Caroline Lazar delivers the most incredible vocal on dramatic, country-tinged debut "Nevermine"

Raised in the suburbs just outside Atlanta, Georgia and now living and studying in Miami, Lazar makes music which is ostensibly alt.country but could also fall into the same bracket as the music Maggie Rogers is making right now.

Without question the star of debut single "Nevermine" is Lazar's incredible voice. Starting as an intimate whisper alongside sharp strums of guitar, the track increases in drama and volume with handclap percussion before exploding with drama in a string-laden chorus. When it hits, it hits with diva-torch-song power; Lazar delivers a vocal take on the verge of flying apart as she struggles to cope with overwhelming emotions. It's honestly one of the most striking vocal debuts you'll have heard in a long time, and we can't wait to hear more.

We asked Lazar to introduce herself, and her song, to Best Fit.

So just who is Caroline Lazar?

"I’m definitely still trying to figure that out. Right now I’m just a college student; I live in an apartment with my best friends and my cat, Luna. I could happily spend the rest of my life watching Friends and eating mashed potatoes. But, I’m also a major book lover; my all time favorite book is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, But Anais Nin’s journal, Henry and June, is a close second. I am constantly writing, and I definitely consider myself a songwriter first and foremost. However, getting to record and perform my own songs has been the most indescribable experience. My lifelong dream is to move to my granddad’s farm in New Zealand and raise a family of donkeys."

Who or what influences you?

"Absolutely everything beautiful influences me. A lot of my songs reference stars and the moon because that’s my favorite thing in the world to look at. I love authors and songwriters that make words sound like more than just words. Off the top of my head I would say Phoebe Bridgers, Laura Marling, Maggie Rogers, Alex Turner, and some Ernest Hemingway are big writing influences for me. From my dad’s doing, I grew up listening to Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek, and my love for folk music definitely hasn’t changed. Writing my own truth is the most important part about songwriting to me, and I think those writers do an incredible job of that."

What can you tell us about "Nevermine"?

"I don’t even know where to start. I wrote 'Nevermine' in a really low, confusing time for me, along with the rest of the EP. I was experiencing emotions that I didn’t know existed and I didn’t know how to handle it so I channeled it all into writing. This song’s backstory actually comes from my past inability to use a lighter. Someone spent probably an hour trying to teach me, and after an hour and a scar on my thumb, I am a match-lighting expert. The story in the song is fictional, but it describes how I felt learning and experiencing these stabbing emotions for the first time."