After opening for Toronto’s very own The Weeknd last October, Anna Lunoe revisited Toronto last month for her own headlining show at the Drake Hotel. Within the music industry, she’s regarded as a modern triple-threat, making a name for herself as a talented producer, vocalist, and DJ. With support from Diplo, collaborations with Flume and Touchsensitive, and now a spot on the billing at this year’s Coachella, the Australian musician talks about how leaving Sydney for Los Angeles helped her raise herself onto her own pedestal.

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The Varsity: How did you find your footing in the industry?

Anna Lunoe: I crashed a radio station. I heard they were doing a station board meeting, so I figured it would be normal for me to just show up. I turned up and at the end of the meeting, I introduced myself, told them I wanted to give it a go. I was on the reception desk for a while, but someone pulled out on the all-night show. It went well, and one thing lead to the next — it all happened very quickly.

 

TV: What drove you from Sydney to LA? 

AL: Australia is so far away from everything else that there’s a real culture of travelling overseas. For me to move away, it’s kind of opportunistic. Australia is awesome, but it’s really small. Playing [the same city] 10 million times, you want to see everything else. I felt like I had to relocate for a while to keep moving and growing. What happens is if you’re a creative person, you have a desire to do something. You can convince yourself by doing other things that it’s cool that you’re not doing it, but it never goes away. It was scary because it’s so competitive, but if you want to do it, you just do it. I figured, “If after six months I was broke, I could just come back.”

 

TV: How did you know it was coming together?

AL: Fandom is a really nice idea. It took a few people noticing to see the little things that I had managed to achieve, the few songs I managed to pump out. You need to understand that no one really goes in knowing exactly what they’re doing every time. Nothing’s a given. It’s like waiting for an idea or a stream of consciousness to send you in a direction. Don’t think anyone sits down and writes hits.

 

TV: So music was something you always wanted to do?

AL: I was a really music-obsessed kid. I glorified people and things in the industry. It was sort of unhealthy for me because it made me feel like I was different from them and could never be that. It’s really nice to show your appreciation, but never think that anyone’s better and has anything that you can’t achieve. You obviously have an opinion, but it’s going to take a while for your skills to catch up to your opinion. If your first attempts sound amateur, that’s because you are amateur. You just need to keep working.

 

TV: Do you remember anything about the first show you played? 

AL: I think it was New York. I was really intimidated. It was a weird feeling of thinking: “What if I don’t get this crowd, what if they don’t get me?” but that’s the feeling at pretty much every gig you go into. My best advice would be to research the place, get to know as much as you can. You want to feel like you understand exactly what you’re doing rather than just throwing yourself into the deep end.

 

TV: Are you excited to be a part of Coachella’s lineup this year?

AL: I’m super excited about Coachella because it’s Coachella — it’s legendary. I also don’t want to get too excited because I’ve played a lot of big festivals, and you could get a really good slot and have an amazing time, or you could have a side stage and just have just an average gig. I’m going to prepare for it, try and do something really special, but my whole thing this year is to be like, “Yeah, cool, I’ll do that.” Maybe if it was my first year DJing and I was at Coachella, I would be shitting myself, but I’ve been DJing for years. I should be able to do this.

 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.