After more than a decade in the spotlight — from her early days as bassist of Bye Bye Badman to becoming one of Asia’s most recognisable female rock frontwomen — Luli Lee isn’t interested in repeating herself. Instead, her latest EP Brave New World captures a moment of reckoning, renewal, and creative fearlessness.
Arriving after a two-and-a-half-year gap in her solo output, the EP channels the energy of rediscovery: heavier bass tones, sharper concepts, and an unapologetic embrace of metal-driven intensity. It’s a project shaped not just by sonic evolution, but by personal turning points that have redefined how she approaches music, identity, and instinct.
In this interview, Luli Lee reflects on returning to her roots, trusting her own vision, and why Brave New World isn’t just about changing her sound — it’s about rebuilding herself from the inside out.
You started out with Bye Bye Badman before carving your own solo path. Looking back, what lessons from your band years still guide you as a solo artist today?
The biggest influence comes from my experience in band activities, starting from the songwriting process itself. When I write music, I often recall the stages I performed on as part of a band. Since I program drums in MIDI and record all instruments at home, I imagine how my band members would play while building each instrumental line on my own.
Of course, I’m influenced by well-known and inspiring artists, but the performances I experienced firsthand and up close are much easier for me to visualize. In addition, having started my career in the music industry through band activities, I believe that experience also influences how I independently plan and approach marketing for my music.
You’ve performed everywhere from Pentaport Rock Festival to SXSW and VAGABOND FESTIVAL. How have these international stages shaped your confidence and perspective as an artist?
When I step onto an international stage, I’m more aware that the audience may not know who I am, and that often brings back the dreams I had when I first started playing in a band. Returning to that mindset — going back to my beginnings — is a truly valuable experience. It keeps me passionate and makes each moment feel special.
It feels similar to imagining, “What if I could go back to the past with the memories I have now?” In that sense, not forgetting the dreams I had as a child carries the same meaning for me.
Brave New World is your first mini album in well over two years. What was happening in your life during that gap, and why did this feel like the right moment to return with a new body of work?
During my hiatus as a solo artist, I returned to band activities, working on songs collaboratively and stepping onto new stages together. As I mentioned earlier, this brought back the dreams I had when I first started playing in a band, and it reminded me that at the core of the energy music gives me is something very simple: the desire to do something fun.
Guided purely by that feeling of enjoyment, I worked on the songs, and while I was fully immersed in that energy, I decided on the release schedule.
The EP is described as a project about dismantling your former self and building something entirely new. Can you walk us through the emotional or creative turning point that sparked this transformation?
There have been two major turning points in my life: getting married and my band becoming active again. These two changes transformed my mindset and my life so profoundly that I feel like a completely different person. My mental health deeply affects every part of my life, and music is especially influenced by it.
These recent turning points have helped me develop a healthier way of thinking. They made me want to break down my previous, incomplete self and build something entirely new on top of it.
You’ve become known as one of Asia’s leading female rock frontwomen and bassists. How did your relationship with the bass — as both an instrument and a voice — evolve on this EP?
For this EP, I started most of the songs by sketching out the bass lines and tones first. Unlike my previous albums, overdrive on the bass was a constant foundation from the very beginning. Working this way helped me draw out the rhythm that comes from my instincts.
I haven’t been able to fully let go of other instruments yet, but as I continued writing with this approach, I often found myself wanting to eventually create music made up of just drums, bass, and vocals. At times, I even felt that bass and voice alone could be enough. Still, for this album, I decided to focus on what felt fun. Rather than overthinking, I followed my hands and my heart, trusting simple instinct.
From dreamy British rock textures to heavy, metal-driven sounds, Brave New World feels intentionally expansive. How did you decide which sonic directions belonged in this new chapter?
The foundation of this "new chapter" was built from the ground up around vocals and bass tone, which gives Brave New World a more solid and grounded feel. Because I personally enjoy a wide range of genres, I’ve always felt that my music is difficult to define within a single category.
This time, by centering the sound around a driven bass tone, I wanted to lean more into a rock-based identity. In the end, though, Brave New World still reflects my personal style of embracing multiple genres. I think listeners will recognize familiar elements within the album, alongside some fresh parts.
The pre-release single ‘You’ll Be My Mad Dog’ is the most aggressive metal sound you’ve released so far. What did it unlock for you creatively, and why did it feel right as the first statement from this EP?
I realized that while I love music, there is something I love just as much — concept. ‘You’ll Be My Mad Dog’ felt right to me because it didn’t sit vaguely between genres, like a blend of rock and pop, but instead clearly embraced a metal sound. I had a strong desire to define that concept clearly and to present it without hesitation.
Brave New World is not so much about entering a new world in terms of sound change, but rather about expressing a new world of concept — a new world of my mindset.
This project is accompanied by three music videos. How important was the visual world in shaping the identity and narrative of Brave New World?
The first video released was for the track ‘Unknown Artist’. This song represents who I am without any particular concept attached to it — just myself as I am. Regardless of how others may perceive me from the outside, in reality I am an independent musician who handles business, music, and producing on my own, and I am still a relatively unknown artist. That’s exactly why I wanted to capture this song through a video that I personally planned and edited.
The two videos to be released after that are band performance videos. They are not live recordings, but performances designed to show how a band’s sound becomes more solid depending on the attitude, expression, and presence with which the music is played and sung.
For all three videos, I personally prepared the hair, makeup, and styling, and I also perform in them myself. I believe viewers will be able to clearly see what I want to express through these visuals.
Was there a moment during the making of this EP where you surprised yourself with a choice you wouldn’t have made earlier in your career?
If this were my past self, I don’t think I would have trusted myself enough. I would have hesitated to make clear choices around things like “concept” or a distinctly defined metal sound, and probably relied more on others instead.
Now, because I trust my own taste, I’m able to create and present these concepts clearly and decisively on my own, approaching the planning process with much more confidence and clarity. And because I’m proud of this version of myself, I often find myself surprised by how much I’ve grown.
Finally, if Brave New World is a statement of who you are now, what question do you hope it leaves listeners asking about you next?
That’s a difficult question. Well… “what would be fun next? Maybe something like this?”
If my current album felt fun to listen to and made people look forward to what comes next, I think that alone would make me really happy.
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