Pop Duo Loote Open Up About Debut EP, Songwriting Process And More

After releasing four singles over the past year, pop duo Loote, made up of members Emma Lov Block and Jackson Foote, finally released their debut EP in June. In support of the project, titled “Single,” Loote performed at the Billboard Hot 100 Festival in New York earlier this month.

At the event, International Business Times caught up with Block and Foote to chat all about the seven-song EP, their creation process, the success of their co-written track “No Promises” for Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato and so much more.

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about your new favorite artist.

International Business Times: What’s it like to finally have a body of songs out?

Foote: I love it. I started to realize that we actually developed one cohesive mood and statement with it, which we didn’t really expect to do, but it just naturally happened and came out. And people have really attached to it and connected with it, and that, to me, was the biggest difference. I think about when I fall in love with an artist, it’s usually the big difference between [if] I like a song of them and then if I like two or three… That, I think, is something that’s connecting with people, and that’s the biggest part of having a body of work out, to me.

IBT: What was the songwriting process like for you two?

Block: They’re all based off of our own personal experiences. I mean, as writers, you always end up doing that. It’s just how you write. You get something off your chest. But, because we’ve never had to worry about it being us who sings it, we’ve always been super ready to put stuff out there when we write. When we attached ourselves to it afterwards, I think it made it a lot easier for us to put it all together, like, “All right, let’s do this.” You take a really deep breath and you’re like, “All of my exes are gonna hate me. Right now.” I don’t know. It feels really great. It feels good to have it out.

Foote: Also, it’s like, we go in and we write so many songs, and it’s kind of nice. It’s come to the point where ones that we really connect [with], we’ll just raise our hands and we’ll know, halfway through, we’re like, “Oh, this is one of ours, we’re keeping this.” Because sometimes we’ll give songs to other artists, too. But that was another cool thing. It started to become really clear which ones we wanted to keep.

Block: And that’s gonna get more and more clear, I think, as we develop, as our sound develops, as we decide which directions we want to take. Because we’re still figuring out the ropes.

IBT: When writing, is it hard for you shoot down each other’s ideas, or are you comfortable with it?

Block: We’re almost too comfortable.

Foote: Yeah, we’re too comfortable. Emma will do something and I’ll be like, “I don't like that,” or vice versa. For us, at some point, we kind of, I think, got detached from being scared about hurting each other’s feelings because we’d rather just [have] the best thing come out.

Block: I’m not gonna lie, it throws each of us off sometimes at first, and then we’re like, “Why?”

Foote: [But then we’re] like, “No, the song is better this way.”

We’re both very strongly [opinionated], but very visual and specific about what we’re picturing. So, that’s why we take our time writing songs, and when we find something both of us like, we’re like, “Okay, that’s right.”

IBT: What are your favorite songs off of the “Single” EP?

Foote: For me, probably either “Longer Than I Thought” or “Wish I Never Met You.” “Longer Than I Thought” is personally my favorite one.

It’s very real [expletive] for me...and kind of both of us. Just about being in the same city, after a break-up, as your ex and how those worlds could intersect at any moment. And it’s a strange thing.

Block: I don’t know which one is my favorite, per se. I know that “Your Side of the Bed” is probably the one that I connected with the strongest ‘cause it’s full-on about me. But I also love playing all of them and listening to them. I’m that person.

IBT: With the songs that you write for other artists, do you ever wish that you had it for yourself when it blows up? Like, with Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato’s “No Promises,” which you co-wrote?

Block: I think maybe a year ago we would’ve been like, “Oh, we should’ve maybe kept it or tried to stay on it,” but now, I’m super happy that we didn’t. I think that it ran its course in the best way that it possibly could.

Foote: And I think you need to earn a platform like that. You need to really earn your stripes, in terms of being able to hit a massive audience, and we felt the song should reach a massive audience, but we hadn’t really put in the groundwork yet. A lot of people don't realize how hard — I mean, they worked [hard] promoting that song and getting to everybody.

And when you see something soar, you’re just happy about it. You still feel like it's a piece of you.

IBT: It’s been two months since you released the EP, what’s next for Loote? A tour, more music?

Block: We’re definitely going to be doing more touring in the future. Actually, we’ve already started getting back in the studio. We’re writing for the album that’s gonna come out next.

We ambitiously want to say that we have four songs, which is crazy. We’ve only really been working on new stuff for the past month, and that’s fast for us. But we’re definitely spending the next couple months working on the album.

You can listen to Loote’s EP “Single” on Spotify here or grab it on iTunes here.