March is Women’s History Month, and this comes with a reflection and appreciation of women contributing to the music industry. From producers to writers, women have been the arbiters of some of the most influential pieces of art. D.C.-based Colombian singer, songwriter, and first-time Wammie nominee Laura Luv talks to contributing writer Margaret Adams about her background, as well as how her Colombian heritage and women have inspired her music, especially through her newest EP, Laura Luv.
Laura’s love and appreciation for music started as a child in Colombia: “Both my parents loved music and listened to different genres at home,” Laura said. “Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I took different music lessons and learned how to sing and play a few instruments. Those lessons and experiences made me love music more, and I realized I wanted to be a musician.”
She started her first band when she learned how to play guitar, but broke off to start her solo acoustic career in 2013.
“It was one of the best moments,” Laura explained about being in a band. “I really enjoyed it and wanted to do it for a long time. Since it was hard to keep up with a band, I started playing solo. It was challenging at first because I was shy, but I overcame my fear so that I could keep playing music and have played ever since.”
She moved to the U.S. seven years ago and illustrated how influential the D.C. area has been on her career as an artist. She cites her favorite memory from the DMV area as her first live performance: “I think D.C. is a diverse city and area with a big Latino community which motivated me to pursue a career here as a Latin artist. I was able to record my first EP in Virginia and to perform it to my family and friends in the area.”
The D.C. area also allowed Laura to find support and connections with other Latino artists.
“While being in D.C., I was able to be connected with La Marvela, an all-female band that plays and highlights the richness of Colombian Afro/Indigenous rhythms, and perform with them, too.”
Laura explained that her Colombian roots ground her in her music, as she writes her lyrics in Spanish and writes her music with huge Latin influences.
“My Colombian roots are always present and have influenced my career and work in many ways,” explained Laura. “To start, my mother tongue – Spanish, has been the main language in my songwriting. The sounds of Colombian (and Latin) music resonate more in me and make me move, especially when being so far away from Colombia. This is why I have added rhythms or sounds to my songs that remind me of my roots.”
When writing her music, which generally is alternative, folk, and Latin-inspired, she is also incredibly influenced by her many passions and aims to write in a way that her audience can relate to.
“For songwriting, I am inspired by my experiences and how I see the world. I want to create lyrics with significance to me and relatable to others. Some of the topics I enjoy writing about are love, justice, animal rights, and environmental causes. Musically, I enjoy alternative and indie music; however, Colombian roots are ingrained in me, so I include Latin rhythms in my songs as well. I am influenced by indie folk, pop, and Latin rhythms.”
Laura’s recent self-titled EP, released in 2022, illustrates these musical influences, as well as a clear admiration for the women in her own life: “’Valiente’ is my favorite song because it was the first song that I recorded for the EP and because it is a song that is a tribute to a beloved one, in my case, my grandmother who passed away.”
Being a female-presenting person in the music industry, she shared a few of the challenges that women continue to face in the music industry.
“I have seen women being judged more for their physical appearance, body, and musical expressions than men do in the music industry,” Laura said.
She went on to explain why the presence of women and female representation is important, even in 2023: “It’s important to have female representation in music because it helps to motivate and inspire future musicians, especially because I find the music industry is primarily male dominated.”
She cites her own favorite female artists as inspiration for her when she was younger and today, from Shakira to Adrianne Lenker.
“Shakira was my biggest inspiration when I was younger,” Laura said. “I always connected with her lyrics and thought her songwriting was amazing. I’m inspired by her being a successful Colombian artist who has made it big. Other women in Latin music who have inspired me are Natalia Lafourcade and Julieta Venegas. All-women band Lillix was probably my biggest inspiration to start my own band in 2006. I also have been inspired by other women and female-fronted bands like Joni Mitchell, Metric, Paramore, The Sounds, and more recently by Adrianne Lenker/Big Thief.”
She advises young female artists to have faith in themselves and their talent in all sectors of the field.
“Be true to yourself and be the person and artist you want to be, not what others expect you to be. Whether you’re starting to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter, musician, producer, sound engineer, etc., it is important to educate yourself about the industry and attend conferences, do networking and collaborations and create a community. Also, use every tool available, like music platforms and social media, to put your work out and share it with the world.”
You can see Laura perform at the MACROCK: an annual DIY music festival and conference happening on April 7-8 in Harrisonburg, VA. Also look out for Laura Luv at a venue near you; she is planning more shows this year to promote her EP, and hoping to go back to Colombia to perform.
Listen to her EP, Laura Luv here, and check her out on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture Spotify playlist.
Margaret Adams is a Psychology major and Rhetoric and Writing minor at The Catholic University of America from New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition to her work with Alchemical, she writes for CUA’s student newspaper, The Tower, and has recently been named Quill Editor. She enjoys reading, writing, and looking at pictures of her dog, Bella.
Subscribe to Alchemical Records today to support our efforts online and in print.
Join the Alchemical Records Street Team to promote these and other artists, live music, and music community organizations & events while receiving cool perks from artists throughout the region.
Recent Articles The genre-bending act, Shadowkasters, spearheaded by versatile multi-instrumentalist Bryce Avary, returns with an eighth studio album. SHADOWKASTERS self titled album artwork Shadowkasters, which
More to Watch Santa Barbara-based post-punk band, Versus The World, work on picking up the pieces with their latest single “Goin’ Out For Smokes.” Versus
As a producer bringing some major events to Capital Pride this year, Zach Renovátes admits that he was keen to get Betty Who on the lineup. After having seen several of her live performances already, Renovátes knew the Australian would make a fine marquee addition to the “Kinetic Presents Candyland” event at Echostage June 10.
Fortunately, she was both available and interested.
“Something that I personally saw was that [Betty Who] is one of the most pro-LGBT singer-songwriters I’ve ever ever seen perform live,” Renovátes said, adding that the D.C. audiences at her concerts come largely from within the gay community. “So she absolutely knows that we as queer people make up a huge percentage of her fan base.”
The June 10 event is the main draw of a weekend of collaborations between Kinetic Presents and the Capital Pride Alliance in celebration of D.C. Pride 2023. Other big names who will play at various venues around the District include DJs Abel and Cindel, Dan Slater, as well as Jerac and Paulo Fragoso. It’ll be a pride-filled musical weekend indeed, with Echostage, Sax, Bunker and Bliss Nightclub hosting the pulsing sounds of revelry. And there’s also the big parade on June 10.
Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
