At the Sonoma Harvest Music Festival in Sonoma, California, Lost In Concert was able to chat with Lily Meola after her opening set.
LIC: I love how your song lyrics have this vulnerable emotion that deeply draw listeners in, especially with your recent release Butterfly. Do you have any self care or grounding practices that you like that allow you to connect with your emotions and then write and release your songs with such vulnerability?
Lily: Honestly, I think my self care is going into the studio and actually hashing out these emotions that I’m feeling and putting them into songs. I stopped writing for a while as I was dealing with my mother’s death and just life and contracts and all these wild things that didn’t make it fun for me anymore. I’d already written all these songs and I was like ‘Why do I keep writing if I’ve already got everything? I need to focus on putting things out.’ So the last couple years I really focused on that and my first song back, really, was Butterfly. I didn’t realize how much it would help me. Getting that song out of my body was one of the most healing things I think I’ve ever gone through, it was crazy. Writing has been very healing.
LIC: From listening to and seeing your discography, and seeing your outfit today, I’ve noticed a theme of flowers and nature, like with your songs Sunshine and Butterfly. Has the landscape of your hometown in Maui had an influence at all on your music?
Lily: I haven’t thought about it much but definitely. I grew up in the bush, basically, with a stream going through our property and wild cows. I don’t know if it just gives me an appreciation for my surroundings more.
LIC: I just want to say Daydream has been one of my favorites and is definitely my go-to inspiring song that I listen to whenever I’m in a creative rut with my photography, so this opportunity to talk to you is very full circle for me. Do you feel up to sharing about more daydreams you have for your career? Like places you’d want to travel to or dream venues you want to play at?
Lily: Oh, always. Europe would be amazing. I haven’t really toured that much, I’m about to, but I just love playing. I really want to play at the Red Rocks. The Troubadour was a huge dream for me, I got to do that last March and I couldn’t even believe they let me in there! For me, my overall dream is to be able to connect with people and play to as many humans as possible.
