We’re looking forward to introducing you to Lo Artiz. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Lo, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: When was the last time you felt true joy?
The last time I felt true joy was at my last performance at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. I didn’t know it yet but in a year’s time I would injure my voice and not be able to perform for some time. When I’m performing, it feels like home. Like the cosmos and the entire universe are conspiring for me. It’s the place I can truly be me and it’s a feeling I crave everyday.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Lo Artiz and I’m an independent music artist based in Los Angeles, CA originally from Miami, FL. I’m second generation Latin American and music has been a part of my story since my earliest memory. I started composing music when I was 7 years old and I just never stopped. I have a passionate mission to speak on my battles with mental health, bipolar disorder, suicidality, and addiction in my music to help other people, because I know there are many of us, who struggle with the same thing. I want to help be part of the conversation and if on the way it provides me with healing too in the process than I’m grateful for the chance.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was a very sensitive and overly-giving kid. I was the type of kid to run to comfort my bullies if they were in some sort of pain, despite the torment they’d put me through. I saw the world in technicolor and was exceptionally creative, imaginative, and extremely empathic. Over time my sensitivity came to be what I found was wrong with me. I was told to stop feeling the way I felt, to either bottle it up or suppress it in some way. What was once a superpower, became a defect. I started to feel like I was just this sort of abnormal alien put on earth when I was meant to be somewhere else. I’d compare how others coped with their emotions to myself and found I was on an extreme spectrum of emotionality and sensitivity. I thought I had to become someone else. Like I had to find a way to navigate and metaphorically walk like how everyone else walked. I came to feel I was always out of step. It took many years and experience to accept my sensitivity and to receive a diagnosis of bipolar disorder which allowed me to understand why I felt things in an extremely greater degree than others.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I started showing signs of my bipolar disorder by the time I was 11 and eventually had my first suicide attempt when I was 16. I would attempt a couple more times later in my life, becoming very familiar with the feeling of being in the darkest place you can go as a person and seeing no other way out. Most recently I became very suicidal in 2024 after I injured my voice due to a medication side effect that I was taking to treat my bipolar depression. I thought everything was over. I thought there was no point anymore and feared for my life. Without music I was a shell of a person. Music is all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life and to lose that for a year’s time caused me to find any way to cope with my hopeless reality. This led to relapse with my drug addiction, self harm, and an eating disorder. Eventually with the support of my family, close friends, and my therapist, I was able to find a glimmer of hope. That was all I needed – just hope. It was the hardest period of my life and I’m still recovering mentally and physically from it but I’m rebuilding. I just hope overcoming the adversities I’ve faced can mean there’s a greater purpose involved – to help others who think like me and hopefully save a life or two and be evidence that there’s always a reason to stay.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m in the process of releasing a 2-part EP of music that is all about my struggles with mental health and addiction called ‘Playing Human’. After injuring my voice and experiencing the greatest depression in my life (which is saying something) the project was pushed back. I’m committed now more than ever to see it through. I really believe in the message, the music, and the affect it could have on someone. It’s been a difficult process but I feel I have a greater calling; that all my hardships have meaning towards something greater than myself. I can’t wait for it to be out. It’s taking some time but I know it will be worth it.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace when I’m on stage, or I’m writing in a studio or at home. When I’m performing, it feels truly like I’ve arrived at home. When I’m writing, it’s so therapeutic. I can put all the thoughts in my mind onto paper and into song, and doing so is when I feel most in alignment. If I could put into words what happens when I’m writing or performing, the best I can say is that it feels like true harmony. It feels like I’m doing what I was born to do, so there’s no way it can go wrong. It’s like something else takes over me – this invisible force of a greater power or higher consciousness works through me and I’m no longer just Lo Artiz, but a soul connecting with every other soul whether in the room or in the beyond. It’s a feeling I crave at all times and live to experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.loartiz.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loartiz/
- Twitter: https://x.com/loartiz?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LoArtizMusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/loartizmusic
Image Credits
Louise Svensson, Taylor Shae, Collete Nourie
