To truly understand Julianna Laine’s background, you must be familiar with Tofino, Canada. Tofino is a small, coastal city in British Columbia. A surfer at heart, it seems like the picture perfect place for bedroom pop artist, Julianna Laine.
Although the temperatures may seem unruly to most, plunging into the Pacific Ocean, year round, is the norm in Julianna’s world. She states, “Surfing is a huge passion of mine and is such a creative outlet. Any feeling on land is magnified on the water.”
Music is deep within Julianna’s roots as her father is a musician and she has been playing guitar and singing for years. Along with surfing, country music was a huge part of Julianna’s upbringing and she credits that presence for her love of songwriting. Infact, she was pursuing country music up until two years ago. “Growing up in the country genre, there was a lot of emphasis on lyrics,” Julianna explained.
Proving her free spirit, at just 18 years old, Julianna moved across the globe to Byron Bay, Australia, where she stumbled upon the realization that she could make music her career. Along her travels she befriended Ziggy Alberts who showed her the ropes and perhaps even inspired a revelation within herself. “To meet someone who was already doing it and believed in it so much was so cool,” Julianna noted.
Like most of us, Julianna has experienced some major obstacles due to COVID. Her plans to move to Toronto were halted. She had planned this move to further immerse herself in a city that had a larger music influence and take her career to the next level.
Despite the challenges, she took the time to dissect audio and production software, Logic, so that she had more creative control over her art. In addition to becoming more hands-on with her productions, Julianna Also studied graphic design in school and does all of her own graphics.
As Tofino is such a remote city, it was impressive to see how Julianna has managed to stay well connected within the music industry. She has utilized zoom to meet people and to co-write. Her friend and collaborator, Kyle Stibbs, supported her in an out of the box process of releasing music; to release a new single every month.
The most recent single, ‘nothing 2 u’, was born in the last twenty minutes of a week long writing retreat with Stibbs in Vancouver. “We just said let’s get away from the world and focus on creating,” Julianna remembered. The song stems from experiences of letting relationships define self worth, “it’s about recognizing your value and worth and how that’s not determined by your partner,” she continued.
As far as favorite artists, Julianna expressed her love for Chelsea Cutler. As Julianna continues to master her own production skills, she gains admiration for how Chelsea’s music is produced. Her biggest inspiration for songwriting is Donovan Woods, a fellow Canadian. The Canada native’s all time favorite is the classic John Mayer, whom she draws fashion inspiration from as well.
I asked Julianna when her ‘I made it’ moment may be and the traveller of course responded, “touring,” whether it be the opener to the opener or the headliner, Julianna cannot wait to get on the road when it’s safe to do so.
