20-year-old Luxembourg musician and singer-songwriter Lara Grogan recently released her debut album, The Sculptor, with the support of Luxembourg’s Ministry of Culture.
Her music combines pop, jazz and classical influences, placing a particular emphasis on string arrangements. "Music has been a huge part of my life ever since I was little. Discovering songwriting at age eleven gave me a powerful means of self-expression, and I can't imagine a life where I'm not always searching for the next song idea to work on,” Lara Grogan said to Chronicle.lu.
Inspired by the Beatles, she began writing her own songs at age eleven. She has been playing the piano since she was nine and guitar when she was eleven as well. In the Rocklab Screaming Fields Song Contest, her entries were among the top five for two consecutive years. Her participation in the Screaming Fields Festival at ages fifteen and seventeen garnered multiple awards, including the Booker’s Choice from the National Youth Service (SNJ), the Rotondes, and Neimënster in 2021, as well as the Songwriter Package from the Grund Club. She performed her song “City and its People” at the Remix Opening of Esch2022 at the Rockhal, which she wrote specially for this occasion. In 2023, her song “The Sculptor” earned a Semi-Finalist position in the UK Songwriting Contest (UKSC) in the Singer-Songwriter category.
In her debut album released in April 2024, Lara Grogan invites listeners on an immersive journey through her universe. Through eight tracks that blend elements of pop, jazz and classical music, the singer-songwriter showcases her musical style and evocative storytelling. The track “The Sculptor” gives its name to the album, which contains select songs written by Lara between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, based on her personal experiences, thoughts and observations about the world around her.
In her two projects, “Lara Grogan & Band” and “Lara Grogan & Cello” experiments with the expansive sounds a full band or the intimate atmosphere a cello’s sound can create, exploring different directions for her musical style.
Two of Lara Grogan’s music videos (for “The Sculptor” and “3 AM”) as well as her debut album are available on YouTube.