All The Places I Could Be is out now!
Image: Vincent Haycock.
American singer-songwriter Lila Drew has unveiled her debut album, All The Places I Could Be. To celebrate the release the singer has curated an exclusive playlist for MILKY, full of tracks that represent the album.
"All The Places I Could Be, for me, was (and is) centered around the intersection of aspiration and exploration. Figuring out how to make an album, how to write music I’m proud of, how to laugh at myself a bit more, how to not beat myself up over it, we're all part of it. So many elements of my life were changing in real-time while I was making this record, and writing through those changes exposed all of my insecurities and aspirations and things I wanted to explore. All The Places I Could Be isn’t about wanting to be somewhere else, but wanting to be someone else, embodying your younger self, exploring things you haven’t experienced but are too afraid to seek out, and embracing mistakes and discrepancies (both within the music and outside of it) in the process” the singer shares of the body of work.
This playlist encompasses songs that not only inspired my album (both directly and indirectly), but songs that feel aspirational to me -- songs that I wish I could've made, songs that transport me, and songs that shaped my music taste.
UNWRITTEN - NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
I think this is probably my most listened to song only as a product of the fact that it played every morning in the car on my way to elementary school. It would play over and over and over and I’m sure I started to resent it a bit. But, when making this album, I really wanted to try and figure out what pop music was for me — what kinds of music felt like pop and not in a trendy, hyper-electronic, 2022 type of way. Unwritten just felt so quintessential. And it is just so GOOD!
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE - THE BEATLES
I guess sticking with the places theme — this is just a perfect little song. It’s the perfect length, says what it needs to say plainly and ends. It’s my favorite love song.
SWEET THING - VAN MORRISON
I love Van Morrison mostly because my dad always played him when I was growing up. Crazy Love was my parents’ wedding song. But what I love most about him is his ability to make these sprawling and abstract songs that are still grounded in beautiful writing. His music is so expressive and Astral Weeks is one of my favorite albums.
WHAT LOVERS DO - JOY AGAIN
I made a bunch of my album with Sachi from Joy Again and I just love those guys so much. He’s shaped my perspective on music so much — Sachi was one of the first people I really felt I could talk about and question my own taste and my direction with. This song is heartbreaking so obviously I love it.
OH HOW YOUR LOVE IS STRONG - BERT JANSCH
There seems to be this cool progression of some of my favorite songwriters. Elliot Smith was super inspired by Nick Drake, both of whom have had huge impacts on my writing. Especially Nick Drake, his guitar style is so unique and his story is so tragic. Anyway, I read somewhere a while ago that Nick Drake was obsessed with this guy Bert Jansch and modeled his guitar playing after him. Jansch’s music is super cool and I just love that progression of writers.
WHICH WILL - NICK DRAKE
speaking of Nick Drake…. Pink Moon is a top 5 album for me. Every song is more gorgeous than the next and I used to cry to it a lot while making this album. And it’s the best album cover too.
SO FAR TO GO - J DILLA, COMMON AND D'ANGELO
Another one my dad would play every day when I was growing up. He would just have it on loop and repeat over and over “this song is amazing this is the greatest song ever made” and on and on. I guess by osmosis I also love it :)
NOVA - ANNA WISE AND JON BAP
I saw Anna Wise live in LA around the time I was starting my album. I was so inspired by her one woman set that revolved around really technical loop machine programming. I heard this song that she wrote with her husband and it’s just gorgeous — it’s about their kid and just feels so personal. Whenever I listen to it, I feel like they’re whispering to the listener.
TO LOVE SOMEBODY - JANIS JOPLIN
This is a Janis Joplin cover of a Bee Gees song, which is also great, but this cover is super powerful and awesome. She just had the most amazing voice.
PART OF THE BAND - THE 1975
For anyone who knows me personally, I am such a broken record about the 1975. They are my favorite band, probably my favorite artists full stop. But this song is my favorite of all of them — The last part of it where Matty questions if he’s just ‘calling his ego imagination’ I mean come on!!! it’s a perfect reflection of ego and what it means to be an artist.
All The Places I Could Be is out now!