We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful LOKRE (none). We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with LOKRE below.
LOKRE, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
I feel like amongst immigrant families this story is especially rare, but as soon as I showed an inclination towards the arts as a child my parents showed me unconditional support. They nurtured that dream and taught me how to be confident enough to sustain it. I specifically remember my mom teaching me the value of positive language as a kid. When I would say “If I make it in the music industry when I grow up…” my mom would immediately make me rephrase the sentence to, “WHEN I make it in the music industry.”
Through my ups and downs over the years I often remind myself of that self belief I cultivated as a child and it helps me to find my way back.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is LOKRE, I’m an artist/songwriter/producer & poet from Toronto. My story begins in 1943 when my grandmother began paving the way for women in the arts in Trinidad as a well known singer and Indian dancer. My grandmother passed that dream onto my mother who travelled the world as a performer and dancer, and as the story goes she passed the dream onto me.
In the name of immigration to North America to give their families a better life, they gave up their dreams, so when asked what my “WHY” is – seeing the fruition of these generation dreams come to pass is a huge pillar of what drives me.
I always say I don’t make music for entertainment but rather for inspiration. It’s a strange thought for me an artist that the work I pull from the deepest parts of me might just be consumed in the background of someone’s workday. I try my best to create things that can be integrated into people’s lives in meaningful & intentional ways.
My debut album “ELIZABETH” that came out last year is my proudest accomplishment to date. It’s a labour of love that tells my story in its truest form. My aim with a small core crew of collaborators in Toronto, London & LA was to make something timeless, and I truly believe we accomplished just that – but I’ll let you be the judge of that :)
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
So much of the conversation around artist branding and marketing is about what boxes we fit into or what boxes we check. Once we commit to this box we build an entire sonic and visual world around it and must identify with it fully. As a mixed race artist with a multitude of genre influences, I used to be really resistant to this idea because I feared it would be creatively limiting… but through the creation of my album I learned that self defined parameters around my art can actually be incredibly liberating. By taking the guess work out of what I was trying to communicate with this era of my artistry I was able to take my ideas deeper and embody the role that the art demanded of me more fully. It was freeing to consider that the boxes I check can evolve from era to era, and to look at them like chapters in a bigger story.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Growth. If we’re fearless enough to really tell our stories and let them leave the hard drive, we have these time stamps on stages of our evolution that will outlast us. It’s always a little cringe to look back on my art from a decade ago but I’m learning how to appreciate the value of those reminders that we are always changing, always learning, and that’s reflected in the ways our audiences grow and change along with us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iamlokre.com
- Instagram: @lizlokre
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamlokre
- Twitter: @iamlokre
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/lokre
- Other: tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iamlokre
Image Credits
Main headshot: Frank Lin B&W image: Jonathan Arseneau Grandmother image – Name: Champa Devi