Still barely known a year ago, lucatheproducer has been flirting with the top of both the Francophone and Anglophone radio charts in Québec thanks to his work on “Fake Friends,” a co-write with Billie Du Page and BAYLA, and “Take Me Away (My Love”), by Mike Demero and Zagata. The humble Montréaler believes his impressive success is due to the countless professional and human connections he’s established since his career began, more than a decade ago.
“It was a slow build, and now it’s just exploded,” says lucatheproducer (born Lucas Liberatore)with a smile in his voice. “A lot of people say ‘Keep your head up’ to avoid getting discouraged, but me, I’ve always preferred saying ‘Keep your head down.’ Meaning that no matter what happens, stay focused on what you do, forge on, and don’t be arrogant.”
That hard-working mentality is what allowed the artist to build is own musical signature. His highly house- and dance-influenced style of pop music is painstakingly orchestrated by weaving synthetic and organic elements, thanks to his remarkable musical versatility. Not only does the 34-year-old multi-hyphenate handle production and recording duties, he also plays guitar, drums, bass, and keyboards.
Young Lucas Liberatore decided to learn to play guitar in high school to impress girls. As a teen, he was into the likes of Blink-182, Slipknot, and System of a Down, but when he started taking music more seriously, he enrolled in Cégep to study jazz and audio recording.
When he graduated, he started earning a living as a sound tech for various live entertainment bars in and around Montréal, like Maison du Jazz and Piranha Bar. At the time, rock and metal were still the genres he preferred to listen to, but his love of R&B and electronic music was slowly taking over. One of the key artists in this shift was the British musician James Blake. “When I heard his first album [James Blake, in 2011], I was totally flabbergasted. That guy doesn’t give a shit about rules; he produces the way he wants. I love that he’ll record weird sounds that most people wouldn’t consider using in their songs, and stands by his choices.”
As a young kid, Liberatore grew up to the sounds of classic R&B by icons of the genre, like Barry White, Marvin Gaye, and Al Green, to name just a few, and that led him to start diving into American pop music. “When I started picking those songs apart ,I realized pop can hit as hard as metal, in terms of production,” he says.
In 2015, Liberatore met musician and producer Jesse Jaeo Tolbert, who offered to share his room at Planet Studios, a beacon of Montréal’s music ecosystem, where artists as varied as Prince, Mika, and Daniel Bélanger have all worked. “I told him I was just getting started as a producer and that I was pretty bad at it,” says Liberatore. “He gave me his notes on my work and help me hone my mixing skills… Then, in 2017, I started sharing my room with [longtime writer, composer, and producer] Jay Lefebvre, and he’s hands-down the one that launched my career. He was the guy who believed in me when I was getting started. He heard something in my productions that no one else could hear. He was convinced I would go far, and started hooking me up with a ton of artists in all genres. I wasn’t the best, but I worked my ass off so that my stuff would sound good.”
Liberatore’s signature sound also found a renewed energy when he started working with writer and performer Serene, who was also Planet Studios’ coordinator. Between 2019 and 2021, they tirelessly worked on new songs, three days a week, despite not having any kind of lucrative contract. “It was like a boot camp, non-stop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and we were constantly pushing ourselves to give our very best. A lot of songs we did were corny, but we always pushed ourslves to finish every single one of them. That ended up attracting the attention of a big American producer, Mally Mall, who’s worked with a ton of people, like Justin Bieber. He invited us to stay at his big mansion, to write a whole bunch of songs. He really liked our stuff and said he wanted to see us again. Then the pandemic happened, so we couldn’t go back, and we lost touch after that.”
Despite his stainless-steel resolve, lucatheproducer didn’t get through those rollercoaster years as laid-back as he comes across. “I had a lot of hard times, no doubt,” he says. “I’ve had doubts about it all, but deep inside, I knew that I didn’t have any other options. I’m no good with numbers. My only strength is music. So, if this doesn’t work out, what am I gonna do?”
Select the image to access a YouTube video of lucatheproducer working with Marie-Mai on the song “Noir Sur Noir”
After an impromptu meeting with Marie-Mai at Planet Studios. his destiny started to take shape. “She was putting her makeup on,” he says. “I looked at her and simply said, ‘What’s up?’ without even introducing myself. When she came back to the studio a few days later, Serene introduced us. Marie-Mai looked at me and said, ‘We’ve met before, no?’ and I totally faked it by saying that we did have a conversation before,” says Liberatore, laughing. “She told me she’d heard my work for Lili-Ann de Francesco and May Wells, and that we should work together. After that, we weren’t in touch for a while, not even a DM on Insta, and then, one day, my girlfriend and I were looking to buy a house. We were quite down because we couldn’t find anything, and then… Bang! I looked at my phone and there was a message from Marie-Mai! She wanted to hook up for a session.”
That’s how Liberatore ended up accompanying Marie-Mai over a period of six months during the writing and recording of her Sept album, where he acted as a composer and producer. This turned out to be another very formative experience: “When she starts writing, it just flows,” he says. “You’ll never go to a session with her where you don’t work. On the contrary, I was the one who would sometimes hit a roadblock, but she’d be there to reassure me.”
After working with Québec’s biggest pop star of her generation, and reaching the top of the province’s charts with two hits, lucatheproducer now has his eyes set on the international scene. To that end, he’s leaving soon or an extended stay in the U.K., to work with various artists and songwriters.
The new king of the charts will soon be able to lift his head – even if only a little bit.