Written By Kelly Holm
Lizzy Small might still be an unfamiliar name to you, but she should be on your radar as a triple threat. She began dancing as a child, has appeared on screen with George Lopez and Marisa Tomei, and records music to boot.
“Dance was an immense part of my childhood and teenage years,” Small says. “ I learned to really appreciate and understand music through the connection of hearing it and transforming it into my body. It allowed me to really feel the music and understand how sound can elicit expression from within on a visceral level.”
From there, Small moved to posting covers like Justin Bieber’s “Let Me Love You” and writing still-unreleased tracks like “Just Right”— penned with Grammy-nominated producer David Pramik and DJ Ruby Chase— and intimate acoustic ballad “Red Light.” Regardless of whether she ever releases those two songs, though, she’s excited to drop a new single, titled “Like It Should,” into the world.
“It was a moment of time, and the feeling associated with that particular time, that prompted me to start writing,” Small says of the single. “It’s falling into the world of what something could be, even though it’s not the reality. It’s getting lost and having fun in that space and almost fantasizing about what something could be like in someone else’s eyes… and it’s falling into that realm of feeling and enjoying it there, even though it doesn’t actually exist.”
Small wrote “Like It Should” with her close friend and frequent collaborator, Sohrob Akhavan, and recorded it in Akhavan’s bedroom studio.
“‘Like It Should,’ and some of the other songs [Akhavan and I] created, developed as a result of this crazy time in the world, where nothing was normal,” she said. “We shot the [music] video in different locations around LA, with a small team of friends and fellow creatives who were just motivated to work together to make a story come to life.”
The video was directed by another good friend of Small’s, television-industry professional Parris Calkin.
“It was hearing the song, and the meaning behind the lyrics and thoughts in my head, that allowed [Calkin] to articulate it through his medium of art,” Small said. “He was able to help me put feelings, moods and atmospheres into real visual representations, along with the rest of the team who worked together to create our little movie.”
Small has made major memories playing at venues like Mint LA and The Peppermint Club, and is excited to make more when the live music industry returns to its pre-COVID state. She adores Tina Fey, and dreams of collaborating with singer-songwriters like Frank Ocean and Jhene Aiko.
Small’s advice for up and coming musicians like herself is simple, “Find your own process, your own route, your own speed,” making mention that it’s easy to get caught up in comparisons to other people.
Her main goal at present, though, is to finish and release her current project. Out of all the journaling she’s done in recent months, Small has got several more original songs to share with the world, including a second single coming soon.
“The second single will give you a lot of insight into who I am, the journey I’ve been on, and my personal challenges as a human,” she said. “I’ve held myself from sharing my music for a while, and I am finally ready to take that step and give my work to the universe, releasing it from my control… through the music, I hope that people gain a better sense of understanding about who I am, so in turn, they can find more understanding within themselves.”
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