[NOVUL](https://www.google.com/search?q=NOVUL+instagram&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS909US909&oq=NOVUL+instagram&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i457j0i10l3j69i60l3.1031j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) is a ball of fresh air in the music industry, spreading her vibrant energy and down-to-earth personality into the universe any chance she can. Giving us her own version of pop sprinkled with confidence and authenticity, the singer-songwriter received her name from Grammy producer Poet Name Life of The Black Eyed Peas. Pronounced “novel” to coincide with her last name Novlan, real name Samantha hails from a tiny prairie town of 495 people in Saskatchewan, Canada, simply here to tell her story as her life unfolds.
She states, “I love it because I call my fans my NOVULties. It’s a story. Everything I write about is through experiences, this is my journey. These are my chapters.”
Most recently, she released her highly-anticipated new single titled “Runaway Baby,” pairing it with a vulnerable yet sensual visual with her now boyfriend. We all have our runaway babies, and NOVUL tells her current story of true love after years of an abusive and destructive relationship. Hailing from Canada and going on her eighth year in Los Angeles, she spends the majority of her time in the lab, reading her forthcoming debut EP, _Lullabies_.
Read below as we discuss how she got her start, inspo writing “Runaway Baby,” importance in TikTok, studio essentials, _Lullabies_, and more!
**Biggest influences?**
I’ve always been super inspired by Cher. I love Cher. I’m very theatrical. I love costumes. I’m definitely a performer artist, she’s always a huge influence. I love Lady Gaga, she’s my favorite. Of course, Fergie, Gwen Stefani. Some of my previous work was more pop, house, EDM-style. I took this whole year-and-a-half to really articulate my new sound, which is very fun. My personality’s fun and bubbly, I want to put that more into my music. I was in the studio, I came out and people said “you remind me of a new Gwen Stefani or Fergie.” It’s cool because no one’s really doing that style right now, bringing back that 2000’s. \[laughs\]
**At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?**
The first time I heard my song on the radio in Canada. I was driving with my family and my song came on. Whoa, this is so crazy coming from a small town. If you honestly follow and work on your dreams, you can accomplish anything. Proving to myself and setting little goals: not too big of a goal, but little goals of I want to finish an album or I want to collab with this person. Achieving those things, you start realizing “okay, I can accomplish this.” Once I started to see people really gravitate towards my music, reaching out like “hey, I really related to that,” I realized I could do this as my career.
**“Runaway Baby” out now! You say you were scared to open and share your past, how does it feel?**
I’m really excited. As I was sharing with everyone, I was really nervous to release this because it came from a very, very vulnerable place. I was with someone who really struggled with addictions. I never really shared that with many fans or even friends. It came from a poem I wrote. I started performing the poem at shows, people said “wow, I can really relate to that.” I needed to make this into a song. He was laying right beside me when I wrote the poem. At the very end: “you’re rolling over and you’re smiling at me, now it’s time to get up and I should make some coffee.” It’s showing how being in a toxic, crazy relationship, it’s a lot of push-and-pull. One minute you’re happy, one minute you’re not. I decided I needed to release that, because I want to be more vulnerable right now. I need to show that to people, we can connect in that way on a deeper level.
“Runaway Baby,” I was in the studio and I kept hearing that hook: “you’re my runaway, runaway, runaway baby.” He’d sometimes leave to go fill his needs, whether it be something with addiction, to the point where I lost my identity. I lost myself trying to save somebody. It was so hard. I needed to run away from myself, to save myself from this relationship.
**How does he feel about the record?**
I don’t know. \[laughs\] And don’t care. I shot the music video for it, my current boyfriend was super cool and down to play my ex. He’s a really dope artist too. He’s about to drop some new music. We reenacted a situation I went through, which was pretty traumatizing, in Big Bear. I reenacted a very abusive situation, I wanted to be vulnerable. I don’t think people realize what I went through, it helped me heal a lot too. We shot that in a whole day. It was crazy, it got a massive thunderstorm. One minute it was super sunny, then this massive thunderstorm came. Wow, it was God in a way. The rollercoaster itself, crazy.
**How does it feel to show this vulnerable side of you? It’s very different from your past work.**
My past singles are very fun, sassy, confident girl anthems. I was excited because I wanted to show more of my poetry off. I did this song in a more poetic, rap way. That’s why I said I was a little nervous to show off this more vulnerable side. So far have gotten amazing people reaching out being like “wow, I’ve been through this too.” It started more of a conversation in a deeper, mysterious way with my fans.
**How does music help you heal?**
Oh my gosh, it makes me heal so good. Sometimes when I’m crying, I’ll put in some headphones and listen to a song. I’ll need to rage, put on something crazy. Or I need some confident songs. Music is so healing. What I find with music, sometimes it’s not even the words. It’s the music itself, the feeling of the music.
**How important is TikTok for your career?**
TikTok’s been awesome. I dropped my singles, “Like Us” and “STICKY,” I’ve been getting amazing TikToks. It blew up for a minute. I got altogether 4.5, almost 5 million views with all my songs as an independent artist. Wow this is cool, people are really loving this. Shout out to Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton posted about my song “Like Us,” no better than the original OG! \[laughs\] That was really cool.
**Videos by celebrities like Kylie Cantrall, Pressley Hossbach from DanceMoms, Paris Hilton posted on her story**
**Collaboration with Haus of PinkLemonaid for STICKY - Designing - Celebrity favorite swimsuit brand, celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, KylieSkin campaign, Chrissy Teigen, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj to name a few**
Shout out to Andi of Haus of PinkLemonaid. His swimsuits have been in Sports Illustrated, he’s got so many amazing, big artists, influencers, celebrities wearing his bikinis. He loves my song “STICKY” so much. We met, he said “I’d love to collaborate.” I always saw myself eventually getting into fashion. It was so cool. We sat down, he said “what’re you thinking?” “I saw pinks, vibrants, fun, tongues, little emojis, and anything drippy and sticky. We came up with this whole design. He did the swimsuits, it’s been amazing. I’m so grateful I had a dope designer really believe in me as an artist to want to collaborate on these bikinis.
**3 things you need in the studio?**
I need hot tea with honey. My phone obviously to track stuff. I write lyrics. Sometimes I hear melodies, or I’ll have something already written. I write poems all the time, randomly. I’ll be grocery shopping, a poem will come up. I’ll be driving and voice noting. I love having candles in the studio. The scent, the vibe is very warm.
**How’s the independent grind?**
It’s interesting and it’s fun. You’re your own voice. You don’t have a huge label saying “nah we don’t like this, you should try this.” Being independent, it’s all me. It’s being able to work with other artists, and release basically what you want. Being independent is definitely hard, so getting all the support from people and fans means the most. My NOVULties, when things get shared or I’ll read messages in the morning like “hey, I related to that,” or “I really like this.” Wow, that keeps me motivated. That keeps me going. I want to keep dropping records, singles, as much as I can.
**What can we expect from the _Lullabies_ EP?**
I have a lot of fun records coming out, stay tuned. A lot of fun, sassy, confidence. A lot of horns, I did a lot of trumpets with this one. I worked with a producer, Dave Berg. He’s awesome. I’m very hands-on. I’ll be like “I hear something like \[imitates trumpet noises\],” he’ll be like “I have that.” I have a real vision as an artist. I know what my outfits are, already envisioned the videos. I’m a visualizer, a storyteller. Dropping singles right now. For _Lullabies_, we don’t have an exact date, but I named it after nursery rhymes because I thought it was funny. They’re very loud, it’s not go-to-sleep music. It’s very fun and uptempo.
**What do you want fans to get from your story?**
It’s hard because each song is so different. People can get what they want from it, what they hear. I want them to feel fun and confident. I want them to feel themselves. I want them to feel that we can relate. A lot of people sometimes feel like this, but they don’t want to talk about it.“Like Us” is very when you’re getting ready with your girls, put something on fun, everyone wants to be “like us.” It’s more uptempo. Music is take what you want and leave the rest.
**Immediate goals you have for yourself?**
I’d love to get massive Spotify support. Interviews like this, c’mon, Flaunt? Wassup! Working with other major artists, building my name, getting more people supporting the tracks, maybe getting a couple million views on my music.
**Who are some artists you want to work with?**
I’m open to working with anyone and feel it’s important to be open minded. I mean there’s so many dope artists right now, I’d just love to sit, either write for them or anything. My icon is NF. I love NF. Anytime he wants to do Eminem “I Love The Way You Lie” vibes, I’m all for it. I love that he speaks such truth as an artist. I love his imagery, he’s got good visuals. Would love to collaborate with him.
.jpg)
