Step into the Shoes of Lauren Aquilina

Step into the shoes of Lauren Aquilina. Her new song “Empathy” discusses the negative effects that occur when we attempt to make other peoples’ problems our own. While worrying about others all the time can be emotionally draining, listening to Aquilina’s track has the opposite effect. Guided by its upbeat production, the song is energizing. It reminds us that the people around us are so important to regulating our own happiness. So, surround yourself with people that make you happy, blast the song, and read our interview below.   

HOW DID “Empathy” START?  

I’ve been wanting to write a song about empathy for so long. I’m such an empath. It’s something that I’ve noticed about myself over the past few years. This past year, I lived in a house with six people in LA—my friend Caroline who I write a lot of songs with, my boyfriend Marcus, and three other girls.  It was quite a lot and obviously none of us were ever leaving the house because of the pandemic. I noticed that if one of the other girls woke up and they were having a bad day for whatever reason, I would feel it so intensely.  I just started thinking about that. I began to do what I call “collecting lyrics,” which is when I write down different lines that are all related to the same concept. It wasn’t until December, when I was back in London, that I wrote the song. I had all these lyrics about how I felt at the time— like “I didn’t mean to be born as a black hole.” One day, Marcus just started playing the guitar chords. The lyrics I had collected just happened to fit and I was like, “This could be the empathy song that I’ve been telling you I want to write.”  Making the song together was so fun. We ended up loving it so much that we would listen to it every day.  

DO YOU WRITE BETTER AFTER YOU HAVE TIME TO REFLECT ON EXPERIENCES OR DO YOU WRITE BETTER IN THE MOMENT?  

After. I have more perspective. When I’m in the moment, I get so emotional and can’t see the wood for the trees. I never know what I’m trying to say until months later. I’ve found that it works better to write after an experience. I always end up liking the song better when I do. 

HAVE YOU TAKEN SOMETHING NEW FROM “Empathy” POST RELEASE? 

Definitely. The way that people have reacted to it and related to it gives me a new perspective on the song itself. The concept was something that I thought was very specific to me, but I realized that a lot of people have experienced the same thing, especially when none of us could leave the house. Just being aware of other people's energy and how that impacts our moods—I have a completely different perspective on that now than I did six months ago. 

DID YOU DO ANYTHING TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF THE SONG? 

I didn't do anything. I’m trying to get better at releasing music. “Empathy” and “The Knife” were the first two release days in my life where I didn’t cry. I’m trying to be chill about it. I’ve done release parties, but I think it puts more pressure on the song. I just want to be in my bed on Twitter and see what everyone is saying. Then, I want to watch Shark Tank and go to bed to distract myself from what’s happening. 

YOU WRITE WITH OTHER PEOPLE A LOT. DOES IT FEEL DIFFERENT WHEN YOU HAVE A SONG COMES OUT FOR ANOTHER ARTIST?

When songs come out that I've done for other people, it's way easier for me. I find it easier to celebrate. It’s more of a tangible thing and an achievement rather than me freaking out over whether my song is going to do well. When one of my own songs comes out, I try not to make expectations and let the song exist. It’s really hard to do. You put so much time into these songs and they're yours, and then you release them, and they don’t belong to you anymore. It’s the weirdest thing. 

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO HAVE MUNA REMIX THE SONG? 

I’m literally wearing my MUNA sweatshirt right now. They are my favorite band, so I’ve peaked for sure. It was so insane that they were willing to have their name next to mine on something. 

DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE REMIX WOULD SOUND LIKE? 

I didn’t, but I knew there was no way that they could make something that I wouldn’t like. If they were following their tastes and doing what they love, I knew I was going to love it too. But yeah, when I heard it, I was just like, “It’s perfect.” It’s exactly what a remix should be. It gives the song a new life but doesn’t completely change it and make it a new song. It’s still the same song. 

DO YOU PLAY A ROLE IN YOUR OWN PRODUCTION? 

I do now. Marcus has been teaching me how to produce for the past year. I don’t have the computer skills to do it on my own yet, but I now have the terminology and the vision, which has given me so much insight into my own music. I’m able to zoom out more and see where a song should have its peaks and troughs. Marcus and I will sit next to each other at our little studio desk, and I'm there for the whole process. I can’t play guitar, but I’ll sing a guitar line and then Marcus will play it, or I’ll badly beatbox a drum pattern. It’s a proper team effort and we have so much fun producing songs together. It’s the best thing. 

DID YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITE MOMENTS WHILE MAKING “Empathy?” 

I liked when we wrote the bridge. We already had the rest of the song and we'd been producing it up. We already knew the sound world it was in. I wanted the song to have this epic bridge and then Marcus suggested that we went grungier with it. We had the most fun ever coming up with the rock harmonies for it and doing lots of things with distorted guitars. 

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PART OF THE SONG? 

It's so hard because it's one of the rare songs where I love everything. But I love the bridge and I love the background vocals that come after the chorus. 

FAVORITE LYRIC? 

My favorite lyric is in the second verse. It’s “I let you plant your problems in my body, and I can't pull the weeds out fast enough.” That’s the one I’m most proud of. There's a lot going on in that song. It's a lot of metaphors and a lot of different imagery happening. It’s chaotic, but I love it. 

HOW DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE LISTEN TO THE SONG? 

I think my main hope is for it to be a summer song. Even though the song is still kind of dark lyrically, the sound of it is so summery. I really hope that it gets to be a part of peoples summers this year and gets attached to memories for them. That would be so cool. 

YOU CAN LISTEN TO “Empathy” BY Lauren Aquilina ON STREAMING SERVICES LIKE SPOTIFY AND APPLE MUSIC. GO LISTEN AND MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW @twentyminuteslater TO STAY UPDATED ON FUTURE POSTS.