SAY LOU LOU! “Wong Kai-Wai” – OUT NOW
LADYGUNN had the amazing opportunity to chat with SAY LOU LOU about their new single, “Wong Kai-Wai.” After engaging in various ventures spanning acting, screenplay writing, and modeling over the course of several years, Swedish/Australian siblings Elektra and Miranda Kilbey, known as Say Lou Lou, have reentered the realm of music with a recent single titled “Wong Kar-wai.” Paying tribute to the esteemed director of the same name, the song features the twins’ gentle, intricately layered vocals seamlessly intertwining with dreamy, ethereal synths. This marks a delightful comeback to sophisticated dream pop for the duo.
Speaking about the track, Say Lou Lou expressed, “Desiring to be in a different place, away from the current surroundings, yearning for love to resemble a film or a dream—anything other than this weary, melancholic reality. Wong Kar-wai, a director adept at portraying yearning and enigma, a virtuoso of composition, captures the essence of how serendipitous encounters can shape the destiny one craves.”
“Wong Kar-wai” serves as a preview of Say Lou Lou’s upcoming project, Dust, scheduled for release on April 26th. This EP stands out as the duo’s most candid and sincere work to date, as the sisters experimented with a novel songwriting approach—utilizing their personal poems and diary excerpts as the foundation for the lyrics.
LISTEN TO “WONG KAR-WAI” HERE
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “WONG KAR-WAI” HERE
Welcome back to the music scene! ‘Wong Kar-wai’ marks a beautiful return to your dream-pop roots. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this single and what listeners can expect from the upcoming release?
Wong Kar-wai and the rest of the upcoming EP is essentially a collection of break-up songs, in various stages of grief, anger and remorse. Maybe even some hope? Wong Kar-wai is a ode to the director and his Hong Kong, and we used it as a fictional place where one would want to escape when everything in your life feels bland and disappointing, especially at the tail end of a relationship when things have soured.
After five years of exploring various ventures, you’re making a comeback to music. How did your experiences in acting and modeling influence the creative direction of your new music, particularly in ‘Wong Kar-wai’?
Taking a break from music really gave us perspective on the privilege and luxury of being able to do it in the first place, we needed the space to come back with more energy and excitement. Also, after acting and modeling we were missing the autonomy and agency of owning our project rather than being beholden to and executing other people’s vision, which can be so fun and freeing, but also scary for us control freaks.
The delicate vocals in ‘Wong Kar-wai’ are captivating. How do you both approach the layering and arrangement of vocals in your music, and how does it contribute to the overall atmosphere of your songs?
Love this question. Producing vocals is pretty much the most fun thing in the world. Extremely frustrating but incredibly satisfying to feel the song come alive as you begin to nail the performances. We usually begin with one of us tracking the entire song all the way through a handful of times, then we extract the best parts and put together a lead that will be the backbone for all other vocals. We’ve also been experimenting a lot with each of us using different mics, depending on the song. We almost always double track our vocals and try to create one voice out of our two. That double tracked one voice sound combined with layered harmonies is what creates a kind of ethereal and spacious sound, we’re loving the combo of that with a really crisp production.
How does personal style influence your music, and can we expect any unique visual elements in the upcoming music videos?
We love expressing ourselves through our style, whether it’s photography, styling, hair and make up, graphic design or the shoes we’re wearing. Everything speaks a language, and we love the process of collaborating with enigmatic people who add another dimension to our initial ideas with their experience and taste. You can expect juicy visuals, we’re calling this our sexy era 😉
With ‘Wong Kar-wai,’ you’re back on the tastemaker scene. How has the music landscape changed since your last release, and how do you see Say Lou Lou fitting into the current musical conversation?
There was hardly any social media when we started 2012, and when we put out our last record in 2018, TikTok was barely a thing. Everything is so so saturated, and there’s an incredible amount of content being created every minute, so it’s so much harder to break through the noise. In many ways, you could say its more democratic than it ever has been, but it also feels like we’re missing out a lot of beautiful art and talent because they can’t condense their message into virtual currency… To be honest, we’ve historically had a hard time with SM in general, screen time is so anxiety inducing for us. But we’re obviously realizing we have to adapt to the times and have fun with it, without doing anything that feels disingenuous.
How do you navigate the balance between critical acclaim and staying true to your artistic vision when creating new music?
We just follow our gut. Our first record wasn’t particularly liked by the critics but is by far the most popular, whereas our second was loved by critics but no one listened to it, lol. We don’t know how we feel about either of the records now, we’re just so excited about the candid and intimate nature of our new songs and that feels new for us.
How do your different perspectives contribute to the multifaceted identity of Say Lou Lou, and do they intersect in the creative process?
Two people, two lives, two hearts… Lots of stories. Even though we’re identical twins, our energies and perspectives are so vastly different, Say Lou Lou is the strange fusion of two people, if we made music independently from each other, we doubt they’d be much alike.
As you gear up for the release of ‘Wong Kar-wai’ on February 16th, can you give us a glimpse into what the rest of the year holds for Say Lou Lou? Any exciting collaborations, performances, or projects in the pipeline?
Music videos, finishing final touches on the full album and a spring of releasing new music! Can’t wait to share it with the world.,
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Words // Will Bollini
