Lights: The Road to Siberia

Lights talks about her latest album, Siberia, and her trademark comb-over hairstyle.

From small-town girl to international synth-pop superstar, there’s no doubt that Lights has come a long way since her debut album, The Listening, first hit the scene in 2009. Now, after selling more than 40,000 records in Canada and with a Juno Award for Best New Artist under her belt, Lights is back with the release of her sophomore record, Siberia. Youthink recently caught up with Lights to chat about her new album, her signature hairdo, the grossest thing she’s ever eaten and what she’d bring with her if she was dropped in the middle of Siberia.

YT: Your debut album The Listening was certified gold in Canada. Did you feel the pressure to live up to its success with your new record?

L: Yeah, totally! Especially because making your first record there are no expectations on your sound. No one is a fan yet so you can make whatever record you want. But suddenly, when you make your second record, not only do you feel like you have to live up to the quality of your first one, but there are people expecting something from you all of a sudden. I had to really get past that and just push myself out of my comfort zone and shed those expectations.


YT: It’s no doubt that Siberia sounds way more gritty and distorted than your last venture. What contributed to the discovery of this new sound?

L: Well, after dilly-dallying around for about a year trying to figure out where I wanted to go with the next record, I started to hear more gritty electro dubstep elements. It started to make me really fall in love with that intensity and that heaviness about electro music that I thought would be such a cool contrast to the softness that I’m generally inclined to write. My voice is soft, so bringing a bit of edge I thought would be a great contrast.


YT: It was awesome to hear a few dubstep drops on the album. We don’t really hear much dubstep from female artists these days. How does it feel to be bringing this music trend to the forefront for girls?

L: I never really thought once about whether girls are doing it… I just liked it. I guess that’s kind of the way I’ve always lived my career. It is definitely a male-driven industry and the best thing that any female can do is pretend that’s not the case.


YT: What were some of your influences for Siberia?

L: There’s a couple of really cool places that this came from… the heavier electro elements, I was listening to like Scream and Crystal Castles [which brought] a bit of a darker edge to the electro. Visually, I was really inspired by this one art book with visual art by Clyde Caldwell, who does art for Dungeons & Dragons, Magic Gathering and Heavy Metal magazine. It’s like fantasy art and I brought this book into the studio every time I was writing… and it was just inspiring and it helped me get into this headspace where I could get into another world and just create based in another atmosphere.


YT: A few months ago, you were in a YouTube video making fast-food meatloaf with the guys from Epic Meal Time. How was it?

L: That was delicious, I will say. It was awesome!


YT: What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever eaten?

L: I grew up overseas and I’ve spent some time living in the Philippines and they do have an interesting eating culture. One of the things I had, I actually saw on Fear Factor years later. It’s called “balut.” It’s basically a little chicken fetus in an egg and you eat it. It’s the look that’s more off-putting than anything.


YT: You’ve managed to make the comb over stylish with your trademark hairstyle. How would one re-create your signature ‘do?

L: (laughs) It’s basically just that I blow-dry it off to one side… I just back comb the roots of it to lift it up and I use a lot of hairspray. Actually, over the years, I’ve just trained it into a comb over so it kind of almost naturally stays that way.


YT: As an ode to your album title, what three things would you bring if were dropped in the middle of Siberia?

L: (laughs) I would get the most massive, most expensive parka I could find and I’d live in that. I would bring a bunch of huskies and a sled to get around. And probably just a big satchel of gummies because you can still eat them when they’re frozen and they give you energy.


YT: What have been some of your proudest accomplishments?

L: One of the major accomplishments... is this record. Making a second record and doing exactly what you want to do despite any adversity… There’s also little things along the way that make you feel happy, like the Juno that came in 2009, which was just a big pat on the back.