Born and raised in New Jersey, LA-based pop artist L E A embraces her bi-coastal, edgy-beachy identity through her music and guides her fans through the excitement and difficulties of growing up as she experiences it herself.
“I’m still growing and learning.” The 26-year old artist acknowledges that growth is not linear and hopes to encapsulate in her music that everyone is changing and growing every day, including herself.
“[I’m] using a lot of inspiration from the stuff I grew up with… and it feels a little more genuine and like myself.” Learning who you are and building a relationship with yourself ultimately comes back to the beliefs, feelings, and hopes you developed as a child, and it is so refreshing to see L E A reflect this in the music industry.
Jersey Boy, for example, although centering on a romantic experience, highlights the beginning of a physical transition in her life. Her move from New Jersey to L.A. was an exciting and challenging experience that has often served as her muse.
She describes her music to be “edgy with flower power,” emphasizing the antithetical dynamic between her punky interests growing up and the beachy West Coast vibes of life in Southern California. Although difficult to mesh the two artistically, L E A strives to tap into both parts of herself to make her music more genuine.
Artists often create a persona that becomes their brand, which is a creatively admirable approach to sharing art. However, this multi-talented artist embraces her authentic self through all of her mediums.
Not only does she write and sing her own music, she also creates and directs almost all of her visuals and music videos. “My favorite part about being an artist is that I get to design and conceptualize every release.”
Personalizing raw experiences while sharing perpetual human feelings and thoughts that listeners can connect to is arguably the most difficult part of releasing “good” music and a form of art in and of itself- one that L E A has definitely mastered.
L E A is planning on releasing more music in the coming months with a “sound change” that circles back to her earlier days as a developing artist, which I am absolutely looking forward to hearing. The music industry is lacking in authenticity, but L E A is undoubtedly turning heads with hers.
Read below for more personal insight into L E A’s creative direction!
How would you describe your growth as an artist?
“I’m feeling more drawn back to the things that made me who I was and shaped me as a young artist… and all of that kind of lies in everything I discovered by myself when I was a teenager in NJ or my friends who were influencing the music that I listened to back then. So I feel like it’s coming full circle and I’m now… developing a new sound for myself as an artist, but I’m using a lot of inspiration from the stuff I grew up with… and it feels a little more genuine and like myself.”
“I think it’s just coming to terms with what I’m creating… and feeling complete… I think personal development has really helped with [my growth] as an artist. Not only that, I’ve learned so much, and half of it was because I was put into situations that I didn’t ask for or didn’t really know how to handle, and the other half is just really being immersed in the music industry and the world 24/7, and never taking a break from it- quite honestly because I don’t really want to. I think that’s helped me as an artist… I think it all contributes to growth as an artist. I wish I had a better answer, but I think I’m still growing and learning and finding that answer.”
What’s something you want to share with our readers and your fans?
Behind the scenes- “I want everyone to know that this is all genuinely me as a human being… There are artists out there that create personas that are their art… I never put out something that I’m not, and I never claim to be something that I’m not… The words I sing, the music, the pictures, the colors- I’m an open book… I’m not going to hide things from certain people, it’s all out in the open… and I want that to show when I release music and we have genuine conversations… I just want people to know who I am as a human being.”