Luca George

As the rock ’n’ roll adage goes, it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at. In the case of fast rising star Luca George, however, where he’s from is just as fascinating as where he’s at.
Luca's formative years could not have been more different from most modern pop stars. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, his family moved to a remote area of Italy where they raised goats and largely lived off the land. Luca spent so much time running around naked that he didn’t even own a pair of shoes until they moved back to New Zealand and settled in Wanaka, a tiny lake-side town in South Island. Hardly the typical pop creation story, but add to that his love of fishing and hunting, a business selling exotic plants and bonsai-like kokedama to finance his fledgling music career, and we’re not exactly in performing arts school territory.
“My whole family are ambitious,” the 21-year-old says. “My sister’s an Olympic snowboarder, and Mum is a bad bitch real estate agent, we’re definitely a competitive family.”
It’s music, however, that has always held Luca’s heart ever since singing in front of his parents as a small child.
“I remember them looking at me and just going, ‘Wait, you can actually sing?’”
From there he discovered Adele, Sam Smith, then on to Billie Eilish and Raye.
“I feel an incredible connection with these artists because I think I share their sense of vulnerability. I love making myself and everyone else in the room uncomfortable.”
His first development EP ‘You’ll Never Know Me Sober’ attracted over 6 million streams, however Luca is under no illusion that he’s anything other than a “baby artist”. Now signed to Island Records, and with two new EPs ready for release, he’s convinced the world is ready for his darkly uncomfortable confessions, cunningly disguised under bright and beat-filled pop tunes.
“Basically, I want to make the world cry. Whether it's happy cry or sad cry, I feel like crying is the ultimate reaction to art. My dream is to look out into an audience and everyone's faces are just glistening and it looks like stars.”
Emotional responses to Luca’s songs aren’t difficult. Filled with the intimacies of relationships with both partners and family - particularly the complex relationship with his father - his personal battle with body dysmorphia and self-doubt, and finding his way in the world as a young gay man, the source material may be cathartically specific to Luca, but they’re also universal, hitting the listener in both heart and head.
“Regardless of your orientation, breaking up with someone is shit, struggling to have a relationship with your father is shit. I’m gay, it’s a part of who I am, but it doesn’t define me and I don’t want to be known as the queer artist with sad songs“.
There’s a long road ahead, however, before Luca George fulfils his ambitions, and he knows it. But don’t for a moment question his courage, determination or ability to climb the ladder.
“Why wouldn't you put all of your fucking eggs in one artistic basket and become the absolute best in the world?”
What Luca determinedly puts his mind to has - to this point - tended to come up trumps for him, so it would be unwise to bet against his ambition. Sometimes it’s not so much where you’re at, but where you’re going….