Visually inspired by her Vietnamese heritage and sonically inspired by her songwriting heroes from the 60's and 70's, the bedroom-pop movement and everyday experiences of modern love and life, Lucy Sugerman writes confessional pop with a knack for clever lyricism and catchy relatable lyrics.
Lucy's debut single 'i just wanna kiss boys cos i'm bored' lets you into her world, through tales of struggle and triumphs in romance and growing up, capturing the humour and spirit of learning from her own experiences. The track blends playful guitar driven pop with retro and lo-fi elements with soaring top-lines to create a youthful, upbeat feeling.
Co-written and produced with Hauskey and MUKI, the eyebrow raising ‘i wanna kiss boys cos i’m bored’ starts off quite sassy and sarcastic, then ends up explaining why she can’t open up and shows the underlying angst and reasoning for her behaviour.
We had a chat with Lucy as part of our Introducing series...
Introduce yourself and tell us a fun fact about you!
"My name is Lucy Sugerman - I’m a 19 year old artist & songwriter and a fun fact about me is
I have 305 Spotify playlists (not sure if fun or chaotic)."
Where are you from and do you feel like that place has influenced your sound?
"I’m from Canberra - the music community is super tight knit and supportive. We all know each other - it doesn’t feel competitive and everyone just wants to see each other do well. I think that sense of togetherness and the support network has made me unafraid to try new things with my writing and encouraged me to always reinvent myself. It’s a picturesque city surrounded by nature and it’s always been such a joy drawing inspiration from the landscape as well."
How would you sum up your music style in the form of a hashtag?
"#oversharing"
What’s your earliest musical memory?
"My earliest musical memory is probably dancing around the living room and attempting to play the piano to Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’ album."
Who would be your dream collaboration?
"SO MANY - it’s always changing - I think Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend would be so cool. Bu the ultimate collaboration for me would be with Taylor Swift or Carole King, probably. I’d also bloody love to do a song with BENEE or Lily Allen."
Who are your biggest inspirations, musically?
"I’m going to have to narrow this down or I’ll be here for hours - Carole King, Taylor Swift, Tom Odell, Rodriguez, Bob Dylan, Gabrielle Aplin, Anderson Paak, Mark Ronson, Lily Allen, Jack Antonoff, Chris Martin, just to name a few off the top of my head!"
You’ve just released your debut track ‘i wanna kiss boys cos i’m bored’! Tell us a bit about it!
"As we all tend to do at some point or another, I went through a long period of seeing other people solely to try and get over an ex. It’s safe to say, it didn’t help and left me feeling quite hollow afterwards every time. It’s something I experienced on both sides, a worrying amount of times - I’d be telling someone I don’t want anything serious, and they’d say the same, and then for some twisted reason, we’d end up talking about our exes. Feelings are weird. ‘i wanna kiss boys cos i’m bored’ explores the concept of those kind of rebound relationships in a bit of a silly and tongue-in-cheek way, and how they really (unfortunately) do not work for me. It’s a deceivingly sensitive and sad song for me personally, despite the title and music around the lyrics. I wrote it with two incredible musicians - Andy Hopkins (Hauskey) and MUKI in a session at the UMPG Writer’s Block Studio in Sydney last year - I’m super proud of the lyrics and the story it tells. Andy and I worked on it on and off since then, and then more intensely over email and Zoom during isolation in the lead to the release."
What’s the reaction been like so far?
"Everyone’s been so nice and supportive! This is my first ever track I’ve properly released so I had no idea how things would go but I’m super stoked that people are adding it to their playlists and it’s been getting some support from the Js and Spotify which has been very lovely. I’m super grateful to have connected with a bunch of new people as a result of the release and had some cool opportunities pop up which I’m excited to share more about in 2021."
It’s accompanied by a self-directed music video! What was the concept behind the visuals?
"The music video pokes fun at the fact I even wrote a song like this and the way I go about relationships as well as modern dating and stereotypes. The concept was music video Lucy inviting all her exes to a coffee date that become more like a job-interview-relationship-interrogation. We filmed it at one of my favourite cafes in Canberra - Kita & the cast and crew were a bunch of my very talented friends, including Director of Photography & editor Chris Walsh (who also shot all my cover art and press photos!). The outfits & visuals in both the videos and photos were inspired by my Vietnamese heritage and love of all things retro."
Do you have a favourite lyric from the track?
"My favourite lyric is definitely from the pre-chorus -
"I’m on the mend from the kind of hurt that’s man made / And you have become my new favourite kind of bandaid"
I feel like it really encapsulates the way the song explores the nature of rebound relationships and the motives behind them in a more metaphorical way."
What are your plans for 2021 so far?
"Write lots of music. Release lots of music. Tour said music. Learn to DJ. Master some more yoga poses. Learn how to make a good lasagne. Read more."
'i just wanna kiss boys cos i'm bored' is out now.
Listen HERE @lucysugermanmusic
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