Lilac Cooper on ‘MUTE’: Choosing Trust Over Noise
Punk Head: You’ve been performing and training seriously since childhood. How has your relationship with belief in yourself, in music, in something bigger evolved as you’ve moved into adulthood?
Lilac Cooper: I’ve always been an optimist, and even as a kid I had this quiet feeling that music was my path, like it chose me. Back then, belief felt natural. I didn’t overthink it, I just moved toward what I wanted and somehow things kept happening. As I got older, especially once I started therapy, I began to understand belief in a bigger way. Whether you call it the universe, God, energy, it all points to the same thing for me, that there is something inside us that can guide us when we learn how to listen. Now my relationship with belief is more intentional. It is not just confidence, it is trust. Trusting my voice, trusting my timing, trusting that I am here for a reason, and that even the hard moments are part of the path, not signs that I am on the wrong one.
Punk Head: MUTE centers on inner listening in a world that constantly demands output and visibility. What happens for you creatively and personally when you choose silence over noise?
Lilac Cooper: Silence is honestly the best thing in the world for me. We live in a time where everything demands attention, content, reactions, and it is so easy to lose yourself in that. When I shut everything down and go quiet, I finally come back to myself. That is when I can actually hear what I want to create, not what I think I should create. It calms my whole body and it reminds me to breathe. Creatively, that is where my clearest ideas come from, because they come from truth, not pressure.
Punk Head: In an industry obsessed with visibility and speed, choosing stillness can feel almost rebellious. Do you see “DREAMS” as a quiet act of resistance?
Lilac Cooper: I don’t know if I’d call “DREAMS” rebellious, but I do think it refuses the game. I’m not willing to create from stress and urgency just because the world is obsessed with speed and visibility. That kind of pressure can kill the most honest parts of your creativity. “DREAMS” is my way of saying I’m choosing meaning over noise. I care more about what the song gives someone than how loud it can be. In that sense, it is a quiet choice that feels powerful.
Punk Head: You’ve said “DREAMS” is about believing before proof arrives. How do you protect that belief on days when doubt feels louder than faith?
Lilac Cooper: Some days it is easy, and some days I break. I try to treat belief like something I practice, not something I either have or do not have. I keep reminders around me, affirmations, little notes that bring me back to the truth that everything has timing, that there is a reason for what is happening, and that what is meant for me will find me. I also try to come back to my breath, to my body, because my mind can create endless fear, but my body usually knows what is real. “DREAMS” is literally a reminder to believe before proof arrives, so on the hardest days I lean on the message of the song like it is holding me too.
Punk Head: MUTE suggests listening inward rather than outward. What are you trying to hear more clearly? And what are you intentionally tuning out?
Lilac Cooper: I’m trying to hear my intuition more clearly. The real voice underneath the fear, underneath the noise, underneath other people’s opinions. When I listen inward, I can feel what is aligned for me in the moment. What my energy is saying, what my soul is asking for right now. And what I am intentionally tuning out is comparison, the pressure to keep up, the need to prove myself to the internet, and the voices that try to tell me I’m behind. MUTE is really about learning to trust that inner voice again, and choosing it over the outside world.
Punk Head: When people tell you “DREAMS” made them feel “held,” how does that sit with you as an artist?
Lilac Cooper: When people tell me “DREAMS” made them feel held, it honestly touches me deeply. That is exactly why I do this. I want my music to feel like a safe space, like a breath, like someone reminding you that you’re not alone and you’re going to be okay. It makes me feel grateful, because it means the song is doing more than just sounding good, it is actually reaching people where they need it. And that is the most meaningful thing an artist can hear.
