Buried Dreams, Divine Timing: Lily Valley’s Path to Creating Music That Truly Matters"
Punk Head: How does a day in the life of a software engineer collide—or harmonize—with the life of a singer-songwriter?
Lily Valley: To be honest, I don’t think these two professions are very compatible. My first music video alone took four months to make during my free time, and in total I spent nearly two years on my first song. I recorded it while I was sick around Christmas of 2024, and I wasn’t happy with the result, so I ended up re-recording the entire track about six months later before I finally felt confident enough to create the MV for it.
I Believe in More, my second song, was also a long process. The first version of the track was available in July 2025, but I didn’t fully complete the song and MV until May 2026. I was only recently able to dedicate more time to my music because I’m currently on a break.
More than anything, I think the only reason why I persevered is faith. I would not have been able to have the endurance to finish anything if it were not for my faith in Jesus. Throughout all of it, I just kept believing that God would somehow make a way for me.
Punk Head: “I Believe In More” came from a suffocating period abroad. If you could distill that feeling into a single word, what would it be?
Lily Valley: Faith – Faith was probably the most important thing for me during that season. I had to keep believing there was something more ahead, even when I couldn’t fully see it yet—at the time, I had no producer, no engineer, and no nothing. I actually met my arranger through an Uber driver. There was honestly a point where I doubted whether I would ever even be able to professionally produce one single song… while I was working overtime and thinking I could get fired at any moment lolll
Punk Head: Your music video is entirely AI-produced. What does it feel like to direct a story with a digital brush instead of a physical camera?
Lily Valley: It honestly feels like a miracle — like a dream come true. I don’t know if you’ve ever imagined what it would feel like if the things in your imagination could suddenly come to life in the real world, but that’s what this experience has been like for me.
I actually started praying about being able to make music videos before I had even finished my first song back in December 2024. At the time, AI video generation wasn’t really mainstream yet, and I knew traditional music videos were incredibly expensive — far beyond anything I could afford as an independent artist. So in many ways, I genuinely see the rise of AI as God answering that prayer.
Being able to share my music not just through audio but visually as well—and to have so much creative control over it—has been an incredible blessing. AI video generation still costs money and definitely isn’t cheap, but it finally made something possible that once felt completely out of reach for me.
Punk Head: You’ve navigated isolation abroad, corporate pressure, and the creative pursuit. How has that duality shaped your songwriting voice and thematic choices?
Lily Valley: Every song means a lot to me because each one costs so much — emotionally, creatively, financially, and in terms of time — to bring into existence. Because of that, I only really want to create music that feels deeply personal and meaningful to me, music that reflects my journey in life and my walk with God.
So yes, every song I write is inspired by God and connected in some way to my own experiences. But at the same time, I wouldn’t say I consciously chose a specific music style or sound for myself. And honestly, I thank God that I have the freedom not to approach music that way. I’m able to simply create whatever I feel inspired to create in the moment, and a lot of that inspiration naturally comes from the things I’ve lived through personally.
Punk Head: Looking back at the years you “buried” your dream, what wisdom would you give your younger self about patience, faith, and perseverance in pursuing artistic calling?
Lily Valley: To be honest, I don’t really know what I would say to my younger self, because I feel like God has redeemed me from so much. I was only baptized two years ago, and looking back now, I genuinely feel that everything happened in the right timing.
I don’t think my younger self would have been capable of pursuing her artistic calling, even if the opportunity had been placed directly in front of her. She was too fearful, too fragile, and too consumed by other people’s opinions. I honestly can’t imagine myself trying to pursue art without God — I just don’t think I would have had the strength or courage to do it.
That’s why I believe it was God’s perfect timing that all of this began after I was baptized. Looking at the direction my life was heading before I became a Christian, having my artistic dreams buried was honestly one of the smaller issues. God had to transform me first before I could even try to step into any of this.
