Lei Dominique's Nostalgic Tear
Photography by Mimi Ezinne
Lei Dominique’s newest EP, Nostalgic Tear, meets at the cross-section of revitalization and reflection. Packed with pure intentions and intoxicating hooks, the five-track EP feels like letting everything go and surrendering to the moment, which was part of Lei’s process over the seven years it took to finish the project. Part of this time was eaten up by a vocal injury (that turned into a huge motivator), but a big part was Dominique learning to trust in herself and her growth.
The last few years have shaped Lei Dominique as a person and, in turn, as an artist, and this EP embodies that change. Embracing what feels natural is in her DNA and sharing her experiences motivates her. Nostalgic Tear is another part of Lei that she’s choosing to share; themes like feelings gained and lost, moving on, and more can be found between her honeyed lines. Her sensitive, lilting voice cascades over bouncy, playful beats produced by Loqum, Bloozy, and Chris Ray, showcasing her collaborative strengths.
We caught up with Lei a few weeks after the drop to talk about all things Nostalgic Tear, including how the EP’s name came to be and the years leading up to the release. Read our conversation below.
Thanks so much for sitting down to talk! You’re fresh off the release of your new EP, Nostalgic Tear. How are you feeling following the release?
I feel really good because the love that I put in to this project is the love that I’m receiving back. I think a lot of the times when you create stuff, you can pretty much leave it open for interpretation, but I was super intentional about the energy I put into these songs.
Speaking of intention, can you speak to how the name of the EP came to be?
Okay, so Nostalgic Tear… Well, I started making music in 2015/2016 in high school. And I remember we had went on a summer family trip, and we were going down to South Beach. We were listening to, that’s what we do even to this day, old radio theater, and I just remember it was a voice that was like, “they’re crying nostalgic tears,” and that just kind of stuck with me. And then, fast forward to now, it’s like I’ve been through such a growing period over the last seven years so it’s just about reflecting on past things, whether good or bad. It’s not about being sad. It’s about reflecting and moving forward.
“I just feel like that’s the whole point, reflect on things, feel, cry, laugh, feel what you need to feel, and then let go and move on and move forward.”
Since we’re kind of on the topic of inspirations already, what sounds inspire you?
In terms of sound, well, I think what inspired me a lot well, I didn’t have anything in mind. I feel like I always approach things [from] I don’t want to sound like anyone else. Of course, you’re going to get inspired by other people, but I’ve always tried to make sure to think what is Lei trying to say? What is Lei’s sound? Me and Castle, my engineer, we’re some weirdos. It’s sometimes when we don’t listen to anything at all. Like this week, I’ve barely listened to any music because I’m going to the studio, so I’m literally like coming up with my own sounds [when I go]. For this album, in particular, it was a lot of that.
I feel like a lot of inspiration was also from my friend Loqum, who’s from Turkey and moved to the U.S 6 years ago and Chicago two years ago. So much of it is like his culture, and his sound was heavily influential, and my friend Chaz too. I feel like because they already had the beats made, it was a few [beats] that I sat in on. Like I sat in on the Be My Lover, the first one. The second one was already made, I sat in on the last three. But in general, I feel like overall, I’m always thinking of Kelela like I love this lady named Kelela so much. Her sound is so amazing to me. I’m always trying to intersect alternative with R&B. I’m always trying to be super weird, super different, but still bring it back to what people can digest.
Can you speak to the collaborative process with the producers/engineers?
Well, first of all, I always have to credit Sydny August because, in the music industry, I feel like people are like very like, ‘oh, my gosh, this person does this for me, and I don’t want anybody else to use them.’ But like I literally tweeted, ‘I need an engineer’ because I had an amazing engineer, but he even said, ‘for the sound you’re going for, I think you need to find someone else that would best suit you.’ And I appreciate him for saying that.
So I just tweeted it, and then Sydny quoted me this guy, and he told me he’d do my first one, and after that, he’d give me his rate. He took this song that someone else had engineered, and I heard it, and I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is crazy.’ The stuff that I used to think sounded good… Castle really elevated my sound for sure.
How does your creation process play into your collaborative one? And vice versa?
I definitely do not do it all myself. Sometimes I’ll come into the studio, and I will just have a sound already because I hear music. I just need to learn how to actually produce it. I am a vocal producer, but I need to learn how to do the other part. Sometimes it’ll be times where they already have something they’ve been thinking with me in mind, or I’ll just sing something, and they’ll make a beat around it. And I think collaboration. I value collaboration because Castle, Loqum, Chris Ray, and Bloozy are different from me, all these guys are different from me, all these women that I work with are different from me, and we come together and make something unique. And I feel like that’s the beauty of the world in general. We’re all individuals, and we all can bring and create something and learn from each other.
If you could choose one of your songs to have on repeat while getting ready one day, which one would it be? (for one hour)
“So what!” Because “Myself Again” would get on my nerves. I think it’s because it’s my first debut song… “Myself Again” would kill me [laughs]. “So What” is a vibe, “So What” for sure.
What does “Nostalgic Tear” mean or represent for Lei Dominique as an artist?
I feel like this EP for me… it’s for myself first. Knowing that I can complete something that I put my mind to. Bigger than the music, I just wanted people to know that it took me seven years to make this. I had this in my mind since 2015, and I did give up a lot of times, but I didn’t fully quit. Literally, in January, I was telling my friends, I think I’m just done with music because I was in such a bad creative rut, and my vocal cords were so bad. And I literally just recently sang those last two songs like I ended up having two songs to three songs to seven songs. It’s just so crazy. I’m glad that after a lot of crying, self-analyzing, and prayer, I just was like, ‘you know what? Like, girl, you’ve been doing this for so long, you cannot give up now. You have to get this out there just to prove to myself and inspire others to keep going.’ I feel like nowadays we see everything so microwaved… somebody comes out of nowhere, and they blow up. But I just feel like we see people’s endings and accomplishments, but we never see the in-between. I’m really a private person, but I have been trying to be more transparent. If I never post anything bad, it will look like I’m just having the time of my life as I deal with things, and that’s why I really wanted to talk about my vocal injury and how that’s a hard situation. And I kept going- and not by myself. God, my friends, and really speaking to myself and positive affirmations because your thoughts, what you think is more important than what anybody else thinks because you’ve got to be with yourself 24/7. I’m still retraining my brain to just be more positive.
We’ve talked a lot about being intentional. Is there something specific that you would want listeners who are just now tuning in to take from the EP?
Well, since I touched on the positive stuff and rewiring your brain, I would say another intentional point was moving on. I think that I realized, from 2015 to 2018, that I was so depressed, and my anxiety was through the roof. And looking back, I was in the same mental rut for three years, like the same thing. Once you finally notice yourself out of it, you’ve got to stay out and stay on top of it. Sometimes it’s day by day, and sometimes it’s minute by minute. I just feel like that’s the whole point, reflect on things, feel, cry, laugh, feel what you need to feel, and then let go and move on and move forward.
What’s next for you?
A music video is planned. You know, my auntie passed, so it was this whole situation. So I’m pushing it back, and actually, I’m kind of glad that it has been pushed back so I can really, really get into the nitty-gritty and not just throw a video together. I thought hard and long about the EP, so I want to think hard and long about the video. I’m really making myself get out of ‘oh, this is the way you do it.’ For instance, everybody’s like I should lead with a single and then my EP. I’m doing whatever I want to do. I’m not signed, so I don’t have to do what a label tells me to do. I don’t have to drop a video with every song. How about I drop the music, see what people gravitate towards, look at the analytics, see what people like, and then make the video versus putting all this money into a video, and nobody’s listening to the song. I want to just do things more organically. If the video comes out in December, it comes out in December. I don’t want to be like, “Oh, it has to be this, it has to be that''-- if it’s good, it’s good. And yes, it’s good. And there’ll be no denying it.
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