Today we’d like to introduce you to Lora Mouna.
Hi Lora, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Winston Salem, North Carolina growing up, and I was surrounded by music by the very beginning – both of my parents are from Syria, and my mom, Noma Mouna, was a popular pianist back in her hometown. She poured her passion for music into me, and I quickly followed in her footsteps learning everything that I could from her. I remember running back from home every day after elementary school to practice singing for hours until she would come home at the end of the night and coach my singing. She encouraged my sister, Sarah Mouna, and I to write our own songs since we were six years old, and we actually created a CD where we wrote and performed our childhood original songs (back in 2007!). My parents raised me with the idea that the song is already there, you just have to listen to it.
So from then, I grew up wrote songs in my free time, playing piano recitals, and studied opera & theatre in college thinking that broadway was the dream. I realized waiting for a “yes” in auditions felt like asking for permission to perform, and I no longer subscribed to that mentality. Although i played piano all my life, i picked up the guitar for the first time in 2022, and the curiosity of the instrument ignited a fire of creation. It also happened to be the lowest point of my life and mental health, with the only thing left to catch me was music. Dealing with grief and immense loss, I poured everything I had left in me into my music because it felt like I had nothing left to lose. From there, I was encouraged by my friend and fellow singer/songwriter NC native, Ashley Virginia, to actually perform those songs in public. Since that moment, I continued performing in my hometown, and with the immense support and love from my community, I decided to move to New York. In New York, I began to take my music more seriously and fully dive into being an independent artist connecting with different musicians and producers to explore and expand my sound. With every release, my musical world and landscape broadened. Since moving here, I performed at my first music festival, the NC Folk Fest, recently went on tour in the Northeast supporting JHARIAH, and released my debut EP in 2025 called “phases of becoming” which is a conversation with my mental health about what it means to transform through periods of stillness and stagnation. That project is a time capsule of how I’ve felt during the years leading up to now.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being the first generation not only to grow up in America but also being the first to pursue music in my family has definitely presented its challenges. From having no connections in the industry to balancing the expectation in my family to choose something more stable, it has been quite the journey. Having no connections has made the path seemingly impossible, and because of that it’s really easy to be overlooked or not taken seriously. I am my own manager, booking agent, content creator, social media manager, merch coordinator, everything! Juggling that with a day job and school has been really tough but so extremely rewarding. I thankfully have a support system that understands when I go M.I.A when I’m in the midst of trying to make my dreams happen, and who show up for me every step of the way to know I’m not alone.
Being completely independent, it has been so hard to break through all the noise in the current music industry. However, it has made every single person who actually takes the time to listen to my music mean so much more to me. I’ll never take for granted those who gave me opportunities to perform or took a chance on me before I had something to show for it. It’s been hard not to feel like you constantly have to prove yourself, but I’m learning that as long as you keep up the consistency in your work, the right people will find you.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an independent indie-rock/alt-rock artist, writing diary-like and confessional music. I weave together all of my influences to create my sound: indie-rock, alt-rock, folk, and middle eastern music. Most importantly, I have conversations with myself and my mental health through my music. You’ll hear me say “you” in a lot of my songs, and most of the time the “you” is pointed at my mental health – personifying the struggle I’m going through, whether it’s anxiety, depression, or grief. It is such a driving force throughout my life for why I write because it has impacted & defined me so much. I want to shed light on mental health throughout my music as much as possible. I’m finding more ways to make the emotions feel tangible in my songs, so that whoever is listening or relating to my song can feel fully seen and embody the emotion before finally letting it go.
I’m most proud of the honesty and playfulness I carry in my music, and not feeling like I have to be tied to any specific genre or structure in songs. My newer songs and projects are a great example of that and hint at where my sound is heading.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I have a new single coming out on July 29th called “The Difference”, and it is the closest I’ve come to making a song feel tangible in its emotion. I also just came off of my first tour supporting JHARIAH, where the song was a fan favorite! The release also marks my first ever music video. Lots more music to come after that 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://loramouna.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loramouna
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/64E7a7byU73tGzTq79JXVX
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@loramouna
- Other: https://linktr.ee/loramouna
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Stephanie Axelrod
Additional Photos:
1, 4, & 5: Stephanie Axelrod
2 & 8: NoCaves Photo
3: Morgan Winston
6: Blake Noelle
7: Gracie Belk
