Dreamy pop meets lo-fi aesthetic defines this era in the best friend Filipino-Latina duo The Two Lips’ discovery. From “clue” to “talk” and their latest “play,” the world never feels too big or overwhelming in their music. Self-contained in an ethereal bubble, where everything is tender, feathery with a hint of melancholy, there’s two sides of The Two Lips: one breathy and chill, sweet and tender, and another has teeth in their lyrics. Don’t let their dreamy soundscape fool you. The LA indie pop duo is not here to play.
“clue” explores the messiness of a high-tension relationship, but not with screams. All the screams are in the past. All there left are ethereal vocals documenting the quiet aftermath. The Two Lips wrap the hurts and scares in a sweet, bubbly soundscape, and the lyrics are in all honesty. “All we do is scream and shout, what’d we even fight about? Why do you always doubt? Always think the worst of me” they sang. They approach the subject with such distachment that at times, it feels a little indifference even though the heart is bleeding through the words.
“talk” further centers around the mess from another angle. Like a mirror, the second track is all about commmunication and miscommunication. While “clue” feels hopeless chill and sweetly melancholy, “talk” rips the problems wide open and exposes its source. “If you just talk to me, it could fix everything.” What’s interesting about this track is how the message changes every time the song progresses it to the chorus. At first, it sounds like hope, but then, it starts to sound like begging and then a distant dream. The fix is so simple, but in reality, it’s always easier to be said than done. “If you just talk to me, it could fix everything.” “talk” leaves the ending wide open for interpretation as it already said all there needed to be said.
“play”no longer lingers in the same space. It moves on, but it takes something with it. In reflective mode, the song adds a little playfulness to the collaspe of a relationship. “play” is open-minded. It almost feels like it has a personality, not just drowning in the storyline.
Press Q&A with The Two Lips
Q: If you could talk to yourselves from two years ago, what would you tell them?
The Two Lips: We were both thinking about this one, because two years ago we were in such weird places. Like, 23 is the worst year of your twenties — honestly, 23 and 27. I wasn’t looking forward to 23, and I’m definitely not looking forward to 27. We were both going through hard breakups, and that’s kind of how we came together. With every low, there’s a high — and for us, that high was starting to make music together.
Q: I saw you both have weekly Spotify playlists with your current rotation. How do playlists fit into your creative process?
The Two Lips: We’re definitely the type of people who listen to the same 10 songs every couple weeks. It really depends on what we’re going through and what we’re gravitating towards. When we get into the studio, we use some of those songs as reference tracks for the producer. So playlists definitely influence our creative process.
Making music for us is very visual — like, what playlist would this song fit into? Or what movie scene? We create a world for ourselves through playlists, and that helps us build a world with our music
Q: What is your writing process
The Two Lips: Our writing process can be based on influences of what we’ve watched such as movies, tv shows, music we listened to and experiences we have been through in our life.
Q: What experiences, albeit romance or friendship, contribute to the songwriting process and development of music??
The Two Lips: Every song we have written is because of something that we have gone through, Talk for example, is based on us having trouble with communication with our partners, and though we risk sharing our partner’s private lives on our songs, its a way that we feel we can express who we are. A certain moment happens and we’re like, alright there’s a song. So it is all relative to what we are going through.
Joel is definitely are most emotional song, as it was about friendship breakup for each of our individual lives that was hard to make up and understand. It’s great to know people relate to it the way they do and we have cultivated an audience of that caliber.
Q: How has childhood influenced you?
The Two Lips: Karaoke was something around when I grew up, we always sang songs, and I sang songs as covers on YouTube when I was 9, being Filipino influenced them to sing and make music, and especially with people of color being underrepresented in the music industry, within our music it makes us want to represent latino and Filippino culture.
Q: What advice do you have for Filipino artist
The Two Lips: As a people of color you have to work harder unfortunately in the music industry, but don’t let it discourage you, do it for the right reasons and stay authentic
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TWO LIPS
FOLLOW TWO LIPS
