In 2015, British pop princess Lola Coca dropped a little bomb on the music industry by releasing her first two singles “Bad Girlfriend” and “Love Songs.” The songstress infuses hip-hop, jazz, and ska sounds in combination with honest, witty lyrics to create a fresh voice with a whole lot of girl power. Lola Coca has been working closely with songwriter/music producer Stefan Skarbek, who previously worked with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, and mixing engineer Tony Maserati, who has mixed for Beyonce and Jay-Z. Though Lola Coca is just getting started in the industry, it is inevitable that the little bomb she dropped is about to blow up.
Photographed by Steve Read
Makeup by Lauren Alice of Mandy Coakley Agency
Interviewed by Sadie Bell
Tell us about your upbringing. How has growing up in the United Kingdom shaped you as a person? How does working in Los Angeles shape your experience now?
I used to think otherwise, but growing up in the UK is extremely unique. Here, we are constantly exposed to all types of culture, and we generally comfortably mix these cultures more so then anywhere else. This in itself has shaped me as a person. I am constantly influenced by the close proximity of social movements and the fusion of music/art/fashion that is produced by British people. Not to say we’re any better! I just think we’re less afraid to experiment and play with fashion, music, art, life etc.
LA to me is like a bubble where I block out all this colourful, influential noise. It’s a place where I can just hear my tiny British voice. I prefer to write and work in LA (Burbank) because of this silence. I really connect with myself there. That’s the most important thing to me when telling my stories.
What did you and your parents listen to at home when you were growing up? Did it influence the music you make now?
My Dad played a lot of Ska music growing up, he was from the Midlands and moved to London when he was young. He was into Madness, The Specials etc.. He used to play the same songs on the guitar over and over! My mum loved Dionne Warwick, Elton John, The Beautiful South, Shania Twain haha!
So, I guess my Dad influenced the Ska element, my mum, the song writing and Shania, the leopard print?
“There’s no “image” I want to project of myself, everything you see is me on that particular day. You see my feelings, not my clothes.”
Bad Girlfriend is about female empowerment and going against society’s expectations of women. Why is it important for you to write about these messages?
I just am writing about what’s real to me, it’s less of a message… Society can feel however it likes. I just know that birthday sex is awkward to me! But I learnt to accept imperfection and my own fuckery. I enjoy my own fuckshit now. It probably makes me a “Bad Girlfriend” but it also makes me human.
Bad Girlfriend and your other release Love Songs seem to give us two different sides of you. What does each song say about you?
I think deep down they both say I’m extremely defensive haha I think they say:
i’ll never start a relationship with someone I care about (so it will never end)
and if I dooooo start a relationship with you… Then it’s not a good sign, because I can’t care enough and you STILL ain’t getting head on your birthday. Yikes. These true colours are garish.
You used to model – what inspired you to start making music and what did you learn about yourself from this past experience?
I was always in bands from 14 onwards. I was always making music, I was always dancing… I was a philosophy, drama and music student. Performer child but thought I was too cool to be in the school musicals.. Definitely smashed those talent shows though. Modelling was just a paid form of expressing myself, until I realised there is only so many ways in which you can express salad, clothes you wouldn’t wear and mood swings. It got boring to me after a while like any JOB does. Music was always happening quietly and has always been my joy. Thick skin and a hunt walk is all I took from it.
You have amazing style – what do you think it says about you as an individual? You have a particular image you want to project of yourself, what about this is important to you?
Thanks! I think it says that I embrace my inner child and am free-er than some people who care too hard to dress sexy or on trend. I am most confident when I like what I’m wearing even if I know some people don’t. There’s no “image” I want to project of myself, everything you see is me on that particular day. You see my feelings, not my clothes.
