Record World International met the Romanian artist Lucia during Mastering the Music Business 2021 in Bucharest in Romania. Lucia is one of the hidden gems in the Romanian pop scene. She was discovered on a YouTube video when she was just 17 years old in 2012. She learned to play piano from YouTube and just put up a video with her own song that exploded in the indie-pop world and became viral. She now has new management and was showcasing on MMB to broaden her team internationally.
“It was an amazing show that night on Expirat (the club where MMB showcases are held). I was glad we also played outside so the audience could relax and chill and really engage with the music.”
Lucia is not a newcomer to Showcases. She already performed at MMB three years ago and managed to get a spot-on the Indirect Showcase in Serbia and during the epidemic played on a bunch of online Showcases.
“The online Showcases are cool, but it’s really hard to get any feedback from them. I really like when you have the audience in front of you and afterwards you can have a drink with that person, I really like the relaxed environment during the Showcases at night. During the day it’s a lot of business talk. I feel the magic is happening in the night.”
After the viral hit, Lucia has released two albums “Silence” 2015 and “Samsara” 2018 and is now in the process of releasing her third album.
“I’m very proud of my second album”, Lucia says. “The first one was more like a test run. I think for artists the first album goes one or two ways. Either the first one is a really great one and everybody loves it. Then it’s really hard to follow that up. The other way is that it’s really bad and you start to evolve and start to make better music. I feel that is more what we did. The first one was not so good the second really good, and the third that is coming up now is excellent in my opinion. I guess the reason for this in my case was that I didn’t have any songwriting experience back then and with time I have evolved a lot in this field.”
The new album will start with an EP with five songs.
“ I feel like the new EP doesn’t really have the classic radio hit. Ok, in my opinion I think that they should all be played on the radio. They are though not in a classic format. Also, as an Indie artist in Romania, it’s hard to get into the playlists. I understand that the bigger commercial stations have a hard time taking a risk with songs like this could mean losing their audience and money on top of that. I hope though that the underground radio stations could do a better job and play more local artists.”
Lucia explains also that right now she has more fun making music. Before it was so serious now it’s more about enjoying the music. There are a lot of artists coming out of Eastern Europe right now. Many with good songs. Why is this happening now?
“I think the music industry here has been maturing over the past years. Right now, people are more prepared when they start working with the music and releasing product. I was a seventeen-year-old who hadn’t a clue how everything worked. I was very invested in the music industry, but now with all the new resources, I think the musicians are coming out with more confidence. That is why the past few years has been booming with the new great artists here in Romania.”
So why play on a Showcase festival like MMB, what are the expectations?
“If you don’t attend events like this one you are missing out on the interactions that you never would have the chance to have with professionals. There is nothing like in-person meetings. And also, that it’s live that is where the magic in music happens. I also want to present my music live for the professionals and that is what is happening here. I think this is the future of the music industry. DIY touring can be done but doesn’t really lead anywhere in the end being at a Showcase festival is a wise investment to make everything bigger.”