Following on from a busy summer, songwriter and artist Luchi releases the beautifully honest and evocative new single Mountain. We caught up with the uniquely thoughtful creative to find out more about how this deeply vulnerable yet powerful ballad came to be. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hi Luchi – so great to catch up with you again! How have the past couple of months been?
Hey, thanks for having me back. The past few months have been good overall. I’ve been out in LA working and was in Vegas on a little holiday while I was out there so was good to recharge. I’ve had a mental health dip recently but I am working through it and coming back to myself.
Mountain is the new single, a beautiful yet heartbreaking expression of recurring pain and the need for me. What can you tell us about the day the lyrics came to you, what was your mindset and how did the creative process unfold?
So the day that I wrote Mountain, was a really tough day. This song is about someone really close to me who has addiction issues. I had been trying for a little while to get them to go and get help but they just went at the stage where they were ready. We had a conversation that evening and I was really struggling to watch someone that I loved destroy themselves.
I had also listened to a podcast by Glennon Doyle where she had discussed her own journey and described needing to rest before taking on the fight. It was 3am and I couldn’t sleep and I got out of bed and sat by the keyboard. The song literally poured out of me in 10 minutes. I had been in that position too with my own mental health where I just didn’t know how to find the strength to fight so it was easy for me to relate to it.
This feels like a call-out to connect with those who are feeling uninspired, hurt or lost. Who do you hope connects with the song, and what do you hope they take away from it?
You’re right, that is what I try to do with all my songs, connect to those people who need to hear it. We all go through hard times with the world we live in and sometimes the messaging of you need to do this to feel better or that, I wanted to acknowledge the stage before you can start healing. The point where it all feels so much and that mountain is like Everest.
It’s also part of the climb, the first step to the last and for me the song represents knowing you have to do it but waiting for the right time. If you’re not doing it for yourself and feel ready to face your demons, you need to get to that stage before you can start healing. You have to get sick of the life you are living and know that it’s time for change. If you study the lyrics the person knows they need to make a change like with the line “to find my way out’s going to take time,” it’s knowing that you will but just needing to prepare. If you think one battle, you train, you rest up and then you go into the fight and tackling your demons is similar in my opinion and from my experience.
When we spoke last we talked about your favourite overall pop songs. In terms of this melancholic style though, what’s been one of the most moving ballads to influence you over time, and what was it about that song that spoke such volumes to you?
I’m going to change up my answer here because I always talk about the song Because Of You by Kelly Clarkson, as that was and still is one of my favourite songs. But to change it up I’d say Someone Like You by Adele. I had heard her perform it on Jools Holland before it was out and the big Brit Awards performance and I just knew it was a hit. We have all experienced heartbreak in some form in life and how simple the song is in terms of production, it really did connect so many people by just good old fashioned great songwriting.
That’s why I say the best songs are the real and vulnerable ones. I’ve seen her live a few times and when you hear a room or park full of people singing that song back, you feel like it’s such a powerful moment. When you have a break up, we all want to get over the pain as quickly as possible and we have the break up anthems to do that but this song to me shows the other side, the more vulnerable side that we can sometimes hide after a breakup. Lines like “don’t forget me I beg” is real. We want to know that we meant something to the person and it came out just at the point I was going through a break up, so yes, I was one of those people crying into my pillow singing the song at full blast.
How have things been going on the live performance front, and what’s been one of your best experiences or stories you can share?
I’m hoping to get back on the road soon but my best experience is meeting my fans in person. It’s so nice to actually be able to connect in real life and interact on a human face to face level. There have been a few personal reasons why I’ve not been on stage in a while but I will be back, watch this space.
What tools or approaches are you using to grow your TikTok and Instagram presence, and how important is that for you alongside perfecting the songwriting and performances?
I’m really bad with social media because for me it is all about the music but I have a social media team in place now who keep me on track. It is important these days as that’s how people discover artists. I discover artists that way and it’s a great tool for self promotion. I think people can have the wrong impression of me because my music is very deep and serious where as my personality is different as I’m very sarcastic and love a laugh, so I am trying to show that side more. I post a lot of the day to day stuff on my Instagram stories so if you want to see more, give me a follow.
You recently posted about the importance of taking care of your mental health. What’s something you think we should all be doing or incorporating in our lives in order to achieve better mental health and inner peace?
Oh goodness, I need someone to answer this for me. I think for me, its about knowing your limits and creating boundaries. We all have different levels of what we can handle, for me, if I get super stressed and overwhelmed, I go into meltdown so I have to try and manage what I do and how much I give out – as the old saying goes “you can’t fill from an empty cup.” You have to get comfortable with saying this and if you’re a people-pleaser like me, it can be difficult, but if it makes you feel bad, you don’t want that.
“Also I’d say that it’s about being patient & kind to yourself. The things we say to ourselves can be so horrible & mean, things that we would never say to anyone else, so you want to become your own best friend.”
I also try and look for what the lesson is when something happens that is hard or painful and think about what it was sent to teach me. It’s not going to be an overnight thing so just small steps to recovery are the goal. Also connection, the want to isolate can be so strong when you are in hard places but I was told by a therapist that “we suffer alone but heal in community” so I’ve always held onto that.
What’s something you find hard to navigate as an artist in the music industry, and on the flip side, what’s the best thing about the freedom of access and creativity that currently exists?
I think that the freedom of access and creatvity is the hardest thing and also the best thing. It’s great that we have all these ways to get music out there and build a fanbase online, but it’s also hard to stand out with all the noise and the amount of people putting out music now. I think the answer for me is to not chase trends, make music that you love and that is solid and the cream will rise to the top.
What are you working on at the moment?
There is a lot going on at the minute but with a lot of it, it’s not something I can talk about yet as annoying as that is. But I can say that there is a lot more music to come, I have a few tracks already ready so they will be with you all over the next few months. I’m hoping early next year to do a bit of travelling and to go to some healing retreats as I think I need a little reset.
What’s your biggest single ambition for the next six months?
Professionally, I am hoping to continue to grow my fanbase and keep releasing great music so that people know that when I am releasing something, they know it’s going to be a solid song that they can relate to.
Personally, I just want to keep healing and building myself up.
I don’t like to look too far in the future as everything can change in a moment but there are plans in place and let’s hope they all go well.
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Find Luchi here or via TikTok & Instagram.
