My Exclusive Interview With Camilla Manor

Forests, blue skies and summer breezes are a few of the things that define Camilla Manor's aesthetic, and she skillfully incorporates her love for nature to create relaxing bedroom pop--which, occasionally, has a dark undercurrent beneath the cozy, lo-fi production. She's also found success as an online fitness instructor, with over 30,000 subscribers waiting to see what she'll post next. Her first album, Loop-de-Loop, takes inspiration from a variety of places--her childhood, her relationship, her trips to Big Sur--to create a cohesive work that practically spans an entire lifetime.

1. Loop-de-Loop opens with a short intro that features soft music and cricket sounds, like you're entering a secret garden. Combined with the album cover, it made me wonder: do you have a love for nature that you wanted to include in this record? What inspired you to incorporate nature sounds in your music?

Yes, absolutely. My intention with incorporating natural sounds, such as crickets, wind, and rain, primarily was to replicate the safety and comfort of California. I would always take road trips either with others or by myself to Malibu and Big Sur, stopping along gorgeous spots, such as Point Dume and Spooner’s Cove, that really inspired the entire landscape of this album.

I always felt that these road trips transformed me somehow, making me feel in tune with myself and the natural world while also unleashing inspiration for my writing. I have always been fearful when it comes to being seen or heard by other people, so by drawing from this atmosphere of absolute safety that lingers in my memory of California, it made it a little easier to begin sharing my music with other people. 

2. A few songs on Loop-de-Loop (the title track in particular) have a soft, nostalgic vibe that made me think about my own childhood. Was this intentional, or did you want to convey something else with these songs? Did you base this album on your own experiences?

I definitely drew a lot of inspiration from my own childhood experiences. Less from nostalgia and more from the anxiety of what it’s like to be a teenager and coming to terms with so many new experiences. The idea of every day looking and feeling the same really terrified me, and as a teenager, I was not only homeschooled but also a gymnast/dancer who trained 40+ hours a week.

I was also surrounded by people that I had a really hard time connecting with due to my lack of social training and experience with other people my age. I felt very lonely and stuck in this loop of boredom, and I was constantly dreaming of a way out. Track 2, “Loop-de-Loop,” really draws on these experiences of that feeling of doom that everyone sort of gets to feeling eventually during their teenage years.

Of course, I suppose there is always a little hint of nostalgia that comes with these feelings, reminding us of where we came from and how inevitable change is as we get older. Learning the extent of this change was, and still is, a great comfort to me.

3. While "Little Rabbits/Narrow Roads" has love-song lyrics, the music and vocals have a somber, melancholy tone. What kind of message were you trying to send with this contrast? Did you want this song to have multiple layers or meanings?

This song is one of my favorites from the album because, yes, it is fundamentally a song about my boyfriend and my love and appreciation for him that is tied into all the little quiet moments we spend together, but also it goes back to California and our road trip up to Big Sur, which I mentioned as a great source of inspiration for this album.

My intention going into the production of this song wasn’t to make it sound melancholic per se, but more so to try and replicate the quietness of this road trip and how beautiful it felt to be on an empty, winding road with my significant other, either listening to music or having silly little conversations. I do, however, believe that the melancholy you hear comes from a sort of unintended sadness that comes with the ending of such a lovely trip, and how we often wish to just escape back to these moments during the minutiae of day-to-day life. 

4. As a whole, Loop-de-Loop has a summery vibe that made me feel like I was visiting a cottage in the forest. What kinds of songwriting and production techniques did you use to make the album feel cozy and immersive? Who (or what) are your biggest influences?

Wow, I love that so much. Going into producing the album, I really had no clue as to what I was doing because during summer 2025, I  just decided one day to download Logic Pro X on my MacBook and try to find a new hobby to fill my boredom with. The first song I ever wrote and produced was “My Greatest Win,” followed by “Knight,” which are both on the album.

I had no idea how to write a song or what it meant to produce a full-length album. I just sort of kept coming back to it, and suddenly I had about a dozen songs that I spontaneously decided to turn into an album for release. Only nine made the cut, of course, but this hobby of writing and learning to produce my own music became almost like an urge that I gave in to whenever I felt anxious or was in an uncomfortable mental space.

Even though I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t care. I love being a beginner and feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of a new project or skill. I think it’s my favorite part of the process, to be honest. I recorded all my vocals on the floor of my sister's childhood bedroom closet and did everything else in my bed with my Focusrite Scarlett Solo and my Akai MPK Mini. I am aware of the album’s imperfections and, honestly, have come to love how imperfect it is. I think leaving room to grow is important. 

When it comes to what influenced me during the creation of the album, I was obsessed with Robbie Basho’s “Blue Crystal Fire.” The rawness of his vocals on that track was something I had never encountered before, and it really moved and motivated me to explore different emotions and vocal styles in my own music.

I also was an avid Jeff Buckley, Cameron Winter, and Nick Drake listener before and during my writing and production process. Aside from music, I was also really influenced by the high/epic fantasy genre represented in films, such as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and television series like BBC’s Merlin. I have always found comfort in this genre and constantly go back to rewatch in times of discomfort.

Eowyn’s character in The Lord of the Rings was always someone I looked up to as a child, and actually inspired “Knight.” Of course, as I mentioned before, the scenery of California was also a great influence on many of the tracks.

5. "Countryside" has a quieter sound that reminds me of the sun setting, which sounds like a natural progression after the earlier "daytime" tracks. Was this intentional? How did you arrange the track listing, and did you leave out any tracks that you wanted to keep for the sake of the narrative?

I love your description of “Countryside” as a sunset. It wasn’t intentional, and to be honest, as I was going through the process of writing the album, I sort of just sat down and started creating without much of an idea of what I wanted to create.

For “Countryside,” all I knew was that I wanted to try writing on my piano rather than my guitar, which is what I was used to. I used stock plug-ins on Logic and used my Akai MPK Mini for the entirety of the instrumentals. When it came to writing, at this time, I think I was feeling really tired of living in the city and wanted to escape from my life, as corny as that sounds.

I have a hard time staying and feeling comfortable in the same place for long and always start creating problems for myself mentally that always end up with me needing to leave for a little while. These past two years, I have also been living between two cities, and as I drive up and down each week, I get a glimpse of the countryside and small towns in between and feel myself wanting to just stay there for a while.  

For track listing, I did leave out a couple tracks that I feel really shifted the energy of the album, but I do plan on re-working them and perhaps using some for other projects when it makes more sense for me to release them. 

6. What inspired you to start releasing music in the first place? Have you always had a gift for songwriting, or did you pick it up later in life? How did it feel to release your first full-length album?

I picked up my first guitar in 2020 and started teaching myself by watching YouTube videos, but it didn’t really stick until around 2022, when I started playing on a daily basis. I mainly enjoyed learning songs from other artists, but once I started writing my own songs, I really started to love playing and exploring different sounds.

I downloaded Logic Pro X last summer, and that’s really when I started writing seriously for the first time in my life. Then six months later, I had a little album of my own, which I know is not perfect, but it was a passion project that I really needed to complete for myself.

I have a tendency to start new projects and stop them halfway in, almost in fear of actually completing them or becoming successful at something. I think it’s because once it’s done and out there in the world, everyone will know and start forming their own opinions and whatnot.

Like I was saying earlier, I really do not enjoy the feeling of being perceived by others. I’ve definitely been working through that though, especially with the online presence I have begun building these past several months. So with that, I guess I could say it felt equally good and terrifying when “Loop-de-Loop” was released on all streaming platforms.

7. In most of your songs, your vocals have a dreamy bedroom-pop sound. However, in a few tracks (like "Countryside"), you take a more soulful approach. How do you adjust your vocals to capture the right feeling for each song? Do you do this consciously, or does it come naturally while you're recording?

I think that the tone and the feeling of the vocals really depended on how I might’ve been feeling that day. Sometimes, I would sit down on that closet floor first thing in the morning after waking up and work on something quieter, like “Little Rabbits/Narrow Roads,” or sometimes I would sit down after having a long, frustrating day and start working on “Countryside.”

Also, some tracks would take weeks to finish the vocals, while others would take me a day or two. Each track was completed on its own time and was done according to what felt comfortable to me. I think that is what was so special about being the only person working on this project.

The idea of collaborating with another songwriter or producer really frightens me because I feel like I wouldn’t be able to be as authentic as I am in the comfort of my own home when working on it. I am not completely opposed to working with others, of course, in the future, but it absolutely is a scary idea for me.

8. On YouTube, you've gained an impressive following as a stretching and flexibility coach. How did you get into this field in particular? Do you want to combine your love for music and exercise, or would you prefer to keep them separate?

The way it all came about was quite interesting for me. I have been in love with fitness and flexibility since I was a child. I did gymnastics and dance from the age of 7-18, but I was always drawn more to the stretch/mobility aspect of these sports.

I continued practicing on a daily basis, and one day in March 2026, I decided to post my practice on TikTok, which did pretty well. I continued posting and have since gained a really great community of people who are interested in learning more about how to stretch and move their bodies.

I got my Stretch and Flexibility Coach Certification through NASM and began posting my routines on YouTube, which has been pretty much my favorite thing ever and I do not plan on stopping any time soon. I feel like I have found a great balance of physical and mental creativity through music and YouTube and have never been in a better spot creatively.

Now that you've learned about her process, you can support Camilla Manor by following her on Instagram, visiting her on YouTube and streaming her music on Spotify.