Lolitslea’s RollerCoaster Tycoon is the latest escape from the boredom and burnout of daily life that your playlist yearns for. The Jersey Shore-based artist is leading the neon pop-punk revival with a vibrant sound that blends influences from the glitchy nostalgia of Breathe Carolina with the unfiltered vulnerability of Mayday Parade.
RollerCoaster Tycoon not only serves as a nod to the iconic 2000s computer game, but also as lolitslea’s way of attempting to understand the wacky and erratic journey of growing up. The blue-and-green-haired singer invites the listener to sit beside her on this chaotic ride and experience the craziness as it unfolds through 16 upbeat and brutally honest tracks. From distorted interludes that could be found on video game soundtracks to catchy criticisms of modern-day dating culture, RollerCoaster Tycoon is your ticket to navigating the most unhinged parts of the scariest ride imaginable: adulthood.
Ahead of the album’s release, Crave sat down with lolitslea to talk about the world-building process behind RollerCoaster Tycoon, living out her childhood rock-star dreams, and the excitement surrounding this new fluorescent chapter.
CRAVE: For those who aren’t familiar with lolitslea, describe your sound in three words.
LEA: Neon, upbeat, emotional.
CRAVE: Love it. How does it feel to bring back that neon pop punk era for a new generation of listeners?
LEA: I feel like since so much time has passed, It’s very hard to replicate the true era of neon pop punk specifically because it only happened for such a small window of time and it was niche enough to where only a select group of pop punk enjoyers latched onto that really hopeful, energetic electronic slash gritty both at the same time vibe.
So it feels cool to be taking a ton of inspiration from that and getting to almost recycle it and then add new elements from 2026 and modern day pop punk and music and put that out into the world. Definitely a huge influence of mine, and I do hope that it shows through the music when I am creating it, but hopefully I’m also bringing something slightly new to the table, which is hard to do, but I’m trying.
CRAVE: Speaking of new, your sophomore album, RollerCoaster Tycoon, releases on Sept. 15. Congratulations! What emotions are you feeling now that it’s time to put out your second record?
LEA: I mean, right now in this exact moment, I’m feeling super excited and really just ready. I think the response so far in the last month with just the one single and all the opportunities I’ve been getting to do have been so great that I’m feeling very hopeful for the future of lolitslea and the music.
I think when I was starting to plan a release date and trying to figure everything out and have it all come together, I was pretty anxious. You’d think two years is enough time to, like, get together more music, but I had created all the music within, I don’t know, we started recording and writing some of the songs before even the first album dropped. So, I don’t know, I’ve been working on the music for a long time.
But I think all the preparation and just stepping on the gas came unexpectedly and I guess I was ready for it, but there was a part of me that was just a little scared to take that next step and get everything going. So definitely a bit of hesitation and nervousness in the beginning, but now that I put my foot on the gas, I feel like everything that needed to happen is happening.
It’s coming out. It’s exciting. There’s shows around it, and any of that last-minute stuff that I was nervous about, I’m just locking in, getting creative, and getting it done. And it’s just been rewarding as it’s going on.
CRAVE: It’s so great to see all these things happening for you and I absolutely love the world that you’ve created around this album. Can you talk more about that world-building process for the album and how that relates to the material found on it?
LEA: It’s funny because I think some people as artists probably plan a little bit. At first I didn’t really plan to put this project together as what it was, and same with my last album. I feel like my last album told a pretty clear story, but I think this album has such prominent visuals and it’s tied to video games and the chaotic rollercoaster of my life and then the sound that I wanna continue to develop.
Starting off, I don’t ever really plan my releases to be like, “All right. I’m gonna create a 16-track album and it’s gonna be themed around cartoons and this video game.” That was never a thought when I was writing it. It’s more of me just grabbing pieces of my life and putting them into songs. Then I guess after the writing process is done, going into “How is this gonna sonically sound?” It’s been really cool because I’ve been working with Tony [Pietrafesa] in Queens on this album and he’s produced the whole thing. So having one sole producer on it, I think has helped shape that sound and idea around the world that was created in the end.
He did a great job being like, “All right. I know exactly your influences and where you wanna go with this. Let’s take it to this level. Let’s take it beyond what you did last time on your last record.” So I think once things started to come together with the sound and me falling more into honing in on the Breathe Carolina 3OH!3 era, but also keeping true to that classic Mayday Parade pop-punk style. That really helped shape the sound that comes into RollerCoaster Tycoon.
Visually, the [title track] was written on a random day where I was feeling a little crazy and I didn’t know what was gonna come of it. I pulled up to my friend’s apartment in Nashville, and we just had nothing. We started from nothing. I didn’t know what I wanted to write about. I think I was telling her about a night out where I felt a little nutty and everything was so chaotic. We might have probably channeled that into the song, which then became “RollerCoaster Tycoon.”
I have been playing it live, so some people might have already heard it. Overall, that concept was so cool, and I think I latched onto it so aggressively that I was able to piece the album together around it and then create what it is now.
CRAVE: I still have the setlist you gave me with “BURNOUT!! BURNOUT!!” and “RollerCoaster Tycoon” on it from the Diva Bleach show.
LEA: Yes! It was crazy. We’ve been playing that for an entire year.
CRAVE: Like you just said, you’ve been playing some of the songs live, but which ones are you most excited for to take on a life of their own once you get to play the whole album?
LEA: Release-wise, I’m just excited to see how the song “RollerCoaster Tycoon” does out in the world as a recording. It’s, in my opinion, so fun to play, and it’s really fun to get the audience to jump. We’re still making people jump a year later, and we’re still gonna be making people jump for another year. I’m never taking that part out of the song so I would love to see how people just take that in their everyday life and how they incorporate it into where they listen to it – if it amps them up, if it gets them excited about things, and just if they feel the chaos in it when they’re listening, so definitely that one.
Without giving away too much, I’m trying to think of what other ones I’m really excited to play live. We’ve already played a couple of the new ones live for the first time acoustically opening for Secondhand Serenade, so that was really neat to sing those for the first time.
They were slower-ish songs, so acoustic worked really well for them. The second to last track is called “Sleep Over.” I’m not gonna spoil too much, but it has screaming in it. And I would just absolutely love to get either the featured artist that’s on it to come out on stage at some point or anyone who is in whatever city I’m performing in to come on and scream because I do not scream. I think it would be so cool to have that in a set. And I’ve never been able to do that before, obviously, just because I don’t do it myself. So I would love to see that experience live and see how people react to that.
CRAVE: I’m really glad that you mentioned the Secondhand Serenade show. We’re gonna get into that in a little bit, but before we do, what’s your favorite lyric from the album?
LEA: Oh my gosh. That’s so hard. There’s 12 songs with lyrics on them. It’s like picking a favorite child.
In “Other Side of My Window,” there’s a line that I was writing. This was actually the last song that I had ever written on the album. I had this very small idea, and I brought it to Tony and like, I’m like, “Ah, Tony, we got like one more song, and I know we don’t know what we’re doing with it and where it’s gonna go.” Basically, I gave him that song, and he was starting to produce a rough demo track around it.
I only wrote barely a verse and a concept of a chorus, which he wound up actually changing a bit and making it even cooler, which is awesome. But the second verse, I think it’s the second verse, we had to write together and our sessions have been amazing. But since he’s in Queens, I have to travel. It’s like we’re locked in on our timeline. So when we get together in the studio, we have to lock in and get whatever we need to get tracked and then get anything written.
So we were sitting down, and we were playing the track over and over again just trying to fill in some lyrics, which had happened a lot actually in the whole album’s process. Working with Tony has been amazing because we bounce off ideas so fast. He’ll press play, and he’ll have an idea, then I’ll have an idea and then we’ll combine them. And then we write it, and it takes like five minutes. It’s crazy.
So there was a line in “Other Side of My Window” that I word vomited out. And I looked at Tony, and I was like, “I don’t know if this should be it, but this is the first thing that’s coming to mind.” And it’s, “I’d do anything, yeah, anything, to make a motherfucker mine.” And I’m like, that sounds stupid, but adds into the campiness and the unseriousness of my music for a sense. I think that one just hit me because he was like, “Yeah, I mean, we can do that.” I don’t know if it sparked an immediate yes, but I was like, “I think I want that to be it.”
Now every time I listen back to the song, I hope listeners feel this way. When I hear that lyric, it just rips at my heart. It just tears my heart open because it’s a vulnerable song about not being able to find your person and just tired of hookup culture and stuff like that. That one lyric being so goofy but yet so serious at the same time hits a little deeper so that might be one of my favorites.
CRAVE: Love it. And then, to get into the Secondhand Serenade show, you recently opened for them in your hometown at House of Independents in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Then Mayday Parade noticed a video of you covering “Jersey” and opening up about your journey as a pop-punk artist. What’s been the craziest part of being recognized and sharing stages with artists that have had an impact on your childhood and your career?
LEA: Honestly the craziest thing that’s ever happened in my life. A lot of my bucket list goals in my music career, and I’m pretty small, have been happening in this past year.
It’s been incredible, honestly, which is really awesome. It’s hard to put even into words how it feels to be recognized by the people that you grew up listening to that shaped your entire music career. John [Vesely] from Secondhand Serenade has literally taught me, accidentally because I listened to him so much on repeat when I was 10, 11, 12, how to harmonize, how to write an emo ballad.
I played his CDs in my mom’s car on repeat so often that I’m sure that his style of writing has somehow formed into how I write and how I think and as a creative. So getting to be inspired by somebody that young and then just sharing a stage with them and chatting backstage, taking photos.
I left the venue last week, and John was like, “Love you” and I’m like, “This is crazy.” Building those relationships and getting to work with musicians like that is just, like, I don’t know. I’m sure there’s so many awesome things that I could do still, and I’m really excited for the future of music and my career, but I could die happy now. That is one of the biggest things that I could have never imagined doing as a child and getting to go and do now being my age.
It’s surreal and the fact that it keeps happening is just in itself incredible reassurance that I’m doing the right thing. Not only for my life’s purpose, but I think I’m doing that stuff well enough to get recognized and put on the same stages as my favorite artists. Mayday Parade is another band that I still write to this day and I’m like, “How would this part be written if Derek [Sanders] was writing the lyrics?” or Jason [Lancaster], when he was in the band, I love his voice. One of my favorite vocalists. How would he write this or sing it? Their social media manager and their band in general, I’ve gotten to do some cool things like be in a music video and share the stage with Derek. I am absolutely so grateful for the love and support that they have shown me digitally and in real life. It’s been really cool. I can’t wait to hopefully have an opportunity to play with them one day. We’ll see.
CRAVE: Manifesting for you! Speaking of Jersey, especially because you’re from Asbury Park, which is known to have a very vibrant music scene, how do you think that the local scene has impacted your art and your growth as a musician, especially with the new album?
LEA: Honestly, I think I’m still trying to find my footing within the Asbury music scene. Growing up, I was able to attend shows that were all ages because I was a teenager when I used to live here as a kid. I was able to go to the venues there and get to see live music and it has changed so much since 2013 to 2016. That was the time I was going to shows here and only having recently moved back about two years ago, I do feel like I’m still trying to find my footing as an adult in the scene. Not just as a listener, but now as an artist. So it’s been really cool to just continue to meet like-minded people.
In Asbury specifically, there’s a lot of really awesome creative personalities out there. I can’t say it’s the same for all of New Jersey so it’s definitely harder to find them but it’s been really cool getting to play House of Independence multiple times. Very grateful for that. And then just doing smaller brewery shows and getting to meet people that walked by and came in and wanted to check out what was happening. I realize that’s how I’ve met some people. I’ll just walk in the streets in Asbury and I see a live band is playing and I’m like, “Oh, they kinda look like they would play the music that I play” and I like that culture of it quite a lot.
This year I got to be on a local fest and we actually unfortunately had to leave right after our set time because we were also opening for Games We Play out in New Brunswick, again, which was cool, but even just that hour or two getting to talk to all the other artists that were on that bill. There were like 15 bands and everyone was so nice, and they were all in the same room and it was like, “Oh, cool. We’re all here now.” It’s the alternative pop-punky kinda style music is a tight group I feel like in Asbury.
I’m still meeting a lot of people and I’m still getting my footing in the scene here, but it has been pretty great since. So I can’t wait to just keep going out and supporting more local artists and hopefully playing not too many shows. I’m trying to be careful because I feel like right now we do pretty well in Asbury and sometimes play too much. I definitely don’t wanna oversaturate the market with my blue and green, but still playing, so probably playing some more shows in the future.
CRAVE: Awesome. I know you’re a big video game fan, obviously with the new album kind of being tied to RollerCoaster Tycoon. If you had the opportunity to create a song for any video game, what would it be?
LEA: I feel like this answer would change based on the time of year, because I don’t know if this is my best answer, but the first one that came to me is The Urbz: Sims in the City, which is ironically and stupid niche, but it’s one of my favorite DS games ever.
I played it a lot during a very developing time in my brain, but they had this moment where the Black Eyed Peas had the theme song for that, and so I feel like I want that to be me. In Urbz: Sims in the City, they have all these really cool characters with super bright, colorful hair and streetwear, and I feel like I dress like that and look like that. It would be super cool to have a theme song based around a Sims game. But they’re not even cool anymore, no offense.
If it was back then, I definitely would wanna be in a game that’s very creatively expressive and unique. I mean,I feel like it’s a no-brainer, Rollercoaster Tycoon would be such a vibe, right? So that’s probably my modern-day answer. We already wrote the theme song.
CRAVE: Exactly! This track list is significantly longer than your debut album. What was the biggest difference in the creative process between those two albums?
LEA: I think the first one was “Can I make an album? Do I have enough material? Am I capable? Will it do well? Is this something that I’m gonna commit to?” There were a lot of questions on that. In the past, I was doing EPs with four to six songs. That was just very standard, and I had a couple extra and I was like, “Well, I guess that constitutes for an album” so it wasn’t really like originally with the first one, me going in being like, “All right. It’s time. I’m at the stage of my life where an album makes sense.” There wasn’t that thought for it.
I guess now that I’ve put that one out, I just started making so many songs and finding a way to tie them all together that it was a no-brainer that the next project should just also be an album. [RollerCoaster Tycoon] definitely felt more mature, felt more polished, felt more put together. I learned a lot in the time of releasing a first album to be able to come out and be like, “All right. Here’s another one.” But I also just thought about how I want to consume art, and how my friends are consuming art and music right now.
I think I had people try to tell me to put out singles and see which one hits and how people react to it and maybe make a couple of EPs after seeing the reaction, but I wanted to make it more of a big deal. Singles are great and I love it when they work for people. I mean, I’m putting out singles too in general for the album, but I’m doing my own creative project by wanting to put them in a package together and share it that way.
I was able to almost extend my artistic abilities and my brain thoughts to other artists that I’ve been working with and collaborating with on the visuals and stuff, and I’ve been able to direct that and create something bigger than just a couple singles, see what sticks.
So I feel like I’ve learned quite a lot in the process, and I honestly just said fuck it. I’m gonna put everything together and it’s gonna be an album with cartoons and colors and we’re gonna introduce other colors than blue and green to the record, like orange and red and yellow, and just keep it colorful and make it feel like Jet Set Radio vibes.
I was just able to be way more creatively expressive. And then it was probably gonna be 10 songs, and then I think I added two more again. This was last minute. The whole album was finished, and I was like, “What if I added some interlude tracks that were like a main menu credit loading screen that would be on a video game OST original soundtrack?” I love listening to those, especially just while I’m just doing regular things. They’re just amazing background noise, but it also makes you think a lot about those games.
I got my friend Glitch Gum and he was the perfect person to ask because he loves video games and his music sounds like it’s meant for video games. He took everything from my album and just started making interlude tracks for it. So now it’s 16 songs, which is crazy, but it’s fun to say that.
CRAVE: I’m glad that you mentioned the interlude tracks because I was gonna say, I love them. It added to the whole experience of listening to it and felt like you were listening to a video game soundtrack.
LEA: That was a brain thought. And I was like, “What if I did this? This would be so cool,” and my manager and my friends were like, “Yeah, why not? I mean, it might take a little bit longer to get the album finished, but I think your idea’s fine.”
CRAVE: Well, props to your brain for that. And then, what do you want listeners to take away from the album after they hear it for the first time?
LEA: Surface listening I want everyone to just have a good time and feel a lot of energy and get excited when the next song plays because it has different elements in it that you wouldn’t expect. I think it does feel very linear. It feels cohesive. I’ve been listening to it for a long time and on repeat, so it’s nice to get a new perspective of it. I’m excited to hear how others react to listening through or just in general hearing more songs that are on it.
If they listen hard enough to the lyrics, depending on what song, maybe it’ll be a little bit of a gut-wrencher. Hopefully those stories and topics are maybe relatable or help people get through experiences or feeling not alone for feeling those kinds of feelings.
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