In Conversation with Lusaint
Lusaint talks debut EP, album plans and playing in front of the Pope.
Photo: William Blakesley-Herbert
After missing each other at a festival, I managed to catch the undeniably talented Lusaint to talk all things music, as well as her proudest achievements, like performing at the Vatican and meeting the late Pope. No easy feat and yet, somehow, she’s made it all look effortless. Consistently on the rise, Lucy has since packed her bags and moved out of Manchester, citing that a move away from her hometown will help her career progress.
What’s the story behind your name?
I came up with it probably about five years ago with my friend. We were just discussing what name I wanted because my name is Lucy, but I wanted something a little bit different. Then, I was thinking, for some reason, I really wanted Saint in my name and, where I’m from in Manchester, it’s a place called Stretford and the beginning is ‘ST’. So, I thought, maybe I could use ‘Saint Retrador’, just kind of be super cool with it and he was like, ‘please don’t do that’, so I was like, ‘yeah, okay, that is a really bad idea, but I know I want Saint’, and he was like ‘why don’t you just call yourself Lusaint?’. Then it stuck, and it’s been the same ever since.
You’ve played a number of shows over the past couple of months. How have those been? Has there been a personal highlight for you?
The one that I’ve just played, I went to a place near Marseille called Barcelonnette, which was essentially in the French Alps — to drive up there was unbelievable. When I was playing on the stage, I could just see the mountains, and it was a very tranquil, serene feeling that I’ve never really had before. The crowd was just really vibrant, and there aren’t really that many festivals or even music that happens in this small town, but everybody came.
Another amazing show that I did was at Théâtre Antique de Vienne, which was in Vienne in France, and it was an unbelievable show in this huge amphitheatre, supporting Michael Kiwanuka. I think it was a crowd of about eight thousand people. That’s the only time in my whole career so far where I’ve come off and had complete jelly legs. I went on feeling quite nervous, but I’d say probably about ten seconds after I started the song, I was fine, I got into it and really enjoyed the performance. But, as soon as I came off stage, I couldn't walk down the stairs because I’d tensed my body that much… so I will never forget that feeling.
Do you have some of your own favourite jazz musicians?
I feel like I just take a lot of inspiration from classic older artists like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and the likes of Nina Simone. That’s the era that I love so much and take inspiration from and listen to every day. I watch a lot of their documentaries and how they performed on stage. I actually recently just watched La Vie en Rose, which is the film on Édith Piaf and that is one of my favorite films and, every time I watch it, I’m always so inspired by how, at the beginning of her career, she’s so shy and and then all of a sudden out of nowhere there’s this voice and how she performs on stage. There’s a lot of inspiration there.
What’s been your proudest moment of your career so far?
I’d probably say meeting the late Pope. I met him last December, and I did a performance on Italian television, but it was the morning of the performance that I met him, because it was within the Vatican that I performed. That was televised, and it was a very surreal, incredible moment but, again, as it comes with this job, I’d not really had a lot of sleep, so it made everything feel even more surreal. I had a show two nights before in the UK, and then I had to travel there. I had a lack of sleep, so it was a very surreal feeling, but really, really incredible.
That’s really cool. How did that even come about?
I have an independent label in Italy and I think that whoever was organising the event reached out to the label and had heard my voice on the radio and requested I perform, which was really incredible.
I don’t know how you respond to that sort of moment. Has it even sunk in yet?
It hasn’t, and the funny thing is, people do question me about it — it’s almost like it didn’t happen. It was a very, very surreal thing to do. Also, I have occasionally worked with Chanel on a couple of shows, and they’ve dressed me for a few occasions. Specifically, for this meeting of the Pope, they wanted to dress me in this unbelievable angel dress — that’s the only way I can describe it; it was like a white robe. So, in the morning, for meeting him, I had this Chanel blazer, trousers and shoes, which were very sophisticated and then, in the evening, this gown. It was a very strange day, which I still think about now — I was very excited.
With your most recent single Summertime, is there a particular story behind it? How did it come about?
We had a writing week on a boat. It was last year, and it was the hottest week of that year, and it was actually quite unbearable because there was no air conditioning on there. I thought, ‘I know that I’m on here for a reason, I know that I really want to write music, and I feel like I’m in a creative space’. The surroundings of the boat were beautiful, but it was just too hot to be on. I had a few ideas on my phone — a voice memo of Summertime — no lyrics or anything, but just a rough guide melody. We were on this boat, and I was really struggling, and I thought, ‘I know I need to get this out’.
It was almost in my subconscious to write it. When my guitarist was playing along to what I had on the voice memo, I just started to spout out these lyrics that happened very quickly. There wasn’t really any meaning behind it, but then the more that I was singing it, the more I thought there was actually something here about a friend that was going through a really rough time with a guy and was just being taken for a bit of a ride. I didn’t even know that I was going to sing about that.
I guess the song itself is about knowing that this person is probably bad for you but you still keep going back to them, and you’re trying to distract yourself from that person, but you keep finding a way back. So when I was writing it, it did happen very naturally, and the lyrics came about very quickly. I actually wrote this song within about 25 minutes.
I’m really proud of it; it is a very jazzy track — the most jazz song that I will do - but I take huge inspiration from people that I listen to every day, and I feel really proud of it.
Would you say mainly real-life experiences inspire your music or is there anything made up? Or just inspired by fiction?
I think it depends really, when I write music it kind of depends on how I feel on the day and what actually comes out when I hear specific chords. Sometimes if it sparks something in me that might be to do with me, I will always write about it. But I do find other people's experiences more thrilling because I find that my life or my personal life is actually a bit boring. Obviously if there are experiences that happen to me that I feel I want to write about, I always will.
If you write about somebody that you’re friends with, would you tell them that it's about them? Or would you let them find out through listening?
I have done that before, I have let them know, and they’re always so interested to listen and really understand it. But sometimes I think it’s best to just leave it in the memory and they can just think it’s about me.
What is your favourite cover you’ve ever done?
I’d probably say Wicked Game that I did the cover of, by Chris Isaac. I posted it on YouTube about two years ago, and I think just from the reaction alone — and even when I perform it live — I just get such a euphoric feeling.
Do you have any plans for a debut album?
Yes, I think it will probably be the middle of next year that I’ll be releasing an album.
How does that come about? Did you sit down with the idea that you wanted to make one or has it been like a collection of songs that you’ve gathered?
I’ve always wanted to make an album, it’s always been my dream. At the moment, I’m building on this project and building a fan base and people understanding my music and understanding who I am, EP by EP, single by single, felt like the way forward to start this process.
I’ll start writing it maybe towards the end of of the year or even now to be honest, I’m sure that some of the songs I will write will go into the album, but I think it’s all a process, this journey, and I feel like it kind of all needs to make sense and all fit where it needs to. I feel like this next part of the EP, it’s almost like another version of myself in some ways because we’re adding in quite a bit more pop. I’m interested to see how it goes, because I think most of the stuff that I’ve done has been more soul and jazz, and this still has a lot of elements of that, but just intertwining a lot more pop, which I’m excited for.
Are there any other genres that you’d want to explore other than pop?
I love neo soul, jazz soul — those are where I put myself in terms of a genre, but I’d probably say that’s as far as I could branch out.
What genre would you master if you could? Would you do a rock song?
Yeah, I think if it was the right song, I definitely would. I’ve got a track out called Remember Me, and even the song that I’ve got coming out that is pop, there are still elements of rock in there. Even when I played Multitude Festival, when I sang Remember Me, I noticed that because it was quite heavily metal and rock, that a lot of people were really into that track specifically.
My guitarist and MD for my project, he’s been in metal bands pretty much his whole life and his inspiration is very rock-led. I think there are always elements of those chords and that kind of music that probably does coincide with mine as well, unknowingly almost, when I’m writing it.
So, yeah, I’d always be willing to explore something like that if it felt right.
Yeah, I find it really cool when people become known for one genre then out of nowhere bring out this completely different sound and people are like ‘wow’.
Yeah, I love that as well, because I think sometimes in the industry you become pigeon-holed as an artist in a certain genre. But I think that’s why, over these next few months, I’m bringing out music that kind of changes the path that I’m on, so I think that’ll be interesting to see how that pans out.
What do you have in store for the rest of the year? Anything exciting that you’re looking forward to?
I’m going on tour with Calum Scott in October, which is a month-and-a-half European tour that I’m really excited for. I’m also in talks at the moment to essentially have my own tour coming out very soon, nothing has been arranged yet, but fingers crossed that we can do that. I think we’ve got a lot more shows. I have a German television show coming up in a couple of weeks, another festival in Amsterdam, and I’m playing The Hundred, the cricket event at Old Trafford with BBC Introducing. Yeah, lots of exciting things coming up.
Yeah, that’s very exciting. Will you get any chance to actually explore on the support tour for Calum Scott?
I think we do have a few days in between that I can explore places, which is really exciting. I can’t wait. That’s another thing that really helps in terms of my creativity as well. We’ve just had the Barcelonnette gig but, just before that, we were in the Middle East performing a show in Bahrain and seeing a completely different culture and seeing new things, I think that that really helps create new music for me.
I’ve got another writing week next week and, just from that trip alone, I’m hoping to take all of these new ideas and new thoughts from different places with me.
Apothecary (Pt.1) is out now via Friendly Fire.
