Luciana SongHubs Interview

Luciana SongHubs Interview

Leading dance music producer Richard Vission has once again partnered with the incredibly talented Luciana to bring a new dance floor killer to life. -Primitive' is co-written by Luciana and Nick Clow (Kylie Minogue, Maroon 5, The Cataracs) and is sure to become a global dance floor smash with it's catchy hooks and pummelling club beat.

Luciana is no stranger to the charts and is currently enjoying success with U Be The Bass in the U.S positioned at #7 on the Billboard dance chart. Her 2012 smash hit -I Like That' topped the US billboard dance chart and achieved 11 million hits on YouTube. The single peaked at number three on the ARIA charts in Australia, achieving double platinum sales and has become a club anthem around the world.

-Primitive' is the track that will cement Luciana as an electro pop princess in her own right. Her performance in the extraordinary video clip is captivating. The music video takes you to a new dimension of awesome on a manic journey of creativity and has been described by award winning Director JB Ghurman Jr as -Alice in Wonderland meets 80's cartoon character, Voltron'

Interview with Luciana

Luciana is one of the most prolific dance and commercial recording artists, with global appeal. Her fierce attitude and reputation for feisty, in your face punk-edged vocals has won her a legion of fans since first grabbing international attention with Bodyrox on the ground-breaking -Yeah Yeah' for which she received critical acclaim, including a prestigious Ivor Novello award nomination for her work on the UK's #2 hit.

Since then we have seen her duet with Taio Cruz, feature on a swag of smash world-wide club hits, collaborations with respected DJ's and producers including Tiesto, Wolfgang Garner, Dave Audé, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5.

Both a music and style icon, Luciana has stood at the forefront of the electro nu-wave movement with a signature supercharged sound that has infiltrated dance floors across the USA and propelled her to the top of the Billboard charts, with four #1 records and three further top five hits.

Luciana continues her musical conquests, with a number of tracks due to hit before 2013 comes to an end. Including a track with 19 year-old rising talent, Tom Swoon, a collaboration with Akon and DJ royalty 'The Manufactured Superstars" and a collaboration on The Cataracs new single 'Big Dipper". The Cataracs shot to fame as the producers of Far East Movement 'G6" and Dev 'Dancing In The Dark".

As well as being a chart-topping artist. Luciana is an extraordinarily talented songwriter in high demand, having co-written -Cupid Boy' which appeared on Kylie's last studio album -Aphrodite' as well as writing for Nicole Scherzinger, Swedish House Mafia, Cheryl Cole and Backstreet Boys with writing partner, Nick Clow.

Luciana left the Australian market begging for more after her ARIA topping Hit 'I Like That" which had the cast of Australia's got Talent judges and audiences dancing in their seats.

Her latest single 'U Be The Bass" hit Top 5 on the US billboard charts and follow up single 'Primitive" with Richard Vission, has just been released globally.


Question: Can you tell us about the APRA's inaugural SongHubs?

Luciana: I have been writing all week with SongHubs and various artists. I've had an amazing, amazing time and we've written a variation of songs in all different genres. I've had a ball although I feel very tired and my voice is gone! It's been absolutely brilliant especially the show I did at Marquee in Sydney and the show in Melbourne. I've been really looked after and the shows have all be great.

Question: What inspired you to come to Australia to take part?

Luciana: It was all very, very sudden actually; my PR lady spoke to the organiser and normally I don't do writing camps because often you are thrown into a room with 60 writers and I don't like that situation and I find the atmosphere doesn't produce creativity.

Many things made me want to attend APRA's inaugural SongHubs, especially because it is APRA and because there aren't a lot of writers and I got to write with the same producer which enabled a more intimate feel.


Question: How would you describe Primitive?

Luciana: The video for Primitive is a crazy Alice in Wonderland meets Voltron theme (laughs). I have got very excited about Primitive and they are calling it electro trance as there is a trance section in Primitive. I am as excited about Primitive as I was when I Like That was released because it has a real vibe about it and it's different, forward-thinking and it's not something you will have heard before.


Question: Which of your collaborations has been your favourite and why?

Luciana: Betty White (laughs)! I loved working with Tiesto and a few others but Betty White takes the biscuit for me because she is the best collaboration; she is very cheeky, has a dirty sense of humour and she was in the studio by 9am! I've got my eyes on Calvin Harris next!


Question: How did it feel to hear your song played all over the airwaves?

Luciana: It's great! It's very lovely, brilliant, you cannot beat it!


Question: Did you have any pre-conceived ideas about the music industry?
Luciana: When I was 18 I thought I could work in the music industry because I'd get lots of money by the time I was 22 and then I could relax… obviously that didn't work out! I've been doing it since I was 18 so it has been the longest road, in the whole world, ever! There is an awful amount of work that goes on behind the scenes and so many songs are written and only one in every twenty of the songs you write are released. There is a lot of work and my pre-conceived idea was very misjudged and misguided because it is very, very hard but at the same time it is lovely to wake up and write a song.


Question: What's your inspiration when writing?

Luciana: Conversations I hear on the street inspire me and scratch-lines in films and magazines. I write one liners down and then I'll start to piece them together; I have loads of lyrics on my laptop and ideas that come from strange thoughts in a thrown together way. There are certainly different things that inspire me and that tends to be how I write from that although then I tackle indecisions around these lyrics.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Luciana: It's very weird because I only listen to dance music when I'm getting ready to go out but when I'm chilling out I put on Latin or classic music because it makes me dance and I don't have to sing!


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Luciana: I like both! When I have a voice and I can actually sing notes I love being in the studio although it is just as wonderful being on stage and everyone is singing the lyrics that you have written.


Question: What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Luciana: When I was 15 years old I could do a bit of everything okay (acting, dancing, singing) and when I was 18 years old I got my first record deal and I'd been writing songs a lot. My Dad said to me 'you have to make sure you focus on one thing and be really good at one thing". So I focused on song writing because I wanted to be amazing at that, I wanted to perfect that craft.

Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Luciana: That's a good question! I think it's the downfalls of the expectations that you have when you get a record deal. I've had five major record deals, which is a lot, and each time it happens you think -this is it, this is the one' but it didn't happen, for me. You have the downs including crying when a deal doesn't work out. When my first record deal didn't go well, when I was 18, I thought that was it, I thought my life was over (laughs), I was only 18! Then I got another record deal when I was 24 and that didn't work out, I thought my life was over then… I've had to learn to accept the ups and downs of the music industry and I've found that in the bad times is when you get better and my rounded as a song writer.


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Luciana: Yeah, Yeah was the track that broke through! I had worked so hard on so many different songs, for so many years and I was almost ready to give up because it was making me too sad but we wrote Yeah, Yeah and twelve weeks later it was at number 2 in the National charts; that was the highlight, for me, that is what opened all the doors… That was the best.


Interview by Brooke Hunter