Interview with Lottie McLeod by Erandhi Mendis // Photography by Carrie McLeod
Lottie McLeod isn’t pulling punches on her new release Important To You. Out today via ABC Music, the indie-folk slow-burn builds from quiet reflection to a distorted, full-throated release — mirroring the moment she chose to walk away from a relationship that was eroding her. Written in the wake of personal grief and a difficult reckoning, the track signals a sharper, more self-assured chapter for the Magan-djin/Brisbane artist. Fresh off a breakout year — including a standout performance at triple j’s 50th birthday event — McLeod is learning that sometimes the bravest move is stepping back. We were lucky enough to have a chat to Lottie about the track and what might be next.
Congratulations on the release of Important To You! Can you take us back to where you wrote it – your bedroom floor. Do you write mostly in your bedroom and what realisations/feelings were you sitting with that day?
Thank you!! Most of my songs are written in my bedroom for sure. I got a pretty scary message from someone I was seeing the week before I wrote it. I knew for a while that he wasn’t in the best space mentally. I had already taken a step back from him but I still wanted to help, I gave him resources and always listened. This message made me realise that I couldn’t do anything for him. I called someone older than me, someone I knew he trusted who was like a parental figure to him. I was relieved for myself but also relieved for him. I hoped that that would lead to him getting real help and I could stop feeling this sense of responsibility for him. Important To You is what happened after I had a chance to really sit with everything that had happened over the course of knowing this person. The realisation of knowing you can’t be who someone is hoping you’d be.
The song has an emotional crux around setting boundaries. What have you had to unlearn about love and responsibility in your life over the past 12 months?
It’s so on the nose, and it should go without saying but loving someone shouldn’t feel like a chore. Loving someone shouldn’t be a project. When you see the best in people it’s so easy to get caught up in who they could potentially be. It’s having a saviour complex and an “I can fix him” mentality hahaha. It’s ok to not be ok and it’s also ok to be there for someone but it’s not normal to constantly be worried about them. Love should feel effortless, well at least I think it should be when you’re 20 and you’ve just met someone!
As a fellow “hey girlie” message recipient, what role did receiving a message from someone else play in validating your feelings?
I feel like I was still very infatuated with the person at the time. I definitely saw him in a different light but as a recovering people pleaser I was still feeling like I wanted to help him. Saying this, it also took away the special feeling of someone trusting you with their emotions, it was more like they were seeking validation from anyone who would listen. It made me think about who I really was to this person and it was my first step into learning to set boundaries for myself.
Sonically, the track moves from restrained, almost sea-gazing indie-folk into a dense, noisy outro that feels like emotional release. Was it always a conscious choice for the song to have such a big emotional build or did that come out later in the production process?
There’s a song that I really love called “Shot” by Hannah Cole. I discovered it maybe a month after I wrote Important To You. In this song the outro has a pause that then flows into the outro and it makes me melt every time I hear it. I wanted people to feel that way when they heard my song. Important To You talks about letting go but you still sort of feel latched on in a way and then the outro is just this massive release, like you’re truly leaving it behind, I really love that. I showed Caleb (Wright) the reference, but also trusted him wholeheartedly with anything he felt was right.
You recorded the single at Stadium Heights Sound in North Carolina with producer Caleb Wright, who first reached out as a fan. How did a sense of place – in this case, North Carolina and your creative relationship with Caleb shape the way the song evolved?
I’ve unknowingly been a fan of Caleb for years. Samia is an artist I discovered in 2021 and have listened to her ever since. It wasn’t until 2024 that I actually looked into who was producing these songs that I was obsessed with. Caleb and I did two back to back days in genuinely the most beautiful studio I’ve ever stepped foot in. It had a vinyl collection with MJ Lenderman’s “Manning Fireworks” on display and lamps all around. Caleb really knew how to read my mind when it came to production. I gave him a few reference tracks but other than that I gave him very little notes. But everything Caleb touches is gold so I knew I was in safe hands. I feel so lucky to have worked with him.
This is your first release this year – can you give us any insight into any other tracks you’ve been working on and what they might explore?
The tracks I’ve been working on at the moment have been a big reflection on different relationships I had from 2025. Friends to lovers to strangers, lovers to strangers, bandmates to lovers to caregiver haha. The songs are very specific to my life but are also very universal experiences at the same time. One of them is another track that I recorded over in North Carolina with Caleb. There’s one track I recorded a month ago that I’m really excited about. I hope it gives the audience a bit of a scream out loud moment… It’ s a bit of a revenge track, not that I actually needed revenge from the person I wrote it about hahaha but it was just where I organically went with it during writing. Essentially, I think as I grow and mature so does my music and I can’t wait for everyone to hear that.
You’ve had a huge 12 months – from Queensland Music Award recognition to performing at triple j’s 50th birthday event alongside artists like Mallrat and Jem Cassar-Daley. Busy schedules and success often come at the expense of other things in our life. Does boundary-setting look the same to you in your professional life as it does in your personal life?
I think there’s similarities in some ways, in that I need to know when to just stop and breathe in order to put my best foot forward professionally. I suppose the major difference is that it’s a boundary I’m placing on myself to know when I have to just pick up my word search, turn on Sex and the City and think about nothing for a day. Saying that, I’ve mostly felt more excited than overwhelmed by my workload. Especially at this point where I have a really supportive team helping me manage that workload so it’s not so overwhelming. I think the most important thing I try and remember is that I don’t lose sight of my love for creating and writing music while I am deep in the business side of it. And I guess that comes back to what I was saying earlier about losing yourself in relationships. I don’t ever want to lose myself so much in the business side of it that I stop loving it so I always make time just write and play and listen for the pure joy of it without the thought of what it could lead to from a professional perspective.
Your work often sits in that space between comfort and discomfort so there’s a palpable quiet strength in Important to You. I’m curious how do you maintain a sense of softness in your life? Do you have certain rituals of hobbies that help you stay in tune with yourself?
I have lots of hobbies!! I think it’s important to do things that shut off the mind completely. Some of my other musician friends have found it impressive. I told one of them once I’m spending my night colouring in and they said “you’re so good at relaxing Lottie” which I found funny. I love my colour by numbers book, word searches, junk journaling, painting, photography. Anything visual really. I also have been going to a lead light course every Tuesday night, I’ll be doing that for the next 2 months! Might even do a baking class. It’s the year of hobbies!
Looking back now, what does “preservation” mean to you? Does it feel like protection, growth, distance – or something else entirely?
I think in context of self preservation within relationships it’s a little bit of each of those things. I have watched people I care about lose a little of themselves in relationships, like really lose sight of who they are and what they stand for, and to be honest I’ve put myself in positions where I risked doing that also, so I think I’ve learned that setting healthy boundaries across all relationships is necessary for me to grow as a human. I’ve had to do it across various areas of my life over the last couple of years and it’s always hard to do but I feel like I’ve grown a lot in my capacity to stand up for myself and not accept things in my life out of fear if it doesn’t sit right with me.
