Lila Drew has been busy exploring. The 22 year old London-born, LA-raised Yale student and singer/songwriter releases her debut album All The Places I Could Be, today. With a knack for storytelling through her poetic lyrics, the self-described “pop cynic who makes pop music,” has created a debut filled with emotional highs and lows in an expertly crafted coming of age album. “All The Places I Could Be, for me, was (and is) centred around the intersection of aspiration and exploration,” Lila says. “Figuring out how to make an album, how to write music I’m proud of, how to laugh at myself a bit more, how to not beat myself up over it, we're all part of it.” We spoke to the artist about the recording process and the visual world of Lila Drew:

Your album is brilliant, your songwriting is so strong. When did you know you loved music? Who was inspiring you, what were you listening to, when did you begin writing?

“I grew up in a really musical environment. I’m not saying that my parents played music themselves (neither of them are musicians), but they are just such huge music lovers and always played music in the house – everything from Lou Reed to Public Enemy to Prince to Simon and Garfunkel. I think because of that, I became a massive music fan – and I’m still a fan first and foremost – but that transitioned into me writing my own songs and becoming more and more entrenched in that world starting when I was around 8 – I’d write songs and record them on my elementary school’s computer, burn them onto CDs, and give them to my parents as gifts :).”

You wrote this album when you were 18-20. Listening to it now at 22, what do you hear in it that perhaps you didn’t realise or hear while you were creating it?

“I’m honestly not sure if there’s anything new that I hear now – we spent so much time working through every tiny element of the record that it’s so ingrained in my mind now, but what I can definitely hear in the record is how much I was learning about myself through the writing process. If I were to write this album now, it would sound entirely different, and that’s the really special part about documenting your life in this kind of way – things are always changing and shifting and evolving and you are sort of a witness to that first hand through the music.”

What did you want to convey on this debut album? How do you hope the world hears/sees Lila Drew?

“First and foremost, I hope people hear the honesty of this record, both socially and lyrically. I feel like the album doesn’t really have frills, it tries to say things plainly, although sometimes in a relatively abstract way, but from a sonic perspective, it’s not attempting to be polished or perfect – all of the mistakes and discrepancies were left in each song in order to convey the ways in which we were making it and for people to feel as though they’re listening through the walls while the music is being made in the next room.”

What Are You Doing is such a poignant song. You can hear it in your voice. Was there a song that was especially important for you to write and release to the world? 

“What Are You Doing is a really special song for me – it’s about a lot of things, mostly me asking myself these big questions about the ways in which I was going about my life and things I wanted to change, it’s also a bit about my family. I think that the important of each song, though, really only has to do with whether or not I deem it important, which, in the case of this album, was a long process. Throughout writing most of the album, I felt as though my voice was really unimportant and like my stories weren’t worth telling, and I still feel that way a lot of the time. There is so much going on in the world, so much tragedy, so much worth talking about, that I just felt like writing music about my own life felt so selfish and strange in that context. So I guess figuring out a way to trust my own voice and trust my taste was what made the songs important for me to release. I’m not sure if that makes sense but this was a challenging question for me in the writing process too.” 

We love that you left in original demo recordings in the final masters to keep that rawness intact. You can really hear it especially on the interludes, it feels so special and personal. Who did you work with on production?

“Thank you! We really wanted to keep those raw moments in tact – that was mostly an idea that came from Tom Elmhirst, who mixed the album. There were so many great collaborators who worked with me on this in small and big ways. From a production standpoint, I worked with Sachi DiSerafino, Jordan Reyes, Matt Hales, and others. Sachi is in a band called Joy Again, and so many of the other Joy Again guys contributed to the album too (thank you Blaise, Amr, Con, Will, and everyone else who played on the records). I’d been working with Matt since I was about 16 – he also puts out his own music under Aqualung that is gorgeous and he just released a new album too! – we wrote a bunch of songs in his house in Bath, England.”

The visual world of Lila Drew is quite epic. You work with Vincent Haycock (who has worked with Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Paul McCartney) - what has that experience been like? How important are the visuals to you?

“Vince is amazing and it’s been such an amazing experience to work with him. We’ve now worked on so much together – so much more than just the videos – and working through the creative processes for both the videos and merch and packaging and everything has been awesome because we so often feel the same way about things. He was the first person I’d ever worked with (in the visual space) who really saw me honestly and allowed me to be myself without pretending to be a character. The visuals are certainly important to me, and I’m obsessed with music videos and movies, but working with Vince has only heightened that sense.”

We love your style. Tell us where you find inspiration for the visual side of your world, including your style.

“Thanks! I really love fashion a lot, which is something I wish I could explore a bit more. I’ve always loved sustainable fashion – whether that’s shopping vintage or second-hand or buying from small sustainably made brands. I’m obsessed with 90s runways too – 90s Prada and Miu Miu, Calvin Klein, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs. Those are where I find the most inspiration.”

Amazing! Iconic choices. We’ve read you’re a student at Yale?! What are you studying? Have you got some good songs out of it?

“Yeah, I’m in my 3rd year at Yale currently! I’m majoring in American Studies, but focusing on visual, audio, and literary cultures. I think this is the perfect subject for me, too – it really combines everything I’m interested in with a focus on creative writing, too, which is just so important for my songwriting. It’s definitely a challenge to be a full-time student and doing music as well. Music is always my number one priority, but my assignments at school have deadlines too – it’s a tough balance for sure.”

Of all the places you could be, where would you love to perform the album from start to finish?

“Hmm honestly it would be incredible to perform it start to finish period – regardless of place – just for people who really want to hear it and who the album has resonated with.”

We’d love to experience it in its entirety live. What’s next?

“Making another album! And hopefully graduating college :).”

Listen to All The Places I Could Be HERE.

@liladrew