Photo Cred: Alex Lang
LA-based pop up and comer Lily Donat only has two songs out at the moment, but her first ever single at 100k+ streams already. At age 11, Lily learned to play acoustic guitar and began composing songs instantly. She has always found healing through writing and singing music about her real life. Laden with symbols, images of nature, personal narrative, themes of darkness and hope, her songs are the pages of her diary she’s willing to share. Inspired by pain, growth, nostalgia, love, heartbreak, and all things human, Lily likes to write the messy truth.
“Most Important Man” is a song about the addictive kind of dark love. The lyrics are meant to encapsulate the experience of being fully enmeshed in a romantic relationship with a narcissist, and finding yourself a willing participant in dysfunction, while also feeling stuck. Lily wrote this song in an effort to release the mental obsession with willing light into shadowed places and making the impossible true. Stefan Mac produced the track, and the goal was to make the production to be dark without dipping too deep into sadness. Because the lyrics are heavy, it was important to Lily that the production contain compelling, rhythmic elements to keep the listener somewhat elevated throughout the story that is “Most Important Man.”
What’s your story as an artist?
I grew up in Los Angeles and I’ve been singing and writing songs since I was little. When I started playing guitar in middle school I took songwriting more seriously. And now I’m at a place where I’m ready to give my life to music professionally and otherwise. I think I’ve also recently found the balance between a song you save for catharsis and a song you make public.
What do you want your music to communicate?
I want the listener to believe that what I’m singing is authentic. Because it always is or I don’t care to write about it. Whether you like a song or not is subjective, but I think good and genuine storytelling is going to always evoke feeling for the listener, whether it’s their style of music or not.
What are some sources of inspiration for your storytelling?
Heartache, nature, love. Things I find painful, beautiful, powerful.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
I think Maggie Rogers does her thing in a cool way. She negotiated an interesting licensing arrangement with Capitol, I believe she’s playing festivals while also in grad school studying “the spirituality of public gatherings and the ethics of power in pop culture”. I like to think that you can be really successful in one thing and also nourish other parts of yourself.
What’s the record or artist that made you realize you wanted to be an artist?
I don’t know that I ever listened to one record and was like “I want to do THAT.” But I listened to my mom’s CDs growing up and there was a lot of Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, The Chicks, The Carpenters, some Enya. When I started playing guitar at 11 I was learning all the early Taylor Swift songs because of the simple chord progressions, and then I took those chords and wrote my own. So Taylor definitely had an influence on me.
Tell us about your latest release “Most Important Man” and how it came about.
It was inspired by a relationship, and even more so the reflective aftermath where I was removed but still addicted to him and to the patterns and memories. The song is a little brutal, but there’s a maturity to it that was only possible with time.
What inspires your sound?
A line will come to me usually and then I’ll build a song around it. And then in the studio things usually evolve into more Indie Pop, Dream Pop. I can’t help but love electronic elements- I find them so melancholy.
What’s your favorite tune of yours?
“Most Important Man” is the favorite of my produced tracks so far. There’s a song that probably won’t ever see the light of day or be brought into the studio that I also love. It’s similar thematically, but more heartsick and less angry. It’s called “Without You,” and it’s about returning to the pain one last time.
Where are some things you really want to accomplish as an artist?
I want people to feel like I captured their experience, or a feeling-state in a way that’s beautiful. I want people to feel less alone, to feel like I’m giving them a soundtrack to moments in their life where there was no music before.
Favorite lyric you ever wrote?
It changes with what’s closest to my heart at the time. But I do love the part in my single “Supernova” where I say “Our paper castle is back/ You’ll bring the gasoline and I’ll throw the match/ I built my life from ash.”
Was there ever a moment when you felt like giving up?
I always wrote/ sang, but until recently I think I waited for opportunity more than I sought it out. And I’ve sworn off allowing myself to drift into that fear-driven apathy again. Things have just totally shifted and I’m professional and full of fire now. I want to constantly grow and I’m ready for my music to find its audience.
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
One of my girlfriends believes you have to be really clear and incredibly specific about what you want. And while you’re working hard towards the goal, also be consciously pulling it towards you in a more spiritual sense, by trusting that it already is. It works, I swear.
Where do you think the next game-changer will be in the music industry and entertainment scene?
I think social media has a massive influence and it’s both jarring and awe-inspiring. We are also emerging from a socially distanced and emotionally turbulent time… I think many of us kind of hunkered down on apps to feel connected and it’s intense how quickly a sound can go viral on an app like TikTok. I’m curious to see how the post-pandemic music scene continues to evolve.
