Following the release of their latest single ‘I Never Wanna Be In Love’, LOCK had the pleasure of speaking with identical twin altpop duo LÖNA to discuss the release and future plans
Hi LÖNA, and welcome to LOCK Magazine for our readers could you please tell us a little about yourselves?
Hi! We’re LÖNA, identical twins from the Netherlands making emotional altpop that lives somewhere between the dancefloor and your darkest thoughts. We call it dark music for happy people. Think: synths, honest vocals, four-on-the-floor beats and lyrics that don’t shy away from grief and feelings of longing for love.
We’ve always been each other’s mirror (literally), and that twin connection gives our music a kind of unspoken chemistry. Madelon is the lead singer and lyricist, and Danielle handles most of the production while also co-writing. Our songs speak to people who feel a little outside of things, like the queers, neurodiverse and highly sensitive folks.
Your latest single “I Never Wanna Be In Love” is such a powerful contradiction—melancholic yet made for the dancefloor. What was the emotional spark that ignited this track?
It started with that very specific type of heartbreak that isn’t a breakup, but still breaks you. Madelon wrote the lyrics while stuck in something “casual” that had turned way too emotional, way too complicated. You care about the person, but deep down you know it’s not going anywhere. And yet… you stay. Because the alternative feels worse.
“I never wanna be in love again” sounds like a hard boundary, but it’s actually a soft cry. It’s a way of saying, “I’m tired of getting hurt. I just want to feel safe.”
Sonically, we wanted it to feel like dancing alone at a party, maybe even with a little blood on your hands. The kind of track you could cry to in the club without missing the drop.
You’ve cited Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” as an inspiration. What do you think makes a sad dance song so emotionally resonant?
Because it lets you cry and move at the same time. Sad dance songs give you rhythm and release. There’s something about putting pain into a beat that makes it feel less heavy.
Do you find it cathartic or challenging to turn pain into something people might dance to?
It’s both, honestly. Challenging because you don’t want people to not get the pain behind hearing the danceable beat. The catharsis comes later. Usually after the song is out in the world and someone messages us saying, “Hey, I felt this too.”. And when it makes people feel less alone in their feelings. That’s when the pain feels worth turning into a song.
You describe your music as “dark music for happy people.” What does that phrase mean to you, and how does it shape your creative choices?
To us, it means fully embracing dark thoughts and feelings, but with a release and hope. You can feel deeply and still dance. It is actually better that way. You can be complicated, sensitive, fierce, weird, and still belong.
Creatively, it means we’re always chasing emotional truth. Being totally honest in our lyrics is something we strive for.
How does being identical twins influence your musical chemistry—both emotionally and creatively?
There’s no filter between us, which can be chaotic, but also incredibly productive. We know each other’s triggers, tastes, and secrets. So we can push each other to go deeper quite easily. And of course we do fight sometimes, as sisters do, but most of the time we work very well together.
What’s your typical writing and recording process like? Does one of you usually lead the melody or lyrics, or is it a shared flow?
It’s a shared chaos, but with roles. Madelon usually brings in the lyrics and topline melody, often straight from her Notes app at 2AM. Danielle takes that and builds the sonic world around it, beats, synths, mood, energy. Then we edit everything together.
Sometimes we finish a song in a day. Sometimes we kill it and bring it back to life six months later. It’s very instinctual, if we don’t both feel it, it’s not done.
You’ve touched on themes like grief, identity, and connection in past songs. How does this new single build on those conversations?
This song is more about emotional self-worth and recognizing the moment where you finally say, “I deserve more than this.”
In past songs we’ve sung about loss, loneliness, and trying to belong. This one adds a sharper edge. It’s still vulnerable, but there’s more bite in it.
Is “I Never Wanna Be In Love” a standalone single, or part of a larger project or era we can expect soon?
It’s part of a bigger project: our upcoming EP, Dark Music for Happy People. It’s a collection of songs that dive into heartbreak, queerness, neurodivergence, identity, grief, basically all the feelings we don’t always know how to talk about, except through music.
Each track on the EP is a different emotional snapshot, but they all live in the same world: messy, honest, and a little bit dangerous. So yes, I Never Wanna Be In Love is just the beginning!