After six years of hard work, self-discovery and time away from the main stage, the iconic, Grammy Award-winning pop/dance music sensation, known globally as, “La Roux,” is getting ready to let fans in just a bit more with her new upcoming pop album, Old Flames. With musical influences ranging all the way from 90’s R&B to classic, good-vibes-only pop bangers, fans can expect La Roux’s new album to be a beautiful, refined mixture of all the genres and their stand-out artists/producers who have inspired and influenced her into becoming the ever-changing and multilayered creative artist she is today. Due to release this fall on November 6th, 2026, Old Flames, can still be enjoyed in the meantime by its three pre-released tracks: “Cabin Fever,” “Lose Myself,” and a favorite of La Roux’s, “Babyline.”
mxdwn: Hi, my name is Mikabella, and I’m a writer for mxdwn’s music features section. Today, I’m here with La Roux, and we’re here to talk about your new upcoming album, Old Flames, which is due to release this November, on November 6th. We’ve got a lot to talk about, so I’d first like to start off with, this interview I saw that you did with Grammy Museum, and you mentioned wanting to incorporate the writing styles of disco, hip-hop, and R&B in your music. What drew you to this shift, both musically and personally?
La Roux: I think, um every record I make, I like to have, you know, like, a different, a different angle to push myself into, I think, just so that, A, you keep things interesting as a writer. And you have new challenges. And I think I’ve always kind of gone through phases as a fan of music. And as a writer, I tend to kind of hone in and obsess about a genre or a style, um, when I’m making a record. You know, my second record, it was very much like late 70s, early 80s disco. My 1st record was obviously like 80s synth pop; Supervision, was more like about it feeling alive and a kind of different, slightly different angle on disco. But it was kind of a continuation of Trouble In Paradise. And then this record, I kind of just wanted to input some sounds that I never felt like I’d really approached before that much. Um…And I guess, as I look back on the music I’ve liked, I get more and more, kind of, actually, “I used to love that. Why don’t I try and do something like that?” And I tend to just kind of hone in on a genre, and then just listen to that for the whole time I’m making a record, um, to the point where it’s kind of a bit narrow and obsessive. Um, and this time I just found myself really missing some of those sounds and feelings of…like, early 2000s R&B, that kind of Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, you know. Slightly Neptunes-y kind of…area, um, Timberland, Rodney Jerkins, that kind of thing, and I was like, actually.
mxdwn: Mm-hmm.
LR: I’d really like to try something like this through my own lens, um, and that was kind of… that was kind of it, really, and then I just kind of went with that, but it took a while for me to kind of warm myself into it and make sure what I was doing. Actually fit the brief, you know?
mxdwn: Yeah, and speaking of some of those artists you mentioned, um, are there any future collaborations you hope to have with any of those differing genre artists?
LR: I’m…I mean…Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I always kind of start a record. I’ve been thinking more about collaborations over the last…a couple of years, but before that, I’ve never really been, like, a… not for any particular reason, I’ve just kind of never really been a collaboration artist, I guess, because I never really have gaps in my music that I feel like I don’t know what to do here, or I’d like somebody else here. Um…I just think that it hasn’t come that naturally or obviously to me. So, I don’t know, it’s just kind of never really happened, but not for any particular reason. Um, I’m really up for doing collaborations with people if they’re right, but often it’s hard to find the right, right kind of niches to put yourself in and to find those people that you think are right for this kind of stuff, and I also just find that I kind of have too many ideas of my own, and I don’t really find that there’s space, do you know what I mean?
mxdwn: Yeah, I mean, that’s a pretty lucky problem to have. I know so many artists can fall into, you know, certain ruts where they don’t know, like, what direction to go, but that’s… that’s really great. Thank you for sharing that.
LR: No worries.
mxdwn: Um, I also wanted to ask, speaking on that collaboration little train, uh, what was it like working with Tion Wayne, on the spin-off for “In for the Kill,” “IFTK?”
LR: Oh, that was actually a really random, that was a random thing that happened where basically I got in touch with, while I was trying to work out how to do some different styles, and treat the mainly the bottom end, like, the bass end of my tracks slightly differently, because I wanted to harp back on the past, but also sonically bring it into the future more. I feel like this record feels more like it sits in the now than most of my other records and probably apart from the first record. And I was getting in touch with some people on a kind of collaborative basis, but also just to learn. So I was getting in touch with, like, young producers and old producers. I got in touch with Rodney Jerkins. We had a chat for a bit. And I got in touch with uh, this young UK producer called, LiTek, and just because he’d been doing loads of stuff, and there was a few other people I got in touch with, and I was like, “look, would you mind just doing, like, a day or an afternoon and just… just kind of showing me how you do things, and so I can just learn from other people?” And he was like, “Oh my god, I’d love to,” and he was like, “I’m such a big fan. And then, because he happened -as the morning that I asked him if he wanted to come and hang out.
mxdwn.com: Yeah.
LR: He was meant to be working that day with Tion and he got so excited that he, that morning, started sampling, “In For The Kill,” before Tion came into the studio. And when Tion then came in, he was like, “What’s this? I just want to work on this.” Um, and then they just kind of knocked it out in a day. And then he was like, “Are you cool to go with this?” And I was like, “Yeah, sure.” So that was kind of a weird… it’s kind of… because I texted LiTek, he happened to be working with him that day, it just kind of all fell into place, so that was kind of a serendipitous thing that happened. Yeah.
mxdwn: That’s so cool, because, um, before that song, I wasn’t too familiar with Tion Wayne, and when I heard that, I feel like… like, my initial reaction was, like, “Oh, this guy was, like, sitting on this, ready to, like, just hop in!” So, prior to that, you’d never even talked or anything?
LR: No, I didn’t even know who he was. I’m kind of like, I’m kind of like a grandma that sort of, or your mum or something that is like I sit in my own little world in my studio and then often I don’t really know what’s going on outside. So yeah, there’s a lot of people -that people say, “Don’t you know about this person?” And I’m like, “No, I have no idea.” When I, when I make a record, I can be quite isolated, um, and in my own space, so… but I’m always really happy to hear about other people, and whenever I hear somebody jump on something, especially if I think it has great energy, which that track does.
mxdwn: Yeah!
LR: It’s, you know, uh… I think his rap on it’s actually…it’s… it’s pretty sick, so I was like, yeah, I’m really happy to go with this. And then we met, and he’s a really chill dude. We performed together once. It was good fun.
mxdwn: Oh my gosh, that’s so cool. Um, perfect. Well, keeping on that same train of thought, um, where did the decision come from to work with Chromeo, to release “Disco Proof,” in 2023, a remix of your hit, “Bulletproof?” And can you share your creative process behind creating something different from such an iconic song?
LR: Yeah, so basically, like. that was a combination of two things happening where, A,
I’d known Chromeo for years already, I worked with them on one of the earlier records, I can’t remember which one it was now, but we did um..we did a track called, oh God -I’m going to draw a blank now. It went, it was like…*sings*
“I’m breaking the chain because love isn’t meant to complain.”
And they had this track. I think it was called “Hot Mess.” That’s it, “Hot Mess,” and they had this track, and it was like… they had the verses, but they didn’t have a chorus. So I wrote a chorus when I was about 22, like, this is a long time ago. And we did that together, so and I’d always been a huge Chromeo fan from their first record, I loved Fancy Footwork, and Momma’s Boy, and all of that, and then we just connected, so we’d already been friends for years, and then I had been struggling with playing “Bulletproof,” live in the original version, purely not because it’s not great, but just purely because it started to become slightly incongruous with the rest of the set, only for live, because we, because I’d kind of got the band and my music to go in a kind of more disco direction, in a more groove-based direction. That track is particularly, like jagged and four to the floor, and which is what’s great about it, but it kind of started to sit in an odd space with the set. It sort of didn’t feel quite right live and I had been kind of working on a different version of it anyway that was similar-ish to the version that came out with Chromeo and I was like, “If we can, like, combine you guys coming in on this, and this new live version, and kind of make a new version that kind of also is a collaboration, that would be really fun.” So we kind of just worked on it together, and went back and forth, and then we performed it at Coachella, so that was also really fun, and it’s now the version that I play live, just because it sits better in the set. It also kind of starts in a slightly more exciting way. And people don’t really notice, to be honest with you. It’s really interesting. And I’m not one of those people that likes to change the original ever. You know, I like to give people stuff as it is on the record. I’m not really into that whole thing of, “I’m bored of it, I need to change it,” and it certainly wasn’t because I was bored of it. It just felt like it sat better to be a different version so we collaborated on that together and it was really fun.
mxdwn: Yeah, I loved hearing it, and, like, to still get that feeling, like, when I listen to “Bulletproof,” I feel that energy, and it gets me, like, all revved up, but to hear that different take on it and still get, like, pumped is really cool.
LR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I’m glad. Thank you.
mxdwn: Of course, and then, um, I know you couldn’t recall the track you worked with them prior to that collaboration, but I know you then worked on their album Replacements, or the track “Replacements,” in 2024. Um, what was that like?
LR: I mean, like I say, we’ve just been… we’ve been friends for a long time, so we just get on. It’s very, very, very easy with them, you know. If they ask me to do something, or I ask them to do something, it’s always, like… it’s always a Yes, you know it just made sense, you know, they were like, “Do you want to hop on this?” And I was like, “Yeah, sure,” you know, we’ve known each other for a long time, so it’s like, it’s kind of like just getting on your brother’s record at this point.
mxdwn: Oh my god, that’s so sweet. Um, on your…
LR: Yeah. Yeah, they’re real good. I love them. Shout out to Chromeo!
mxdwn: Shout out Chromeo! Uh, your last album, Supervision, came out right before the pandemic in 2020. What was that writing, production process like, and how did it feel releasing art during such an unpredictable time?
LR: I mean, obviously I didn’t know that was going to happen. I’d had a really rough time leading up to that. I’d actually had to to like ditch a record that I’d been working on for a couple of years that for various reasons that I never really want to go into, but I… it was a real shame, and I’d been… I’d been working on it, and something went a bit sour, and I wasn’t able to release it, and I just thought, you know what, rather than arguing or fighting about this, I’m just gonna make something else really quickly, but I was kind of stressed, because I’d already been, like, that 5-year gap between my records, and I was trying to stop that from happening, and it just kept happening. And then I had met my new manager, who I’m still working with now. I’d met him recently, and he was like, “Look, I think, rather than fighting for this, I think you’re better off just making a new record.” And I was like, “Okay, that’s kind of hard to hear right now, but okay.” And then actually, Supervision, just spilled out of me in like four months. So I think I started it in the January, in my house and I had just dismantled my studio and everything and I just worked on a laptop with a keyboard, at my kitchen table for like four months and I think I finished it by April. And then I went and I took all my demos and I went to my friend Dan Carey’s house who’s a really great producer that I’ve known for years and years and years and I just said, “Can I use your studio and can we play together?” Because he’s a great bassist. And I was like, “Look, I have all the parts, I have all the bass lines, I have all of that stuff,” I had it all arranged and composed, but I was like, “I just kind of want to record it as a live album.” And he was like, “Yeah, come to the studio, we’ll just knock it out in two weeks.” And that was really fun, because we did a lot of stuff where we would, like, I believe we used a LinnDrum, which is like the drum machine that Prince used a lot.
mxdwn: Nice!
LR: We just would program the beats on that, and then we’d run them through the Ampeg bass app, and then we’d let it run for, like, 3 or 4 minutes, so that we had the natural groove of the LinnDrum for a whole take of, like, 4 minutes, so we had no looping, we had no copy and pasting, none of that. And then we would play live, he would play bass, and I’d play guitar with him all the way through the track, so all of those tracks are a live performance of me and him playing bass and guitar all the way through. So it has a kind of loose, like, live groove, which is really, really nice. It just doesn’t have that kind of “repeat energy,” which is quite rare on modern pop records now. Um, and I was really proud of it, I was really pleased with it, and then Tyler (The Creator), came in and did the, “Automatic Driver (Tyler, The Creator Remix),” which was great. I’m a huge fan of his and then we put the, “Automatic Driver,” out. And then we started hearing about this “pandemic thing,” which obviously nobody knew what it was, and everyone was like, “It’ll be fine, you know, you’ll still be able to go on tour, it might be a few weeks, or it might be a couple of months,” and then… We all know what happened after that. And I just thought, “You know what? Something’s not on my side right now.”
mxdwn: Yes.
LR: So I just kind of decided, actually, rather than waiting for the pandemic to end, which, God knows how long that was going to take. I just thought, “You know what, I’m just gonna start making another record now,” so I started making the beginnings of this record, the first very embryonic ideas of this record, in the Summer of 2020, but I wasn’t intentionally making an album. I was just, decided to explore as a producer, and just try and do some different things, and just have fun in the pandemic. And then after about a year or so, I was like, “Actually, I think I know what direction I want to go in next.” And that’s when, Old Flames, started to take shape.
mxdwn: Oh my God! And, um, I’m glad that you mentioned the live production that you guys added on that, because, again, so many people don’t know that, that is still very rare to hear, so a lot of, um, the tracks you hear out, there’s loops, there’s a lot of augmentation going on, so whenever you get the live thing, it’s really, like…
LR: Yep.
mxdwn: I love that.
LR: Yeah, it was really fun actually. It was really good fun. And again, it’s always nice to challenge yourself. As a live musician as well, and just you know, we would rehearse together for a few takes. And then we’d just go, and it was so nice to have that kind of pressure, actually, of, “Okay, we want to do this in one take.” And we just want it to be just a really great feeling. It was really, really, really fun to do. I enjoyed it a lot.
mxdwn: Wow, and, um, you mentioned the first little inklings of Old Flames coming at the tail end of that. Um, what did that kind of experience with producing and making something during that pandemic, what… did it change your process at all coming towards Old Flames? Did it change your expectations?
LR: I think it just gave everybody more, I think anyone creative in that time. I think so many people used it as a time to learn and explore and grow because there was no ending. Do you know what I mean? We were like, well…and also, I think putting records out during that time when you know you can’t tour them just didn’t make any sense. So…I just used it as a time to kind of get better at what I do and learn more about the programs I was using. During that process, I switched from Logic to Pro Tools. And I just started learning how to do things with sound and sonics that I hadn’t really been that great at before. Like, I always felt like my earlier records don’t have a lot of bop end in them, there’s not really a lot of, like, subs going on. Um…and I really wanted to bring in the kind of bottom end of, like more R&B and hip-hop, but in a…but to my pop sense. So, actually learning how to get the, how to, like, fix the kick drums and the sub-basses, so they can both feel…lower bumpy, but without them getting in the way of each other. There’s just, like, a lot of, like, technical learning there, where I’d never really had to deal with that in the same way before, because all my kick drums have been quite clicky. There hadn’t been a lot of crossover in that area, so I got better at that. I got really good at sampling. I had never really sampled before. I got much better at that. I spent a lot of time… there were so many things I sampled that, you know, you’ll never hear, but there was lots of stuff that I tried. Listening to records and going, “Oh, hang on, could I flip that? Could I change that? Could I then write something over it and… warp it?” And, you know, I just basically played around for ages. I think it was great. I think a lot of people used the pandemic to do that, and um… It’s been, I wasn’t in a rush, you know, I could do what, do what I wanted to do and take time and then come back to something 6 months later and go, “Okay actually yeah!” I think that’s the other luxury it afforded me was to be able to walk away from something for a long time and then come back to it and really have the perspective of what, how good it actually was, or how bad it actually was. You know, like, I remember, “Babyline.” I think when I first made it, I thought it was really lame, or I thought it was too, like, cheesy or something, I’m not sure. And I found it in a folder that was, like, forget about this kind of stuff. No, and I found it, like, a year later, and I was like, “What were you thinking? Like, this is the best thing you’ve got. Like, this is one of the best things you have.” Um, but that perspective is just so important, you know? You don’t get that that often, you know?
mxdwn: Yeah, so that pandemic, as hard as it was on everyone, it definitely gave you that time to be a little nicer to yourself in between those listens. But you also mentioned switching between Logic and Pro Tools. I know in the music community, there are some very avid defenders of both of those, which one would you say is your favorite right now?
LR: I mean, I find it hard to go back to Logic now, just because I’ve got the Pro Tools. Logic is great. Logic is… there’s nothing wrong with Logic. I’m not, like, shitting on Logic or anything.
mxdwn: Yeah.
LR: I used it my whole career and it’s really great for just quick ideas.
mxdwn: Mm-hmm.
LR: I tried to use Ableton, everyone was like, you know, you should switch to Ableton, especially if you’re sampling and changing the tempo of things and all of that, and the key of things a lot. But I just don’t like the way it looked. I just can’t get on board with it for whatever reason. It just looks like a spreadsheet to me. So I… And then also because I was kind of learning mixed techniques as I went. Uh, I have a mix engineer called Martin Eden, and he… I was learning stuff from him as I went, and he was like, “This shit’s really difficult to do in Logic.”
mxdwn: Mmhm.
LR: And I was like, “I don’t really want to have to make everything in Logic all the time, and then take it out of Logic and put it in Pro Tools.” It was just getting really annoying, and I was like, “I kind of just want to cut out the middleman.” Um… So in the end, it just made sense for me to be in Pro Tools. Um, plus, you know, sometimes you go in on sessions with people and then they’re in Pro Tools, and then it does… you know, so it just depends. I think it’s just a… it’s just a preference, really, is that… but they’re all… they’re all great for different reasons, you know, I don’t… there’s no shade on any of them, you know, they’re all brilliant, it just depends on what your eyes and, and, and your, you know, your, your habits are more used to.
mxdwn: Yeah, and especially with it being so accessible now, I think so many people want to try out their mixing skills and stuff, so it’s helpful to know, like, what will, you know, be more up your alley, so thank you for sharing that.
LR: Yeah, exactly.
mxdwn: Um…So, coming up on your new, fourth studio album, Old Flames, you’ve released track 2, “Cabin Fever,” and track 10, “Baby Line.” Uh, what made you choose those as your album’s first singles?
LR: I think “Cabin Fever,” just made a lot of sense to everybody, because I’ve been away again, somehow, for ages, and um…It just narratively spoke to the to coming back in a in a in a logical sense.
mxdwn: Mmhm.
LR: You know, I had als, we’d all been “locked up”, and I don’t mean in a pandemic sense, but in that sense, we had all been “locked up,” obviously. But I felt like I’d kind of, I’d locked myself away as an artist for a long time. I have had a rough ride, you know, I don’t really want to go into it. I have in the past, but…I’m kind of through that now. But I think it’s nice to just, when you come back, I didn’t want “Cabin Fever,” to be something that came near the end of the campaign because it felt like it didn’t speak to the positivity of where I ended up. Whereas I feel like, but it’s very much where I’ve come from, you know, so I kind of. I didn’t think it was the biggest track on the album or anything like that. I just felt like it was a nice re-entry and I kind of, I wanted to get that out the way. And it was kind of like a false start in a way because the album is in an order that – Old Flames, the intro is at the start…
mxdwn: Mmhm. I noticed that too!
LR: But that’s actually the end of the journey. So it starts with the end and then cabin fever is like the beginning where it was all kind of dark and I was working my way out of, how I get out. So, I wanted Cabin Fever to be the start, to show people kind of where I’d come from, and then “Babyline,” is kind of where I end up. But we also just chose “Babyline,” second, because I love it, and I just wanted it to come out, you know, yeah.
mxdwn: Me too! Um, on, uh, Old Flames, I always just, I always keep thinking of “Cabin Fever,” because, um, I notice your aesthetic is very different on this, um, album. It’s very, um, I don’t know, it feels rustic, it’s very clean, very green, um, what kind of inspired that?
LR: I think…I think the music I’m making…And have been making for a while feels more, feels more natural and it feels more “Me,” somehow.
mxdwn: Yeah.
LR: And I think also we live in an era where everything’s a little bit more broken down. Like, I still think it’s really important to have mystery, but I think it’s getting harder and it’s been getting harder and harder.
mxdwn: It’s impossible.
LR: And I think, you know, it’s just really difficult, like, people want engagement constantly, um, and I found that very difficult as an artist. I’m not really, like, “talk-to-camera-on-TikTok person,” like, it’s just, I’m… it’s just not my forte, you know, and I think there are lots of artists for whom that’s the case. And I think for people like us, it’s difficult to work out how we…how we sit in now, you know? And I think there’s a lot of people that are doing it in a way that actually feels, still feels really artful, but also feels like, now, I think SZA is a really good example, I think Frank Ocean’s a good example, I think Tyler’s a good example, I think there are lots of great examples. Um… And also, like, genuinely, nature is really important to me, and I think there’s also something about R&B that feels like it’s more in a kind of natural space at the moment, like visually and artistically, you know? I don’t know, I can’t really explain why it just made sense to me. And also there was something about the title: Old Flames, that always conjured up image of forest. Obviously, “Cabin Fever,” conjures up image of the forest, um, and it’s a great metaphor for being stuck somewhere, you know, and then kind of that always conjured up image of forest. Obviously, cabin fever conjures up image of the forest, um, and it’s a great metaphor for being stuck somewhere, you know, and then kind of coming out of the woods, as it were, you know, however blatantly obvious and kind of…on the nose that is. Like, it just felt right. Plus, I felt like I was merging the quite disconnected and characterized version of “La Roux,” that I’d built over the years. I kind of wanted to blend her just with who I actually am, because I felt a little bit like living in a character was not something I was going to be able to do for much longer, and it also, again, doesn’t really fit with where the world is now. I think sitting in a distant character, it’s just a bit unrealistic. And maybe I’m less shy and less “trying to cover up who I am,” as well, um, and just felt like actually this was a nice chance for connection and sort of, sort of bringing the veil down a little bit, um. It just felt right to me.
mxdwn: Yeah, and it definitely felt that way. When I was looking through your discography and then seeing this, I definitely felt like there was like, “Oh, now we’re really in!” And I was looking at your visualizer and everything, and you just look so at peace. Um, I know, like, filming and everything can be kind of stressful and stuff, but it just seemed to come and, like, just… your presence was just so free in that, so it’s definitely coming across, and not to say that your other albums, you know, you were more distant, but it was a different time, like you’re saying. You’ve grown…
LR: Yeah, it was just very different. I think also this album, I’ve become a better creative director, like…
mxdwn: Mm-hmm.
LR: Something that all artists have to work on. I think most of us are pretty natural at it, like, I’ve always been the creative director of “La Roux,” but this album, I felt like I got to flex my muscle a little bit more, and I was, I had this whole thing with the, Old Flames, intro, you know, it’s kind of wild to spend a lot of money and make essentially like a small movie for an intro to your album.
mxdwn: It’s so cool, though!
LR: Uh, which I didn’t really have the money for, and the label certainly didn’t pay for, but I was like, “I’m gonna dip into my pocket here and just make what I see in my head,” and I’d always seen you know, a kind of Pacific Northwest-type landscape, and the pine trees, and the Jeep, and I’d always felt like that kind of feeling of, like “freedom at the end of an American film,” just felt right to me. And I, you know, I kind of got to feel that out and direct that in a way that was really, really fun, you know? Um, and then seeing it all come together and watching it for the first time, I just absolutely loved it, you know? It just felt really right. We loved filming that, it was great fun.
mxdwn: Um, do you mind sharing where that was filmed? Because I just think the way, like, you’re saying the way you envisioned it in your head, I think when people think of, like, the woods and, like, that coming one with nature and stuff while still being very true to yourself, like, it felt like you matched that with your location perfectly.
LR: Yep.
mxdwn: Did you have that already, like, planned out in your head?
LR: Yeah, I mean, I knew what I wanted it to look like, but finding that in the UK is really difficult. You know, I wanted it to look like it was shot in North America or Canada.
mxdwn: Mmhm.
LR: And it does, but it wasn’t, it was shot in the UK. It was shot in the countryside in the UK. I just found this particular part of the UK that has…
mxdwn: It’s beautiful.
LR: Um, a lot of Canadian Redwoods and stuff like that, so it… it actually has the actual accurate sort of trees for the landscape, but it was actually just in the countryside in the UK, yeah.
mxdwn: Sounds like it was meant to be, you found it!
LR: Yeah. Yeah, it definitely was. Found the location in a really weird way, but it was very serendipitous, yeah.
mxdwn: Oh, wow and I know, um, you mentioned that you were kind of going through a lot, but, um, in this creation of a more vulnerable album that touches on the ending of a 17-year relationship, overcoming addiction, and very, like, powerfully heavy topics, um, what was that like and experiencing?
LR: Um, what was the experience of experiencing all of those emotions like, or writing about them?
mxdwn: Oh, I’m sorry, what?
LR: Do you mean what was it like to experience those things or what was it like to write about them?
mxdwn: Um, to write, like, have that all on your mind, and then be writing, and how did that all feel? I’m sorry if my wording was a little messed up.
LR: No, no, no, don’t worry. I think, um…I think a lot of artists…they don’t really know what they’re writing about until they’ve written about it, and it was the same with me, like, I didn’t… I didn’t… I don’t sit down and go, “Oh, I want to write about this.” You know, it doesn’t really work like that. I kind of, I make the music first. I write the melodies, and then… the words kind of just seep out of the melodies, and I feel like… often, I would surprise myself. Most of the time, I surprise myself. You know, I’ve seen a lot of other artists say this as well. They kind of accidentally prophesize things, and then they look back at them a year later, and they’re like, “Oh my god, that’s actually coming true now, thats really weird.” And I think, some of it, I would say,”To Make Our Love,” was the hardest one to write for fairly obvious reasons. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve heard that track yet. I mean, obviously it’s not out, but that one was really difficult because I started it when I was still in the relationship and then I finished it when it had, it had ended. And I think that, that’s always difficult. When you can hear the hope. And… the…kind of drive something to succeed in something, and then you end up in a place that you, you never thought you’d end up in. I think that’s tough.
mxdwn: Yes.
LR: But it’s a really joyous track as well, because I don’t really like to be overly sad. And then there’s a track called, “Falling,” that I wrote at the end of the album which was more intentional of a kind of way of looking back on what had happened, but they were probably the hardest ones to write. They weren’t hard as in they came out of me very quickly, but they were hard to kind of see written down and to feel. Um, but the other ones just came out of me, like, I often don’t know what I’m… what the fuck I’m singing about, and then I’m like, “Oh… oh, this is about that, okay,” you know? Um, but your… your… your voice tells you before your brain does, you know?
mxdwn.com: I really appreciate you sharing that with me, because I know putting it on an album is one thing, but taking the time to kind of share what was going on, you know, that’s another, so I really appreciate that.
LR: Yeah, no worries, no worries, I think it’s super important. You know, you can’t let everybody in completely, obviously. I need a private life. But, like, um I think not letting anyone in at all just means they can’t really relate to the music. I think giving people some context is… is quite important, which I’ve never really done before. I’ve written in ambiguous metaphors, Trouble In Paradise is very wrapped up in a lot of, like stories that sound like they’re about other people, but they’re not. They’re kind of about me, and it…I think I’ve just found a way to hide less, and be kind of less, I guess, ashamed of the way that I feel. Um…Which is really important, you know, you do have to be a bit revealing as an artist, otherwise I think you’re just not allowing people to connect. But I think there’s a fine line where that starts and ends.
mxdwn: Yeah, and it’s a really hard thing to even, you know, imagine out there too. So I’m really, really glad you shared that. And so moving on to something a little more surprising, I think for some fans, what are you looking forward to most when it comes to opening for Hilary Duff’s, The Lucky Me Tour?
LR: So we’ve been on it for like, actually, I don’t even know how. I don’t even know what day it is anymore. I think we’ve been on it for like just over a week, two weeks? Actually, I have no idea. Um…
mxdwn: Oh wow, it’s a fresh start.
LR: Yeah, I’m not sure what day it is anymore, but it’s been… it’s been really fun. It’s been really nice to play sheds, which I’ve never done before. I’ve never done the amphitheaters in the US.
mxdwn: Mmm.
LR: So that’s been really fun. It’s been very, very hot though. You know, we started in like Florida and then we moved through Texas and that’s been, I’ve never been so hot on stage in my life. So that’s been quite intense. I think I nearly passed out the other day when we came off stage. Everyone’s been very, very, very warm.
mxdwn: Oh my god!
LR: Um, so that’s been a new challenge. Um, but it’s been great fun. It’s really nice to be part of a big tour. Everyone’s really friendly. Everyone’s very, very nice. It’s, you know, everyone just says, “Hi!,” and, you know, we all kind of feel like we know each other pretty well already. Um, so it’s been a really, really, really nice environment, and not one that I’ve kind of, haven’t really been in this kind of environment before, so it’s been really good, and just to also play in different places, we don’t, I don’t play, I haven’t played for 10 years, and then to play in places I’ve never played. It’s really nice to see the response and to see, you know, just to see where you have fans that you didn’t know you had fans, and it’s been, yeah, it’s been a lot of fun so far. We have a long way to go, though.
mxdwn: Um, I was gonna say, because I think… do you have an Arizona stop, um, on your tour?
LR: I think so. I mean…
mxdwn: Um –
LR: We’re kind of going everywhere, so… oh wait, we’re in Phoenix now, so yeah.
mxdwn: Yeah, um, I’m from Phoenix, too.
LR: Yeah, that’s Arizona, right? My geography is fucking terrible.
mxdwn: Yes, yes. No, you’re fine! I get confused all the time, and I live
here, so I get it. Um…
LR: Yeah. It’s a lot of states to keep it, to get your head around. But yeah, we’re there right now. Yeah.
mxdwn: Yeah. Um, have you, have you experienced the heat so far? Because I’m from here, and I feel like it, you never really get used to it.
LR: No, it’s boiling. Like it’s okay in the day because you’re like in the dressing room or you’re in the bus, there’s the air-con in here, obviously it’s fine. But it’s just being on stage that’s hard. You know, like a lot of the, the only problem with the amphitheaters is that obviously there’s no air con, you’re just outside.
mxdwn: Yeah
LR: The other day we went on stage and it was 34 degrees -celsius. Well, that’s the UK, but you know, it’s 34 degrees, which I think is like 95 or something. It’s, it’s hot. It’s, it’s really, really fucking hot. Um, I’m trying to wear the kind of outfits that I wear and be in that heat is like, I’m not really a t-shirt on stage person. I think I might be this evening. Um. But it’s not really my jam. So like just been wearing what I kind of normally wear and then just about halfway through my set feeling like I’m about to die. So it’s been a kind of, it’s been like an endurance test as much as anything else. But it’s good, it’s good fun, you know, it’s all like, it’s all like a learning experience and new challenges, which I’m always really down for.
mxdwn: Yeah, the Arizona heat is no joke, and I haven’t experienced Texas or Florida, but I’ve heard that it gets pretty gnarly out there, too.
LR: Basically the same. Yeah. It’s like playing Coachella every day, basically.
mxdwn: Oh, wow. Um…
LR: Yeah, yeah.
mxdwn: What are you most excited for fans to experience in Old Flames, and what do you hope listeners take away from this album?
LR: Um, I feel like…I feel like it’s more of a…It’s slightly more of a concept, probably closer to trouble in paradise.
mxdwn: Mm-hmm.
LR: And I feel like, I think in terms of it feeling more like me, and also maybe being a bit more relatable. I think it feels more like people could get on board with, like feeling like things that they have felt, maybe, a bit more. And I also feel like it brings you into a world a bit more. You know, it starts with the rain and all of that stuff. It’s meant to be very, kind of encompassing, and I think I would like people to feel like they’d kind of been in a world. You know, if you listen to it on headphones, to me, you feel like you’ve been inside a world that goes on a journey.
mxdwn: Mmhm.
LR: And when you end, you just feel… when I listen to it as a record, I just feel really, really, really positive, and really happy about where I am. And I feel quite lifted by it, and that’s just what I want other people to feel. Like, they’ve gone through a journey that ends them in a really… Positive space. And I think that’s all it’s about. It’s about letting go of stuff, and shedding stuff, and also it’s just a, it’s a good feeling of record. Like, you also shouldn’t have to know the narrative to feel, just to enjoy the songs, like, you know, either you want to get involved in the narrative and the journey and the story as it goes, or you can just listen to it as a fun pop record, you know, it’s just pop at the end of the day, you know, I’m not, like, reinventing the wheel or anything, I’m not, like, It’s not…it’s not a pretentious work of genius, it’s just… it just should feel like a really fun pop record, and I also want people to feel like they’ve been brought back into that slightly party atmosphere of the groups that were around in the early 2000s and late 90s and stuff, you know?
mxdwn: Mm-hmm.
LR: A lot of the stuff I miss about pop music is just that happy mid-tempo vibe that just feels like we’re getting further and further away from it in so many regards. Like, things are getting quite aggressive. Everything’s getting very dance music based, and I… I don’t really fuck with that, personally. So I felt a little bit like I’m… in a kind of “no-man’s land” with pop music for, like, a while. Obviously, there’s, like, the occasional, um, anomaly to that, but, I miss that… that happy party, like, pool-party kind of feeling of pop music, and I just kind of wanted to bring a bit of it back, because I can’t listen to any of those tracks anymore, do you know what I mean? You know when…
mxdwn: You’re not alone in that.
LR: You know, like, I can’t, like, I love this music, but if I listen to this track one more time, like, I’m gonna keep rinsing it and rinsing it and rinsing it. And I think some people, they say about my music, they’re like, “You know, I’ve heard music like this before,” or “This is just harking back to this,” and I’m like, “Yeah, but it’s now a new version of it!” You know what I mean? Like, now there’s more of it, so you don’t have to just keep listening to the same, like, 18 tracks or whatever, again and again and again. So I’ve just kind of made more of what I love and what I miss, and hopefully people can really hear that. And it seems that they are, from all the comments on “Babyline,” it feels like people are getting it so much, which I… it’s so nice to see, like, they’re just saying all the things that I wrote in my mission statement about why I wanted to make that music.
mxdwn: Oh, great!
LR: And I love that. It’s been… that’s been really, really, really refreshing and really relieving, and it’s made me really happy to see that. It’s been so nice, as a writer and producer, to see people just explaining what you wanted to do, and that they’re getting the same thing from it. It’s so nice.
mxdwn: Yeah, and I think people forget just how, um, intentional pop music can be. I think we’re getting used to things coming out so quickly, and then they’re so short, songs are getting shorter and shorter, and they want that wow effect right off the bat. So, yeah.
LR: Yep.
mxdwn: Um, it’s always, always so appreciated when we get to hear artists take their time and still, you know, make a pop record. Like you said, you’re not reinventing the wheel, but everyone wants to listen to a fun, good song.
LR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, I think a lot of pop music has become about commentary now.
mxdwn: Mmm.
LR: Like commentary on where we are or, or, like, sort of having taglines that might go viral on TikTok or whatever, and I’m like, “I don’t want to listen to music for that reason,” personally, like, I just kind of want it to be, like, high vibes.
mxdwn: Yep.
LR: So yeah, that was basically the aim. So hopefully that comes across.
mxdwn: Yeah. I think it has, and I’m so glad that people in your comments have been mentioning that. I think, um, as a listener, um, as an audience member, sometimes, like, we think these things in our head, and then we don’t really remember to go to the comments section and be like, “Oh, by the way, I do think this!” Like, you know, you think because you think it, they know, but I’m glad they’re taking the time.
LR: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, of course, we all do that.
mxdwn: Yeah, so that’s… that’s awesome. I’m glad you’re getting such great feedback in these two, first two tracks alone.
LR: Yeah, it’s been really nice. It’s been…when, “Babyline,” came out especially, it’s just been so great for people to… without me even saying references, you know, for people to then…write the exact references, you know, and then say them. It’s like, “Okay, I did something right.”
mxdwn: Mm-hmm. Yes, you did. Well, I’m just so glad that we were able to meet and talk about this amazing upcoming album. Is there anything else that, um, came to mind, or you wanted to talk about?
LR: Oh, I just, I really hope that people, people like the record and you know, we have another track coming out in a month or so. I’m really, really excited for that track. They’re all kind of different, but from the same sort of world. So the next track’s quite different.
mxdwn: Me too!
LR: Um, probably the most different on the record, and I bet that’s, like, a more high-energy tune, and I’m really, really excited about that, but just thanks to everyone who’s listened so far, and who’s been so receptive to the sound and everything, I really appreciate it.
mxdwn: Well, awesome! Thank you so much for meeting with us, La Roux! We really appreciate your time. And again, people, Old Flames comes out this November 6th! Keep it posted, and there’s a new single coming out in about a month. So, thank you so much.
LR: Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a great day!
mxdwn: You too!
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