“You don’t write songs to show that you’re a perfect person or something,” L Devine tells American Songwriter. “You write songs to show the world who you are, and people can relate to that.”
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For the 24-year-old English pop artist, that philosophy has been the through-line for a bright and colorful career. First debuting in the mid-2010s and quickly building up a name as an originator of fresh indie pop, Devine is an expert at conveying her lived experiences through song. Her catalog of singles, EPs, and features is a shining testament to that fact.
But now, after the paradigm shift triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Devine has found an even deeper level of expression and personal exploration within her music. Quarantined in her hometown outside of Newcastle up in the north of England, she began to reconnect with the music-making process outside of the context of an international recording career. Alone in her bedroom with no distractions and a laptop at her fingertips, she found herself able to write about everything from her relationships to her sexuality, her identity, and more, all with newfound vigor.
In the end, even Devine was amazed by the results—compiling the tunes she was working on into two bodies of work, she unveiled the first half just a few weeks ago. Near Life Experience: Part One dropped July 30 via Warner Records.
Hopping on a Zoom call with American Songwriter, Devine opened up about the journey to this EP and the changes her life has undergone as a result. From learning about herself through analyzing her own lyrics to simply getting to trust her voice again after rediscovering her production skills, the time since her last release has been as transformative as it’s been fruitful with amazing music. Read the conversation below:
American Songwriter: How have the past 18 months been for you since the onset of the pandemic—you began working on this EP during that time?
L Devine: Yeah, the bulk of this EP was written over the past 18 months, but some of it was done right before we went into lockdown, which was March 2020 for the U.K. I had literally just gotten back from a writing trip to Los Angeles, where we started a lot of these songs—I’m so glad we did that because otherwise, this EP probably wouldn’t exist.
When lockdown hit, I just moved back home to my mom’s house in Newcastle from London. Northcastle is in the northern part, way up north—the furthest north you can get before you’re in Scotland. So, it’s very distant from London and was a huge juxtaposition from my busy London life… I did nothing for two years. But I guess I just kinda honed in on songwriting and doing whatever I could to still be an artist without performing. It was a really interesting time. It was kinda just me in my own head for 18 months, which maybe wasn’t so great for mental health but was pretty good for getting good songs.
AS: How did that juxtaposition between Newcastle and London manifest creatively? Did you find yourself writing or thinking about things that perhaps you wouldn’t have before?
LD: Yeah, definitely—I dove deeper into my head, you know? Usually, I’m collaborating all the time, going into the studio and working with different producers and new producers and stuff. But this time, I was—well, this sounds so cringy—but I was really going back to my roots. Like, what I was doing before I started making music as a serious career. Just sitting in my room, writing songs on my laptop with nobody else there. That was kinda nice, getting back into that and being left to my own devices. I got to relearn my craft in some ways—I got really into production stuff, getting inspired by sounds, and all of that. So, yeah, being there definitely changed a lot. Not being around collaborators was the biggest difference and the biggest lesson because it led me to trusting my own voice again.
AS: To that end, do you feel like songwriting is a good tool for understanding yourself better?
LD: Yeah, 100%. The second half of this project is especially self-analytical—I just really like writing that way. I also like making fun of myself… I’ve never really been the best at writing happy songs or writing songs about moments. I don’t know why that is, maybe it’s because I’m busy enjoying being happy? Maybe. It’s not that I always write about the same stuff, but I do tend to write in the same way and things usually come out either self-deprecating or kind of yearning. I don’t know where those two things, in particular, came from, but I suppose that’s the therapeutic side of it.
I did an interview around Pride where they were asking about how my sexuality impacted my songwriting. It got me thinking that maybe that’s where my style of writing stems from—I wasn’t able to talk about the people who I had feelings for when I was younger, but I could write songs to express those feelings. So, music became the only place where I could say all of this stuff. I still kinda feel like that, not only with romantic stuff, but just with how I feel about myself and my life, things I would never tell people, but I can be comfortable with in songs.
AS: On that note, tell us about the song “Priorities”—you wrote this about feeling upset that your partner prioritized other things over you, but then, revisiting it later, realized that perhaps you weren’t entirely in the right and you should’ve been prioritizing other things too. What was the journey you went on with this song?
LD: Well, hopefully, everyone’s constantly growing, you know? So, I’ll look back on the ways I talked about relationships or myself via these songs, and I think I’ve learned from it all now. I look back on some of what I wrote and think “Okay wait, maybe that was a bit toxic of me.” When I listen to the lyrics of “Priorities,” I realize that everything I wrote pretty much boiled down to me being pissed off that I wasn’t this person’s priority. But in actuality, everything I point out in the song is just stuff that everyone should do for themselves. I should’ve been doing that stuff for myself! I should’ve been getting drinks twice a week with my friends, I should’ve been going to therapy, I should’ve been perfecting my talents and chasing my dreams instead of putting all of my self-worth in that relationship. In the end, I was like “Wait, maybe I was the problem,” which is a good thing. You don’t write songs to show that you’re a perfect person or something, you write songs to show the world who you are, and people can relate to that.
AS: Another highlight on the EP is the empowering and fun “Girls Like Sex.” What’s the story behind this tune?
LD: With this song, I just wanted to split up the tired old narrative that men like sex and girls don’t. Like, that men talk about sex and stuff but girls only talk about feelings. I wanted to flip that on its head and make something that was just honest. It’s weird though because I feel like that shouldn’t even be a controversy, but when it got played on the radio, it got more than just a few complaints. There was a lot of debate about whether the song could do anything or go anywhere just because of its nature. I was like “I’m sure this isn’t too revolutionary of an idea.” It’s not even too explicit—especially if you listen to other songs. I’m only saying that it, like, feels good. But the fact that it got so much pushback shows that we’re still at that place, songs like this still need to be made because people are just pushing this shit back in your face. I was actually surprised. When we were making it, people were warning me, but I was like, “Surely not.” So, it’s very interesting. That’s why I put it out—it’s super important. It reminds me of those queer artists who can be unafraid of putting themselves out there while making it really unapologetic, liberating, and unashamedly fun.
AS: After two years of “doing nothing” in Newcastle, how does it feel to have this EP out worldwide?
LD: I feel so good. It’s been so long since I’ve put anything out—this is the longest I’ve gone between releases. Now it’s like a big exhale, just getting it out there. It’s always nerve-racking when something is “yours” for so many years and then you have to, like, give it away and start taking these opinions from all sorts of different people. But it feels good and I’m really excited to play it live, which is the next step. So, I’m looking at doing more shows. And, I’ve already started working on more music—I’m not “supposed” to be working on a new album, but I’ve got stuff in the works just in case. I’m just excited to keep going.
L Devine’s EP Near Life Experience: Part One is out now—watch the music video for “Priorities” below:
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