The reborn singer Lilith Czar made her public debut in February of this year with the song “King,” and now she’s released an introspective and chilling second single titled “Lola.”
Czar was formerly known to the public as Juliet Simms, but that persona is dead and gone. She resurrected herself as a dominating force, unwilling to be controlled and manipulated by the people and world around her. While her first single “King” explains how she plans to conquer, “Lola” is the emotional story of how she got to where she is now.
Soft, ambient guitars accompany Czar’s powerful vocals throughout the track, which will have you longing for a place of solitude by the time you’re done listening to it. The video portrays several different sides of Czar — dark and light, and lonely and exposed.
“I wrote Lola in Nashville right after being on the road for a couple months. The come down from touring is hardly something you can explain. You just feel misplaced and uneasy,” Czar told us about the song.
“Simultaneously I was going through a self discovery and entering into a new phase of my life. Darkness in the rear, I started to realize I had let something go and inversely let something else in. I wrote this song about an extremely hard time in my life, it’s about losing ourselves and becoming the monster that haunted you as a child. It’s a plea to meet and be taken back by the person you abandoned; your child self who set off in the world so full of hope.”
“It’s no secret a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle is like being swallowed by the devil,” she continued. “Lola is me, an alter ego adolescent self before the world bore its teeth and this is my version of a rock n’ roll lullaby redemption song.”
We asked Czar a couple of questions about how this journey will compare to any work she’s previously done. Continue reading for the full Q+A, and watch the video for “Lola” and follow along with its lyrics underneath.
Why did you decide to kill off Juliet Simms in a fire?
In order for Lilith to rise and be born into existence a seed from the fallen was vital to the story. A dying entity to be planted and rooted in the depths of hell. Forgetting where one came from is never the answer, you should use it. Juliet was the Apple that fell from the tree and Lilith was what grew from its core.
It was necessary to permanently end my former self in a way where pain and anger were respected and given new meaning in the fatal flames. Transformation, purpose, power. Death by fire acted as a sacrifice for something bigger and is symbolic for being burned at the stake and giving up your world to gain something else. I set Juliet ablaze to send her to purgatory to find Lilith Czar. From those ashes she rose.
Now that Lilith Czar is out, do you feel as free as you had hoped you would when constructing this new persona?
If I’m being 100 it’s been both liberating and terrifying. I remember the night I blacked out all of my social medias to start the transformation campaign and left nothing but the clip of Juliet burning in the flames. The caption read, “the end is the beginning.”
I cried a lot that night but not because I was sad but because I felt relief, forgiveness and empathy for my former. Juliet was shackled by the confines of others’ opinions, her own self doubt and lack of self love. As Lilith, I get to love and realize I have the option of letting go and creating whatever picture I want to see.
Fearless is a word I use daily as a mantra. I can express exactly how I feel, voice my opinions and even be as cunty or dorky as I want to be. I get to celebrate my true authentic self and there’s nothing more freeing than that…. And I have never felt more like an artist than I do today.
How does the music differ from Juliet’s? What about your style and aesthetic?
Well to start, the music is harder, bigger and louder than any of the previous bodies of work. However, I did manage to marry my love for alternative, classic rock and elements of pop into this new harder sound to truly make it my own.
Unlike before, there’s unhindered power, but vulnerability that’s embraced with a purpose to heal or just simply tell the truth. Owning your weaknesses is empowering and can act as medicine for your soul. Every song, every lyric was written with the intent to impinge on myself and the listener.
Drawing inspiration from my heroes such as [David] Bowie, Janis [Joplin], Fleetwood [Mac], Freddie [Mercury], Stevie [Nicks], [Dave] Grohl and so many more, I set out to create something that could exist in any era. In the past the music was unfamiliar with itself. Every song was a roll of the dice. It didn’t know who it was or what it wanted to be. “Created from filth and dust” knows who it is and where it’s going.
What draws you to rock music and makes you want to create it as opposed to another genre?
In the words of Tina Turner’s cover “it’s simply the best.” In all seriousness though. I grew up on rock. It’s who I am and is deeply planted in my blood. I’m magnetized to it.
What is the story behind “Lola” — who is Lola and where is the “home” that you are longing to return to?
When I wrote this song, I transported myself back to the darkest time in my life. I recall what it felt like, what it sounded like, how heavy my heart was. I have a very vivid memory of being trashed and wishing over and over I could rewind myself. I wanted to go back in time and retrieve the good, innocent, unscathed and non tormented parts of myself.
My child form — before the world bore its teeth. Lola is like a reverse alter ego — she’s my inner child. This song is a cry for help and a longing to let Lola back in — to have her come home. It’s about losing ourselves and becoming the monster that haunted you as a child and pleading with yourself to take yourself back. It’s my rock n’ roll nightmare lullaby.
What story are you trying to tell as Lilith Czar?
An ever evolving story with no end. The story of perseverance, absolution, chaos, rebirth, desire and power.
Lilith Czar, “Lola”
Lilith Czar – “Lola” Lyrics
Grew up on Spiders from Mars
A Queen Bitch kissing the sky
FLA straight to the jungle
One way ticket
On a one way ride
Singing someday I will touch the stars
One day Iʼll be breaking hearts
But innocence is lonely in the dark
Hey Lola,
Take me back home
This holy rock nʼ rolla back where Iʼm from
Before the highs and lows got out of control
Where did you go? Hey Lola, Lola
Take me back home
Strung out from dusk till dawn
Paradise on a road to nowhere
Doesnʼt matter if I fall
Iʼll be gone before I get there
Blacked out on these cocaine eyes
Flying blind down lookout drive
Time flies by when youʼre 25 n’ about to die
Hey Lola,
Take me back home
This holy rock nʼ rolla back where Iʼm from
Before the highs and lows got out of control
Where did you go? Hey Lola, Lola
Take me back home
Grew up on
spiders from Mars
A Queen Bitch kissing the sky
FLA straight to the jungle
Hey Lola, Lola
Hey Lola,
Take me back home
This holy rock nʼ rolla back where Iʼm from
Before the highs and lows got out of control
Where did you go?
Lola, Lola, Lola, Lola
Take me back home
Someday I will touch the stars
Take me back home
Oneday I’ll be breaking hearts
Take me back home
Someday I will touch the stars
Take me back home
Take me back home
Take me back home
