We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lolitslea a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi lolitslea, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I often think about this. Where I’m at in my music career as an independent artist, I am financially responsible for all my music, marketing, creative, and PR. This certainly causes for a difficult career/life balance resulting in a lot of challenges, hard times, and stress. Because I am self-funded, I work several (and I mean several) full-time, part-time, and freelance jobs. I have a day job, am a bartender, and freelance on the side. All of this is done while I’m traveling the country performing, writing music, getting studio time, and making lasting connections as an artist. With all that being said, I would love to focus strictly on music, but I will continue to grind and work hard so I can afford to grow my artist project!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started releasing music as a duo in 2015, it was more surf rock/indie rock and then once I was able to record in a professional studio and put out my own original music, I released under L E A in 2016 with the single “Stay Right”. I was in college and still finding myself as an artist and focusing on school and my a cappella group at the time. I’d release about once a year as sort of a side project, but during the pandemic in 2020, I finally decided to pursue music full-time and write/release what felt the most authentic to me. Because I had come from releasing indie pop-heavy tunes, I knew I’d have to be strategic about my transition into what eventually turned pop punk.
I grew up listening to pop punk, techno, neon pop punk, emo, and alternative music and knew that’s where my heart was at. Eventually, I finally took the leap and started writing and releasing my first pop punk singles, which in 2023 turned into my first pop punk EP, “Happy Never Ending”. This started the full circle moment for me because an artist I grew up listening to, Chase Coy, produced that record and it featured Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens.
After seeing the response to writing and releasing the music I grew up loving, I knew I was falling into my niche and genre. As of 2024, I decided to rebrand as a band under the name lolitslea and am working on my first full-length with many exciting features :)
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is the journey it takes to get from point a to b and the people you meet along the way. From building up your brand/band to the music existing out in the world, there’s thousands of steps you have to take to successfully and efficiently cross the finish line. I find these rewarding to complete and I enjoy the challenge it takes to get there. Also, with every show and release, I meet several amazing artists/industry professionals/fans/people and the human connection in itself is well worth it.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I think everything happens for a reason and while throwing money to the wind and expecting a good outcome isn’t my smartest business decision, it helped me understand that anyone can offer services and help but not everyone can offer good services and help.
While I was able to grasp an understanding of trustworthy teams and sources, I completely missed the mark a few times and when you’re thrown out into this wild industry, it’s really hard to pick who to trust and what is going to be the best decision for you as an artist. It was a learning curve for sure, but I feel very confident where I’m at now is the right place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lolitslea.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lolitslea/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lolitslea
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lolitslea
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lolitslea
Image Credits
KID LEO, Cameron Gile, Connor Meany, Ave Davis, Jess Williams