LP: “The ukulele is a serious instrument and it has range – It doesn’t have to be cutesy”

Songwriter LP, is, in her way, one of the most compelling songwriters in the world right now. She plays guitar (mostly acoustic), ukulele, croons like an opera singer and can entertain crowds of thousands, as she did recently at Lollapalooza. 

But what makes an artist great is not necessarily their ability to shred or turn the proverbial amplifier up to 11. Rather, it’s how well they’re able to access those personal places and moments in their creative hearts and souls that resonate in big ways for their listeners. Really, it’s about human connection. And that’s what LP is so deft at.

Before she was releasing songs like Lost on You and earning millions of streams, Pergolizzi was a songwriter-for-hire. She’s worked with giants, from Rihanna to the Backstreet Boys. During those occasions, she would sometimes remove herself from the recorded track and take her ukulele to a corner and strum it to come up with the best lyrics. 

We caught up with LP to ask her about her history playing guitar and ukulele, how she wields it on stage (almost like a machine gun, at times) and how she considered the instruments when writing and recording her new, forthcoming record, Churches, which is out December 3.