Q&A: Chris LaRocca
DREAMY FALSETTOS WITH A R&B UNDERTONE - Chris LaRocca's music is practically impossible to resist. The Canadian artist's success has been a long time coming given his passion and dedication to his musical career. LaRocca follows up his debut EP Viola with his upcoming project Saudade out July 17th. Read on to hear the musician's thoughts on his growth as an artist, what we can expect from Saudade and more.
LUNA: For a while, you were working three jobs to support your musical endeavors - what was that transition like to be able to focus on music full time?
CHRIS: It was great to finally have full days to work on music - although I feel like my time at these jobs really shaped me as a person and taught me great life lessons, the feeling of being able to just wake up and do what I love all day was something else. The first week was like a dream; I felt like at any given moment I was going to wake up and have to go back to a 9-5.
LUNA: How have you seen your creative process evolve since you first starting making music?
CHRIS: 100%. It was different making music while working a lot; I was still super creative but I had to cram all that energy into the time that I had to myself. Sometimes the time I had allotted to work on music and my creative mind didn't line up, which was definitely frustrating; sometimes I found myself sitting down in the studio for the four hours a day that I had available to create but not really having the mindset to do so. Once I was able to free up my time, I was able to create anytime creativity hit, which is how it should be - it could be 9 AM or 10 PM when an idea came to mind, but it didn't matter cause regardless of what time of day it was I was able to capitalize on it.
LUNA: What’s the best way to describe the Toronto music scene? Has it played a role in the development of your sound?
CHRIS: The Toronto music scene is weird. It's diverse and beautiful and has a lot to offer but for some reason we're not recognized for this sound yet on a global level - we have artists like Daniel Caesar paving a road for a more soulful sound, but we're still hearing a lot of the OVO/XO influenced stuff on the radio and in common music spaces. I feel like it's slowly starting to change in the sense that people are recognizing we have more than one sound out here, but it's definitely a bit of an uphill battle. At a grassroots level, I think the scene is amazing and has definitely influenced my sound; it used to be a lot more screw-faced when I was younger in the sense that no one was really down to work with you unless you were super popping, but I feel like in the last two-three years these walls have kind of lifted and I personally have been able to work with so many artists at different levels from Toronto with such different sounds, and those experiences have all added up to my current sound today.
LUNA: Can you talk a little bit about how Saudade differs from your previous music?
CHRIS: Saudade is way more emotional than anything I've ever done. I put some real raw emotions and sentiments into these songs and I think that this is reflected both lyrically and sonically. The music I had made in the past was great and I still love it, but it was a very surface-level offering of who I am. I feel like these songs dive deep into my personality and my mind as a whole, and if you take it all in you'll have a pretty good idea of how I was feeling while writing this music. We also had access to way better resources this time around, so on a technical level, I think the production and mix on these songs are outstanding.
LUNA: "Saudade" exists only in the Portuguese language but essentially describes "a melancholic nostalgia/longing for a moment that never actually occurred.” Would you say that’s the common theme with the tracks on this EP? What sparked that name?
CHRIS: There is definitely a common theme here - this was a feeling I had felt for so long without ever being able to describe it, especially in 2018 while writing this music, and the word "Saudade" felt like the perfect roof for these songs to live under once I came across it. Between leaving my jobs and other things going on in my personal life at the time, I felt very reflective and nostalgic while working on this music and once I came across this word it clicked right away and just felt like the right choice for the name of the EP. The way I was feeling wasn't really rooted in any memory, I just kind of felt like sad about the past in general for some reason. To be entirely honest, I was just up late on Reddit and stumbled across "12 untranslatable words with no English equivalent" and "Saudade" was the first one. I took a screenshot and sent it to some of my friends and was like "yo, this is 100% the EP name", and it kind of just took shape from there.
LUNA: What is your favorite track from this project why?
CHRIS: It's really hard to say, but I think it's a toss up between "Heated Up" and "Made U Cry". "Heated Up" is just extremely honest and vulnerable in the lyrics, but also super expressive and breezy in the music, which is what I love about it, and I really feel like this is the song I've wanted to write my whole life. It also touches on some very personal issues for me, so it holds a very special place in my heart. "Made U Cry" on the other hand was a song I wrote six years ago (along with "Yardsale"), but it was entirely different then. I'm pretty sure it was even in 3/4 at that time. What this song has turned into is absolutely beautiful, and the new production has given a whole new life to the lyrics and the content I'm singing about. It's like a brand new song to me although I've sat with it for years, and I still get chills listening to it even now.
LUNA: Is there something you want people to take away from your music?
CHRIS: With this body of work, I really want people to feel the sentiment behind the EP name. I want these songs to spark that feeling of saudade in the listeners, and I want people to get reflective and nostalgic. I think that's a great feeling to have, and can really make you realize some things about yourself - but beyond that, I think that type of feeling and headspace is the perfect setting for someone to fully connect with and understand the lyrics and the sentiments behind each of these songs.