Q+A WITH LAURA DAVID

Reminiscent of indie favorites like Clairo, girl in red, and Dayglow, 18-year-old singer/songwriter Laura David is one to watch. Her upcoming single “when she’s gone” is a dreamy, airy pop track exploring young love, longing, and heartache. I spoke with Laura about the inspiration behind the song, her ideal fanbase, challenges as a young artist, authenticity, and queer representation in music.

Ella: Tell me a bit about yourself! Where are you from, what’s your background in music, all that good stuff.

Laura: I'm from Toronto. I grew up there and I've never lived anywhere else. I went to the same school for 14 years, and right now I'm a student at Brown; I just got here like two weeks ago.

In terms of music, my mom was a singer, but she was classically trained. When I was really little, I did a lot of [music] stuff, and then like recently I just came back to it and have been doing it ever since.

E: What artists’ fanbases do you think would gravitate towards your music?

L: My ideal crowd would be the Clairo and girl in red crowd, for sure. Those fans are so dope and dedicated but in a very cool way. Also Taylor Swift fans, just because they're so dedicated; I would really appreciate it if Swifties liked my music.

E: Who are some of your main musical influences?

L: girl in red and Dayglow are my two biggest production influences at the moment. The first track I did, I produced it all myself, but that was just like me and a guitar. I did some songs with other producers, but now I'm doing everything myself; I feel like it just works better. In terms of lyrics, Gracie Abrams has been a huge inspiration recently. I love her lyricism. I love Phoebe Bridgers; I think she's a great lyricist too… I just think the way she can tell a story is insane.

E: Where do you find inspiration in day-to-day life for your music?

L: A lot from personal experience or the experiences of my friends. I usually use it as a tool to process things that I'm feeling... For me, writing music has really helped with [my anxiety] because I think very far into the future. Often, I'll write a song, not about something that’s already happened, but about me worrying about the future and what could happen. I also really like to try and put vivid imagery in my songs. So, lately, I've just been trying to focus on just noticing things, especially now that we have so much time on our hands. 

E: So “when she’s gone” will be coming out soon; could you tell me what your inspiration was in creating it?

L: The song is about the process of getting with my girlfriend; the girl I'm with now. It was a little bit complicated, because she had somebody else that she was interested in at the time, and then they got together, and I was very upset and it went through this whole thing, and then eventually she broke up with him and then we got together. There were a lot of twists and turns. It was a very long and complicated story... I’d never really experienced anything quite like it. Also, I’d just come out of a really bad breakup, and I was super upset for nine months, and I had sort of just gotten back up on my feet.

I decided that [the song] was something that I wanted to do completely myself. I find that it’s more “me” when I am able to have full control of the project. For right now, in this moment in time, that's what I want, so I'm really excited for this one to come out because I feel like it's very me and it's the style of music that I want to make going forward. I've never been so excited for a song. 

E: What are some of the biggest roadblocks you’ve faced as a young artist?

L: I think my self confidence is the biggest roadblock I have faced. The thing that usually prevents me from putting out music is me thinking it's not good enough; I'm a huge perfectionist... I heard a quote once – I forget what it is – something along the lines of “comparison kills creativity.”  I think that is exactly where I've been in so many ways because, because I'm such a perfectionist. I really compare myself to other people. Also mental health challenges and stuff too, like sometimes you just don't feel like you can really do anything.

Sometimes people are like, oh, it seems so hard to be an artist, and it is; growing a following is tough as shit. But it's not hard to be an artist, if you know what I mean. It's hard to be famous and well known but it's not hard to be an artist... I've never found being in school the biggest challenge for music, and I think it's just because you just prioritize what you like. For me, doing music is not something that I have to make time for, because it just happens. Being in music is so personal and it's so all-consuming that I think anybody who's a musician probably feels this way. It's like, maybe it is your job... but it’s what you’d be doing in your free time anyway.

E: What’s one song you think everyone should listen to at least once?

L: I’m the most indecisive person; I'm going to give you three. The first one that comes to mind is “Savior Complex” by Phoebe Bridgers. I think everybody needs to listen to that song, it never fails to amaze me. It changes every week, but another one is “Here you Come Again” by Dolly Parton… I have a lot of respect for her. I think people have a lot of assumptions about that woman, but she is so cool. I think probably the last one is “The Adults are Talking” by the Strokes; it’s been one of my favorite songs since it came out.

E: What’s something you in particular bring to the music scene that others might not?

L: I think, right now, there's a really big trend of people [wanting] authentic artists, you know what I mean? Everybody's like, “if I don't know everything about your life and you're not being authentic and you’re too perfectly packaged, I don't like you.” But then I feel like this authenticity thing that everybody's got going on is also fake, you know?

I think I bring realness and humor. If there's one thing that I would want to give people, it's just a sense of comfort, and I want you to feel at home when you listen to my music music or engage with me. I also think a lot of musicians really have a bit of a superiority complex about things sometimes; one of my biggest pet peeves is when musicians – even small ones – don't respond to their comments... I just think bringing that realness and that empathy and that compassion is really important.

I grew up without a lot of queer artists to listen to... I used to hide from the fact that I was queer, and I wouldn't want that to be the reason that people liked me or listened to me. But now I actually feel really differently about it, because I think that having those people in your life is so helpful. I genuinely think some of my queer role models [were] actually lifesaving. I think I put my heart on my sleeve, and I'm not afraid to say what I think. And, you know, I’ll never really be scared of anybody telling me what I can and cannot do. That's just one thing I'm never gonna give up, so hopefully that realness is refreshing.

E: What are your plans, musically or otherwise, for the future?

L: Everything's up in the air, but I think one thing I will never stop doing is writing songs, so that's always on the table. The dream would be to be an artist and to tour. I think right now, musically, I'm just working on some songs. I have a couple singles that I'm gonna roll out after this one, probably in the next month or two months. I think I'd like for it to culminate in some sort of EP or album maybe later this year. Past that, I don't know. I guess we'll have to see what happens.

Laura’s newest single, “when she’s gone,” can be found on all music streaming platforms starting 1/29/21. You can connect with her on instagram @notlauradavid and on tiktok @lauradavid