holding onto u: the dreamy new single from electro-pop singer-songwriter Lunar June
Electro-pop singer-songwriter Lunar June shares her new single ‘holding onto u’, out everywhere on 2 March.
Already championed by BBC Radio 1 and with an All Points East 2022 festival performance under her belt, Lunar June aka Olivia Judd is in fact the writer, arranger, producer, and artist behind everything she’s touched to date. “Authenticity is a huge thing for me, I wouldn’t want to release something that I didn’t feel in my bones."
Olivia thrives off the ability to experiment with her music and the concepts and emotions she’s able to portray through her songwriting. The Brighton-based artist draws in her listener by telling stories with expressionism and relatability but with an angstful honesty at its core.
A quintessential anthem of early 20’s extensionalism, ‘holding onto u’ effortlessly combines elements of pop and electro, all wrapped up in Olivia’s captivating vocals. “I wrote the song in 2019 after I’d just finished my degree. I felt really lost and existential, and the uncertainty of being thrust into the big wide world was paralysing. holding onto u is about that struggle, but the chorus lyrics are a celebration of having good people in your life that are there for you and ground you through hard times, and about keeping them close, rather than pushing them away.
I was in the shower, humming away as per, and the chorus melody rolled off my tongue. I was immediately excited about it and hopped out and ran to my keyboard, still in my towel. The chorus and verses flowed and it was such a seamless process, and holding onto u was born. That doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it feels almost spiritual and otherworldly. Like receiving a message from something intangible.”
Born and raised in West London, Olivia grew up performing in orchestras and jazz bands, which she describes to be a pivotal lesson in understanding the importance of working and performing with other people; “It really made me appreciate the dynamic of playing with different people, and also to understand how the pieces fit together, and knowing when to play and when not to play.”
It was later in her teenage years that she began to uncover the exciting soundscapes of electronic music, and she set aside her acoustic guitar for synths and sample packs.
Taking great influence from artists such as Lorde, The Japanese House, London Grammar and Låpsley, Olivia began to mould and craft the sound of Lunar June: “Now more than ever there is movement and theatrics – I want people to feel it. I like to make people dance, and move, and connect. But I only ever want to write something that’s meaningful, rather than just singing empty words. I want the emotion and richness that comes with the folk music I grew up on, meshed with the movement, hooks, and infectious beats of the pop music that I adore today.”