Lola Kirke likes to surround herself with all old things. Since moving into her Nashville home in 2020, she’s lived among a collection of knotty pine, bright colors, and retro wallpaper.
And he has no intention of changing anything.
“I feel like my mom also had that ethos of respecting the world by respecting what’s already there by building on it, not changing it,” Kirke, 33, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. “I feel like I have that attitude towards other areas of creativity, but especially towards music. It’s just about collaborating with the environment, not trying to change them into something they don’t want to be.”
Born in London, raised in New York, a half-Jewish girl who has always been obsessed with country music since her Irish wet nurse sang Patsy Cline songs to stop her from crying, Kirke finds herself on the verge of giving birth to her new EP Country Curious February was born — a project produced by her friend and musical collaborator Elle King.
“We grew up together in New York, and she was one of the first people I met who danced this one kind of music,” recalls Kirke of the “Ex’s and Oh’s” hitmaker. “We reconnected and now live near each other in Nashville. We have been friends for 20 years.”
Having King hold her hand through her foray into the country music genre helped Kirke find her way, find her sound, and find the confidence to truly be authentic.
“I’ve always felt like my whole life I’ve walked that line between feeling sad and wanting to have fun,” laughs Kirke, whose father Simon was a rock drummer for bands including Bad Company and Free. “I feel like I’ve always just tried to make people laugh. I’ve always tried to make people feel better, so bringing that into my music is really natural.”
However, she knows that there are also those who doubt.
“People can think what they want,” Kirke says. “I don’t really care that much. I kind of coined this term for myself – authentically authentic. What could be more human than trying to find a place where you belong? What could be more American than searching for it until you find it? I think country music is firmly American. kind of music. Other places like it, too, but I think… I don’t know. I’m coming at it from a different angle, but it’s real to me, too.”
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Lola Kirke.
Alexa King Stone
And yes, Kirke gets downright real on her new single “My House.”
“It’s about kicking a guy out of the house when he’s bad,” Kirke admits, laughing, of the song premiering exclusively on PEOPLE. “And then it’s about being bad yourself because that’s how you go through the healing process, so to speak.”
It’s a song that King has certainly put her stamp on, in a way that only she can.
“She knows how to say, ‘This isn’t working, change it,'” Kirke jokes about her longtime friend. “Her style is very direct and very her own. But I feel like when I played her [‘My House’], I just saw her eyes go wide and she said, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ I couldn’t think of a better person than her to make a song about being totally freaked out and having fun and being a woman and just being chaotic, but in a way that helps you expand into your life in a more harmonious way.”
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Certainly, “My House” is a song she could play at her Grand Ole Opry debut on Feb. 16, the same day Country Curious it was released.
“I always feel impostor syndrome that I don’t deserve any of these beautiful opportunities,” admits Kirke, who will spend most of 2024 on the road, including slots at Stagecoach and Green River festivals and headlining shows in Nashville, NYC, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago . “And there’s a deeper sense of gratitude that you’re accepted or are starting to be accepted.”
She pauses for a moment.
“Obviously I think country music can make you cry because there are some of the most beautiful, saddest country songs out there,” she says. “But I also think there’s a lot of invitation in the country to just relax and have a really, really good time.”
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