#37 Lulu Simon makes music to wear glitter and cry to.
Plus rollerblading, Midnight Pizza, and painting frogs.
Hi Lulu! For those who don't know you, what do you do?
Hiiii! I am a singer/songwriter. I make music to wear glitter and cry to!
How did you get into making music?
I’ve been making music since I was around 13, when I taught myself to play the guitar. I think I always knew I was going to make music. I never really thought about or considered doing anything else, and my older brother Ade (who just released his first record by the way, it’s called Midnight Pizza and it’s incredible–go listen right now!!!!) has been making music since he was literally 5, so I was definitely inspired by him and his musicality. Plus, I am a tried and true Pisces, and there are very few emotional outlets as dramatic or cathartic as songwriting.
What's one of your earliest memories with music?
I remember being really into Britney Spears and hearing “Lucky” for the first time and genuinely wishing I had written that song. I think I was like, 5 or 6 years old and fully making a birthday wish that I had written Lucky, which is such a weird wish for a child to make.
Who or what inspires you musically?
Honestly there isn’t much that doesn’t inspire me musically, I feel like everything I do and hear is fodder for inspiration, but sonically I love Carly Rae Jepsen, The 1975, Kim Petras, and obviously I really grew up with Taylor Swift, so her songwriting is and always will be inspirational and aspirational.
How would you describe your music? What do you like to write about?
I think I’d describe my music as like, Dance-While-You-Cry Pop? Emotional but totally slammin’? I like to write about the things that are going on in my life that are like, too difficult to articulate through regular speech, and can only be conveyed and released through the majesty of song. It’s easier to sing about what’s painful or confusing than it is to just verbally explain, I think.
What do you like to do outside of music?
I’m really into painting and rollerblading–neither of which I’m particularly good at–but they’re both a lot of fun. Like, I only really know how to paint frogs, and I can’t stop myself when I’m rollerblading, I just fall down, but they’re fun!
What's something you've learned this past year? Whether it's a new hobby or little breakthrough in your life?
I really went through it this past year. Being quarantined forced me to look inward and address a lot of nasty habits I’d been harboring, but in the end taught me that negativity is easy and it is poison, and joy can be work but it is medicine. My joy during quarantine was to begin painting frogs. Frogs are joy!!!
Any goals or dreams for your career? What's next for you? :)
I think obviously to just be able to play music comfortably for the rest of my life is the ultimate goal, but a more specific goal would probably be to guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race?!