Luvcat on Passion, Mischief, and <em>Vicious Delicious</em>
Luvcat is a creature of contradictions — a Liverpool-born dreamer with a poet’s heart and a provocateur’s bite.
Her world is one of lipstick slightly smudged, stockings a little torn, and melodies that shimmer somewhere between innocence and desire. Steeped in the dark mysticism of her hometown and raised on a diet of The Waterboys, Nick Cave, and Phantom of the Opera, she channels both the theatrical and the tender. What began as a teenage rebellion — rewriting her postcode just to get her first radio spin — has since evolved into a singular artistic vision defined by risk, romance, and relentless curiosity.
At the heart of Luvcat’s music lies a devotion to storytelling — tales of passion and heartbreak, mischief and resilience, spun with a wink and a bruise. Whether she’s writing about the sweetness of a sextape on “Love & Money” or crafting the lipstick-stained world of her new record Vicious Delicious, Luvcat moves through her art with fearless self-possession, crafting a world that is both tender and feral.
She invites listeners to live dangerously, love deeply, and find the poetry hidden in the everyday — stilettos clacking against cobblestones, hearts wide open.
KP: Liverpool has such a rich musical legacy, from The Beatles to Echo & the Bunnymen. How has growing up in that city shaped your sense of showmanship and storytelling as Luvcat?
LUVCAT: Liverpool is definitely full of storytellers and showmen. My grandad always spun mad, mystical tales and lit up every room. It’s very inspiring to grow up by the water. There’s something dark and mystical about the city that bled into my writing. The Bunnymen are a big influence for me — I’ve seen them every time they play in town.
KP: Really? That’s the coolest!
Speaking of your roots recently, you said, “That’s what my dad always taught me as a kid: ‘comfort is killer.’ You’ve gotta always have that bit of abrasion when you’re young; otherwise, you don’t grow.”
How do you feel that philosophy has shaped the risks that you’ve taken in both your music and your career?
LUVCAT: I think it’s important to live a little dangerously and mischievously, especially when you’re young and especially when you’re a writer. My dad always said to me, “No backup plan — just make Plan A work.” I know how fortunate I am to come from a courageous, kooky family who always supported my wild dreams.
KP: If you have a Plan B, then your Plan B will find you. Your father is a very wise man!
What advice would you lend to women who are afraid of change — or afraid of failure?
LUVCAT: It’s not over till it’s over. It’s never too late to rip it all up and start again. And make it sexier.
KP: In that same conversation, you said that you “never stopped kicking the door down” and kept evolving even when things didn’t work, which is a favorite attribute of mine. I guess that goes back to having no Plan B!
What were some of those pivotal moments where persistence paid off in unexpected ways?
LUVCAT: When I was a young teenager, my local BBC Introducing show in Merseyside wouldn’t play my tunes. It was really competitive in the area, and I also wasn’t very good, so I changed my postcode to a car park in Blackburn and tried my luck at getting a first radio spin on BBC Lancashire. And it worked! [Laughs] Now BBC Merseyside are very supportive.
“I think that if you love the world, it will love you back.”
KP: I really love that. Whatever it takes, right? [Laughs]
What kept you going when the going got rough?
LUVCAT: Always just the music. I feel like it courses through your veins and gives you no choice other than to keep pushing on. It’s a calling — a knocking that never ever stops.
KP: Much of your music deals with love — or, more particularly, passion. You said, “My parents are madly in love and have been for about 35 years; my grandparents were madly in love for 64 years. So I’ve had incredible, mad love around me as a kid. Maybe I’m just a bit loopy, but I really think it’s there if you just look for it — that kind of magic in the everyday.”
How has witnessing that kind of devotion shaped the way that you write about passion and search for “magic in the everyday” in your own life?
LUVCAT: It’s easy to write about crazed, eternal love when you’ve seen it with your own eyes. And I do love to find poetry in everyday goings-on, definitely. I think that if you love the world, it will love you back.
KP: I wholeheartedly agree.
What advice would you lend to women who often settle in mundane relationship or in partnerships that do not suit them?
LUVCAT: Fuck it off. Go to Paris!
KP: Your latest record, Vicious Delicious, just dropped— congratulations! You’ve mentioned that the record is “lipstick a little smudged” and “stockings a little torn.” How does imperfection play into your storytelling?
LUVCAT: I have always loved lyrics that are grand and whimsical but have a grit and a bite. I think that everything feels more alluring when it’s a little undone.
KP: What can we expect from the record sonically?
LUVCAT: The souls of all my bandmates.
KP: How do you balance the album’s “eroticism and innocence” without losing either quality?
LUVCAT: I read a quote the other day which resonated… “Everything is sexy, and nothing is erotic.” I think nowadays old-school romance and sensuality can get a little lost. It’s fun to try and paint a naughty picture with what you don’t say, letting the listener get there themselves. The record is also littered with wide-eyed innocence. I’m just a naive little misfit discovering the dark sides of love and lust.
KP: Is there a particular track on the record that you feel is its emotional centerpiece? If so, which is it and why?
LUVCAT: I put “Bad Books” last because it’s playful and waggish. There are themes of longing, loneliness, and twisted, torturous love on the record, but I wanted to make sure that it ended with a wink.
“I think it’s important to live a little dangerously and mischievously, especially when you’re young and especially when you’re a writer.”
KP: One of my favorite tracks of yours is “Love & Money.” I love it dearly! Can you tell us a bit about its inspiration, writing, and recording?
LUVCAT: Thank you. For a song about making a sex tape, I think it turned out pretty delicate and sweet. We recorded it by the sea, where we’d go for moonlit walks on the pebbles in the early hours. It was all very charged and romantic at that time. Maybe you can hear that in the dreaminess of the recording.
KP: I think that’s why I love it so much!
Your name nods to your love for The Cure. If you had to pick a few formative songs or albums — from any artist — that either informed your early days or your present, what would they be, and why?
LUVCAT: “The Whole of The Moon” by The Waterboys — I think it’s lyrical perfection. There’s Handycam footage of 3-year-old me standing on a cushion stage, dressed like a fairy, belting it out in the living room. The band heard me busking that song and took me on the road with them when I was 19. It was truly a crazy, full-circle moment.
The two albums that I vividly remember from the back of the car were Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave and The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. My dad and my grandad have very different music tastes, but I guess the one thing in common is the dark, passionate theatricality of it all.
KP: What would you tell your younger self?
LUVCAT: Buckle up, baby!!!
KP: What advice would you lend to women about life, work, or love?
LUVCAT: Be curious.
KP: What do you feel makes a provocative woman?
LUVCAT: Stilettos on cobbled streets.
KP: I have a few torturous stories about that pairing… [Laughs] That’s an incredible answer.
Photography: Barnaby Fairley
