LP FAULT Magazine Cover and Interview

Words: Fabio Magnocavallo

LP, which are the initials of singer-songwriter Laura Pergolizzi, has returned with even more of their captivating storytelling.

Kickstarting a new era in March with the anthemic and infectious “Golden,” the New York-born star is gearing up for the release of their seventh studio album, Love Lines, which is expected to drop on September 29 via BMG. In true LP spirit, the record will hear them offer a deep, reflective look into a variety of topics including relationships, family, and their ongoing journey to self-discovery. 

During a promo trip to London, LP sat down with FAULT to discuss the new material, achieving a global smash, writing songs for other artists, and if they’ve worked on their flaws the last time we spoke to them. 

Hello, nice to meet you! I saw you were over in Italy this past weekend. How was that?

It was great. My song is doing really well there. It’s like a big radio country for me.

I wanted to mention that because Europe is a big territory for you. Do fans over there differ from the ones in the US?

Do you know what’s wild? I think the last couple of records I saw the intensity got the same, you know what I mean? I felt like I had the super fans that really knew and then I had some people that were just like, “Okay, what am I looking at right now?” But then all of a sudden, it caught up and there was this, I don’t call it hysteria, but the intensity of the fanship really kicked in a couple of years ago. I’m kind of that person that if you know, you know, if you don’t know, then you don’t know. It’s great because I remember even when I wasn’t as big as I am in the streets, as soon as I got on out on tour, I was like, “Oh, this is awesome.” I’ve had people, even recently, be like, “I just hoped that you’d get the same level in the States.” I’m like, “Bitch, I’m good.” I play bigger rooms than I ever hoped for.

“Golden” is the first single to be taken from your upcoming album, Love Lines. What made you want to lead with it?

I think with “Golden,” when everybody hears the rest of the record, they’ll understand it more. But I feel “Golden” was a nice way of opening up the record because I don’t think you can tell what’s gonna come next. I think if I put out some of the songs that are gonna come out, people might have been like, “Oh, what’s this?” Whereas, I feel like “Golden” is very me. I feel like sometimes the first single is a nice door opening to the rest of the record, I think. 

In your press release, the song is described as a track that “explores learning to appreciate the lessons that come from lost love.” And when you listen to the track, it feels like a celebration of that rather than feeling sad about it. Did you always intend for it to be an uplifting anthem from the beginning?

It is definitely classified under one of those songs that I wrote to make myself feel better about shit, you know? Andrew Martin, Matt Pauling, and Ashton Irwin all collaborated on this with me and basically were like a band that made this record. Ashton and I had just gotten out of some pretty heavy relationships and I think I was trying to make us feel better and being like, “It’s all good.” I’m glad I had these people and it makes me appreciate everything. These things seem simple but it hurts when you’re going through it. 

You announced another album fairly soon after your previous one, which dropped in December 2021. How soon after Churches did you start writing for this project? I know the last one was slightly delayed and then you recorded more songs closer to the release date. Did you go straight into the studio once that was all done?

Pretty fast. I don’t really push myself to be writing all the time. I’ll just start writing anytime. If I’m with Andrew, we just sit around we’re suddenly writing a song together, you know? But it was fairly quick, I guess. I kind of think I just took 2021 off because Churches was pretty much done with that album midway through 2021. It was supposed to come out in 2020 but then I kind of just kept writing through it because there was nothing else fun to do. I’ll never know, like many artists, we won’t know what would’ve happened with our records if they came out in the normal way. I got a good six months where I didn’t think about songwriting at all, I just did normal things. 

With songwriting, I learned that it happens when it happens. I said to my managers, “I think I’m almost done with this record.” They were like, “We didn’t even really know you were writing a record.” I was like, “I think it’s looking almost done and I want to put it out immediately.” It was a good feeling. I had a couple of songs before I did these two big sessions. I think this shit’s popped out in like six weeks.

Were there any songs that were a challenge to write or took a long time for them to feel complete?

There was a couple. There’s a song on there that I remember, I just loved it. It kind of had a normal chorus but the verses were too high. I remember being like, “Nah, it’s gotta be chill.” I just came up with this different melody for the verses and sang it low and it was just like, “Oh man, perfect.” I think did that in an October/November session in Palm Springs and that song kind of popped out initially in March or something like that. Almost every song I’ve ever written is like the impetus for the first day and I just make sure I get most of the melodies and a strong chorus concept and then finish it up in the next session.

How would you say this album differs from your previous ones? Did you go into it with a different mindset?

I think so. I think it just was very relaxed and you can really feel it. It feels very fresh, very free, you know? Even the artwork, I wanted it to be easy and bright. I went into this record with all kinds of things in my head, like, fucking Cat Stevens and the normal Roy Orbison kind of shit. It just felt very California and I’ve said this before, the music for me in California is unparalleled. Like New York, I felt like I was banging my fucking head against the wall. I barely looked up but California for some reason just gave me room to breathe and think. It just did so much for my writing.

Is there a particular message you want to send across with this album? 

I just think everybody should be gay. No, I’m kidding [laughs].

It just sounds so dumb, but to just enjoy the music, be nice and learn from your shit. I’m getting better at not beating myself up anymore, you know? And not letting people beat me up, you know? I’ve been in a lot of relationships where I’ve let that happen. What I’ll tolerate on a romantic level is way different than what I’ll tolerate on a world level. I decided to change that. It’s like, no, I’m not gonna tolerate that. I have talked to so many friends and been like, “Don’t forget who the fuck you are.” The last time I kind of did this, I tattooed a ship on my fucking chest and then suddenly had a massive worldwide hit, you know? I’m always trying to get across to people that you can change your life at any second. I am nothing if not a beacon of doing what you want. I don’t know if that comes across on this but I’m trying to assess who the fuck I am, my soul. I tried to do that, but at the end of the day, it’s just some entertainment. 

Talking of worldwide hits, you were obviously referring to “Lost On You,” which came out in 2017 and topped the charts in numerous countries, and still to this day is still being introduced to audiences around the world. What is it about that song do you believe continues to catch people’s attention?

For one thing, really all my voices are in there, you know what I mean? I think that’s why the live version has a billion streams because when people hear that song, they’re not picturing me at the end of it. And then they see me and they’re like, “That’s who sings this fucking song?” I think that that’s an interesting thing. But I think also it’s just got so much emotion in it. I feel like anybody that’s been around a bit when you get old plain and saner just from the get-go, I think they’re like, “Oh shit.” It’s very truthful and all my shit’s pretty emotional, you know, unabashedly, and I like that. I think all that fucking opera that my mother was playing when I was growing up kind of sunk in somehow because I have like a very operatic voice, even if it’s not singing opera. I mean, I do that shit too, but I think I just learned how to fucking turn that open, that faucet, you know? 

When I start doing melodies, like when I’m writing my shit, I can just rip my fucking chest open and I just let it rip, you know? There’s a lot of that on this record, I’m doing key changes and shit. We did a rehearsal before we came here, and we like had to learn “Golden,” obviously. And then we had to learn two others and there’s a song called “One Like You” on there, which is the next single. I finished singing that song and it’s like I won’t move an inch when I sing that song. I was just like, I’m just gonna face plant after that fucking thing because it’s so intense. It’s like, “Oh, you wanna sing now at eight o’clock in the morning on the radio? Great!” [laughs].

You’ve always written your own music but have also penned a lot of songs for other artists. Is that a lot easier and less pressure?

I don’t even think about it anymore. I used to try to get in their head. Now I don’t give a shit. I just write songs that I would sing and see if anyone likes it. I just let people pick ’em out of the songs that I don’t use, basically. I’m just not so inclined right now to write for anyone or with anyone for anyone else, you know what I mean? I’d rather sing it myself, you know?

The last time FAULT interviewed you in 2017, you described yourself as a people pleaser and were hoping to not be so focused on satisfying others. Have you worked on that?

I’m getting much better at that. In fact, I’m kind of single for the first time in a long time. I mean, I’m seeing a bunch of different people, but if I’m honest about it, I don’t have any excuse, which is really new for me. I’ve always been kind of like a serial monogamist and sometimes, like most of the time, I’ve cheated, you know what I mean? I’ve got this old-school Italian gumar kind of thing going on [laughs]. I just don’t like that about myself, it’s just lazy, you know? That’s what I kind of assessed the most. I’m kind of newly being honest and it’s hard. There’s a line in my song, I think it’s in “Dayglow” it’s like “There’s not another culprit that’s ever gonna hurt worse than honesty,” and I mean it. I’m like, wow. It’s really hard and it sucks telling someone something they don’t want to hear. I almost feel as bad sometimes, like being honest with someone as I feel cheating. Like wow, how could this be as hard as cheating on someone was, you know? It’s just what it is. So, yeah. I’m trying to work on some shit.

There’s always something to be working on, isn’t there?

Yeah. Also, at the end of the day, I’m also trying to stop beating myself up all the time. I would just never forgive myself for anything and that’s not great either. But there’s a balance because you’re not gonna go around being some asshole. You don’t have to give people fucking details, obviously, so I’m like zoning in on some of the territories that I just felt I wasn’t ready for. When I was a kid, I never thought I was going to be in a long-term relationship, but I didn’t even think about it. I had a lot of other things on my mind besides relationships but then I realized my patterns. I’m just kind of taking a breather from that, you know? And the people that understand, they understand, the people that don’t can deal with it.