A Conversation with LP – HuffPost 4.30.12

Mike Ragogna: Hello, LP.

LP: Hello, how are you?

MR: I’m pretty good…nice name, by the way. And how are you?

LP: I’m good, thank you!

MR: You have a new EP, Live at East West Studios. What’s amazing about it, to catch everybody up with this, is that it features a couple of songs that you already had covers with by other acts–for example, Rhianna does “Cheers,” “Beautiful People” was recorded by Christina Aguilera. Let’s chat about “Into The Wild” first. What went into the creative process?

LP: Well, I had covered a Roy Orbison song and it opened this portal into my head about how I wanted music to sound like my music right now, and my voice, the vibe of it, the openness, and the beauty. Left to my own devices, I have an inherently indie sound, but I write pop songs too. It gets confusing, and in the past, I’ve gone down a road, as an artist myself, that is a little bit too poppy to please major labels. Then I kind of retreated from that, but then I wrote all these pop songs and wrote for people, quite big people. I think I took what I learned there about a pop song and put it into my indie styling. I’m fascinated with that now, I always want a song to hit hard as far wanting to hear it again. Catchy is not a dirty word, it’s a good word.

MR: “Pop” actually is short for “popular,” so right on.

LP: We want to hear Radiohead songs over and over again, (though) I’m in no way comparing myself to Radiohead. But you want a song that people want to hear over and over again, that’s the idea. I feel like I’ve learned so much about songwriting that it’s become the craft and I love doing it. I always thought there was a finite number of songs in me and I had to protect them. Before I was on a major label, I might have written 14-15 songs a year, and now, I probably write in excess of 70.

MR: What drives your writing?

LP: Actually, it’s just my job. I have a publishing deal. That was the thing, it became a job and a bunch of writers that I would write with for other people, they started hearing that I really sang. I would sing demos but they were surprising…people don’t go there unless you go there. I was having fun singing at this club and some of my writer friends would come and be like, “I want to write for you.” I’d be like, “Eh, I don’t know.” Then it started happening naturally with me. I started playing all this ukulele, and I started just enjoying it. It’s almost like the ukulele doesn’t put any pressure on me, it just hangs out and waits for you to strum it.

MR: You mentioned that you had songwriters come check you out and want to write for you, and you’ve written with Billy Steinberg, Desmond Child…

LP: Yeah, I’ve written Kathy Dennis…I’ve written with a lot of people.

MR: Oh yeah, your song “Afraid To Sleep” was sung by Vicci Martinez in The Voice–gotta mention that. Now when you co-write, do you get influenced by your collaborators?

LP: Well, like I said, it’s the matter of how to make a song catchy. Desmond Child would say “internal rhyming” to me, and I’d be like, “What’s that?” He’d say it’s something that’s catchy within the sentence that rhymes, that people don’t pick up on really, but they do. It keeps it stuck in their head.

MR: Sure, it’s like gaining a new tool, but it’s also the blend of two or more composers’ ideas.

LP: Yeah, the collaboration thing is amazing. It’s really interesting what happens when different people are in a room and I really love that.

MR: Let’s talk about Into The Wild.

LP: The live thing?

MR: Yeah.

LP: It was funny, Rob was like, “I’d like to get the songs live and see where we’re at so I don’t want you to sing the songs to death in the studio and get sick of them or anything, but I want to capture that live thing.” It went from that to this massive show that was filmed with 3 cameras and it was funny. It was very nice.

MR: Live at Eastwest Studios. The song “Into The Wild” was in a commercial too, right?

LP: Well, it was funny before I signed a Warner Bros., it was put in the running for this commercial for Citibank. I forgot about it, it was in August, and my friend was like, “Hey I got this email about the kind of song I’m looking for and I think your song ‘Into the Wild’ would fit.” So I said, “Alright, let’s put it in.” Then they said it was down to three people, two people, and then by October, they want it. I never guessed that it would be such a big commercial, and that’s not (just because of) my song, but visually, the whole thing.

MR: Yeah, with the climbers, etc. On your EP, you also include “Tokyo Sunrise.” What inspired the song.

LP: That’s a major song for me. It’s just about my ex and about missing them, knowing that there’s always a part of you that loves that person and it never goes away. It’s out there and perhaps you see them again in some other life or form. It gets a little hippie like that, but it really means a lot for me.

MR: What is your reaction to having written hits like “Beautiful People” and “Cheers”?

LP: “Cheers”…I never thought I would write for Rhianna. It was an interesting thing. She did another of my songs, but it didn’t make the album, and I was amazed of that as well. (laughs) I feel like it taught me about good songs, I feel like I’m being true to myself. I’m very ADD and all over the place, I like everything…maybe not EVERYTHING. But I like a lot of different things and just have fun with it.

MR: This EP is a precursor to an album that you’re working on. Have you been in the studio?

LP: Yeah, I’ve already been working on the studio version of “Into The Wild” and more to come. There’s been so much happening so fast…I’ve been doing a lot of shows and making an EP, and I don’t think they expected it to go because I was just signed 5-6 months ago. So it’s moving a little faster, which is great.

MR: What advice might you have for new artists?

LP: The songs. Songs, songs, songs. It’s all about a song. You will see an instant difference in your career as soon as there’s a song… It has nothing to do, really, with anything, I don’t think. I don’t think it matters what you look like or whatever. If there’s a song that people have to have, they’re going to find it. It’s not even the chorus of the song in that Citibank commercial, and I’m so amazed that people find me from that.

MR: What’s in your immediate future?

LP: Just more of the same. I’m trying to run my writing career parallel to my artist career. I don’t want to stop writing for other people because I feel like that informs my stuff. I’m already up to here with myself. If I see one more picture of myself… (laughs) But I enjoy writing for other people. It’s a palate cleanser.

MR: All the best and I wish you more of the best.

LP: Thank you, I really appreciate it.

Transcribed by Narayana Windenberger