Q&A: LOVIET Steps Into Her Power on “DEBUTANTE” EP

MusicQ&A

May 1

INTERVIEW

LOVIET WRITES HER OWN RULES — Alt-indie pop powerhouse LOVIET unleashes her brand new EP, DEBUTANTE. Across the EP’s feverish, emotionally charged runtime, DEBUTANTE unfolds like a self-directed reckoning — part coming-of-age, part industry autopsy, part reclamation of identity in real time. Built on a glitter-meets-grunge sonic palette, the EP fuses high-gloss pop instincts with distorted, gritted teeth guitar work and ferocious, speaker-rattling choruses that feel cathartic and like a release. It reveals LOVIET in real time navigating a male-dominated industry while creating her own nonconformative path.

For LOVIET, the record wasn’t born from reinvention, but from return.

“I've been putting my own wants and my own needs on the back burner while I've been in rooms with producers or industry people, trying to find my way in other people's sea of noise and of other people's opinions and thoughts of what I should be as an artist,” LOVIET says to Luna. “DEBUTANTE feels like something that I would have made when I was 16.”

DEBUTANTE is all about rediscovering herself and all the music that LOVIET loved growing up and what led her to be an artist in the first place.

“DEBUTANTE really came from that place where I felt like I was mourning my youth,” LOVIET says. “Time and age are so great, it's a blessing. I have so many more experiences and so much more to pull from. I really was mourning what I believed would have been the prime of my life, and then that weird, creepy level of it, where you're also aware that the older you get, you do fall out of that innocent baby deer, baby doll energy, where men will gravitate towards you in settings because they think that you're manipulatable, or they think that you're so gentle.”

Whether she's playing devil’s advocate on “STIFFY,” battling the male-gaze on “CHEERLEADER,” feeling overly confident on “PLUSH,” weighing the risk and reward of exposing who you really are on “EXPLOSURE,” or burdening herself with the feeling that you haven't lived up to someone else's expectations on the title track, “DEBUTANTE,” the record plays out like a commanding, narrative play by play from LOVIET’s point of view.

Produced by Loviet herself, DEBUTANTE harnesses the touchstones of the music that has both raised her and got her to this point – high-gloss yet gritty tones, wall of sound pop-rock sheen, ferocious loudspeaker choruses, sing-along anthemic energy, powerful standalone vocals, effortlessly cool demeanour.

If DEBUTANTE sounds like an introduction, it’s because it is, but not in the way the title might suggest. It’s a reclamation of authorship, a refusal to be flattened into someone else’s idea of an emerging artist.

LUNA: Welcome back and thank you for talking to Luna again. It's super exciting to have you back since the last time we talked at Riot Fest. I would love to catch up and see how life has been treating you and what have you been up to since the last time we talked.

LOVIET: It's been so great. Riot Fest was so lovely. I can't believe that's already been almost a year ago. It feels like yesterday, but we've just been busy, and this record was huge. We started releasing it at Riot Fest. It was our first single from this record, and we finally have all five singles out, so it's just been a really, really cool journey with this one record.

LUNA: You are part of Toronto’s rock and DIY circuits, and for any readers who aren’t familiar with Toronto’s music scene, how has the scene and its community inspired or impacted your sound?

LOVIET: Toronto's got everything. It's the music capital for Canada. And it's got everything, because there's so much history with music. When I came up, we watched Much Music. That was Avril Lavigne, Billy Talent and Simple Plan, all of these great Canadian pop punk artists is what I grew up off of. I feel like everybody still has that magic, and there's that level of rawness and DIY-ness and it trickled down. I grew up in the smaller outskirts of Canada, and Halifax is the city in Nova Scotia that I also spent so much time in. I feel like the rock scene will always flourish, because we have a strong DIY scene. You get a guitar and an amp and a microphone and a loud box, you know, and a room that can fit 100 people. I think that the rock scene just comes naturally, and I think that people are going to continue passing that torch, and I keep seeing more and more bands just popping up and crushing it, and it's inspiring. I keep getting inspired.

LUNA: You just released your newest EP DEBUTANTE and huge congratulations is in order! There is a sense of refusal to conform throughout the project. What emotions or inspirations did you feel compelled to explore this time around?

LOVIET: This record, I feel was very specific about the past years of my career that I've been putting my own wants and my own needs on the back burner while I've been in rooms with producers or industry people, trying to find my way in other people's sea of noise and of other people's opinions and thoughts of what I should be as an artist. This record, it feels like something that I would have made when I was 16 that I've always wanted to make, and it wasn't until I finally put away all the other noise and stopped really worrying about what other people might think or what other people have told me in the past, because I've had a quite a traumatic experience with multiple producers directing me away from the genre and away from doing what I feel is the most me sounding record. It led me to this cool creative process, which was recording and writing and releasing DEBUTANTE, because it's all about rediscovering myself and all the music that I loved growing up and what really led me to be an artist in the first place. It felt like there was a pause for a really long time on this genre in particular, where it was such an open season for electronic music and pop and rock music were in different spaces.

I felt like I was just waiting. I was just at the door, hoping that this style would open back up to me and give me an opportunity to play ball here. It did feel like the moment that I came of age to start living on my own and start recording this genre. It felt like it was a lost genre. People weren't really talking about indie-rock anymore, and that was all I wanted to make. And in order to get my foot through the door, I really felt like I was getting pushed into pop rooms and working with pop writers. I have a love for all genres, and pop music is great. I really felt like I've been working to pay my dues to get to do something more in the genre like this which is very self serving. I wasn't even sure if people would resonate with this genre or resonate with this style of music, because I feel that pop-punk has a bit of a different sheen than what I'm doing, and I feel like maybe indie-pop is still very different. This feels almost like a time machine back in 2006 when I was listening to my favorite records. It feels like I was just back there, finally getting to record a record that I love.

LUNA: This EP openly grapples with navigating a male-dominated industry. What does “being a debutante” mean to you in the context of the music industry and how are you subverting that idea?

LOVIET: The idea and the concept for this song and record came to me naturally. I was just coming of age. I wasn't 21 anymore. It felt like I was aging out of the industry. It started to stress me out a little bit, but then I came back and stayed in my hometown for a little bit and reconnected with all the things that I remember doing as a kid, whether it's playing with bands in my hometown, listening to records in my room or playing guitar in my room. I tried to reconnect to my younger self. Even if I aged out of the industry, which is all bullshit, that's not real, that's a male dominated thing, that's complete bullshit.

Because so many artists, me included, are no longer 20, putting out records that are our first records, we're allowed to be whoever we are at any age. I've always been told that from the time I was 16, because I started recording when I was really young, I've always been told that I had a clock on my worth and my value. DEBUTANTE really came from that place where I felt like I was mourning my youth. Because I do feel like that a lot, where everybody wishes they were 14 and 15, and they make their best record. Time and age are so great, it's a blessing. I have so many more experiences and so much more to pull from. I really was in my own place, mourning what I believed would have been the prime of my life, and then that weird, creepy level of it, where you're also aware that the older you get, you do fall out of that innocent baby deer, baby doll energy, where men will gravitate towards you in settings because they think that you're manipulatable, or they think that you're so gentle.

It felt like this coming of age and coming into my own where you're no longer going to be receiving that attention. What does that mean for me? It was the feeling of failure and failing to live up to somebody's expectation of you and what that means and how freeing that is. I feel like when you fail, you set up a whole world of possibilities for yourself because it's the same thing with me. When I was doing more pop leaning music, I felt like I had to be so perfect. And as women, I know we are always put in that mold of being a certain way and not really steering on either side, because women are so inhuman in so many ways to the outside world. I really wanted to express on this record, and this song in particular, how I was out of the spotlight, or maybe I'm not the optimal version of myself, or what a female is presented as. The debutant, of course, we know, is when you come of age and you're presented to society, and you essentially are thrown to the wolves, in my opinion, which is what it feels like. When you're actually being pushed aside on the other side of that, it's my thought of what debutante meant, which is, now I'm on the other side.

LUNA: I would love to touch more on the creative process behind DEBUTANTE. You produced the EP yourself. What did that autonomy unlock for you creatively that might not have happened otherwise?

LOVIET: I've been trying to make records for years. And the confidence that I was given when I made The Nighttime Is All In The Timing with Brad and Casey and when I made Little Heaven with Matt Tomasi, which were my last two releases from 2023 to now. Those experiences really shone a light, and they were just such good people and good experiences, and they really gave me the confidence to go off and do this record, which was on my own. They encouraged me to produce, and they encouraged me to take the risk and it's all on me at this point. There's no other name on this record. So if people like it or don't like it, it's all that weight, but it's also really relaxing, because I don't have the stress of me trying to people please to make something.

Up until 2023, I had a lot of experiences with producers where I wasn't feeling heard, or I couldn't communicate everything that I wanted to communicate. Even before that, when I was just trying to get my first record, I was never encouraged. I don't know if it's just being a female or if it was just being young, but I was never encouraged to make my own record. I was never encouraged to produce it, which is so ironic, because when you play in bands, and when I look at my favorite artists growing up in 2006 or 2007, most of those bands were, at the time, just jamming in a jam space and making their first records as a band. There might be a producer, but I think for the most part, the bands had a lot of control. There was this narrative in my head that was very much like, you need a producer. You shouldn't do it yourself. I was just expecting to finally get a little breath of fresh air in the studio where I could express everything I wanted to express and experiment and just give it an honest shot.

I had really good friends who did support me throughout this; Ian Dougherty, he mixed, Bradley Hale mixed this record and I worked in a studio here. It's this beautiful studio in Canada, and just all these little things of getting to this place now where I feel like I have the support behind me to give it a shot, whereas, some bands just come out swinging that way, where I really wish that I had it. For a long time, I gave it an honest shot. I still hope that there is some future where I can work with some producers, and it'll be the perfect fit, because it was a very exhausting process doing it all yourself, writing it and recording everything. I recorded the bass and the guitars and sang and played the piano. The only thing I didn't do was the drums, which is my partner and drummer, Ryan Perry. He played drums, and he wrote some of the songs with me. The whole experience was something I wish that I had of maybe given a shot earlier and had more encouragement, instead of having people judge you right at the gate and not really listen to you or take you seriously when you're younger or a girl. I do feel this has always been inside of me, and I've had lots of fresh experience to draw from, and having worked with greater, more talented people than me and getting that experience is great, but it feels like this record just went back to the basics, back to what rock music always was.

LUNA: Looking back at the making of DEBUTANTE, what surprised you most about yourself?

LOVIET: Mostly because it is self-produced and written by me, I think the thing that surprised me the most is how much of a blur the process has been. The whole time going through it, because it's so much work, you're just going, going, going. I think the surprise factor is people resonating with it, because it is one of those scenarios where I had nobody else to sound it off of, and to see what other people were feeling, which is unique to having worked with producers for years or having your team really weigh in on what songs you should or shouldn't record.

Last week, when I was in LA and in rooms with writers, and I was expecting them to pull up my most streamed song, which would have been from a few years ago, or look for the most clout-y song that had co-write credits from these big names and a lot of these people who are pretty decently experienced in the scene, pull up songs of my newest record, and they're saying how the production is cool. That was such an honor and such a nice feeling for me, because I don't call myself a producer like that would never be the title that I would take. I'm just glad that I was able to put something together and it translated everything we wanted to translate, because for me, this is a first. We've always dabbled in it, and we've always gotten close to it, but this was just a really exciting first time trying to lean into rock music.

LUNA: Do you have a personal favorite song on DEBUTANTE — one that feels closest to your heart or most revealing of who LOVIET is right now?

LOVIET: My favorite song will always be “CHEERLEADER.” I get hooked on the riffs, and I really love that. It's everything I love in a song. It's cheeky. It feels like a movie, and it's very 2000s, so I can just picture the soundtrack for American Pie or something. Also the meaning behind it, I feel sums up what it's like being a female for the last 10 years in the industry and playing with my friends that are in bands that are mostly boys. I will have however many credits or songs that are doing well, or draw many ticket sales, but I still get offered the opening slot, like it doesn't feel like they care to support my show.

I just always get that insecurity as a woman where people still want to perform for me, but they don't want to watch me perform. It’s the male ego, self serving thing, where it's all silly. It's the battle of the sexes. I felt very stifled because other women that I've seen in the scene, when we play together, the difference is amazing, and we were rallying for each other, and we're loud for each other. And as a female, when I'm doing the yelling, I get lumped into the cheerleader stereotype. It feels very true to what I've ended up experiencing. I feel like it's very tongue-in-cheek as much as it's this serious thing. It's meant to just be light and to draw attention to it, which is the whole point, but in a way, I think everybody can find it entertaining.

LUNA: Last time we talked, you said you want to create safe spaces for the girls to rock again. How do you hope listeners — especially your femme audience — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?

LOVIET: I think that the audience for this record will find this record and will resonate with what it's saying. It's one of those situations where, when we play shows, and there's women up front, I really do want the rock girls to come to these shows. I really do want to find the rock girlies and create a space that maybe hasn't been made before, where you aren't one type of girl. You don't have to be harsh and tough, and you don't have to show up and hate all the things that pop girlies love. You can be a part of every scene. When I was growing up, I was very much judged for having whatever hair color or how I dressed, and it's you're not allowed here. Why are you at the rock bar? I want it to be very welcoming. I want more people to equally feel like they can be themselves. The boys understand it's girls to the front, that's the bottom line.

LUNA: What is fueling your fire right now that’s pushing you into this new era of your career?

LOVIET: We're still so fresh, but just putting this record out and having a piece of it be fully true to myself and true to the music that I've always loved and grown up on. It unlocked another level of, if I can do this record, what else can I do? I feel like each record I've made has been a learning experience and a stepping stone to get to what it is I'm trying to express, and that's just what I'm going to keep doing. The biggest fuel is being on the road. We're always recording, so that keeps me fueled and ready to go. A couple of months ago, I was like, I just can't wait to write a chill record, because I feel like all the angst was bottled in this little five song record, and I'm ready to take a step back and relax, maybe find a way to write something more peaceful. Then some fucking guy pissed me off and I was back in it. I feel like it's very based on mood and based on experiences. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing. The fuel is just day-to-day, every weird, crazy and wild experience in life.

LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?

LOVIET: I'm so excited that the record’s out. I'm so excited that people are resonating with it. I'm just so excited to make the next body of work, because we've also been chipping away at that over the last couple of months. While we were in Chicago and while we were on tour in the States, all the different influences and all the different things that we've been dreaming of making and getting to that place. We're really excited for that. This summer, we have tons of shows coming up, tons of festivals, mostly on the Canadian side, so we're just going to be sticking around Canada. Just going to keep up what we've been keeping up. There is new music. We have a special announcement. We're doing a deluxe DEBUTANTE coming up next month.