Lani’s goal is to show others the importance of self-acceptance and to encourage others to be themselves, be uncomfortable and be truthful.
Lani Renaldo is an artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist from LA. Her passion and talent for songwriting began early on when she was one of six songwriters chosen to attend GRAMMY Camp at Converse Rubber Tracks in 2012. She then studied at USC’s Thornton School of Music, which further catapulted her musical education and career.
Lani Renaldo has performed with Alessia Cara at the AMA’s and opened for Halsey at The Shrine. Her collaboration on Malibuu with Matt Dimona topped Spotify’s Global 50 chart and currently has over six million streams.
Her upcoming EP NOHEARTBREAK2020 is an exploration of being in your 20’s, and is made for those transitioning and going through a new phase in life. Entirely produced, written and performed by Lani herself (quite the feat), the EP is about accepting where you are in the moment and not being hard on yourself. The EP touches on women and sexuality, emphasizing the significance of being comfortable with who you are.
Leading single Love Games is based on personal experiences, but also on something that lots of people have trouble with… this idea of a ‘love game’ and playing games with emotions. Reminiscent of a The Weeknd vibe, the moody track features a mosaic of synths, gliding atop funky melodies and punchy percussion. It’s a BOP, people.
“Do what you love, fuck the rest. If it doesn’t serve you, cut it out. Sometimes your truth will not match someone else and that’s ok. Misery isn’t worth the money. Follow your dreams.”
confides the singer.
Welcome to Positive Publicity, I’m really happy to have you here. We’ll start off with the question I’ve been asking every artist -during this time of social-distancing, how have you been doing? How have you been spending and managing your time?
Social distancing can be a bit difficult! I love organization and work out about 4-5 times a week, so to shift and find ways to do things indoors without relying on places like my gym has been a bit tough. I’ve started implementing some meditation and journaling to keep track of how I’m feeling, because mental health can definitely take a toll in complete isolation. I’ve also been working on new tracks and watching amazing shows like Little Fires Everywhere.
Can you talk about the importance of queer representation in the music industry?
Definitely! Diverse representation is so important across the board, whether it comes to race, sexual orientation or gender. Not everyone has the same experiences and not every story should be shared by only one type of person. Sharing different perspectives is the best way to not only learn about them, but learn from them and try to incorporate many more voices within the music industry. I think it really goes for every industry to be honest.
Thank you for being open and sharing! So you produced, written and performed your entire EP – that’s quite the musical feat. What was that process like for you? Was there one area of it that proved to be most challenging?
It was a really cathartic process! Leading up to writing NOHEARTBREAK2020, I was under a lot of stress and trying to figure out how to best explain my feelings coming into my 20s. I like to stay busy, so I actually started this EP as I finished my last project, “fake happy.” I spent a few days in Joshua Tree, a place I hold really close to my heart and that allows me to completely focus on music. I was working on tracks and finishing writing for a bit in July, but I only finished “Love Games” about two months ago. So it’s also been a bit sporadic.
It can be challenging to finish. The best part of working by myself is that I can be in charge of my own schedule and take as long as I want to work on tracks! The downfall of that is sometimes I need pressure to finish, otherwise, I would work on a record until it was absolutely necessary to release it. I’m a perfectionist!
Leave a Reply