Jersey-Native, college student, introspective--these are just a few ways to describe singer/songwriter Lena Fine. This young writer is finding her way through life and sharing it all with us.

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Top three nostalgic movies?

     Probably the parent trap, garden state, and 10 things I hate bout you. Garden  State and 10 Things I Hate About You, I always talk about being my favorite movies in general but there is definitely huge nostalgia quality to those as well.

     I think 10 Things I Hate About You is perfect. It never gets old, its in that era when everyone was remaking Shakespeare and I think that is one of the best films that was done that way. Her speech that she reads at the end…gets me every time.

 

What is the story behind Boy In the City?

     It was one of the first real songs that I wrote where it wasnʻt just me being 12 years-old and writing whatever. It was the summer of my last year as a camper at my summer camp, so it was a super dramatic, emotional summer. When I got home, I had all of these teenage emotions and angst and I wrote a bunch of songs, and boy in the city was one of them and that was the song where I was like “Oh! I could do this more and enjoy it. This kind of sounds like a real song.”

     It still is one of my most popular songs but that was me at 14, writing about some boy, and it followed me forever.

 

How has moving to Philadelphia shaped you as a musician?

     When I started writing music and growing up in my home town, I think a lot of whatever my sound was and whatever I was writing  was the product of my surroundings and the type of music me and my friends were listening to and my other friends were writing, Moving to Philly and going to school without any of my friends was important to kind of force me to figure out what my sound was and what the music I was going to was independent of where I grew up. It has helped my music mature a lot. Iʻm in college now, its completely different from when I was in high school, and I think Iʻve grown up a lot. I think the music Iʻve written in Philly is different than the music I wrote in New Jersey, and it really reflects that.

 

Can you tell me about the writing process of Pity?

     I was just really angry—obviously. I had come out of the other side of whatever situation, and I was sick of being sad about it, so I was just like “Anger is a more productive emotion to feel so thatʻs just how I’m going to do this and write this.” It was nice, because I think when I was first writing I didnʻt want to put it out but writing it gave me a release, especially writing it as if no one was going to hear it; it really helped to get everything out. I was pretty happy with it so I thought I should put it out somewhere.

 

What juice would you be?

     I feel like apple juice because I would like to think I’m pretty sweet and a reliable choice. I love apple juice! I was talking to my friend, recently, about how juice in general is really bad for you—its only sugar—which is funny because of the amount of things where weʻre like “juice will fix it.” Like if a kid is sad? Juice. If you have a sore throat? Orange juice—Thatʻs medically not sound. I love apple juice; it’s rare that I crave it but when I do its insatiable.

 

How is Dance Partner going to be different in your mind, but also to your listeners, from what you wrote in High school?

     I think and I hope that the sound in general is just more mature. I would kind of upset with myself if I thought it sounded the same as the stuff I wrote when I was 15. Production wise its fuller than the stuff I have previously released. I’m still writing music that’s me figuring stuff out, but I hope the voice of the song is a little bit less… lost and a little bit less “Iʻm growing up and everything is big and scary!!” and more of me coming from a more established place—I’m hoping that all translates, and I guess we will find out when it comes out.

     I wrote the song Spring of last year—so height of quarantine—and I was in the middle of the Before trilogies—Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, Before Midnight—in the second to last one, at the very end, the guy has a plane to catch but he ends up missing the plane because he wants to stay with this girl. Well, the girl wrote this song and sheʻs playing it on a guitar—its in the style of a Waltz and that inspired me to write Dance Partner in the same style as something new and something to experiment with.

 

Who are your primary musical influences?

     From a storytelling point of view my go to answers are always Dolly Parton and Joni Mitchell. Sonically, the music I listen to and want to write stuff that sounds like is a lot of Soccer Mommy, Pinegrove, Fourth Wanderers—that indie-roc, indie-pop, I guess.

 

What inspired Ode to New Jersey?

     New Jersey just has such a bad rep. I grew up in North Jersey—North and south Jersey are very different; South Jersey is where the Jersey Shore is and thatʻs all the real and that was not the area I grew up in; I spent time there over summers and stuff like that but that’s not my home. I have such a love for my hometown and the area where Iʻm from, I was just thinking about how much I loved it and how much it meant to me, and I ended up writing that song. People ended up like it because they also love Jersey.

 

What is your song writing process like?

     When I write a song, I think about my song notebook as my diary, so whenever I write something, I write it as though I am the only person who is supposed to hear it. When I am thinking about putting stuff out, I have to think about how personal a song gets and see if thatʻs too much to put out there for my mental health. It’s a process but sometimes I really have to look the other way and not let myself get in my own way.

     I always have to write my songs down in a notebook; I have tried to do stuff on my phone or computer, and it never turns out well. I also really like to be alone which has been challenging living in a dorm. I just moved into an apartment here, and Iʻm living here full time now, so I have more freedom in my own space to write.

 

What does nostalgia mean to you?

     I think of it, sometimes, as a guilty pleasure. A lot of times it isnʻt great to dwell on the past but I think we learn the majority of who we are and where we come from comes from the past. In my writing I really like to be in a nostalgic headspace because it allows me to be retrospective in a specific kind of way. Its really interesting the way we have looked at nostalgia since the mid-2010s because before that, everyone was looking for the future and romanticizing futuristic-whatever. All of the sudden we want to dress like they did in the nineties and early 2000ʻs. What is it about general society and culture that we donʻt have that futuristic lens anymore?

     Nostalgia is remembering a lot of the good things from the past and feeling like they won’t come again. Could be really awesome, could be really bad but I love it.

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~Reagan Thornley