With her sophomore album ‘Live It’, singer-songwriter Lana Crow steps boldly into a new chapter of her artistry. Arriving just in time for summer, the record is a heartfelt tapestry of love, heartbreak, and self-liberation, a diary that captures both the chaos and the calm of life lived fully. Blending guitar-pop, indie, and synth-pop, Crow delivers anthemic choruses and intimate ballads that reflect her own journey of growth and self-discovery.
Born in Kazakhstan and nurtured musically from a young age, Lana’s path hasn’t been without obstacles. Health challenges once forced her to set her dreams aside, but after rekindling her passion later in life, she re-emerged with her debut album ‘I Will’. Now, with ‘Live It’, she builds on that foundation, offering an album that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant.
We sat down with Lana to talk about the lessons she’s carried through her music, and how her journey continues to shape her voice as an artist.
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Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in music?
I was born in Kazakhstan and started playing piano around the age of five, encouraged by my grandfather, who believed I had potential. At his insistence, I was sent to the local music school.
Every summer, I’d spend the holidays with my grandparents. Their home was the one place where I felt like a kid. They encouraged my musical journey, and it genuinely seemed like they — along with their friends — thought my singing was beautiful.
Things changed pretty dramatically as I got older. The summers with my grandparents had to stop; my confidence dipped, and health issues meant I was in and out of the hospital between the ages of seven and nine. As a result, I had to drop out of music school and never returned. Life grew harder, and I found myself taking on adult responsibilities, which quickly took over.
I returned to music after we moved from London, UK, to Spain. Our house is small, but it’s surrounded by nature, and I think that was what encouraged the re-birth of the songwriter and performer in me.
Who are your biggest musical influences and how have they shaped your sound?
When I was younger, I loved bands like Garbage, Pink, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, and Aerosmith. I’ve always been drawn to what I call ‘big’ songs with ‘big’ choruses.
Out of today’s artists, Coldplay’s sound and style resonate with me the most. If I had the budget, I’d aim for that kind of production. I was lucky to have Dave Eggar, the cello player who performed on ‘Viva la Vida,’ contribute to one of my songs, ‘Don’t Look Up.’
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you decide to pursue music seriously?
The only reason I decided to go ahead and release the first song I wrote back in 2022 was that it came to me in a dream. I thought that if I dreamt it, it must mean something. At the time, I had no clue what to do with that first song; I didn’t know how the whole process worked, and it was a long, sometimes painful learning curve for me. As I went ahead with getting it produced and released, a process that took me two years, more songs were born. I couldn’t ignore them, because I genuinely liked them. When you enjoy something, you naturally want to share it with the world.
Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?
About half of the songs I’ve written came from melodies in dreams, and the other half from tunes I found myself humming or replaying in my head. For a long time, I thought I was just repeating songs I’d heard somewhere, but it turned out they were my own original melodies. Once I realized that, I started paying closer attention to what I was singing in my head. If I liked a melody, I’d quickly record it on my phone as a WhatsApp message so I wouldn’t forget. Usually, I’d get a sense of whether it felt happy or sad, and the lyrics would grow from that. I’d record those rough sketches too, and then return to them later to refine them properly.
Some songs feel so inspiring that I can’t wait, so I’ll get to the keyboard the very same day. Others I let sit for a week or two before coming back. Once I’m at the keyboard, I start shaping the melody and building the structure. The lyrics start flowing more smoothly at that stage, but I still rewrite them over and over — usually for at least a couple of days.
How do you find inspiration for your music and lyrics?
Some songs are inspired by movies, and some by world events. “Don’t Look Up” was inspired by the movie of the same name, and “Your Mini-Me” was inspired by Brexit and the resulting generational divide.
When there isn’t a specific source of inspiration, I usually decide on the lyrics based on the tune in my head. If the tune comes to me in a dream, I often wake up with a vague idea of what the song will be about. It’s quite strange—the whole songwriting process can play out in the dream, and when I wake up, I might only remember half of it. But even that is enough to give me a solid starting point.
What themes or messages do you hope listeners take away from your music?
I want my music to serve as an encouragement for people to express themselves without fear of judgment. We are all brilliant, and we’re not as limited by outside circumstances as we often think; in fact, we create those circumstances. Our environment shapes our self-image, and that self-image ends up influencing everything that happens to us. It was a painful journey for me to realize this, but once you do, it becomes your ticket to freedom.
I grew up in a toxic, abusive environment that left me mentally broken for a long time. I had no self-belief, no self-respect, and my outer world reflected that back to me. But over time, I learned to love myself for who I was, and from that came self-respect. The funny thing is, the moment you accept your own flaws, you naturally become more accepting of other people’s flaws too.
What challenges have you faced as an emerging artist in the music industry?
It is very hard to get heard. At the end of the day, it all boils down to how much money you have, and I, like many indie artists, do not have a hidden sack full of dollars that I can always dip into to invest in my music. Some indie artists have their own bands, but I am one of those who records a demo and then sends it to a producer through online platforms. The resulting quality is never going to be as good as that of signed artists. Your ideas are never fully reflected in the track because you’re not working with that person face-to-face, discussing the potential and possibilities. When you get a track from the producer, you go and record your vocals and do your best within the budget and time constraints. Nobody guides you toward a perfect delivery. You send the vocals back to the producer and, let’s face it, he’s not going to come back saying, ‘Hey, try singing this part with a bit more feeling, or add some vibrato here and there.’ That’s just not how it works; all they want is to get their part of the job done and get paid, which I completely understand.
Now, with that in mind, you also have to allocate budget to marketing, which is even tougher. When you are an unknown artist, playlist curators have little interest in you, and the amount of contradictory criticism you receive is crazy. At this point, I’ve completely given up on Submithub, because the curators will often listen to 40 seconds of a song and then give a damning verdict that it ‘doesn’t build up to anything.’ Hello – how do you expect it to build up to something in the first 40 seconds?
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your musical journey so far?
I think the process of creating a piece of art is rewarding in itself. It’s time and budget-consuming, but it makes life more interesting.
How do you stay true to yourself and your artistry in a constantly evolving industry?
I’m not trying to match what’s popular at the moment, and I think that’s the only way to go. As an indie artist, I have the freedom to choose my own path, and I do what I want to do.
What can fans expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or tours?
I’m releasing a remix of ‘No Secret’ on August 22nd, which I really like. I can totally see it as the perfect song for car journeys, which is exactly what it was meant for.
I’m also releasing the single, ‘I Do’, in September. It’s a very personal track that dives into my own mental turmoil, which gives it a raw, honest quality. It’s already on SoundCloud and will be officially released on September 18th.
Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next five years?
I do believe my music will reach more ears over the years, and I do think it will resonate with many people. I don’t make plans because life is so unpredictable right now, and everything moves really fast these days – I just enjoy the now.
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Listen to Lana Crow’s new album ‘Live It’ below.
