Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Laura Marano

Laura Marano needs no introduction. The actress and singer-songwriter is crushing it in all the different facets of her life, whether that’s on the screen in projects like Austin & Ally, The Sarah Silverman Program, and The Perfect Date or in the studio releasing hit after hit accumulating more than two hundred million streams worldwide. Yes, you read that correctly: over two hundred million streams worldwide.

Last year, she celebrated a new milestone in her career as an independent artist with the release of ME. The seven-track EP found Laura reflecting inwards as she matured as an artist and woman. In 2020, she embarks on the YOU era, looking outwards and involving her fans more than ever. Pop Culturalist caught up with Laura to chat about her new single, “Can’t Hold On Forever,” and this exciting next chapter.

PC: You’ve had tremendous success throughout the different facets of your career, from your work on screen to music. How challenging is it to balance all the sides of your artistry?
Laura: Truthfully, it has been challenging. Having time to do everything that I want to do is really, really tough. I’m lucky and grateful to be working with so many incredible people, and they have their own schedules and calendars. When you get an acting project, it’s not like you can say, “Hey, I actually want to release music and go on tour. Could we push everyone’s schedule back on this project?” That’s not how it works.

During this time, it’s been interesting because I’ve had way more time and energy to spend solely on music. The film and television world is on pause, so it’s been funny for me to not have to do things on the acting side. I’ve put all my energy into my music. It’s been really helpful for my music, which is cool.

PC: When you look at your career, who or what has had the biggest influence either personally or professionally?
Laura: There have been so many things. I started acting quite young. I had the pleasure of working with so many people. I worked with Sarah Silverman on The Sarah Silverman Program. It was an amazing experience for me to see a woman in control and leading the show. Being able to have opportunities and experiences like that were helpful in informing me that it’s possible to run your own show, act in it, and do all these different things. Sarah also sang on her show. All the songs were hilarious. It was cool to see.

Doing Austin & Ally changed my music career. It let me have one because before that I had no real connection to the music industry. I’ve always wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a singer before I wanted to be an actress. Acting just happened. With Austin & Ally, it was my first time in a professional recording studio. It was my first time meeting managers and different record labels. I am so grateful for that experience. I’m obsessed with the cast and crew that I got to work with. That experience opened so many doors for me.

PC: Having started your career so young, what’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew back then?
Laura: When you start that young, you don’t realize you’re in a situation where you have a job. I had a professional job as a five-year-old, six-year-old, and seven-year-old, and so on. With that comes sacrifices. Some were easy to make; some weren’t. I remember I had a third-grade whale-watching field trip that I was so excited for, but I couldn’t go because I got a project. I remember being disappointed because I really wanted to watch whales. Who doesn’t as a third-grader? [laughs]

Growing up, that’s something that is a very real part of the business. It’s important to find those personal boundaries and those priorities in your life. As I’ve grown up and become an adult, I’ve been finding those boundaries for myself. It’s like, okay, when I’m putting 110% in my career, when am I taking time for myself, my family, and the special people in my life? That can sometimes be hard to understand and figure out when you’re growing up in this industry. It’s something that I think is necessary for all of us to figure out when we’re growing up and learning how to find that balance between your career and personal life.

PC: One of your main goals this year was to release music more consistently. Have you had to make any adjustments, given the situation that we’re currently living in?
Laura: Yeah. In some ways, for sure. I was supposed to go on tour this summer, which obviously can’t happen. It was going to be my first tour, and I was so excited about it. But to be honest, I’m all for “let’s be safe—let’s do everything as safely as we possibly can.” With music, the awesome thing is I can do half of the job, besides touring, and in-person live performances at home. I can record, write, and release music from home because of technology and the internet. I can perform while I’m at home. I’ve been doing all these performances. I feel like I’ve performed more than I’ve ever had to before, which is awesome! I feel so lucky that I can do my job and music at home. It can be a challenge to find those boundaries, like we were just saying. I feel like now that I’m at home, I’m working literally 24/7, but I’m so grateful that I can work and release content for my fans. I’ve been able to do things that I didn’t have time to do before with my music.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that 2019 was this time of self-reflection and your “me” era. What was the biggest lesson you learned about yourself during that time?
Laura: So many things. To put things in perspective, it was my first time releasing music independently. Prior to that, it’s always been with a label. There was always someone on the business/industry side who would look after certain things or took care of things. For the “me” era, I was the artist and the CEO. That was incredibly tough to balance and figure out. During that time, I learned how to be a better leader to my team.

As an artist, I learned the more consistent I can be with releasing music and connecting with my fans, the better. We live in a world now where artists are continuously releasing new music. We live in a different era of music, and that’s really exciting and cool. I’m excited for this era to consistently be putting out music and putting out content for my fans.

PC: As you head into the “you” era and the next chapter in your career, what do you hope to accomplish? What do you hope to get out of it?
Laura: To be honest, I just want to release music. I think for this “you” era, I want to engage and enlist my fans’ help to be a part of the creative process. For the “me” era, I was looking inward and figuring out what I wanted, aesthetically and sonically. For the “you” era, I want my fans’ input. I want them a part of the process and engaged in being a part of the aesthetic or picking what music video they want to see.

PC: As part of the “you” era, you released “Can’t Hold On Forever.” Tell us about the track and the inspiration behind it.
Laura: “Can’t Hold On Forever” is a funny one because I wrote it a little while ago. I wrote it in 2016. It’s such an important song to me for so many different reasons. I’d met very special people that day writing the song. The song itself is about holding onto a moment with someone and wanting so desperately to be with that person, knowing that the future might not be in their favor. Who knows what the future holds, but at least they have that moment, which I think is—especially in our world right now—always an important aspect of living in the moment.

What I like about it though, is that in some ways, it feels like the antithesis of “When You Wake Up.” “When You Wake Up” was the first single that I released in the “you” era, and it’s about looking towards a future that has a bit more stability with the right person. It’s saying I want to have a future with a different version of you. If you can’t give me that, then I’m walking away. “Can’t Hold On Forever” is like, “Give me you in the form you are in right now and I’ll take it. I just want this moment with you right now.” I liked the different versions of that conversation between the two songs, which is something that I’m really trying to explore and find within this era, which is the idea that there are two sides to every story and two perspectives to every situation.

I love “Can’t Hold On Forever” because the track is very intense, big, dramatic, and moody. It feels like this epic conversation. We brought the song into 2020 and what my sound is in 2020. We had a lot of fun in exploring a new sound and different things. It’s one of my favorite songs. I know for my older fans, they’ve known about this song for a while. They’ve been so excited and were freaking out that I finally released it.

PC: Like you said earlier, you’re trying to incorporate your fans more than ever. How do you do that without giving too much away?
Laura: It’s very challenging. I’ve been doing these “secret projects.” So far, I’ve enlisted their help on the aesthetic/visual side. I have some other plans to enlist more of their help outside of the visual aesthetic. For “When You Wake Up,” we had the You project. Fans submitted their artistic perspective/depiction of the word “you.” So they could just write the word “you,” they could draw a photo with the word “you”—it just had to include the word “you.”

Then for “Can’t Hold On Forever,” I had the secret Forever project, which had some similarities in the way where it was the word “forever,” but it had a little bit more specific directions. “When You Wake Up” was a bit more open-ended. I wanted to give everyone room to be creative.

For “Can’t Hold On Forever,” I wanted to do a lyric video, so we specifically needed a type and form of the word “forever.” I wanted to incorporate a lot more people with the word “forever” as well. Neither one knew what they were for. For “Can’t Hold On Forever,” since it’s a song that many of my fans knew, a few of them put two and two together. I was excited by how excited they were. They knew what the song was but they didn’t know what the project was.

It’s been cool to figure out ways to have them send me stuff and not give away what they’re sending it for. I’m excited for some of these other initiatives that I have coming up because they’re a little bit more than just visuals.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Laura: I feel like I’ve talked about all the different artists that I love. On my current playlist is everyone from Ariana Grande to Jessie Reyez to Frank Ocean, so it’s all over the place. I think that describes my music tastes perfectly.

PC: First album you bought?
Laura: One hundred percent, it was Britney Spears’…Baby One More Time.

PC: First concert you attended?
Laura: It’s very different. Dave Matthews Band when I was eleven.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Laura: The Beatles’ Abbey Road. It completely changed what I view as an album. Before that, growing up on pop albums—which I fricking love and are some of my favorites—it felt like song after song. But Abbey Road felt like a true collection of music that worked together and made something bigger.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Laura: Being a LA native, I would say the Staples Center.

PC: A must-have on the road?
Laura: Throat Coat tea. That is my go-to tea. I’m drinking it right now.

To keep up with Laura, follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify. Pick up or stream “Can’t Hold On Forever” today.