About Lola
Artistic expression is inextricably linked with self-evolution for singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lola Balter. As the 17 year-old musician eyes graduating high school and navigates the wilds of adolescence, she takes solace in songwriting.
“People often ask me why don’t I write happy songs—I would love to, but I’m just not inspired to write when I’m happy,” the Vancouver, B.C. Canada-based artist says with a good-natured laugh. “Songwriting is a coping mechanism for me. I channel hard emotions into songs, and get a product out of pain.”
Tucked into insightful songs of heartbreak, social commentary, and interpersonal relationships are Lola’s own stories. The inspiration may be personal, but the songs brim with universal truths. Today, Lola is releasing a steady series of singles seeding a path to her debut album.
Lola’s sweetly melancholy indie-pop is inspired by Fiona Apple, Alex G, Slow Pulp, and Big Thief. Informing her vocals are years of formal training and singing along to big-voiced balladeers like Alicia Keys, Adele and Lady Gaga. Yet, Lola masterfully uses her vocal chops in service of a restrained sensibility with slow-burn lead vocals and soothing layers of harmony vocals.
Since 2022, Lola has released 8 singles and built a robust new-artist profile. She has amassed 700,000 cumulative listens and 30K average monthly listens on Spotify. Currently, Lola is a regular performer with Sofar Sounds.
Lola came up winning many regional talent contests, busking around Vancouver, and performing at various Canada Day Celebrations. Her performance debut came at the age of 7 when she wowed her family by singing the Frozen song, “Let It Go” in 25 languages. Upon hearing her prodigious vocal talent, Lola’s parents enrolled her in voice lessons where she fell in love with music and found it to be her calling. By the age of 11, Lola was writing songs.
Lola’s career began to gain traction with the release of her second single, “Knock On Wood,” and she built on that momentum through consistently issuing well-crafted songs every two months. In the summer of 2023, Lola was accepted to the competitive NYU Summer Contemporary Voice Program which ended up being a transformative experience.
Select highlights in Lola’s program of singles include, “Willpower,” “S.O.A.P.,” “I Don’t Even Think About You Anymore,” and “Knock On Wood.” There is a comforting indie-folk sensibility to “Willpower” with its fingerpicked acoustic guitar accompaniment, dreamy harmony vocals, and its tasteful atmospheric instrumentation. The song is a thought-provoking critique of social media’s unhealthy influence on body imaging. Lola sings: Watch that mirror girl/You never know when it might change/Keep yourself busier Distraction is the best way to forget your own name. “S.O.A.P.” is intriguingly subversive, slipping in rawly emotive lyrics (the title is an acronym for “shell of a person”) within an ultra-hooky indie pop-rock song.
Lola sends a message of encouragement to her future self on the sublime, “I Don’t Think About You Anymore,” which features her delicate vocals lavished with lyrical slide guitar and ethereal ambience. Lola’s words here exude a dark optimism. She sings: I wanna change/But I know that there’s conditions/Who do you wanna be and what do you want. The stunning “Knock On Wood” is a stirring ballad showcasing Lola’s expressive but elegantly restrained singing in a voice and piano setting with a powerful outro featuring full band accompaniment.
College is up next for Lola, and she has her hands full with university applications while also determinedly pursuing her music career. Contemplating it all, she says: “Sometimes it feels like a double life, but sometimes these two worlds collide, like when people at school share with me my music resonates with them,” Lola says. “When people feel my music, that feels like artistic success.”
