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Photo by Wyatt Knowles

Some musicians feel like they directly stepped out of a classic film, and Tiger LaFlor is one of them. Her debut EP HOLLYWOODLAND plays like a dramatic black and white film; complete with epic swells, western twang, and a flair for the retro. The EP artwork commits to the vision wholeheartedly, paying homage to a worn vintage vinyl cover, creating the illusion that you're picking up a hidden gem at Tower Records back in the 70's. We sat down with this visionary artist to deep dive on her very specific creative process: 

OnesToWatch: Who are you? Why are you an artist? 

Tiger LaFlor: It's always what I've been supposed to be. It's always what I wanted to be. Even in 5th grade, they asked everyone what we wanted to be when we grew up and my answer was a rock star or an ice cream taster. 

I feel like there's a very thin Venn Diagram of rock stars that are also good at ice cream tasting. 

I think Keith Richards used to just eat a pint of ice cream every day. 

Heaven forbid your musical talents left your body, is there an alternate career? Is there something else you could see yourself doing? 


Now, this is a boring response, but definitely a creative director. They’re artists, and they get to control the aesthetics of the world that’s being built. That’s one of the things I love most about being an artist, is really getting to creatively direct the entire world, to think about the merch and the music videos, all the visual side of things. I've always found it almost as compelling as the music side. 

Let's get into your songwriting process. You've been doing it for a minute. Songwriting is always a journey. Where are you at now? Are you doing something differently? 


I'd say I'm really interested for the next project to do something that feels more vulnerable with the songwriting. For a long time I was a songwriter almost through a character lens. The songs and projects I put out were highly conceptual. And I'm really interested – on my debut album – to dive into my own life. I've always written about my own life, but there's been a very thick concept between my own life and the stuff I've put out.

From what I know of your music, I would have thought it was very auto-biographical and intimate.

Yes, but there’s a separation. My first record, it was very old Hollywood inspired. I almost had this vision of: who would Tiger LaFleur be? It was about my own life, having first moved to LA and gone to all these crazy parties, but it was also heightened through this lens of who I would be if I was an old Hollywood character. So songs like “James Dean” are talking about things that didn't happen to me, parties out in Palm Springs and stuff that I never attended – even though I was going to parties, they were just in the Hollywood Hills or whatever. And with “Drugstore Cowgirl,” it was also about my own life and my own road trip from Seattle to LA. But there was this entire storyline of being a cowgirl in the Pacific Northwest.
And then with HOLLYWOODLAND, it was almost the same thing. It was about my own experience in Los Angeles, but also imagining I was a 1970s movie star. So it was always based on my life, but there was a whole storyline that I put on top of it. So now, I want to write a record where there’s not a mask between my life and the delivery. 

There's a lot to that. What’s your usual process? Are you beginning with a story or finding that later? 

Because the vision's so specific, the songwriting process has always been hyper specific. Maybe I'm the only one who does this, but when I was writing with co-writers, I would bring them an entire deck to show what the project and the world is. 

You are a creative director. 

Honestly, it is a lot like a creative director’s vision. I would show them the storyline of our character, here's the movie trailer if this record was written out. Like with HOLLYWOODLAND, I wrote out an entire trailer for the EP, written in the style as if it was a Quentin Tarantino movie. I had a mood board of what I'm gonna be wearing in the finished shoot. This is our character, this is how she dresses, this is her vibe. With Drugstore Cowgirl, I had an entire plot line and scene we were writing to that described the journey of this cowgirl. So when co-writers come in the room, they know exactly what we're writing to. So it's super specific, which I think is the only way we've been able to execute something so niche, but I'm excited to find out what my music would sound like if I threw that hyper specificity out the door and wrote from my heart.

Well, now I'm curious. But let's get into your latest project, HOLLYWOODLAND. Explain the creative direction behind it. 

Sonically, I really wanted to capture the 60s and 70s sonics of some of my favorite bands, specifically ABBA, the Bee Gees, those were 2 of the main ones. 
And then I wanted to throw in some Western Chris Isaac vibes in there too and kind of marry that world sonically. Visually, I really wanted to capture the same 60s and 70s Laurel Canyon, old Hollywood. For the styling, Bob Mackey, rest in peace, was a huge inspiration. Dolly Parton was a huge sonic reference for me too. Also, rest in peace. I wanted to really bring these influences to life. 

How many songs did you have to narrow down to?

I think we probably wrote, realistically, 70 songs. I was in sessions every day for 4 months of my life. HOLLYWOODLAND was the first time I had the opportunity of people really wanting to write with me and so I just said yes to everyone and made a ton of music. Obviously narrowed it down to the 5 songs that are on it. 


Did you enjoy that? The speed dating songwriters? 

Actually, I really liked it.
I did not feel burnt out. I honestly loved it because I feel like everyone has something so unique they bring to the table and I was just trying to learn from everyone. I picked up a lot from the people I got to work with. 

Beautiful. I'm obviously a fan of the record, hence why you're here. What do you hope that the audience takes from it? 

I hope they enjoy it. I'm always excited by how the music becomes the soundtrack to moments in people's lives, post-release. For example, I have a song called “LASSO THE MOON” that ended up being in a lot of people's weddings. That's always the coolest moment, is seeing how the songs come to life for other people. I don't think anyone's gonna listen to the record and be like, oh, what a cool hybrid of all the references that I loved. But I think that the songs will go on to find their place on people's playlists and become the soundtrack to cool things in their life which I'm excited about. 


Gonna pivot to some more fun questions, hopefully. You are at your place of residence, could you whip up a meal for some friends with everything you have in your fridge right now? 


Oh, that is a great question. Depends how much they like protein products. My entire fridge looks like a gym bro’s. It’s protein drinks, protein bars. If I had to cook them something, it might boiled chicken. I have hard boiled eggs. I don't even have chicken. I have some creatine gummies for them. It'd be horrible. 

Your answer kind of begged this question. What is your fitness routine? 

I go to a weightlifting gym and a run club many times a week. Running and lifting. 

What do you do for recovery? 


I do nothing to recover. I wanna get a massage gun. 

If you are at your most relaxed, your most cozy. What are you doing? 

Probably a sound bath or meditation or reading a book. Those are my 3 wind down activities. I almost never watch TV. I like reading a lot. 

You are promoting your own festival. Who's on the lineup? 

I have some niche artists that I really like. Love Spells. I love Wallice. I love Debbie Dawson. I love Cigarettes After Sex, Lana Del Rey.
Leon Bridges.

I would love a non-music recommendation. 

I always butcher the name of this book. How to Break the Habit of Being Yourself. I've been recommending this to everybody I know.

Is it as intuitive as the title suggests?

It's really about taking your self-concept and being able to change it, the things that you dislike, which, for me, a part of that was that I never grew up loving performing. And I recently have gotten a lot of opportunities to go on tour and perform and I was like, how am I going to fix this? So I got that book at Barnes and Noble, and after reading it, it's actually been working. 

I’d also love a music rec. 

Off the top of my head, Avery Cochrane is an artist that came out of the Seattle music scene and so it's been inspiring to see other artists going down the same path as me. I feel like Seattle hasn't had much going on since the 90s, so it's exciting to see more and more of the people I grew up with. 

Lastly, we want to end on your words. 

I have a Christmas EP coming out called Once Upon a Wintertime that I'm excited about. It's featuring some original Christmas music, which was a tough thing to write, honestly. 

Thank you so much! 

Listen to HOLLYWOODLAND below: