Lauren Ruth Ward Interview
The new EP, her mind and the love for the planet.
Honored to have had the opportunity to do a short interview with Lauren Ruth Ward. Born in Baltimore on November 4, she now resides in Los Angeles.
Lauren’s first job was as a hairdresser at a salon, a job she still loves to do with private clients by opening the doors of her home.
Interesting soul and mind.
With a decade-long career behind her, today I want to reveal more sides of Lauren with you while we await the new EP and dates for this year's tour.
Lauren loves our planet earth and respects all living beings that inhabit it.
She completely uproots themselves from what society would like from her, both as a singer and as a person.
Her lyrics have the power to make you feel like you’re not alone, to give you energy and sometimes are even perfect for crying after a breakup.
I have already talked about Lauren in a previous article and many readers have written to me, ecstatic after having searched for them and listened to Lauren’s music. Consider this a second part, hoping to stir your curiosity even more.
Info before starting:
M: Michela.
LRW: Lauren Ruth Ward.
M: What are you expecting from this year and what your fans have to expect too.
LRW: This year I am working on a 6 song EP. 3 songs acoustically/solo/ soft. 3 songs full band. I’ve finished the overall concept, including specific prayers/messages for each song.
I have ideas on hand made merch for them. I'm in the process of designing the EPs artwork and am at various stages per song in the recording process. I am documenting it all on my phone and journal. I plan to share bits on Instagram and long form on my Patreon where i know you know the community is smaller but the energy is rich with intention and the kind of engagement is getting deeper into our personal world.
Trust is being cultivated there and im so grateful for that. Folks can also expect visuals. My dream is always to make a visual for each song. This is my aim, and my incredible resources have me feeling super hopeful and encouraged to leap the hurdles that come with being a semi indie artist.
M: Which aspect of being an artist it’s hard nowadays?
LRW: Because I have a day job and I am on an indie label, I have some funding!
My heart is a giving one, meaning i want to hire all of my incredible artist friends and give them their full rates. I hate to sound cliché but! Funding is my biggest hurdle.
I let my mind and heart do the idea-ing. And then i do the math and scale back what is possible considering many factors (not just money).
I’d say 80% of my ideas get accomplished which i am so proud of. I have incredible folks in my world that are the reason for this.
I’d also like to mention that i love this hurdle. My loss (or lack of funds or resources) is my gain. An example that feels so true is that i am an pretty solid tour manager. I would of never learned the many skills had i had a tour manager.
I apply these skills to my life in many ways, mostly spiritually. When i get my first tour manager, ill know how much they do hahaha ◡̈.
Ignorance is innocent, but it can be unkind to those around us. I’m grateful for all the hurdles that I have to overcome.
Once i've figure it out, I experience the betterment tenfold. Evolving is really all i'm trying to out of my time in this life.
M: How do you stay true to yourself when society wants to put you in a category?
LRW: Great question, first I discern a curious tone from one that just wants to bring me down under the guise of "a healthy debate".
Those folks, I do not engage with. But I encourage them to come back when they are actually curious. It's a simple as not attempting conflict resolution when you or the other party is still upset.
I love this quote… "Fly in with a rage, you'll always make a bad landing" and it never fails. sometimes that's people on the Internet and if they bully me, I block them, that is super simple for me. They are on their journey of evolution, but if it hinders my peace, then I am not available as a resource for them to evolve.
As far as society at large, there is so much injustice in the world being shown to us all of the time, at our fingertips. I have extreme boundaries around the amount of news that I take in and what specific news outlets I read. Sometimes I don't look at the news at all, and instead, I have the privilege of having multiple friends who gather the fax and relay the information to me without the Clickbait triggers.
This is wildly privileged, I will say again.
Sometimes my part is to donate my time, donate money, so many ways we can help.
Sometimes my part is to comprehend to my best what is happening and then take that information, go inside myself, and create art.
It involves a lot of checking in, and a lot of vocalizing boundaries. we must parent our nervous systems, and our artist selves.
M: How would you describe your mind?
LRW: This is a really cute question! I'm curious. I ask many questions. My curiosity wants to know people's truths, my truth, and i enjoy efficiency.
I don't attach hierarchical beliefs to efficiency findings. I use efficiency as a tool.
This is how i medicate. It's taken me a very long time to understand that because my brain naturally gets so much enjoyment from scanning my surroundings and creating efficient systems, that it is play that i need to mindfully incorporate. Most of my burnout is not physical, I have been blessed with a lot of physical energy thus far.
90% of the time i burnout it is from mental stimulation.
I know the signs and feelings well. It comes from the amount and the seriousness in which i take in information. Meditation has also helped the cons to this gift. When I am starting to feel burnout, I create moments for me and my mind to just play by doing the opposite of what is efficient. Most of what I do in play time I don't allow myself to monetize, that is always my intention, but sometimes cool shit comes out during playful mind time.
So I've learned to look at my efficiency findings as not the best way to do something, but just information. I experience the pros to the characteristic of my brain in my songwriting, I love getting deep into the angles of the story. The most fun part about all of this is I've only started to scratch the surface of understanding this part of my mind, there's so much more to learn.. this is my curiosity getting excited! lol
M: You love this planet, you take care of it. It’s really hard nowadays. Which habit to take care of it is the easiest and the hardest for you to keep?
LRW: Being mindful every single time you turn on the water faucet is incredibly easy, but of course it takes mindfulness...some other easiest things..
I define easy as fun / no-brainer/ bare minimum that everybody should do (if they have access of course) is going to refill grocery stores!
Broken record over here, so much single use plastic is used in our condiments, pantry items, all food!! It's f*cking crazy. My girlfriend and I make a date out of it. It's so much fun. I love soaking jars, labeling them, filling them, REfilling them!
I'm actually in the process of collecting vids of my before during and after to share for earth day. I'm not savvy w. influencer-esk vids but I think it's so important to show the world how easy fun and sexy it can be. I also think that we humans need to experience gratification, validation, we need to see our job finished, to feel encouraged to *do*.
I get it, if I worked in a factory, I would need to be the last person putting on the last little bit, this is a very real motivator for me. And this is one of my favorite parts about going to the refill grocery store, experience your empty recycling bin/trashcan… for weeks! we are also in no paper towel house, we use vintage handkerchiefs, which still 70 years later, happened to be in every antique mall for extremely cheap.
I do this because it's cute lol and I had so many for my grandmother's. But really you can just cut up an old sheet or towel that you're about to throw out.
You could throw 50 in a full load of laundry and theyll barely take up any room.
Same facts apply when you put them in your dryer, and no need to fold them, get a cute basket or just toss them in a drawer all crinkled. and lastly there are now 100s of companies that sell toilet paper made out of bamboo - a plant that grows extremely fast and requires minimal water, reducing deforestation, also hypoallergenic!
Really grateful for the time that Lauren dedicated to all these questions.
Hope you all enjoyed it like I did!
Lauren’s platforms:
All the love to everyone, thank you so much for reading.
Michela.
This interview is so good!! So many insights and unusual questions and deep answers. Lauren truly is one of a kind both as an artist and person.