LÚNA is a singer/songwriter/rapper from örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Currently residing in the UK, LUNA has been nominated for two GAFFA Awards, those being ‘Best Urban’ and ‘Best New Artist’. Now, working with NYC-based label Baby Blue Records, LUNA grabs the attention of listeners in a very raw and transparent way. Sculpted by the rising hip hop scene in Sweden, her lyrical talents undeniably stand out.
The Hollywood Tribune had the pleasure of getting in touch with LÚNA to talk about her new single “TRY”. We must say, she was a really fun person to talk to and just the most passionate about music! You can read the full interview below!
Could you tell us a little about your musical journey and how you got into music?
I grew up in a musical family. My mum’s a music teacher, my brother is a drummer and a songwriter and my dad’s a big music fan and supporter! Music has kinda been the only thing I’ve known and I’ve always had the opportunity to study it in school and to do it in my free time, which is really cool.
I grew up in a small town and there was a bit of music going on. I spent my teenage years just hanging out with my friends, writing songs and recording what we could and playing gigs! I moved to London in 2016 just to check out the scene here and it’s been really cool and I really enjoy living here and doing music here and just learning from a different kind of scene.
What were your thoughts while producing your latest single “TRY”?
What were your thoughts while producing your latest single “TRY”?I wrote TRY in, I think it was December last year, so 2019. And I guess in a way, it was kind of a result of a really bad year. In total, I think I wrote about three songs last year, TRY being one of them. I was just in a very bad place, mentally, physically, creatively, everything was kind of on the low and around November/December, I was doing a lot of therapy and in a way, this song was a result of that.
Throughout the year, I was really struggling to write music just for the reason being I was stressed out with a lot of things and once I sat down to try writing music, I was just thinking about, will people like this, what should I make it sound like, and I was way too stressed about other people’s opinions and when I went into therapy, I just really got frustrated by the fact that I was feeling like shit all the time basically *chuckles* and I had one of these sessions where I just kept saying I’m trying to get better and all of that, and when I hung up with my therapist, I was like, oh my god, I’m so sick of trying all the time, and I wrote that song straight away and I guess, it was just, you know, the song represents every single feeling I’ve had throughout the past year.
I didn’t plan to release it at all, it was just venting in the moment and now looking back at it, and having released it, it’s quite nice to get it off my chest and I can kind of look back and just realise that once you go through that journey of just getting to know yourself and all that, it’s easy to get frustrated, and you kind of go back and forth between feeling really desperate, really hopeful, and really confident and really hopeless, and it just represents everything that went through my head at that time and just how mental health can fail and how it can affect you.
Do you have any comments on the rising hip hop scene in Sweden? How does that translate to the scene in the UK?
Do you have any comments on the rising hip hop scene in Sweden? How does that translate to the scene in the UK?The hip hop scene in Sweden is really incredible. I was really lucky, having that around me when I grew up. I saw how the underground and the independent scene came to be one of the biggest music exports in Sweden. I’ve always seen people my age, just releasing music as they want to, you know, just doing it on the go, doing it independently, working in collectives and staying close to your friends whilst doing that.
Coming to the UK was a really natural way for me to work, you know, having fun with my friends, releasing music whenever we wanted to and obviously the independent scene in the UK is growing tremendously, especially the Indie scene, which is really really cool to see.
I think it’s a really positive and encouraging thing to see that you can release music and you can have fun with or without being signed to a major label. So I can really see that independent similarity between the two countries and it’s really cool!
Do you have any new music coming up that you’d like to talk about?
I am definitely working on some new music at the moment and to be honest, it took me up until now to start getting creative throughout the pandemic. The first few months, that was just, sat on the sofa trying to figure out what was going on. Everyone was talking about, ‘this is the time to be creative’ and ‘this is the time to expand your horizons’ and I was like no, that’s not working for me at all right now.
But, you know, coming up to this release, I have just felt really inspired and I’ve rediscovered the joy of releasing music and doing music and I have been writing a lot recently and the long term goal for me is to have an EP out next year. So, that’s definitely what we’re working towards now.
What kinda songs/artists do you listen to?
What kinda songs/artists do you listen to?I do kind of listen to a bit of everything, I know everyone says that but nowadays there’s just so much music out there so it’s hard to not get inspired by everything. Obviously, the hip hop scene is kind of what I go back to, especially Swedish hip hop. I really love it. Other than that, I grew up listening to a lot of jazz, I’ve studied a lot of jazz and I’m also a big fan of folk music.
What do you have to say to the aspiring artists who have just started out or are about to start out on their musical endeavours?
There’s a lot of things you can say to aspiring artists but the main things that I’d say are you have to be consistent, and you have to kind of do it for yourself and try to have a good team of people around you and by that, I don’t mean to have a team such as a label or management.
Just a good group of friends around you to kind of remind you why you’re doing it! It’s not gonna happen overnight and there’s going to be a lot of times when you’d just think why you’re even doing what you’re doing. So, in those moments, just be very resilient and just remember, ‘I’m doing this because I like it, and I’m not doing it for anyone else.’ And just kind of, enjoy the ride, I guess!
That’s all for this Friday’s Feature and we hope to have you back next week! See you then.
Don’t forget to share this because everyone should listen to ‘TRY’ at least once. We bet, they’ll put it on repeat. And as always, stay tuned to The Hollywood Tribune for more awesome song recommendations, music videos, and Exclusive Interviews of super-talented musicians and artists! For more exclusive content, head over to THT EXCLUSIVES and subscribe to updates!
