Ready to set alight to the alluring glow that is Lizzy Jane as she gives us the cue to Ignite, while we finally get to cherish the beaming gem of her anticipated debut EP with the prestigious label DOME OF DOOM. The vibrant voice of Lizzy Jane prospers through the noise and shines a luminous light for anyone longing for hope. Although it may be a scary, unknown journey Lizzy Jane reminds us that the only way to pass through the darkness is to ignite the flame and walk on through.
And before you extinguish the flame, stay by as Electric Hawk had the opportunity to sit down with Lizzy Jane to get a further look into her astounding EP!
“The meaning behind the ‘Ignite’ title is quite literal – to (cause to) start burning or explode. When I began this EP in the midst of a pandemic, I felt lost, hopeless, without the ability to control my own future, and – thus – left in a very dark place. It was bigger than the pandemic. It was larger than the industry we know and love full of life & music being shut down. It was a yearning call to address the art I knew I wanted to create vs what I was actually creating… and I think a lot of people can relate to a point in their life in which they felt all of the things I was feeling….The only out is through. It was time for a change and I wrote this EP in full to express my definitive moments in time throughout this process. I created this body of work to give the Lizzy Jane project a platform for musical freedom moving forward.”
– Lizzy Jane
The only way to see through the darkness is to Ignite a flame
From a seamless journey, Lizzy Jane takes the audience through three different phases for us to experience. A project that is carefully curated for us to take in from beginning to end to encounter the full message. An intertwined balance of light and darkness that anyone can fully divulge in their personal experiences. Lizzy Jane weaves us through a memorable exploration of ourselves and the only way to find growth is to encounter both sides.
Dusk to Midnight
As the light diminishes on the horizon, our eyes wander to the shadows starting to overtake us. While we walk through, the shine disappears and becomes “Washed Away” into the darkness. Slowly, the sensation overwhelms us as we feel our voice weaken the longer we stay. Through the roars and rushes of chromatic patterns swarm around us, our eyes notice an extending hand in the chaos. Once our hand grabs ahold of the stranger’s kindness, suddenly a sense of relief overtakes our body and everything begins to evaporate. Although the stranger is nowhere to be found, we hear the echoing words “Where You Are” gather us back to the center.
The eerie echoing surrounds us as we find ourselves back on our feet. “Where You Are” brings this elixir remedy back into our bodies. Through the sonic crunches and pounding basslines, the track reignites that fire inside, a reset to our mentality of where we currently are. Lizzy Jane guides us through the shadows until we can ourselves. After a kind gesture, we notice a beaming light in the distance glowing for us to explore.
Midnight to Dawn
Now, fully aligned, we have a goal of seeking the light at the end of the tunnel. Through “U&ME” we witness this elaborate shift in tones. This time feeling empowered in our path rather than fearing the outcome. Lizzy Jane delivers a radiant track, that shares those elements of feeling rejuvenated after being stranded in the darkness for so long. From harmonizing plucks and chromatic airwaves, “U&ME” shares a whimsical alteration in our perspective. Now we finally have this “Connection” to our inner power.
Before leaving, Lizzy Jane brings us an overall embodiment of how we can move forward. “Connection” leads us to this reminder that there is an inner light within ourselves – all we have to do is connect back to it. Through the epic climax and spiritual melodies within the track, it brings a chilling conclusion to allow the audience to reminisce on their journeys. From all the darkness, there is always going to be that lingering light at the end of the tunnel. All we need to do is search and ignite that spark through all the rough times.
In Conversation with Lizzy Jane
seradopa: Let’s start with how relieving it must feel to finally release this project? Especially doing it your way and with no restraints or anything.
Lizzy Jane: It feels like a very big weight lifted off my shoulders! Only because it was not necessarily a risk, it’s just songs I had held on to, and we’re trying to piece together for so long!
We had to try and find a home for this multifaceted multi-genre EP that didn’t necessarily sonically represent exactly what my discography sounded like thus far. Even though I had dabbled in drum and bass and melodic EDM, the majority leaned towards the heavier side of traditional dubstep, which I still love.
It was very difficult to look at a label and say, this is where this belongs. I knew that the label that this went to if we didn’t do it independently, would have to be all in on the project and really liked the record itself or really like me. In the climate that we’re in that show many artists either write songs, specifically to live on labels, which I have done before, and I still do now, or you’re looking to really work with a label exclusively. I know that this record was not the case to live in those two different scenarios. We had a very, very, very hard time placing the record.
If the record was sonically very similar to my past sonography or fit the mold of your traditional electronic dance music label, it would have come out much sooner. Summer 2023, I just said eff it, I want to do it my way. I don’t even care if it comes out independent at this point. And we started trying various singles with different distributors. I released “We’ll Be Fine” and “Heartbreak” with a distro, and I was understandably recognized that releasing with a distributor isn’t like me. It’s different than a label and a labels team being on board and having that either marketing investment or having just another set of eyes or another team to say we’re going to push this here. And I have this idea to really bring things to life and let’s do this mix and this is my network.
In December of last year, I reconvened with an old person who used to help with the musical part of my project. I brought the project to him and he said, “You should send this to Wiley at DOME OF DOOM.” It’s not necessarily what fits on DOME OF DOOM but DOME OF DOOM is a hybrid label that releases a ton of different genres. I expressed my vision to him. Even though it’s a conceptual record, I knew I wanted to release the singles, one by one.
This record granted me musical freedom and Wiley understood that and said, “You know, we are not a label that does the farming streams and is going to throw money to get you placements here.” And I said, I didn’t want any of that and we just went to it!
Thankfully, we got really lovely coverage – playlist-wise and write-up-wise from the first single coming out in February, which you guys premiered. Everything from, Electric Hawk to edm.com to Brownies and Lemonade to Dancing Astronaut has supported it. We have a very exciting coverage coming out next week that is like the biggest support I’ve had to date with a lovely woman named Lisa [from Forbes]. We’ve gone in-depth about not only myself and the EP but what the future of the project looks like.
Now it’s out into the world. People can interpret it how they want, they can listen to it how they want. They know the message and meaning behind it in terms of it being an EP about self-discovery, being authentic to your true self, and going from dark to light. It really is going to be a record that grows over time. We have remixes coming out and we have some stripped, acoustic versions of the singles that came out. It’ll give various winds to the EP, from now to the rest of 2024!
seradopa: It’s funny because we have a closer connection than everyone else! I’ve listened to this record so many more times from the beginning stages to where it is now.
Lizzy Jane: And it has changed a bit too! You’ve heard it when it was just singles and demos. And now it’s done and it’s been remixed, remastered a million times! Now we are in the process of making mock-ups for merch that we’re going to drop next month. We are doing small limited runs, but doing it all off the lyrics from the EP, and it’s very cool and fun and I love it!
seradopa: It was funny because I was thinking about how when I first listened and then relisten to it when it came out Friday. And listened to it again today, I got a different story each time. How cool is it to hear other people’s perspectives of the EP change depending on the listener’s mood that day?
Lizzy Jane: I believe each single, even the interludes, some people have reached out to me and said the outro is their favorite song on the EP. I feel each song has a different emotion, it really does. Whether you’re listening to it and you’re pissed off and angry or sad or you’re happy or you’re with a loved one; I think that every record can be perceived differently. And that is 100% how I intended it to be.
You can either be making memories to “U&ME” with a loved one or best friend, or you’re coming home from the rave. Or you’re getting ready for a pregame and putting on “Where You Are.” Or you’re listening to “Washed Away” and trying to grieve and cope with a loss or sadness. Wherever your mind is at, I’ve done everything from listening to the EP and being like, “Okay, I’m like not feeling it today” to listening to the EP and just starting bawling my eyes out!
[Laughs]
A lot of it is you. What’s the environment that you’re listening in? Are you listening to it on a road trip? Are you listening to it in the car? Or are you listening to it on YouTube TV when you and your friends are getting ready to go out? Everybody’s reactions are going to be different.
But over time, the memories and experiences are made to those songs. It’s hard to say, what makes a song super important to a listener. It’s up to them to decide whether that’s their go-to song for this situation or when you’re with this person. If any of those songs make it into that rotation to just one person.
I feel I’ve succeeded because I think that a lot of the lyrics are really easy to attach yourself to. “U&ME”, is a very campfire song – like I know the words and I’m ready to go and sing it. Whereas, “Washed Away” on a first listen would be like, “Okay, what is this about?”
There’s screaming and ambient bass, not necessarily heavy dubstep but emotionally tasking drops that also have this haunting melodic aura. Now, there are blogs and interviews where I’ve talked about the actual meaning of “Washed Away” and the meaning of feeling voiceless and how that can really apply to so many things in life. Whether you’re talking about Roe v. Wade, or whether you’re talking about being in a relationship where you feel you don’t have a voice. That’s where I believe it takes more of an invested mind and listener to listen to it.
And the response and the support were way better than I could have imagined. That was just a bonus!
seradopa: What would your advice be to anyone who wants to ignite the light back into your life?
Lizzy Jane: I would just say a very short, simple answer is trusting your gut. Everything that you do, your intuition is incredibly sacred. And a lot of people choose to listen to other people instead of listening to themselves. You are only going to know what is best for you at the end of the day. And that doesn’t mean that you’re perfect. Everyone is human, everyone is going to make mistakes, and everyone is going to have a different journey. While you definitely can learn from other people’s mistakes, you have to know failure is not a bad thing. Making conscientiously poor decisions is probably not a good thing.
[Laughs]
If you put your best foot forward, and it doesn’t work out, you can learn from it. I would say as far as igniting that fire in you – you usually know what you need to do. You just have to wake up every day and hold yourself accountable. Trust your gut, surround yourself with people who fulfill your life, and challenge you to be better. That’s not always easy, especially working in the music industry. You have to hold your energy very, very sacredly because energy is very easily expandable.
When you’re in certain social climates, whether you’re going to a festival or you’re in a certain friend group, if you start to feel drained, listen to yourself. You are the only one who knows what’s best for you, period. When you find clarity in that sometimes it takes work. Sometimes it takes really hard conversations and hard decisions. But it usually is for the better. And then you wake up one day and you say, “Okay, I did this. And it was really difficult.”
Releasing the EP was really difficult. A lot of people said, “you should be writing music for someone else, you shouldn’t ruin what you’ve already done, you should be staying in a sonic lane, you should be, you know, keeping a certain look and doing this.”
And I said, no.
It was very difficult and I had the right people around me to support me doing this. Although, I had to readjust the people around me to support me in doing this. Now, I have people I’ve never seen before messaging me about my music and blogs that I’ve never seen before, doing write-ups without me asking because they genuinely like it.
Life is hard, it’s not supposed to be easy. If it was easy all the time, then it just wouldn’t be as fulfilling. Everything worth having is hard to obtain. And as you grow, you grow out of being with certain people, you grow out of working with certain individuals, you know? It’s okay. Then you meet other people who you grow into. That’s part of life. I believe just not settling for where you’re at because it’s easy, is also difficult, because I believe we’re very privileged too.
Especially with everything that’s happening in the world, where we live every day, regardless of what people say, we live a very privileged lifestyle in the United States, we do. With that, people take comfort and easiness, and they don’t necessarily take advantage of it. And if that works for you, that works for you.
I’m not built that way.
It takes putting yourself in uncomfortable situations to continue to grow and reach new levels. If you’re that type of person, it’s okay. Sometimes it really hard, but it’s all temporary. Everything in life is temporary and time heals a lot. That’s kind of what this EP is really about. And I hope that as people listen to it over and over again, they can hear it.
Lizzy Jane is ready to level up and escalate into new freedoms
Already exceeding our expectations with her talents, Lizzy Jane has come a long way since we had her on our Hawk Eye Watch List in 2023. From performing at Red Rocks with Gryffin, expanding her voice through her podcast, to more recently getting to perform at EDC Las Vegas, Lizzy Jane continues to shine. And this is still only the beginning of where we expect to watch her grow in the space. Her debut EP is already getting recognition from five different editorials and is progressing to touch many more spirits.
Naturally, Lizzy Jane is a radiant star who always has support from the Electric Hawk team. For now, we are thrilled to witness where she ascends to next, and over here at HQ will Ignite that flame continuously with her debut EP below!
Keep Up with Lizzy Jane
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Looking for new music? Keep up with our weekly Spotify Playlist, Fresh Hunts. Updated every Friday with all the latest releases. Whether it’s the newest drops from Lizzy Jane, all your favorite artists, some old-school, or underground…we just want you to hear it.
