We spoke to lily forest about their dreamy, non-conforming “beets” and the power of friendship & positivity.
“I really like being creative – and making beets is the most rewarding feeling I’ve found in my life so far !!!” lily forest happily explained during our private message conversation. They have had an eventful year filled with hard-hitting collaborations and emotive, ambient flips, and yet blessing listeners is only one aspect of lily forest’s influence in their new-found artistic realm. The budding producer consistently spreads positivity and kindness that reaches far beyond their sound.
Fairly new to the production world, lily forest told us that they “started making beets in like early 2020 maybe?” when they “were staying with a friend for the summer and they made beets and it looked cool! so I had him download fl onto my laptop and he showed me a lot of the basics!!” and “around 2021 some people told me I should start posting my beets somewhere because they are pretty good !! I’m really glad i listened LOL !!”. We’re glad they listened too, and we’re so excited to see what’s next. They’re super excited for the future as well, and as for their upcoming projects they “can’t talk about a lot of it yet but let’s just say you will see a lot of music prod lily forest coming very soon :))”. They left us with a few hints, though. “A few things i CAN say I’m excited for is my song with josen, and some of the bear club tracks coming very soon !! also lots of sainty x lily soon as well <333”.
I asked lily forest about what inspires their unique style. Their “beets” are heavenly, spacey, and soothing. They describe it as “soft plug maybe ??? there’s a lot of different vibes in there it’s hard to say!”. Lily forest wears a lot of hats, and it’s interesting to see influence from various artists including “old nevershoutnever”, more specifically, “the pretty love songs they used to make”. They explained that “recently i felt like everyone was just making hard synth beets or plug beets and those kinds of beets are really cool but I think pretty is a really refreshing sound that i hope catches on a bit more !!! not everything has to be GRIMY !!”. “I wish I never met you”, which features vocalist morgan bates, showcases this fascinating mix. Ambient, free-flowing instrumentals blended perfectly with eccentric, choppy vocals create a perfect storm in lily forest’s ethereal world.
This passion transfers into the noticeable hard work that lily forest puts in. There’s something special about the way they articulate their dedicated process for making “beets”, but lily forest proclaims they “think [they] still have a LOT more work to do”. Before making music, they were inspired by artists like “sainty, uglyboy, and button [maker]” for whom they wish continuous growth and success. We absolutely seeing this love spread throughout the community. “Positivity is a really underutilized tool !!” is what they’ve come to realize as they begin making their path in a world of uncertainties. “Hard work and a good attitude will take you SO FAR !! I know it’s not really cool to be happy and excited for the future as everything is so grim right now but I think with a little bit of effort you can feel a lot better and when you feel good usually good things happen”.
Collectives came up in our conversation about making friendships and connections as a growing musician. I asked lily forest if they have joined any, and if so how it was impacting their creativity and work flow. “I AM !! I’m in bearclub!! and that group is definitely important to me !!” They explained that “every member of that group is SO TALENTED and I’m so grateful for them letting me in when they did ! sainty is the first person to take a chance on me and offer me a spot in their group !!! I’ll always remember that and be loyal to them for that :))”. Collectives are super beneficial for producing and collaborating on art in a supportive space. I asked lily forest about fellow members and friends, and they only left positive notes on how “everyone involved is fire from astrid to evie to the twins to our newest addition buttonmaker !! really genuine down to earth group over there :))”.
lily forest says that they “hope that people continue to support my friends and I hope that I can reach some of the artists I look up to the most !!”. Their art will undoubtedly lead them to all the right places, and we are excited to witness it. As we wind down the interview, I asked if there was anything else they wanted people to know. To absolutely no one’s surprise, lily forest took the opportunity to shout out their friends — so here we go: “shoutout bear club, shoutout yeah0k, shoutout hurenpop love what yall doing over there !!! shoutout yung leo shoutout josen shoutout everyone putting on for the scene right now !! thank u <333”.
Follow lily forest on Twitter and SoundCloud.
– Mars (@gayidiot49)
108 MICS 