Bear World Playlist Featured Artist: Lord Troy
This week’s Bear World Playlist Featured Artist is Lord Troy!
Artist Name: Lord Troy
Songs on the Bear World Playlist: “Teenage Honeymoon” and “Palm Springs”
Current City: Los Angeles, CA
Hometown: Pembroke Pines, FL
BWM: What can you tell us about the songs?
Lord Troy: I wrote “Teenage Honeymoon” with my partner, Ian Mofford, and it was produced by Elias Abid. I really wanted to tell the story of being a closeted teenager and all the fun reckless confusion that was — all the secrets we held onto, the hidden wants, and silent competitions we were in. I also love playing with the idea of nostalgia — the song sounds like the kind of music you would hear while watching a montage of the best party on the best Friday night, but if you break down the lyrics they’re actually kind of sad.
I think that’s what nostalgia is — it’s this distorted memory of the past that often feels so happy and familiar, but if you really zoomed in on it you’d remember all the dread and anxiety and fear that was actually going on. I like to think “Teenage Honeymoon” is my own little gay pride song because it directly address my experience of putting on this “straight” persona in front of all my friends and family (i.e. “kissing girls at the party”) countered with being my true authentic self when no one was watching (“and boys on the walk home”). The song is full of these double meanings that I hope people have a fun time exploring.
“Palm Springs” was also produced by Elias Abid and I wrote it by myself after a life-changing trip to Palm Springs with my partner after we got vaccinated for Covid and were able to travel again. We took a trip out to the desert and something about that trip just re-sparked so much for me personally. I felt like myself again. I felt a complete energy shift and I think my partner felt the same. It was beautiful and so romantic seeing and feeling both of us return to who we once were again — I think the last time we felt like that was on our wedding, which was 12/31/19 — so just a few months before Covid began taking its toll on all of us. The song is romantic and simple and sweet — a love letter to my partner and to one of my favorite places in the world, a place where I truly feel at home.
BWM: How do you approach the songwriting process? Do you keep a journal, use voice memos, start with a keyboard…?
LT: To be honest, a song idea can come to me at any time (usually at the worst times) in many different ways, but USUALLY there is some sort of loose pattern I follow. To start, I almost always need to hear a chord progression first, though sometimes I come up with a lyrical melody that I record into my voice memos and I try to build a song around that. Once I have the chords, I sort of have to just let go and get out of my head and let the melodies flow.
I usually hum along or sing gibberish with the chord progression until I find a melody that really speaks to me. I almost always find that when I do this the first word of the lyrics just comes out of me naturally and sort of sets the tone and idea for the concept of the song. From there I’ll sometimes dig through my Notes app (where I keep hundreds upon hundreds of ideas, one-liners, poems, words I love, phrases I love, etc.) and see if anything I have in there speaks to what the melody I’ve come up with is dictating.
And then, once I find the words, I just start forming them into the melody to tell the story I’m trying to tell — sometimes that comes from a poem I’ve already written or I just come up with everything on the spot as I’m creating the song. Ultimately, I really just try to let the song dictate what the song is about and what the story I’m going to tell is.
Then, after it’s written to acoustic guitar (I personally feel like all of my songs need to be great songs on acoustic guitar before beginning production on them), I’ll work with a producer on building out the song and further telling the story sonically. Of course, this is all subject to change at any moment because song-making is a creative medium and creativity has an agenda of its own! It’s a really amazing, exciting, and intimate process.
BWM: Is there a particular type of venue or audience you most like to perform for, where you feel most yourself?
LT: I don’t think I’ve performed enough live to know if I have a favorite venue or type of venue I like to perform in most, but I will say the most important thing, regardless of venue size or type, is the energy from the audience watching. My favorite, favorite, favorite part about performing live is connecting with the audience and hearing them sing back lyrics to me that they have so clearly paid attention to and really absorbed and found personal meaning in.
Truly, it could be 100,000 people or 10 people in the audience — as long as they’re with me and their hearts are open and they want to connect with me as much as I want to connect with them, I’m golden. I will say, though, performing for 100,000 people would be pretty iconic.
BWM: When it comes to boys, what catches your eye at first, and what holds your attention over time?
LT: I know it’s cliche, but I’m most attracted to someone when they know and show who they truly are and don’t try to be someone they’re not. I feel like I’ve been with so many different people (physically) and it all boils down to their confidence and self-assurance in knowing exactly who they are and what they bring to the table.
I think self-love is hella sexy. I mean don’t get me wrong — tattoos and mustaches are sexy too, but you get what I mean — all those things I’m physically attracted to don’t mean anything if the person behind them doesn’t love who they are or at least is working on getting to a place where they love who they are.
BWM: Who are your biggest influences in terms of both your sound and your style?
LT: When it comes to music, I definitely draw inspiration from the music I grew up listening to. Artists like David Bowie, Queen, Fleetwood Mac definitely have had an effect on my music styling. Taylor Swift definitely has the greatest impact on me as a songwriter — she inspires me to constantly push myself and explore what I’m capable of when writing music and telling stories.
I’m also really musically inspired by all the live instrumentation of the pop/rock music I listened to in high school like The Wallflowers, Savage Garden, No Doubt, Maroon 5, Cartel, Dashboard Confessional, Cute Is What We Aim For, Jack’s Mannequin, and the list goes on. I’ve spent a lot of time the last three years developing myself as an artist, and I find myself pulling references from all of these artists of my past, but also current artists like Bleachers, Aly & AJ, Harry Styles, Kacey Musgraves, and Orville Peck. I think music is this beautiful vast spectrum of potential and nothing is off limits when it comes to genre, blending genres, and deciding what pop music can be.
In terms of my personal fashion sense, I don’t really have any specific people or designers I draw influence from. I’m not really someone who likes to follow trends. I just like what I like and wear whatever I feel like wearing. Though I will say, I do feel this self-inflicted pressure that each look I present needs to say SOMETHING — whether purely artistically, politically, or otherwise. I love playing with fashion and different silhouettes — I think I was closeted for so long and I’ve been told my whole life that there are certain fashion “rules” when you are fat that I’m at this place of like fuck that I’m sick of anyone thinking they can tell me what I can and cannot wear. So, I just choose to never limit myself and be free with my fashion choices.
BWM: If you could collab with one living and one deceased artist, who would they be? (Separately or at the same time!)
LT: I truly don’t know if I can answer this question. There are SO many artists I would literally give anything just to be in the same room with, let alone collaborate with. Taylor Swift is definitely my number one living artist that I would do just about anything to collaborate with. She is hands down the greatest songwriter of my generation (maybe of all time), and I just can’t even imagine getting to witness her songwriting process in real time and share stories with her and create something so sonically beautiful together.
Excuse me while I daydream for a moment… And the deceased artist I would give anything to work with would be David Bowie. He is the pinnacle of artistry to me. I feel like working with him would give me the freedom to be the exact, potentially yet-to-be realized, version of who I am as an artist. He was such a strong presence in my life when I was young — my mom would play me concert videos of his and I can remember seeing him on the screen performing and just feeling overwhelmed by everything that he was.
BWM: What is coming up for Lord Troy?
LT: I’m most excited for this live show I’m doing June 9th at The Goldfish in Los Angeles! It’ll be my first time ever doing a full 40-minute set, so I can’t wait to really put on a show and give the audience something to sink their teeth into. Please come if you’re in LA, it’s going to be an unforgettable show with surprises and TONS of fun!
I have a few more performances lined up that I’m still working out details for as well as lots of new music coming this year, so pretty please give me a follow on Spotify and Instagram to stay up to date.
BWM: Anything else you’d like to share?
LT: I just want to say, if you’re reading this I hope you’re having a great day!
Hear Lord Troy and other woofy musicians on the ever-changing Bear World Playlist!
