though. I am a bilingual singer/songwriter/producer primarily, but also am a pianist, arranger, actress, and do more art fields I have been a professional musician for over 10 years now and have released over 200 songs of all genres, primarily bilingual pop and dance music. I graduated from Berklee College Of Music with a double major in “Songwriting” and “Vocal Performance” and had the honor of being the FIRST bilingual synesthete artist to perform only all originals at the Berklee Performance Center.
As mentioned, I have Synesthesia, so I can see, taste, feel, and more with music and other senses that intertwine, such as tasting sounds. My first memory of Synesthesia would have to have been when I was younger, around 5, and in the back of my dad’s car. We were waiting for my mom, who was doing an errand at the mall. All of a sudden, “Every Breathe You Take” by “The Police”, started to play and I wondered, “Hmm…why does the bass guitar sound taste like a Snickers bar? It is very sticky and caramel like” I never told my dad because I thought this was a normal thing, until I turned 12 and found out what “Synesthesia” really was. I believe having Synesthesia helps my creativity to spark out of nowhere and helps me make an infinite amount of music in such a short time. I have also noticed many successful artists have had Synesthesia, such as: Mozart, Vincent Van Gogh, Duke Ellington, Marilyn Monroe, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Elton John, Franz Liszt, and many more.
I am very thankful to God for having given me these talents and I truly believe he gives each and every one of us unique talents to provide on this Earth and to share with one another to make it a better place. I always try to add positive emotions or messages in my songs, even if it starts off with a sad topic, near the end, I tend to uplift and change the lyrics to growth and optimism from the protagonist of each song. My music topics are literally of everything and anything that comes to my head from scenarios/music video ideas that I visualize beforehand in my brain. It is rare that my music is personal because I try to make it as broad as possible so that it fits with everyone’s personal needs rather than my own. Then again, I do have personal songs and take ideas from my life and transform them in some of my songs, too. I guess the world will have to guess which is which by listening to my music!
My favorite type of music would have to be EDM/House/Club Music because that music makes my brain feel very euphoric and changes my mood entirely. It is the type of music I strive to focus mostly on and be more known for in the future. I always hope that my music can make people feel the way that music makes me feel.
I am always open to collaborations with anyone, either it be for songwriting, performing, teaching, production, management and marketing, or anything else! People can reach out to me for business inquires at: lilymarieantonini@gmail.com
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think that society could help artists by paying them for their work, because at the end of the day, it is still work for them. Some people may look at music and art in general as just a “hobby” and something people do for fun without any effort, but in reality for most artists, it is a huge effort and takes a lot of commitment. From dragging heavy pieces of gear everywhere to rehearsing nonstop to marketing your brand and promoting, to finding the band and booking the gigs in the first place, there is so much that an artist goes through and it is definitely not easy. It is a risk, but one that I am very willing to pursue. I know many of my fellow musicians have told me that they were treated poorly or not paid a decent amount for performing or doing any art task and that is upsetting because this is a full time career for many of us and we are doing what we love, but we also need to survive, therefore we give our service.
I personally appreciate any opportunity, paid or unpaid, because it is a learning experience for my career and understand sometimes financial issues can come into play, not letting you be able to pay someone what you wish, but I do know that the more experienced an artist is, they usually deserve to get paid for there work, at least in a “Thank you, please come perform again!” payment. I think if society truly put music and art in a positive view instead of something only “lazy” people do, it will definitely help us artists be more respected and noticed. I also think there should be equality and no bias problems, such as choosing the same artist for every gig. I think diversity is beautiful and letting everyone show their talents is a part of life. Artists are the people who make this Earth feel “more alive”. We create so you can feel and connect. Music is everywhere, even in elevators! Art is everywhere, even in a smile.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I resonate a lot with a quote that one of my favorite artists of all time said. “Beyond a certain point, the music isn’t mine anymore. It’s yours.” – Phil Collins
I truly make music for the world more than for myself. I want to make a topic for everything so that everyone can connect with something. I want to be a friend and reach out to those in need all around the world and music helps me be there through the song. I can be a therapist or a friend, even though I am not physically there. Knowing music can change someone’s life, even for a second, is beautiful. It is truly a gift from God and I am very thankful for him giving me the gift of being able to make infinite songs so that everyone on Earth can find the meaning they search for. Music never leaves you alone. You can not escape it. But, that goes for every form of art.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lilymarieantonini.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilymarieantonini
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LilyMarielovesGodandMusicforever/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-marie-antonini-1a2b381b6/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MrTwinky321LilyMarieAntoniniOfficial
- Other: My Music Links: https://songwhip.com/lily-marie-antonini My Linktree Link: https://linktr.ee/Antonini123?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=6f37a5a0-945e-4cf6-8890-2b5761cb4be7 My Tik Tok Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@lilymarieantonini?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc