Liza Owen has already written massive hits for BTS, Selena Gomez and Carly Rae Jepsen, and now she is two-stepping it out on her own with the next single from her upcoming EP. ‘Josie’ sees the singer-songwriter blur the line between fantasy/reality as she writes about a very real situation, while living out her Tarantino-esque alternate version in the song’s video.
Having written big pop tracks for other people, Liza now takes that same energy and mixes it with her own rock vibe to bring you ballads and bops in equal measure. Loverboy catches up with her to discuss her very non-witchy cult, the eternal influence of Dolly Parton and how she always has time for a bad-ass bitch…
Liza – hello! Where in the world are you?
I live out here in the canyons of California, surrounded by trees, fully in nature. I’ve seen a couple of coyotes out here, there’s even a mountain lion out there somewhere – it’s fucking terrifying. But I live in a tiny little community with my best friends. I have officially called it a cult. It’s the new Laurel Canyon – no witchiness involved!
Phew. I’m not sure the world is in need of an EP of satanic verses in 2021. We’ve heard some of your tracks already and we are psyched. We have a couple of favourites – one of which is your new single ‘Josie’ which just dropped today!
Thank you. ‘Josie’ is one of my favourites too. It’s a super-personal, autobiographical, relationship story and the music video reflects that.
Your videos so far have been so on point – super luxe, filled with colour.
Thank you. Do I have a favourite? It’s like picking a favourite between your children but there is always one. I will say I love them all for different reasons.
‘Starry-eyed’ was so fun because I was literally just riding on a motorbike backwards around Malibu Canyon. We even got stopped by the cops. But I think ‘Why aren’t we having sex?’ holds a special place in my heart because we made it in a pandemic. It was really a team-effort of me calling up all my friends and wanting to film all these personal stories. I co-directed it with my friend and we just made it happen. It was very D.I.Y. One of my friends, Chris, went to a home depot and bought all this stuff to help me build this 20 foot, giant, four-poster, king-sized bed. We bought flowers and planted them all ourselves.
I would make a video for every single song if I could. I just feel it’s another layer of letting your fans get to know you…and it’s fun!
What’s been on the moodboard for this EP sonically?
To be honest my life is the moodboard. I grew up listening to a whole array of things. I loved badd-ass fucking bitches like Gwen Stefani, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, then on the flipside my brother was super into bands like Oasis & Nirvana and he got me into them. Then my Mum would play Dolly Parton, Bee Gees and Elvis.
I saw that you dressed up as Dolly on your Insta…
Yesss, I love her.
Blame it on Covid, QAnon & spending too much time indoors…but I have come up with a long, convoluted and over-complicated theory. Seeing you dressed up as Dolly and knowing new single is about another woman, I wondered if ‘Josie’ was an homage to ‘Jolene’??!
I mean I love Dolly Parton to death. She probably has sub-consciously influenced me on some level. She is an icon, a huge inspiration and an incredible songwriter. Love and respect to her. But‘Josie’/’Jolene’ was not on purpose. Josie is a real person so I just wrote about that experience.
Dolly’s voice is way up in the rafters and I really love your voice because it’s a strong, deeper voice.
Oh thank you. You know what, it’s always been like this. My karaoke songs growing up were Toni Braxton, ‘Unbreak my Heart’…and then a lot of songs by men. I could just get down there vocally, it was a sweet spot for me. But growing up it wasn’t a cool voice to have, it wasn’t in fashion.
Even when I was writing songs for other people, it would be encouraged to sing demos in a higher pitch because that is just more ‘digestible’. But then working on my songs for this EP, especially ‘Josie’ which was really the first song, I was just like, ‘This is my voice.’ It’s almost like strong voices went out of fashion in the pop world. There are a lot of whisper tones, higher-pitch tones and that’s cool, but it’s not my thing. I’ve always had this low voice and now I am able to write for it. So I am embracing that.
You were mentioning writing songs for others. Is it strange to take centre stage now instead of being part of an artist’s team?
I think in the beginning it was definitely an adjustment. It’s like wearing a different suit to work. Even when I am writing a song with another artist in mind, you’ve got to get to know them and try to channel what they want to say. Half the time you’ve never met these people before and suddenly you are trying to get them to open up and tell you their deepest darkest secrets. It’s a weird world of being the therapist in some situations and in others I am the one receiving the therapy.
I saw that Parris Goebbel and you follow each other on Insta. Can we expect some big choreo’ed number in the future?
I wish! She’s incredible. I think she is a bad ass bitch! I would love to collaborate with her. I love how bold how she is. I have always loved women who are unapologetically themselves.
And that provides a great segue into our last question. Finally, Loverboy is named after the biggest-selling single of 2001. So we always ask, what is your favourite Mariah Carey single?
That’s a really hard question. I am torn between two. I know it’s obvious but who doesn’t love ‘All I Want for Christmas’? And what’s the one that goes, ‘When you left I lost a part of me…’ We Belong Together? Yes! That was when I got into Mimi. I was too young for the first wave. Mariah really provides a lot of entertainment. I went to one of her Christmas shows in London. It was amazing but she was just getting carried around the stage by half naked men. I was just like, ‘Yeah why should you have to walk?! You are the queen!’
