LP Goes Full Blaze on Major Label Debut Forever For Now

The singer-songwriter dishes on her Citibank commercial hit and Summer Tour with O.A.R.

From the LifeMinute team

With a unique sound, swag and ukulele permanently in tow, pop/rock artist LP dropped her debut album Forever for Now last month and is hitting the road for a summer tour with O.A.R. and Phillip Phillips. Now the New York native, currently based in Los Angeles, has Rolling Stone, Vogue and Wall Street Journal singing her praises and has even penned hits for Rihanna and Christina Aguilera. The songstress stopped by LifeMinute to give us the scoop on her big year and serve up an acoustic jam sesh.

For her first major label record, released by Warner Bros and produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Rob Cavallo, LP broke away from her previous "folkie kind of chilled-out records" Heart-Shaped Scar (2001) and Suburban Sprawl & Alcohol (2004). "I wanted to go full blaze with this one," she says of Forever for Now.

"I feel like it was a defining song for the sound of this record," LP says of "Into the Wild," the first song she wrote for it. "Kind of like a big kind of epic." And if you think the tune sounds familiar, that's because it's featured in a commercial for Citibank.

And although she cranks out songs for the likes of Rihanna, Christina Aguilera and Backstreet Boys, LP says her initial decision to get into music was gradual. "My mom passed away, and I just felt like [music] was the one thing I enjoyed," she says, "She died young, so I thought I should enjoy my life."

So how does LP do that? By bringing her beloved ukulele everywhere... "I couldn't live without it," she says, "It was just, like, a fun instrument, not a burden to bring around, and I just fell in love with it."

Her ukulele is only one of LP's "writer's tools." "I just started writing all these little whistle melodies," she says, "That's how I started kind of using whistling in my songs."

As for what other music she listens to...well, it is quite an "eclectic" mix. LP tells us, "I like listening to a lot of singers...Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and Joni Mitchell; you know, women singers who kind of go for the notes."

With her latest success, LP seems to be following in the greats' footsteps. "Everything has been going down, like, in the last couple of years...this record, the EP...and I've just met so many new people, like fan-wise, and gotten some really cool exposure," she says.

As for what's to come, LP says she will continue to write for other artists as she heads out on a summer tour. For tour dates, check out www.iamlp.com/forever.