Luca Fogale on Music's Power: Healing, Generational Patterns, and the Journey of Self-Discovery in Life-Encore episode

Music Saved Me Podcast

Host Lynn Hoffman interviews Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Luca Fogale about his latest album, Challenger. The conversation explores them

Key takeaways

• Luca Fogale's album 'Challenger' focuses on an inward journey of self-reflection rather than outward confrontation.
• He discusses the importance of unlearning the 'strong and silent' masculine archetype to embrace vulnerability.

Main topics

• Self-discovery
• Generational patterns

Notable quotes

I think the Venn diagram is getting sort of closer together about just sort of what it means to be a human being.

Conclusion

The episode offers a profound look at how art can facilitate personal

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Music Saved Me. Speaker 1 (0:01) I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to the Music Saved Me podcast. Now, if you like this show, you're going to love another show from Buzz Night Media Productions that I happen to host called Comedy Saved Me and it's available wherever you get your podcasts. So I hope you check that out. Today though, I'm so happy you're here because we have a guest who is a Juno nominated singer-songwriter from one of my most favorite places, British Columbia, Vancouver. whose music has quietly found its way into the hearts of listeners around the world. More than 180 million streams and counting. That's just incredible. He's known for his warm vocals, his minimalist production, and a rare willingness to go inward, which we talk about a lot on this show. Luca Fogale makes music that doesn't rush you. His latest album is called Challenger, and it's on network, and it's a meditation on who we are. and what we've inherited and what we choose to carry forward with us. Believe me, you're not going to want to miss this one. Luca Fogale is next on Music Save Me. Don't go anywhere. This is an Speaker 2 (1:05) iHeart Podcast. Speaker 1 (1:08) Guaranteed human. Speaker 1 (1:12) Music saved me. Well, Luca, welcome to Music Saved Me. It's so nice to have you here, especially after the morning that I've had. It's almost like I get to have you all to myself, but I'm sharing you with the audience at the same time when I really needed to be brought down from all the challenges of the morning. So thank you. Speaker 2 (1:30) Oh, sure. It's my pleasure to be here, Lynn. Thank you. Speaker 1 (1:32) Well, the album is called Challenger, but it feels less like a challenge issued sort of outward and more like one turned. inward. And I love this. What were you challenging in yourself when you made this record? Speaker 2 (1:47) You know, a whole lot of things. I think as I get older, I've started to really sort of look at the things that have shaped me, not the people and the experiences who have made me who I've become, and wonder a lot about what to carry forward. Like you said in the intro, I am thinking a lot about what comes in the next step, and who do I want to become in every different chapter of my life. I feel like I have the time and the space, especially in this this beautiful, bizarre career that I've been lucky enough to continue on with. I have the time and the space to consider a lot of things about myself and who I am, and the time and space in my relationships and friendships and the trust in that to be able to sort of look at myself honestly and wonder about how to carry forward the best parts of myself and leave behind a whole lot. Speaker 1 (2:42) You've talked a lot about unpacking generational beliefs from what I've read and inherited sort of patterns, which generational beliefs, inherited patterns, I mean, it's coming at us heavy and hard every single day and from so many angles. Was there a moment or a song or a conversation where you realized you were carrying something that wasn't actually yours? Does that make sense? Speaker 2 (3:07) Yeah, Speaker 1 (3:08) it makes sense for sure. Speaker 2 (3:11) I don't know if there was one specific moment, just sort of a general feeling of, especially as this world changes so much, and as our sort of understandings of who we are, and sort of our place in this world, I think I share this with a lot of people, where it's sort of a new era of self-exploration, and sort of understanding our own, you know... with whether it's mental health or any of the things that we've been recognizing in this modern world, that no one is perfectly sane, no one is perfectly happy or peaceful in any moment. And so I think there seems to be a new and deeper understanding of our own humanity in this sort of era of where we are. And I think it's challenging, but a really special thing. And so I think in that just starting to... again, trust myself to be honest with myself in how I'm doing day to day, how things fluctuate, and if the swings are getting further away from each other or closer together. I think it's just been sort of a steady hum of wanting to find more peace, wanting to find more trust and joy and happiness and courage, all the beautiful things that humans are capable of. I think it's been a steady sort of hum in my life for as long as I can remember. It feels like quite an opportunity to have the time to explore that. I know that as life gets busier, not everyone does. And so I'm trying to sort of honor that time in my own way. Speaker 1 (4:46) Ain't that the truth? That is, yeah. You know, a lot of men are raised with this strong and silent script. You know it. You seem to have consciously stepped away from that. what did that cost you and what did it also give you at the same time? Speaker 2 (5:06) Yeah, you know, working on it, for sure. Speaker 1 (5:09) Work in progress. Speaker 2 (5:11) Yeah, of course, as we all are, which is, you know, again, something that feels very new. It's confusing, you know, it's a confusing thing. I grew up, you know, as competitive as anyone else in this, wanting to be strong and assertive and powerful and, you know, all the things that I think that young men grow up kind of aspiring to be. I think the male figures in my life as I was growing up were, oh yeah, quite silent. And if there was something you're dealing with, you swallow it and you deal with it yourself. And I work on that every day now. There's always something that comes up where I'm trying to sort of... Not even unlearned, but just sort of just learn. Learn what serves me in this time now. And also learn what version of masculinity I want to embody. Because I think it can mean a lot of things. What gets lost? I don't know. I think maybe just the default mechanism gets lost. It gets a little less easy to fall into patterns. you know, can be comforting sometimes, you know, the thought of, I know who I am, I know how I react in this way. It feels a bit more difficult to sort of have to monitor oneself in that way and, you know, be sort of the best version of a friend to yourself, which is someone who says, is that really the way that you want it to be? And sort of being, again, the sort of closest version of a friend or family member who... can be really honest