After Laura Elliot’s June show opening for Prateek Kuhad at The Fillmore, we were able to meet Laura and sit down with her for an interview. She was incredibly sweet and it was easy to tell how devoted she was to her music and how much it meant to her.
Lost In Concert: So you’ve opened for Ella Jane, The Walters, and now Prateek Kuhad. This is the longest tour run you have set up so far, how’s it going so far? We’re in the first week or so, right?
Laura Elliot: Right, this is the fourth show but it’s been a slow start. I’m excited for everything to pick up because now we don’t have any more than maybe two days between a show. In Los Angeles we were there for three days and I was losing my mind, I just wanted to play [shows]. Homesickness is starting to kick in for sure but I’m with my mom so that’s nice. I do miss my boyfriend, [I’ll see him] when I get home. But it’s been fun! [Prateek Kuhad’s] audiences have no idea who I am, which is a fun challenge trying to win everyone over every night. Every crowd is different. It’s going good so far and I’ve been journaling every day.
LIC: You said on Instagram that it was your first time in Texas when you played a few shows there last week to kick off the tour. Are there any other upcoming cities on this tour that you’ve never been to or you’re extra excited about?
LE: Literally all of them, except for DC, New York, California, and New Jersey. I’m going to Canada for the first time so I’m excited. The Toronto shows are supposed to be cool, it’s like the biggest room we’re playing and that’s when my dad and my boyfriend are going to come up to visit me. I’m really excited to play in Chicago [because] I’ve been there but I’ve never played there before and I have lots of friends there so hopefully they can come. The Midwest should be cool, I literally just have no idea what to expect. I’m mostly excited for the [hometown] New York show. I think the biggest city that I was most excited for and we had the most time in was Los Angeles because I’ve spent a lot of time there but my mom has never been to California. It was nice because I know LA pretty well so I was able to show her around.
LIC: You just released your debut album “People Pleaser”. There’s not a song specifically titled “People Pleaser” so where did that title come from and how does it tie into the theme of the album?
LE: The album is for the most part about this one relationship that I was in, which I hate that it’s about that [relationship] now but, you know, you gotta write it out. I was trying to think about the encompassing feeling that I felt about myself while I was with him. I felt like I was always doing everything to make him happy and totally never doing what I wanted or what I knew was best for me because I thought that it would make him happy or make things better, so I just decided on that [title] one day. I also really like alliteration, People Pleaser just sounds really nice to me.
LIC: We read that you’re a big fan of Phoebe Bridgers and you take lots of inspiration from her when you write. What aspects of her music stick out to you the most?
LE: I hadn’t started listening to her until the pandemic. I wasn’t even listening to music in that genre. This is crazy to say but I was writing more R&B, jazzy kind of music then because I was studying Jazz and Voice in school and was just surrounded by that. I was alone for like the first time ever during the pandemic and my friend sent me Scott Street and I had never heard anybody write words the way that she did before. I think it just hit me at a time where I had just left my first semester of college and, I don’t know, an artist has never made me feel [like that]. [Phoebe Bridgers] has a way of making her music so specific but you can still connect to it. I want to do that, I don’t think I’m there yet but I try to create that same kind of feeling with my music.