Earlier this month, LaRosa expanded her sound further with her latest single, “Hallucination,” which leans into a more stripped-back production style. The track is set to feature on her forthcoming EP Promising Young Woman, a project she has described as containing “music I’ve never really done before.” From May 11, she will return to the road as the opening act for Madison Beer on the European leg of The Locket Tour.

As she prepares for another busy year, we caught up with LaRosa to talk about her new music, performing to her biggest crowds yet, and the legacy she hopes to leave behind.

Jacket, shorts and boots Tulasi Parmar / Top T Label / Earrings Maudella

Your new single, “Hallucination,” sounds like a departure from your signature sound, but still stays true to your roots. Would you say that’s fair?

Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s what I wanted, because you have to evolve and what you want to do changes. But I still want it to sound like me, just a more interesting, evolved version of myself.

What inspired the song? And how long ago did you write it?

We wrote it over the summer, no, actually it was early September. I thought it was great at the time, then I kind of forgot about it for a while. When I revisited it, I was like, this is really, really good.

The inspiration was honestly just about the process of moving on from someone, getting used to them not being there anymore and what that feels like. I think a lot of it also came from having really vivid nightmares; I’d wake up like, what the fuck was that?

The song arrives a couple of weeks before hitting the road as Madison Beer’s opening act across Europe in arenas. You’ve performed in Europe many times, however, will these be your biggest shows?

Yeah, definitely, which I’m very, very excited about. I’ve technically played arenas before with the Jingle Ball shows, but I’ve never actually done my own full arena show. I’m so excited, I honestly can’t wait. That’s the craziest thing to be able to do.

Have you found it easier performing in bigger venues as opposed to the small intimate ones?

I don’t know, I think there’s a balance, because if it gets too small it actually becomes more difficult to perform. I’m like, I don’t want to see everybody’s face, it makes me nervous. But at the same time, arenas are so big that you have to be larger than life. You really have to command attention in a space like that.

I feel like you have to properly put on a show, and that’s what I’ve found challenging. The stage is huge, I’m just wandering around trying to fill the space, and it’s exhausting. But that’s what I remember, at least. Honestly though, I’m just excited to be playing arenas, so I’m happy. No complaints from me.

Do you have a favourite Madison song?

I’ve listened to her for so long. I love the song “HeartLess,” it’s from her early EP As She Pleases. That’s my shit, I love that song so much.

Yeah, that was a great EP. I’m still obsessed with “Make You Mine.”

Oh, it’s so good. Yeah, I love that song. I also love “you’re still everything” on the new album. That song is really, really beautiful. I’ve loved her music forever, I’ve listened to all of her albums, and I think she’s so talented.

Jacket Milla Giulia Badin / Top, bottoms Elisa Leach Designs / Boots, tights Stylist’s own / Earrings Ray Chu

With numerous support slots and headline tours under your belt, is the stage where you feel most comfortable?

Honestly, yeah. I’ve said it many times, but being able to perform your music in front of people who it means something to is just the craziest experience. I feel like that’s kind of the final step for me in how much I love doing music, you get to directly see it.

Because you don’t really get that in any other part of music. When you’re writing or when you release something, you don’t get that immediate, direct feedback. It’s a feeling you can’t really replicate anywhere else. I love it. 

I guess it’s one of those things. It’s great to see all the numbers and statistics for your songs, but to see it translate outside of that is better.

Definitely. I feel like it’s just interesting. I mean, obviously numbers mean a lot, and I’ll never take those for granted. But to be able to see that someone has actually listened to the song, and that it means something to them, right in front of you, it makes it feel real, you know?

Would you say European crowds feel different to ones in North America? I don’t know if you’ve ever performed in South America, but it always looks like pure pandemonium.

That’s what I’ve heard, yeah, but I haven’t really experienced it yet. I’ve heard the crowds are insane. For me in Europe, my theory is the colder the weather, or the worse the weather, the more people like my music. I don’t know what it is, but European crowds are honestly my favourite crowds ever because they’re so energetic and they’re just there to have a good time. I’ve also gotten to play some of my favourite rooms in Europe, and it’s just… the energy is really, really fun.

Last year, you released your debut album, Raven, after putting out several EPs and singles. How did you feel about the reception of it? Was it everything you hoped it would be?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Raven was really, really cool and very special, and I got to tour it a lot, which was very, very fun. Sometimes I feel like I don’t really have perspective on it. I feel like I was in it for so long that I just don’t know. But I am very grateful for the experience. It felt like what I wanted to present as a first album, and my fans and people were very receptive to it, which was really, really cool. And I’m just very excited for them to see a new chapter of stuff now.

Talking of a new chapter, “Hallucination” is going to be a part of a new EP titled Promising Young Woman. How is the other material sounding?

I would say it definitely feels cohesive to me, but there are a couple of songs that are more in that grungier world, and then there are some other tracks. We’ve got a slightly sadder one that people have been asking for for a while. It’s interesting to me because I feel like I’ve been able to expand a lot. We did a lot with strings, and I don’t know, it feels distinctly different to me, and I’m very, very excited. It feels like music I’ve never really done before, but I am trying to maintain my sound throughout all of it. I’ve been very inspired. I’ve been listening to a lot of Phantogram, and obviously Deftones. In terms of strings, I guess early Lana [Del Rey] as well. But I don’t know if it’s really referencing anything too specific. It feels like its own thing, which isn’t to say I’m reinventing the wheel, I’m not, but I also couldn’t point to one thing and say, “this is the reference for the EP.” I’m very excited about it though.

Top T Label / Skirt, boots Stylist’s own / Earrings Maudella

I read that you’re always creative, even when you’re on the road. What’s the longest you’ve gone without making anything?

God, I don’t really know. I don’t think I remember the last time I had a proper period where I wasn’t working on music. I think maybe the longest stretch was during the European tour last December or November, whatever it was. There was just so much happening all the time that I didn’t really have as much time to focus on writing. But that was probably the longest I went without seriously working on music. I’m always writing, and Thomas [her brother] is always writing, and we’re always thinking about it. It feels like it’s always on my mind.

Is there a pressure to feel like you should always be working on something? Or is that just naturally how you are?

I feel like both. But honestly, if I’m not working on music or focused on something, I get really sad and it’s just not good for my brain. I also get anxious because it feels like I don’t have an outlet. I feel best when I’m making stuff consistently—it’s just better for me mentally. I need something to hyper-focus on, otherwise I go a bit cuckoo bananas.

Do you ever get writer’s block?

My thing is, yes and no. I think writer’s block is just decision paralysis. I understand not feeling fully inspired, but then I just make stuff up. If I’m not inspired by my personal life, I’ll just start lying, you know? But I also feel like the more time passes where I’m not working on things, the harder it gets. Sometimes you just have to do things, even if you think it’s going to be shit, just to get to the thing that isn’t. I find that when I don’t make things consistently, it becomes increasingly harder, because then everything feels like it has to be perfect. I know. I think that’s a hard place to be.

Is it easier to pull from imagination as opposed to just what’s going on in your personal life?

Yeah, I feel like I used to do that more than I do now. I think maybe I’ve just had a lot of ammunition in my personal life, and I’m like, I want to write about it. In the last year and a bit, I feel like it’s really only been stuff that’s real to me. But I used to kind of live a bit more in my fantasy world.

I also wanted to talk about fashion a little bit with you. I read that you didn’t have a stylist, and that a lot of your clothing comes from flea markets, Depop, and Etsy. In a world where most people do have a stylist, why has it been important for you not to rely on one?

I mean, I think for a long time I only started working with somebody more recently, around the last tour, and she’s kind of become my person to help me. But it’s not really like she says, “this is your look now.” It’s more that I’ll want to do something and she helps me bring it to life. Before that, I never really had a stylist, mostly because I just didn’t feel like anyone was going to understand what I wanted better than me. Especially early on, I don’t think I ever felt like anybody really got it. So it just felt easier to do it myself. Sometimes I can want very specific or slightly unusual things, and people can get a bit weird about that.

I guess you want to wear something that represents you and doesn’t feel like a persona. 

Yeah, completely. I just wanted it to be that way, and like, sometimes I do look back at stuff I wore and I’m like, “oh, Jesus Christ.” But I think that’s better. I’m like, okay, well that’s what I liked at the time, and I just wouldn’t want to change it.

I like being a bit of a control freak when it comes to that kind of thing. So unless now I feel like I’ve found someone who really understands what I like, and it’s more of a collaborator rather than someone saying, “okay, now you’re going to be this and you’re going to wear this, and that’s it.”

Jacket, shorts and boots Tulasi Parmar / Top T Label / Earrings Maudella

What legacy are you hoping to leave behind in music?

I think my goal generally is just to mean something to people. When people come up to me and say, “this song helped me through this,” or “this was a big part of my life during that time,” that’s the coolest thing ever to me.

Being able to have people take the music and apply it to their own lives is probably the biggest compliment you can get. So yeah, I’d just want to be a soundtrack to people’s lives and help them through things, even if it’s just through a song they listen to. That’s what would really matter to me.

I can imagine you get loads of messages from fans.

I do but also a lot in person. When I meet people and they talk about their own experiences and what a certain song means to them and how it’s impacted their life, that’s the craziest thing. I’m like, oh, that’s weird, that this music has done that. Because I do that with songs I love and artists I love. So it’s always a really crazy feeling when the music, or me as an artist, can be that for somebody else. That means a lot.

Can it ever get overwhelming?

I mean, no, not really. I don’t know how you’d even categorise overwhelming. I don’t feel like I’m in a place where I’m like, “oh, I can’t handle this, this is too much.” I just try to take it as it comes. I’m doing exactly what I want to do, and I get to live a life where I write songs for a living and go on tour, that’s crazy. So even when I’m tired or a bit overwhelmed, I try to remind myself, I could be not doing this right now. I think I know when I get tired and when to rein it in a bit, but I’m pretty fine right now.

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