LILA GOLD

LILA GOLD IS POP MUSIC’S HIDDEN GEM

WORDS: Simran Sharma PHOTOS: Christopher Walsh & Elaine Tsogtbayar

Lila Gold should rightfully be called a jack of all trades. From singing and writing to designing and producing, the young creative who started making music at the age of 16, is readily working toward mastering all of her crafts. But her main focus is letting the world hear and vibe with her distinctive sound. In her summer release of “Big Sad Eyes,” she emotionally croons over a Reggaeton influenced beat, making the track a rare, sad, grief-driven banger. Her ability to write heartfelt, sentimental songs targeting personal issues such as anxiety, and merging them with beats infused with Dancehall/Reggaeton elements and drums is what distinguishes the singer from any other emerging popstar on the scene. Apart from writing, the Sydney native also takes control over her production, her own clothing brand, her online image and her perfectly uniformed wardrobe. In a widespread and overt conversation with Listen Mag, Lila Gold shares her pensive thoughts on her musical influences, New York City, best color palettes, Air Maxes, the power of manifestation and more.

Do you mind introducing yourself? I’m Lila Gold. I’m from Australia but I’ve grown up between Sydney and New York, I’m 22 and I live in Brooklyn.

Which one of those places is your favorite? Definitely New York. I think it goes in the order of: New York, Sydney, LA. New York because I feel like I have the most freedom here with my identity. I feel like Sydney is so beautiful, like naturewise, I feel really inspired when I’m there and it has a sense of childhood nostalgia, which is always refreshing to go back to. And then LA kind of has this weird, sleepy, dreamy buzz to it that also can be really inspiring at times.

What do you think represents the key/ core aspects of your music and your signature sound? I would definitely say the fact that I use a lot of like Reggaeton and Dancehall style rhythms mixed with a lot of auto-tuned dreamier, sort of ethereal sounding vocals. There’s elements that I take from the genres of like Dancehall and Reggaeton and a lot of Pop. But then I kind of shift them a bit and make them into kind of like my own style of Pop music because I’m not a Latin artist, but I really identify with that sound and I’ve definitely taken a lot of inspiration from the rhythms and the sound palette of that genre and made it into my own kind of thing, just because I feel such an affinity for it. Also, lyrically I feel like there is a common thread in most of my songs that I write that is always usually about like anxiety or mental health or a lot of the things that I feel emotionally.

Shot by: Christopher Walsh

Shot by: Christopher Walsh

Shot by: Christopher Walsh

Shot by: Christopher Walsh

How important is the production process? How involved are you in that? Really important. So, I actually co-produce with my dad, he does a lot of the production with me.

That is actually so cute. I know it’s crazy, but he’s actually a Blues/Rock n Roll musician so the stuff that he does with me is totally different and he produces for other young Australian artists as well. But our project together is like very much, it’s so heavily me and him that it’s kind of different than anything else. I also have been working with DJDS- Sam and Jerome- in LA and they are awesome. When they produce, I kind of sit back and let them take the reins and I’ll do the writing, and they’ll do the producing. Just because they’re like a duo and their chemistry together is unmatched. When I’m outnumbered by producers I like to sit back and let them take the over because I feel like there’s a special formula that they have and it’s really liberating for me to let go and be like: alright you guys do what you want, I’m going to write, I’m going to vibe off you guys. I like the dynamic of either being really hands on or not hands on at all.

Within your sound, there is sort of like this Electro/Pop niche which aligns with Charli XCX and Slayyyter, do you feel like you belong within that community? What’s crazy is that I don’t at all. A lot of people say that and I’m like, I listen to Charli XCX, but I don’t listen to that kind of stuff. Like I know that genre, like PC music and I fuck with that. Because I’ve only released, it’s still early days for me, I feel like people are still putting it together. Once I release my next singles and my EP, they’ll be like: Oh, okay we get it. Like I’m heavily influenced by a lot of trap music and a lot of again, Dancehall and Reggaeton. I think it has to do with my aesthetic and the way that I dress, it fits that category. I’m heavily influenced by fantasy and escapism, and being online. My whole life, I’ve had the internet so I have a huge affinity for internet culture and most of my discoveries of music happen on the internet. As well as, you know I have always looked on the internet to connect with people, so just with how I dress is always I don’t know, I’m really into fantasy and the internet world. So yeah, I think it’s my aesthetic that they put into the same category.

Shot by: Elaine Tsgotbayar

Shot by: Christopher Walsh

It’s like very Y2K... Yeah! I’m definitely into that vibe. Like I love Yankee fits, and Air Maxes. I don’t own one pair of heels, I only wear sneakers, I have a huge Air Max collection. And that’s definitely from influence of Hip-Hop and New York. Growing up I only wanted Bape, I wanted all those brands. That and I love fantasy dresses and vintage stuff. What are your favorite shops? I don’t actually shop a lot, I buy vintage stuff on Etsy. I actually have my own brand called Delicate Porcelain, I do it with another guy, his name’s Josué, so we do it together. We print a lot of our own t-shirts as like a streetwear label. But otherwise, honestly, I’m just obsessed with Air Maxes, like I’ll buy a ton of Air Maxes.

Do you build your outfit based on your shoes? Yes, I start from the bottom. So right now, I just copped these yellow and purple Air Max 98s so I’m going to dye my hair lavender and yellow. So, I start from the shoes and go up. But I only wear three colors because I have this weird adverse nature and disgust for other colors other than red, purple and yellow. That’s the only colors I wear and will use in anything. I don’t know if you’ve noticed in my cover art but I’ve only used those colors. You should see my wardrobe, it’s only those colors and my mom gets really frustrated because if we go shopping together (and she’s like) “oh this is so cute!” and I’ll be like it’s so cute but I can’t wear it, like I just can’t. Seriously, it’s really bizarre. Have you ever thought about dying your own clothes? Yeah, I do a lot of tie-dye stuff. That’s like part of the creative process with my brand, we tie-dye a bunch of stuff. But my partner’s always like, for this it’s for other people so can we use like other color palettes? and I’m like...fine!

“WHILST I’M LEVITATING, I HAVE TO STAY GROUNDED.”

Shot by: Christopher Walsh

For ‘Big Sad Eyes’ on your Instagram you said that it was based on lucid dreaming, was there ever a particular dream that you’ve had yourself that really impacted you or just stuck out? So, I have this recurring dream that again is lucid dreaming, and I know that I’m dreaming when I’m having it and so I’m in control of the dream. But obviously I’m not in control of the dream because how much in control of a dream can you be? I think to a certain extent you’re aware of it and it feels like you’re in control of it, but I don’t think you actually are. But it’s this reoccurring dream where I’m in this maze, and it is very cliché like someone-is-chasing-me kind of dream. And I start to levitate every time, like “please, please, please hurry up!” and danger is approaching. I levitate off the ground and it is just anticipation, the person is just about to capture and I just shoot off the ground, and it’s like the flying dream. Except, I’m not flying I’m just like floating, just levitating and I can go anywhere. And I’ve had ones where I go over a huge industrial wasteland with all this barbwire and then I’ve had one where I go over like a black ocean at night, and I remember being so scared because when you look down and see black water it’s really frightening, so I remember being so scared and concentrating so hard to not fall in the water. That’s a reoccurring dream that I have and I feel like that represents to me a sense like I never quite actually see anyone or anything that’s chasing me or grabbing me or capturing me, I feel like that is just my fear itself. Like my anxiety, my depression, that’s trying to grab and capture me and I have to stay really focused to really ground it, almost. Whilst I’m levitating, I have to stay grounded. So, it’s a sense of being grounded and a sense of letting go. Sometimes when I’m recording, or writing a song, it might sound sappy or cliché, but I really feel that something sometimes gives me this intuition and this intention and I’m like, “fuck, where did that come from? How did I do that?” And then I’m so humbled and grateful after I’ve recorded something. Like okay, this is an extension of myself like it came from somewhere else, I don’t know where it came from but I always try to give the praise and the gratification to the song itself, because I feel like it comes from somewhere else.

Do you believe in manifestation? Oh, manifestation is like 98% of our lives. Maybe 99. Maybe a 1 00! It’s all manifestation, baby. All of it is like intention, so it’s like I really wanna have a glass of oat milk because I fucking love oat milk. And then later on it’ll be like mmm, oat milk and then you go to the fridge and get a glass of oat milk. It’s really just thinking about something and when it’s aspirations or dreams, on a larger scale, I think every little thought you put into what you want, what you believe in, how you want to feel and how you want others to feel it’s all just part of one bigger picture. Like collective thought is so powerful too. So, I try to think about that with my music and my future projects. It’s like if I vibe with this, I feel like other people will vibe with it. You have to believe in it, you’ve gotta like it first because… someone’s got to!

What are some goals you want to achieve? I really want to collaborate with more artists. I really want to have a mixtape and have other artists feature on it. I really want to release my EP, it’s going to be really exciting. I would love to play Gov Ball, and I would love to play Lollapalooza, just to do small Indie festivals that would be really sick. For me right now, it’s about getting music out and getting heard and getting feedback, and vibing off people’s reactions, that’s what it’s about. It’s about creating a sense of community like where do I fit in? Or making my own community as well. Since you know the city well, you grew up in SoHo, what’s your favorite neighborhood? I would say I fucking love Chinatown and Lower East Side for sure, that’s definitely my favorite neighborhood. I also, I can’t lie, I love Fort Greene and I love Bed-Stuy, I think it’s really beautiful, it’s completely different from Manhattan but I love it there too. I would say Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, LES, and Chinatown. And Coney Island’s my favorite place! It’s the most fucking sad, depressing, place in the world and I’ve had this weird fixation with it since I was a kid. My dad used to take me out there in the winters and we would take a polaroid camera and we would take photos and walk around because in the winter it’s closed, and Coney Island’s so grim and weird in the winter. I would see like the freak show would still be open, some things would still be open, this was the early 2000s, and for a long time that area was just left untouched. So now it’s gentrified, but before it was a scary, strange place but I loved that. I still go back there sometimes and ride all the rides.

Shot by: Elaine Tsgotbayar

Still never been to Coney Island.... You need to go because you can’t live in New York and not ride the Cyclone. You need to ride the Cyclone. I hit my nose on it and my nose had a bleeding because I flew out of the chair, I still fucking ride that bitch every summer like twice or three times.

What are some essential things that you can’t live without? So, this bottle of Eucalyptus oil is from Australia and it’s got eucalyptus and it has menthol oil, it’s very calming. It’s really strong, it kind of burns when you put it on your skin, and don’t put it in your eyes, obviously. But I douse it all over myself all the time because it’s strong and I like things that are overpowering and really fresh and clean. I use it when I’m super anxious and when I’m about to go on stage I’ll just put it everywhere, I’ll put it on the top of my head because you know, it absorbs into your hair. So, this and tea—I’m sober, so tea and caffeine for me is like my vice. Anything with caffeine but traditional black tea, like a good English tea. And Young Thug, Elliot Smith to listen to. And my fucking phone, unfortunately if I’m gonna be real.

Shot by: Elaine Tsgotbayar