Some artists write songs to tell stories. Laila Smith writes them to understand herself.
The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter's new EP is out on Friday. Titled Something Dreadful Is Going to Happen, it's a deeply personal collection that channels grief, vulnerability and healing through cinematic songwriting. While the title sounds unsettling, Smith says it perfectly reflects the emotional world behind the record.
"I really felt like Something Dreadful Is Going to Happen captured this constant sense of dread that I had through the world," she says. "The EP is about grief, and in particular, a grief of the body."
The title comes from a lyric in the EP's centerpiece, "I Needed You to Know." Written in the aftermath of experiencing sexual violence, Smith says each song represents a different stage of grief as she worked to process a fractured relationship with her own body.
"It took me a long time to start writing about it," she recalls. "The record became a way of exploring what that felt like, and then eventually arriving at a new reality."
That journey concludes with an ambitious orchestral finale Smith describes as both a rebirth and the beginning of that new reality.
Before finding her voice as an alternative artist, Smith expected a very different career. Growing up in California's Bay Area, she played her first jazz festival at age six and spent years immersed in the genre.
"I truly thought I was going to be a jazz singer for the rest of my life," she says. "I saw myself moving to New York, singing in clubs and growing old singing the Great American Songbook."
While jazz remains a core influence, Smith eventually found herself pushing beyond its traditions.
"I became very interested in writing popular music and rebelling against the mythos of jazz," she says. "I really just wanted to find my own way."
That mindset also shapes how she views today's music landscape. Although artists are often encouraged to fit neatly into genres and algorithms, Smith believes listeners are beginning to value authenticity over categorization.
"I think people are going back to taste," she says. "Turns out the platforms don't necessarily predict what people will like in the long term."
Even as Something Dreadful Is Going to Happen arrives, Smith is already creating its follow-up. Alongside new music, she's developing surreal visual art and interactive installations that further blur the lines between music and performance.
"I like art that feels like magic," she says. "I like when you don't know how it's all happening."
For Smith, this EP is more than a collection of songs. It's the beginning of a new creative chapter born from confronting life's darkest moments and transforming them into something lasting.
Something Dreadful Is Going to Happen is out now.■
