Touted by PAPER and Notion as one to watch in pop music, Canadian singer Olivia Lunny releases her self-titled debut album today (July 9th)—an expansive collection that sees the 22-year-old bounce between TikTok-ready tracks and slow, piano-led ballads.
Working with renowned songwriters and producers like Tommy Brown (Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor), Melanie Fontana (BTS, Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa) and Boi-1da (Rihanna, Lana Del Rey), the album’s release this week is led by the instantly infectious ‘Dominoes’.
Accompanied by an animated official video, the song talks about finally finding a connection with someone after a long streak of disappointment, over a trap beat courtesy of Brown and Mr. Franks. “How long have you been in line waiting / Skip you ahead like daylight savings / I finally found a game worth playing / Something bout my luck is changing,” she sings on the tongue-in-cheek pre-chorus.
And between the album’s upbeat moments (‘Who Could Say No’, ‘Sad To See You Happy’) and the more laidback ones (‘Cold Coffee’, ‘The Walls’), the rising star more than proves her ability to straddle across genres with her sound—a sure-fire case for her rise as an up-and-coming main pop girl.
To understand the process behind piecing together her debut album, we caught up with Olivia for a chat below.
POPJUICE: The album has songs from many genres but still feels really cohesive. Was it always a conscious decision to have a little of everything or did that happen organically?
Olivia: When writing for this album I didn’t set any musical boundaries for myself. Because of this, so many different song flavours came to fruition. From ballads to more up-tempo tracks, I really feel that there’s a song for everyone here.
POPJUICE: ‘Dominoes’ is such a huge tune and we can totally see it taking over TikTok. Tell us a bit about how the song came about!
Olivia: Thank you so much! I wrote this song with Melanie Fontana, and Whitney Phillips on a zoom session. I’m so grateful to have worked with them, Tommy Brown and Mr. Franks. We wanted to create a song that was positive, upbeat and summery and I’m so thrilled with how it turned out.
POPJUICE: On the chorus of ‘Modern Love’, you sing about “This modern love was never meant to last / And everything looks better through the glass”. Could you tell us more about it?
Olivia: I’m so happy you asked! This line is literal and translates to how everything looks tainted when we are viewing the digital world on our devices. Social media in the context of relationships can be a huge stressor and feel really toxic. This song explores the theme of love and the modern state of relationships.
POPJUICE: You’ve been writing and making music since you were as young as 12. Looking back, how has your songwriting style changed over the years?
Olivia: As I’ve grown older, I’ve gained so much life experience and knowledge. This has definitely played a huge role in the music I make as I discuss these deeper concepts and learnings in my lyrics.
POPJUICE: Lastly, what are some artists on your radar lately that you’ve been really into?
Olivia: I’ve been loving Rufus Du Sol, ELIO and 070 Shake!
Check out Olivia on Instagram and Twitter!
For more juicy tunes like ‘Dominoes’, check out our New Music Friday playlist below:
POPJUICE 
Leave a Reply