Eva Lazarus

This month we had the pleasure of catching up with Bristolian royalty Eva Lazerus! Check out our interview below where we chat about making music, changing nappies and why representation will always matter.

Big sloppy kisses to Nakisha Kiely for this unreal illustration as well ❤️

Life is good! Im on the road with my family as I tour a theatre production called Kid_X, it feels so good to be able to have them with me while I’m working.

Very cute. Please describe your sound in five words to our lovely readers:

Soulful, honest, empowering, eclectic, evolving

Nice! You recently released your super slick new single ‘How Am I Looking?’ – what inspired this release?

I love my hair, I don’t care if the curls are defined, I don’t care if other people love it, I just care to keep it moisturised and quench it with all my favourite products. My hair is a gorgeous marker of my heritage. It took so long to love my natural hair in a world always making a scene about it but once I got comfortable with myself I was able to tune into that noise less. I feel like the black/mixed/natural hair community need as many self love anthems as possible, stack them up, sing them loud. Representation matters.

100%. What’s your songwriting process like?

Sometimes I have a plan, I really have something I want to talk about, I go to my guitar or whatever beats I have and I work it out. Other times my pen just flows ink, words come out and I don’t really feel like I’m a choosing. To this day that always blows my mind.

Any plans for an album in the works? Hint hint…

*shrugs smugly* There might be…

Oooft don’t tease us like that! Who would you say are your biggest influences?

So so many great women!

Jill Scott, Ms Dynamite, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Eartha Kitt, Tanya Stephens, Amy Winehouse… the spirit of these women is phenomenal, aspirational pen game, individual, one of one!

SO many greta women there. We were lucky enough to catch you last summer in Bristol at Lost Horizons and you SLAYYEDDD – do you have a favourite venue / location you’ve performed in?

In the UK? Bristol never ever ever let me down, consistent vibes! London, Glasgow and Manchester are also way up there. New Zealand gets an honourable mention, it’s giving Bristol energy.

You’ve regularly collaborated with the dons that are Mungo’s Hi Fi – how did that come about?

Someone posted a video me at Lakota spitting double time over one of their beats, so they looked me up. I had an acoustic song I wrote called ‘Wasteman’ it was on YouTube for a while, they’d seen and liked it reached out to see what we could potentially work on. Their production style is as eclectic as my writing, so it just clicked. The first thing we wrote was ‘Amsterdam‘. I’d written the first verse and chorus on guitar, took it to the studio and Tom turned the bare acoustic bones into a song that I am truly so proud of. It’s a true story too, I really did go Amsterdam on my ones after a break up, it made everything better!

Think we need to take a leaf out of your book…If you could collaborate with any artist – dead or alive – who would it be?

Shy FX – the man’s production is immaculate.

Agreed. What advice would you give artists starting out in the music industry?

Get feedback, ask for help, you don’t have to do everything on your own! Also you’re not always going to get it right and that’s okay, that’s part of it. Don’t let small stumbles throw you off your path, you have absolutely got this!

Are there any emerging artists you’d recommend?

Grove, Phoenix Laoutaris, Nia Archives

What are your plans for 2022?

Tidal wave of music & touring and just for balance and to keep me humble, changing nappies and hoovering Cheerios off the living room floor every single day.

Hahaha we love to see it. Any final pearls of wisdom?

Tomorrow isn’t promised so tell your people that you love them, tell them when they’ve crossed your mind, ask how they are, love them super hard, hug them the tightest and make sure they know how much they mean to you.

Thanks so much Eva! Xxx