Ready for takeoff

On her debut full-length album, The Launch winner Olivia Lunny is spreading her wings

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Consider Olivia Lunny’s debut album an official introduction.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/07/2021 (1534 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Consider Olivia Lunny’s debut album an official introduction.

The 22-year-old, Winnipeg-born pop artist has been in the spotlight since 2019, when she placed first in CTV’s reality music competition, The Launch. She’s released singles and EPs since then, but her debut full-length, self-titled record is a showcase of her musical range.

“This album was a chance to artistically have some fun and show the listeners stuff they haven’t seen before,” Lunny says over Zoom from Los Angeles, where she’s working on a new batch of music. “I had the opportunity to tell a story and play with those ballads and more poppy songs.”

For someone drawn to emotional and personal songwriting, Lunny had to step outside her comfort zone in the studio — though the album, which came out July 9, still includes its fair share of sad ballads about breaking up and moving on.

“I worked with lots of different writers and… we tried writing songs that weren’t necessarily about my personal experiences, but about more general things,” she says. Lunny also collaborated with Grammy Award-nominated producers Boi-1da and Tommy Brown on several songs.

“There’s a really nice mix on this album of those introspective, intimate songs, but then we also have the really upbeat, happy pop songs — and I think we all need that right now because it’s been a wild time.”

The track Dominoes falls into the latter category. It’s a catchy love song set to a colourful stop-motion music video created by animator Stefano Bertelli. In the video, Lunny is a paper doll living in an intricate origami world.

“I’m so happy with how it turned out,” she says. “It’s so cool to see myself in animation form.”

Louis Browne photo
Winnipeg-born pop artist Olivia Lunny released her self-titled debut album earlier this month.
Louis Browne photo Winnipeg-born pop artist Olivia Lunny released her self-titled debut album earlier this month.

Her favourite song on the album is The Walls, which features her trademark acoustic guitar and breathy vocals. Lunny splits her time between Toronto and Winnipeg and wrote the song while out at the family cabin in Lake of the Woods.

“I picked up the guitar and I was in nature and it was quiet and that song just came out of me; it was a very therapeutic moment,” she says. “I guess it can be viewed during this whole COVID time too, longing for connection and not having that connection.”

Releasing her first album amid the pandemic has been cathartic. Like many musicians, Lunny has been grounded and isolated for much of the last year. She’s found inspiration in the chaos, though, and has been writing and collaborating with her team virtually.

“There was so much to write about and so many mixed emotions,” she says. “It feels very good to be coming out of that tunnel; I think we all feel that light, which is really amazing.”

Her debut album has been out less than a month and Lunny is already on to the next. She signed with Universal Music Canada following her liftoff with The Launch and is recording new music while preparing for her first-ever tour this fall (if pandemic restrictions allow) with a potential hometown stop.

(I’ve) been listening to the songs for about a year now, so when it finally comes out you’ve mentally kind of moved on from them,” she says. “I’m ready to write some new music.”

Her self-titled album is available on most major streaming services. Visit olivialunny.com for tour updates.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney

Louis Browne photo
During the pandemic, Olivia Lunny collaborated virtually with songwriter and producers for her new album.
Louis Browne photo During the pandemic, Olivia Lunny collaborated virtually with songwriter and producers for her new album.
Eva Wasney

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

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