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Waking up is never easy, but it's also never sounded this good, as Olivia Lunny delivers a caffeinated sonic wakeup in "breakfast." Canadian artist, Olivia Lunny, came by the office to give us the latest on her latest single, as well as a sneak peek into the creation of her upcoming album. Detailing a year of self-discovery, nightly meditations, and sourdough charcuterie boards, we were charmed by Olivia's artistry, and think you will be too: 

OnesToWatch: Okay, who are you? 

Olivia Lunny: My name is Olivia Lunny. 

What brings you to Sunny Los Angeles? 

Oh, you know, chasing my dreams, but I’m from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I lived in Toronto for five years and I love Canada, but kept coming out here and selfishly, I grew up with 8 months of winter, so I love the sun. 

If you were not an artist chasing your dreams in Los Angeles, California, what else would you be doing?


Probably a therapist. I feel like I'm already a therapist for most people in my life, and as an artist, I feel deeply. 

That's helpful. Let's get into your writing process. First question is, do you have a writing process? 

It’s very sporadic. The creative process is very spontaneous for me. I started when I was 12 years old, picking up the guitar, writing full songs, and then as I've started working with more collaborators, sometimes a full song will come out in one day, other times you'll get 3 or 4 chorus ideas. I'm always just documenting stuff – I always say to my friends, be careful what you say around me, it might end up in a song. 

Are you a voice notes kind of person? 


Yeah, absolutely. 

Are you documenting melodies, lyrics? What resonates the most? 


I would say melody is usually what comes first to me, but concept wise, even for this new project that I've been working on, I love going into the studio with song ideas and flushed out concepts. Especially working with co-writers, that's super helpful because then it's the guiding force for the song. 

What makes up those guiding forces? 

Honestly, it can be as simple as a word that I find interesting.
I wrote down “Fiji water” the other day because I resonated with it. Sometimes something inspires a conversation and a story, and then that ends up inspiring a whole song. It's weird how that works.

Since you have been doing this a little bit of a time, what is something you've embraced and what is something you've left behind in your songwriting?

Sometimes being the person in the room to know when you need to move on from an idea. You know, you’re in a room for 10 hours, you're steeping over a song. Everyone knows it's maybe not the best song. So being the person in the room to say, hey, let's just shelf this for a second, let's try a new idea. Some of my best songs have actually come from that and being able to be the one to say, let's just take a pause and move on. 

Beautiful. Hard to do. 

Very hard to do, but I think it comes with confidence and working with people who you've broken down that barrier with and can be comfortable with. 

Always weird with strangers, where you gotta get vulnerable so quickly. Let's get into your most recent single, “breakfast.” What is the genesis of that, other than something you do every day? 

That's a literal interpretation, but for me, breakfast is just a really fun song. It's a little cheeky and I wanted to write a song that's a mood booster. I love sad, deep, profound lyricism, but I think I'm at an era in my life where I'm having a lot of fun, and becoming more confident as a person, as a woman, as an artist, and “breakfast” really just reflects that. It's a fun song, and I love breakfast. 


Beautiful. If you were to have an ambition for the single, and it takes you somewhere, what would that be? 

My mission would be happy. That would be great. I think this song feels very anthemic. It just marks a chapter in my career where, as I said before, I'm just really sure of who I am. I've been at this for almost a decade and I'm really excited about it.
It feels like a song you can just put on in the morning and it feels bigger than me. I feel like everyone I've shown, whether it's my parents' friends or whoever, they really resonate with it and it's just because it's a really positive, happy, fun song. I reach for those songs as a listener all the time. So I hope this song can maybe take on a life of its own and do some stuff for my career. 

What else is in the works in the background right now? 

For the past year, I’ve been hibernating in the studio writing so many songs. I wrote nearly 42 songs to get this album. I've picked about 6 or 8 songs that I really like. It’s really hard, it’s like picking your favorite children. I'm back and forth every day on them, but definitely a project is in the works that is almost wrapped up. So that's very exciting. 

I think being a great artist means you are a great editor, so how do you choose your children? 

I think Rick Rubin was talking about this, he says write for you and have yourself be the audience. If you try to create with an actual audience in mind, you can deviate and start writing a song that's more trendy and not authentic. So I just tried to go back to how I felt when I initially wrote “breakfast,” for example. Originally, that song didn't even make the list, and then I revisited it a year later, and I just was transported back to that initial spark in the studio. There's this video I have when we're in the studio and we're just having so much fun and laughing and everyone's freaking out. So just going back to that moment and trying to trust that initial instinct with the song. 

How did you create the visuals for the song? 

I've been so blessed to have so many amazing collaborators and creative directors in the past, but for this project, I just really wanted my hands on it and to touch it myself. So I styled it, I creative directed it, partnered with 2 videographers, and we shot all the visuals and album art and everything all in one day. I'm really proud of it. I really love it, and I think it's some of my favorite work that I've done. Ironically, there was just me and 2 other people involved. So I guess sometimes less is more. 

I'm always curious as a sonic artist, how do you approach visuals and aesthetics?

Building off my last album, Velvet Denim, that was a bit more dark musically, and visually as well. So I think for “breakfast,” because the song is so different from that, as much as it's an extension of that project, it's definitely a brighter, more fun, more colorful, pop-y era. I've been really loving the color red. So that's also an Easter egg to the album. 

Love it. All right, now for the ambush questions. What's in your fridge right now? 

Honestly, a lot of breakfast, sweet. I'm not even just plugging that. 


If a bunch of friends come over and they need to be fed immediately. What can you whip up and what would it be? 

So I just went to the market, and we got local honey. I got to lead with sourdough. I’d put out a charcuterie spread. I got espresso cheese the other day – actually really good. Gourmet. I love hosting, but I also honestly just love girl dinner. I make that for myself all the time. 

Live Nation gives you an unlimited budget to produce your own one-day festival. Give me 5 or 6 acts, you must have on it. 

We're gonna go Ella Langley. We're gonna go Leon Thomas. Post Malone. Myself? Can John Lennon come out? 


It's a great spectrum. If you could manipulate time and space, would you? 

Are we getting existential? What’s happening? 

Would you go back in time or forward in time? 

I think I would have to say go back in time. Just with the age of technology and more is more and AI and robot literal robots and flying cars, I would love to just go back, not have access to technology and see what simple times were like and send something by pigeon.
A message. 

Last couple of questions. If I find you at your most relaxed, your most peaceful – where are you? What are you doing? 

I'm big into meditating before bed, so probably post-10 minute meditation.
I have these very pretty mood lights in my little studio condo. Just be with myself in my own space. No phone, no technology, just being super present. Do you meditate without any aids? 
I use the calm app. Or I'll put on a frequency, 417 hertz specifically, I really like. 

If it works, it works. And you do that every day? 


I do. 

Wow. I would love a non-music recommendation. 


I think if someone came to LA, I would take them to Mel's, and I would get a strawberry milkshake, and French fries, and dip the French fries in the milkshake. Sweet and salty. 

How about a music recommendation? 


I've been really into Love Spells lately. I'm a big Naomi Sharon fan, specifically her album, Obsidian, is the soundtrack of the past 2 years of my life. 

Lastly, anything you want to end on, promo, shout outs, advice. 

Let me actually add, I have an app called Opal that locks me out of my phone because I use it a lot. 

I feel both happy and sad for us that that's now a thing. 

It's kind of crazy, right? 


I have advice. Be kind to one another, be happy, life is short, surround yourself with good people. Stream “breakfast,” drop the mic. 

Thank you so much.