Lila McCann

In the last year, Lila McCann has evolved from a Tacoma, Washington high school student singing songs like “I Wanna Fall in Love” and “Crush” to a confident, independent woman living alone in Los Angeles and piloting her own career. “I’ve never had the opportunity to fully concentrate on my music before,” Lila admits. “For four years, I had to pick: ‘do I want to go to the prom or do I want to go do a show somewhere?’ Now it’s time for me to focus on just two things—my music and my career.”

Lila’s third CD, Complete, proves that this determined and poised young woman is answering her true calling. Although Lila is the first to admit she surrounds herself with great advisors, she took the reins on her latest project, from choosing a producer to song selection to picking the studio musicians that would create the sound she was looking for.

“As an artist, it was time for me to explore something new,” Lila states pointedly. “I’ve always sung sweet little ditties and going in the studio this time, I wanted to sing songs that I thought were appropriate for me at this time in my life. I wanted more of a challenge and that ultimately led to working with a new producer,” Lila says. “When I met with David Malloy, I got a really good vibe from him. He said ‘Lila I think we can take your voice places that you haven’t gotten to take it before.’ I’ve never felt completely comfortable in the studio—where I could just let go and sing the heck out of a song before. David nurtured that in me.”

Lila says Malloy (who’s producing credits include Reba McEntire, Andy Griggs and Billy Gilman) “is a chameleon in the studio” and as promised, he pushed her vocals to new levels.

“There were some songs that I lived with so long before we went in the studio, I had the whole arrangement in my head. David and I were immediately on the same wavelength. We worked incredibly well together as a team.” The result is Complete, 10 songs that expose Lila’s blossoming vocal ability and growth as an artist.

“Every time I record a new album, I’m able to go further because I know more about myself,” Lila says. “There are certain things I didn’t want to sing about when I was 14. I like being able to grow with each album and sing songs truly from my heart as I’m feeling now.”

What Lila is feeling now is love. Not necessarily romantic love, but the love of life, family and friends. “It just sort of happened that way, that the songs are all about love,” Lila says. “As I was looking for songs for this album, I kept finding songs I liked more and more. A couple of songs on this record, we found just days before we cut them.”

Many of the songs on Complete are uptempo, fun tunes about falling in love like the melodic first single, “Come A Little Closer.” “I’ve always liked this song but I didn’t know if it would work for me,” Lila admits. “Everyone else saw something in it that I hadn’t quite got yet. But, I decided to try it and as soon as we started playing it, I got it. This song is so rockin’! I can picture people in their car banging their heads while they’re driving. We reworked the vocals a little bit because I like to move a lot when I sing and it made it a lot more fun. It’s got a lot of drive.”

“Is It Just Me” is one of Lila’s favorites and her best friend insisted that she cut this one after hearing the demo. “It’s this funky song about this guy and this girl. The girl is saying ‘You’re always over at my house and I see you checking me out even when you think I don’t. I’m falling in love with you, but I don’t know if it’s just me. Are you falling in love, too, or is it just me?’ The hook is really cool and I don’t think anyone has done anything quite like this before.”

Lila’s labelmate, Chalee Tennison, told Lila about “Like A Rocket,” and after hearing it, Lila decided to take Chalee’s advice and cut the song. “It’s so cool,” Lila says. “It’s a country song but it’s totally funky. When we first got the song, I liked the lyrics. Then going into the studio, I knew I wanted to do something fun with this—something different that radio hadn’t heard yet. We changed vocal and music modulations so they’d be a little more normal. We’ve performed it on the road and the fans seem to really like it.”

“Where It Used to Break,” written by Dave Berg and Rivers Rutherford was one of Lila’s last-minute adds. “I always thought Dave Berg was a great writer and musician and I wanted to cut one of his songs really badly,” Lila recalls. “One night, Dave happened to be at the studio and David Malloy saw him in the hallway and said, ‘We have an hour-and-a-half left and we want to cut one more song. Lila is hell-bent on cutting one of your songs so go find one.’ Lila laughs. “We ended up sitting in a room and listening to Dave’s demos and when we heard ‘Where It Used to Break’ we all loved it. We cut it 10 minutes later. I think it turned out really cool. It’s not the usual heartbreak song. You fall in and out of love your whole life until you find the right person. This song is about just getting over it and moving on with life and letting your heart bend where it used to break.”

On Complete, Lila also continues to prove that she can belt out a ballad with the best of them. The title track is a prime example. “I heard ‘Complete’ a long time ago when we were first starting to look for songs. My manager called me and said she found the most beautiful song and she played it for me over the phone. Half way through the song, I knew I loved it. The first line is ‘I’m half a woman with half a heart.’ When he’s not around, she’s just not complete. He’s the half that makes her whole. My vocals on this song are the scratch vocals from the music track. I feel like it was just magic in the studio.”

Lila says “Because of You” is a wonderful song for women. “Whether my age or older, I think women will relate to this song. It’s about thinking you don’t have the strength to fall in love again, but then you meet someone that completely changes your mind. And, he’s not exactly the guy you had in mind. There are so many things as a woman that we look for in a man and when you actually fall in love, half the things on your list aren’t there, and you just love the man for who he is and the way he treats you.”

“She Remembers Love” is a heart-wrenching ballad about a woman with Alzheimer’s. “We were all in tears when we listened to this song,” Lila recalls. “The woman in the song can’t remember anything about her life but she can remember her husband who is now dead. She remembers the color of his eyes, the way he smelled and looked, and how he changed her life. It seems like the one thing people with Alzheimer’s hold on to the longest is their memories of love.”

The one thing Lila McCann holds onto is her confidence and belief that each day is a gift, and she has the power to create her own destiny. “Life deals you all types of cards and you never know what’s going to happen,” Lila says. “I think if you’re true to yourself and surround yourself with good people and always take care of the people close to you, the good karma will always come back to you. It’s so easy to just be nice to people and have fun with your life and enjoy it. And that’s what I intend to do.”