Q&A:lylla Talks Her Take on Pop In New Single & EP HEAVEN MADE
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY AUGUST NGUYEN ☆
Sia Thomas
LYLLA BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN THE CULTURAL AND CONVENTIONAL SOUNDS IN POP—the kind of hybrid experimentality that makes the London-born, Persian artist’s new single “HEAVEN MADE” so distinctly hers in a now saturated alt-pop space. Blending contemporary electronics, rock music and Middle Eastern sonic patterns, this track, part of lylla’s upcoming EP HEAVEN MADE, reduces genres to a mere concept.
HEAVEN MADE, out October 26, is not made for your white-girl-wasted club night but for that one early morning afterparty under the basement of a stranger’s house whom you will never see again, yet never forget. The project does not set out to change pop but rather reimagines what it can sound, look and feel like. It will intrigue, provoke and challenge any average pop listener without completely alienating them.
For lylla, pop acts as a template that bends to amplify her unexpected choices of production: “It’s been really fun playing around with conventional song elements like a rock solo or a bridge. Instead in those moments, we would throw in some Middle Eastern sonic patterns and Maqams using traditional pipes and synths. I would start with the pop template in a way, bring in those elements and then tie it all together somehow.”
Read lylla’s conversation with Luna below where she talks about her first live performance, new remixes, Sega Bodega and more.
Sia Thomas
LUNA: Congrats on your new singles and the upcoming release of your debut EP! What started everything for you? Is songwriting and singing something you’ve always wanted to do?
LYLLA: Music has been a recurring adventure my whole life. My teen pop era was my most formative and still very much ongoing (laughs), and an emo phase which made me start experimenting with weirder, different sounds when I started actually making music.
I’ve also just been really involved in the industry, DJ-ing, running club nights and working with artists. Alongside that, I’ve always loved singing in a bizarrely intrinsic way. It’s the one thing I’ve never associated with an outcome; when I was a kid, I would just piss my mum off because I was perpetually and chronically singing. DJ-ing and releasing music can feel so outcome-focused sometimes but the sole act of singing has always and still comes so naturally to me.
LUNA: When did you decide to turn these side gigs and hobbies into a career?
LYLLA: In my early 20s, DJ-ing felt like a cover-up for me to actually make music because it’s always easier to just play other people, but it was during lockdown that my friend made a track out of a voice note I sent him. I was just chatting away and he sampled some bits of it. From then onwards, we collaborated for a couple years where he would send me beats and I would record stuff which we got some radio plays on but never officially released.
I did that with a bunch of other friends of mine who were producers but it wasn’t until January 2025 that I got introduced to Ben (Angel Hunt) who executive produced the EP and we instantly hit it off in the studio. It’s not been the fastest-moving thing since we’re both really busy, so I’m currently on an average of a couple singles per year. It also took that time to figure out how to materialize the kind of Middle Eastern-leaning pop I wanted to make. “BABYCHAM,” my very first single, didn’t have much of that energy which this new EP embraces - a kind of sonic allegory and ode to the thick, polluted air and traffic fuel in Middle Eastern countries.
LUNA: I totally see that progression; “HEAVEN MADE” and especially “BRAIN RENT FREE” the second single out September 10, see your Middle Eastern roots coming out very clearly in the production. How did you find a way to integrate these cultural sounds?
LYLLA: It’s been really fun playing around with conventional song elements like a rock solo or a bridge. Instead in those moments, we would throw in some traditional Middle Eastern sonic patterns like a pipe or a synth. I would start with the pop template in a way, bring in those elements, and then tie it all together somehow. The final track was actually when we had the whole idea of this sonic identity being a recurring thread; we didn’t even know that it was going to be an EP because I was just going single by single as I’ve done previously. We started the track with a traditional belly dance rhythm and created the sound around that.
There are so many variations of pop now which is what I love most about our time, all the kinds of comical, tongue-in-cheek spin-offs, remixes and re-edits. There’s definitely not as much new, groundbreaking stuff but a lot of interesting re-adaptations of the traditional pop sound.
LUNA: I love how “HEAVEN MADE” bends genres a bit with that rock ending to a super sticky alt-pop song. Would you ever embrace a more mainstream, traditional dance pop sound or do you see yourself continuing to experiment with it?
LYLLA: Honestly I’m open to everything sonically. I think that’s probably not the best approach because, for example, I consider myself a multi-genre DJ which makes it hard to become known for your sound when you dabble in so many different things. This EP, however, is a way for me to get this eclecticness out of my system because it’s the sound I grew up with and I’m super proud of my heritage. It’s also the collaborative side of me where I work with a lot of producers from all over the place. I’m not opposed to following that more traditional trail of pop, but I definitely don’t want to pigeonhole myself and down to jump on whatever comes my way.
LUNA: How do you stay connected with your heritage when making music in London?
LYLLA: Luckily, London is one of the most diverse cities out there with a huge Middle Eastern diaspora. I have my family nearby and quite a few Iranian friends, and the internet of course makes you feel like you are never really far from home.
I also, surprisingly, don’t listen to as much new music anymore. I’m kind of self-inflicted-ly stuck in my ways with music, but there are always some outliers of course. For example, there’s this mini mix called “GCC Transmission” by Fatima Al Qadiri, which features about 8 minutes of ethereal male chants from the 6 Gulf countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) which I always come back to because of how moving it is to listen to. I’m Iranian but the Middle East has such a rich territory in terms of music and sound; amazing music from that space is not necessarily Iranian so I tap into everything even if it’s stuff from a language I don’t understand. The core and heart of the Middle Eastern rhythm is very homogenous across the region.
LUNA: Do you feel like listening to less music helps you craft a more distinct sound? How has this impacted the way you create?
LYLLA: We live in a hyper-stimulating society with so many new releases everyday so I feel like anything you can do to have a little bit of isolation time makes sure whatever comes out is the purest form of what you do. When you hear things, whether that be the conversations of someone at the gym or the engines of a car, these sounds shape your perception of the world so there’s something about keeping it as internally focused as possible.
I’m also just really stubborn about new music. I always stick to what I know which is weird because I’m so novelty-prone in every other aspect of my life; I never go to the same restaurants or even the same club twice (laughs).
LUNA: Did you ever revisit your previous releases (“BABYCHAM” and “FUGITIVE”) when you were making the new stuff or do you write as you get inspired?
LYLLA: It’s funny because it’s only been under a year since but feels quite far away already. They’re obviously not songs I wrote when I was 16 and am now cringing at the lyrics but I always start everything with a blank canvas. Neither do I try to be self-referential nor take inspiration from anything I made previously.
LUNA: What are some of your biggest influences behind the new songs?
LYLLA: I was lucky enough to work with a roster of Middle Eastern-heavy artists like Kiss Facility who I managed for a few years, and KUKII who’s also Iranian/Egyptian. Their work is continuously 'pre-frontal-cortex-developing' to me. I've also been blessed with working with Sega Bodega, who beyond his own sonic imprint, continues to push the boundaries within these cultural sounds, voices and identities by merging them into the world of electronics so beautifully and seamlessly. I also love Googoosh, Haifa Wehbe, Leila Arab’s early stuff on XL recordings, and Fatima Al Qadiri. Anyone who bridges the gap between traditional Middle Eastern sounds and electro are all huge inspirations for my music.
It’s also just lived experiences. I don’t hear the beats for a track and immediately get down to the lyrics; they’re usually based on something going on in my life.
LUNA: Do you play your own tracks when you DJ?
LYLLA: I don’t think I’ve ever played my own tracks. Actually maybe once, I played “BABYCHAM.” I don’t feel like the new stuff is the most club-forward music, although I love playing some wild cards when DJ-ing, songs that people don’t really expect to hear. Something like “HEAVEN MADE,” I think, would belong in a more alternative space.
It’s in the early stages but, as part of the EP, I’m going to make a CD with remixes of the tracks. I already got a list of people I want to ask so hopefully it will be an eight- or 10-track release with definitely more club-ready sounds!
LUNA: You’re premiering the EP at London’s Rally Festival. What can we expect from a lylla show?
LYLLA: That’s also so crazy to me because I’ve never performed any of my music live and it’s basically a headline slot. I only have a few songs out so it’s going to be a hybrid one, but I’ll definitely be playing all my tracks including “BRAIN RENT FREE” and the whole EP out October 26, as well as some more unreleased and tailor made stuff too… watch this space.
