Their face may seem vaguely familiar, and you might not be able to place it, but you’ll sure as hell know LP’s songs.
A legendary songwriter for names such as Rihanna, Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera, LP (née Laura Pergolizzi) has penned some serious anthems, including RiRi’s 2011 banger Cheers (Drink To That).
Since, LP has embarked on a tricky relationship with the music industry, performing and putting out their own tracks. Their biggest commercial success thus far is the addictive Lost On You, a folksy indie rock ballad with haunting vocals and lyrics that nail the relationship between hedonism and heartbreak.
GLAMOUR’s Pride coverstar talks queer love, dealing with transphobia and his journey to parenthood.
They describe songwriting as “one of the great journeys and joys of my life”, as well as an emotional outlet and therapy.
“I get down to brass tacks pretty quick,” they explain. “I can get very intimate very quickly, with people and with myself, and I think with songwriting there's an intimacy there. And that's what I like to convey to people right away with my voice and with my words.”
They refer to their upcoming album Love Lines – which is due for release in September – as “basically another room in the house” of their songwriting repertoire. They liken themselves to a painter, whose body of work spans a lifetime, improving with age and experience.
“With every record, I feel like I'm just getting a little better at it. You know? And I don't mean that in the sense of like, these are better songs than the last, but but I feel like I'm getting better at creating them, trimming the fat and explaining myself and emotionally and lyrically.”
They are quick to point out the tendency to dismiss older artists and fetishise younger artists, and even the early work of the greats, instead of focusing on a musician’s journey throughout their life.
“I'm very inspired by the last records that both Leonard Cohen and David Bowie made – some of their best work ever. I think with musicians everybody consistently tries to strike down musicians after the age of 40. There’s a stigma there, but I’m gonna keep doing songs until I tip into the grave.”
LP’s latest track, Golden, was released this month – and it’s all about lost love and the lessons it teaches us. They describe the ethos behind the track as “an effort to stop being so hard on myself and beating myself up about past sh*t.”
“I’m like, better for it,” they add. “All these experiences facilitate growth and facilitate the next relationship. I think a lot of people can make sense of the fact that they didn’t make the same mistake that they made with someone before. So you’re glad to be able to remedy it, and you’re thankful for what happened or you never would’ve gotten to be with this new person.”
They draw a fascinating analogy, comparing this relationship evolution to being a better grandparent than a parent, adding that they’ve always known that having children wouldn’t be on the cards, focusing solely creating art instead. “There’s no spin off for this body, hell no,” they add. “I have no desire. I didn't really like being a kid – I muddled through. I had so many things to reconcile.” Gesturing at their body, they say “becoming this, it wasn’t like I knew exactly what to do… It was a long, complicated journey.”
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LP identifies as gender neutral and uses “they” pronouns, but resists being defined by this and their lesbianism. Their identity as a performer and living in the public eye has led to certain elements of their life “being so on parade”, which makes LP sympathise with all who are going through something similar. “I don't think people give enough credit to people that are trans – because that person has to go through it so publicly, even if they're not known, even if it's just publicly in front of their friends and family,” they say. “You know, it's a big deal.”
Despite Lost On You’s success – it’s been streamed over a billion times – both the track and LP faced rejection when their recording studio dropped them after listening it. LP refers to an ability to withstand this blow and go on to garner such acclaim for the song as proof of the fact they have “nine lives”.
“I refuse the story. You know what I mean? I refuse to let motherf***ers make that story. I refuse to take this dumb f**k behind the desk, and let his version of me be my f**king story. Like, f**k that guy.”
When it comes to the pressure to define their sexuality or gender in an increasingly polarised world, LP isn't one to mince their words.
“People try to tell you who you can f**k and who you can't. I just refuse to let someone usurp my f**king life, and then let them live my life for me.
“I feel bad that people are trying to sanitise and sterilise this world – it makes me want to put together a giant trans dyke army and just go f**king blow heads off all over the f**king world.”
Above all, they lament the expectation for everyone to be the same, and any resistance against diversity: “It’s just wild that people want to use this gift of life to surround themselves with themselves. I want to see every single facet of existence – the most diverse world we can have. It's beautiful.”
They tell GLAMOUR that empowerment can be found in so many areas of their life – in relationships, being autonomous, finding a connection to your body through exercise, but above all LP is empowered by making music. “Having a body of work, a finished record, and being like, ‘it's coming up, I wrote it and within a year it’s gonna be out’, it feels good.”
Finding freedom in how they express their sexuality has been another source of power for LP: “I’m now in a place where I can let things be free a little bit.” They’ve spoken before about the importance of moving past the “moniker” of an LGBTQ artist, describing the limitations of labels to GLAMOUR: “For lack of a much better word, it’s ghettoising in a way, do you know what I mean? Whoever they may be, nobody cares anymore.
“At the same time, I very much respect that people do want to belong, that’s how I got myself moving in this community. My first Gay Pride I was like ‘holy shit, wow. This is fun!’”.
LP credits male rockstars with fluid sexuality as ranking top when it comes to their style inspirations. Their hair, in particular, is very Bob Dylan or Julian Casablancas from The Strokes-esque. Long, unruly brown curls, headband, sunglasses worn inside.
“Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Bob Dylan… I feel like I'm a little past androgyny where I like veer on to the more masculine side. I just like to be able to feel like a bit of a tornado of male and female when I'm singing.”
They've faced a range of reactions to the comparison between their masc appearance and very beautiful, femme singing voice, particularly in the US.
“When I perform in the southern states in America, I walk into a bar and when I start singing everyone's shocked, because they thought I was a dude,” they say.
As far as the pressure to perform to, and resist, traditional gender norms goes, for LP it’s about one thing: “how I feel”. “I’m not trying to be a guy, I’m trying to be how the f**k I feel, you know what I mean?"
They draw briefly on the pain of an ex-partner not being able to tell their family that they were queer (“I never met her parents once, because she couldn’t come out) and the difficulty that comes with that shame and repression, and others “condemning and hiding” their true nature.
“I just think that a lot of atrocities in the world come from people beating down their true nature, being pissed about it, and then taking it out on the rest of us,” they say. “I mean, look at f**king Trump. Like, who would f**k that guy? He is absolutely disgusting. I would rather f*cking suck Jabba The Hut's dick than see Trump's dick. I mean, it's f**king gross.”
While we have a long way to go when it comes to visibility and tolerance, LP is convinced that music is political and can affect real change.
“It’s subtly changing things within the LGBT movement,” they tell GLAMOUR. “More than ever, there are queer artists and people who may not have even slept with the opposite sex much, but they’re like ‘I’m queer’. And I’m like, ‘f**k yeah, she’s queer!’.”
In the face of social pressures to tick a certain box or fill a certain identity when it comes to sexuality, gender, or any other part of you, LP’s sage advice is to “keep doing and being you to the best of your ability” remaining defiant, or in their own words: “defy defy defy”.
