Elle Evans
Updated: Jan 3, 2021
Making her debut appearance onto the scene back in 2015 with “ON”, singer-songwriter Monique Lawrence otherwise known as Monique Lawz has been making musical waves since. Born and raised in London with a Jamaican heritage, Monique Lawz is on her journey to stardom.
With previous features on West London rapper Skrapz’s album and British-Jamaican artist
Lisa Mercedez’s EP, Monique’s re-emergence with "4 Minutes’ back in 2018 proved to be the launch for her highly-anticipated re-introduction. Showing no sign of slowing down as she continues to rise with studio sessions in the UK with Ms. Banks, and in LA with the likes of Major Lazer and current US #1 rapper Roddy Ricch – a collab that itself went on to create serious online commotion when the footage of them both in the studio leaked online!
Now back in full effect with her latest single “Worth It” featuring Wiley, I caught up with Monique Lawz for a quick chat..
For people who aren’t aware of you, describe your sound in three words?
Real, vibrant and good vibes!
What inspired you to start a career in music? Were you brought up in a musical family?
Music has always been around me from childhood. My mum used to sing and I have a few family members that DJ, so I guess you could say I have a musical family.
You started releasing music back in 2015 with your debut single “ON”, how has the UK scene changed since that initial release?
So much! “ON” was heavily R'n'B and Trap influenced. A lot of platforms wouldn't support my sound back then! A few even went as far as to say it was 'too' American. Fast forward to now I feel the sound has been embraced a lot more and there are so many more UK/USA collaborations happening! It's great!
In what ways do you think you’ve developed as an artist since “ON"?
I know who I am now entirely and what I'd like to achieve from my music career!
Where do you draw from for lyrical inspiration? Does your music tend to be based on personal experiences or through observing others? Or both?
Both, sometimes film or something I've seen or heard from during my day to day!
You have a song with Wiley named ‘Worth It” - Tell us how this came about?!
I had a session in Los Angeles with a dope producer called Z3n (Zen) who's worked with Tory Lanez, XXX Tentacion, Meek Mill etc and a writer called Sydney who's worked with Chris Brown, Flo Rida and more. We started a vibe! When I got back to London I felt like it was a strong song to start the next level off my music journey with (since signing to Warner Records UK). My manager felt it would be dope to get The God Father to bless it Wiley and that's what happened!
The visuals were shot in Jamaica! What was the main reason behind filming them overseas? Was it about embracing your home culture?
100%. I wanted people to understand who I am from the jump! Being of a Jamaican heritage, we like colours, music, food, dancing and all round good vibes! So I needed people to know that's what they should expect from me. Plus I feel “Worth It" is a song that makes you think of the sun! Jamaica was definitely the place to shoot.
There is a lot of amazing female artists emerging from the UK at the moment! It’s great seeing such a wide range of diversity! Are there any female artists you would love to collaborate with in the UK or over seas?
100%. I love females on top of their game and I'm always supporting! I've been working with Ray BLK a lot recently, absolutely talented! I'd love to work with Saweetie, Ella Mai, NAO, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, RAYE...sooo much more! How many can I name?!
I heard you have recently been in the studio with Roddy Ricch?! That must’ve been an amazing experience? Tell us about this?!
I adored working with Roddy! Super talented! Super hardworking! Pure good vibes and good energy!
What can we expect to see from you this coming year? Have you got a project dropping?
More music!! Hopefully! If the people want a project they'll definitely get one!
Keep up to date with Monique Lawz via her Instagram here.