Singer/songwriter Lila Forde rekindles the first blush of lasting love on “Do It All Over,” a dreamy, radiantly soulful slice of summer bliss from her upcoming sophomore album ‘Life Can Still Be Sweet’ that celebrates the rare pleasure of knowing exactly where you belong – and wanting to choose it all over again.
Stream: “Do It All Over” – Lila Forde
A cold glass sweats in your hand, sunlight flickers through the leaves, and the person you love is by your side.
The sweetest kind of happiness is the one you could live on repeat – every familiar touch suddenly fresh again, every ordinary afternoon worth returning to, every day another chance to fall for the life you already have. Maybe that’s real luxury: Knowing someone by heart and still finding new ways to see them. To flirt with what’s familiar, to laugh a little harder, to catch their smile from across the room and remember the electricity of seeing them for the first time. Years can gather between two people, yet there’s still a rush in knowing you’d choose each other all over again.
Singer/songwriter Lila Forde captures that bliss on “Do It All Over,” a sunlit, soulful love song about returning to romance’s first spark while carrying all the affection and history that came after it. It’s a dreamy, easygoing slice of summer cheer, basking in the unhurried pleasure of a hot afternoon with nowhere else you’d rather be. Forde treats lasting love as a place you can keep arriving at, where familiarity only gives you more to adore. Her song lives in that beautiful space between gratitude and desire – completely content, yet still a little lovestruck.
It’s the sound of a moment you’d gladly live twice.
If I was born yesterday
I think I’d still wish for something like this
I think I’d still choose someone like you
You got me going
La da da
La da da
La da da
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Do It All Over,” the radiant new single from Lila Forde. Featuring Marcel Camargo and Joey Dosik, the track arrives August 28 as the latest taste of Forde’s forthcoming sophomore album, Life Can Still Be Sweet, following its title track and recent single “Fantasies.” For the Seattle-born, Los Angeles based singer/songwriter, it opens another window into a chapter shaped by growing up, deepening relationships, and learning to savor the days as they come.
Forde has always drawn from deep roots. Raised in a musical, spiritually minded household in Seattle, she grew up singing in choirs before studying jazz and absorbing a wide spectrum of American songcraft, from Ella Fitzgerald and Bonnie Raitt to Carole King, Prince, Dolly Parton, and Joni Mitchell. After reaching the Top 5 on Season 24 of The Voice, she introduced herself on her own terms with 2025’s VESSEL, a smoldering debut steeped in jazz, R&B, folk, and groove-driven songwriting.
When Atwood spoke with Forde around that record’s release last summer, one ambition rose above everything else: “I want to be a timeless artist… someone whose songs still mean something 50 years from now.”
A year later, Forde is writing from inside a very different season. She calls VESSEL “a reminder of where I began,” while Life Can Still Be Sweet catches her further down the road – more assured in her instincts, surrounded by a growing community of collaborators, and taking stock of the beautifully messy business of being in your twenties. Heartbreak, roommates, friendship, family, romance, responsibility, and gratitude all make their way into a record she describes as the natural progression from “girl” to “woman.”
“Do It All Over” catches her on one of the good days.
Its beginnings are wonderfully strange. The seed came during a warm night in Los Angeles, when scent became the unlikely doorway into a song.
“The origins started one summer night on an El Sereno balcony,” Forde tells Atwood Magazine. “[My friend] Rachel brought her perfumes to the party, we smelled them, then started a musical idea based on the scent. No recollection of what that scent was now, but that’s how we started the song!”
Camargo was there from the start, and Dosik later joined them to finish what Forde calls a “beloved and unique little trio.” Their chemistry comes through in an arrangement that seems to breathe with the ease of people enjoying one another’s company. Piano notes glisten around the edges while guitar skips lightly underneath, giving Forde plenty of room to stretch out. Her voice carries the melody with plush, expressive ease, smiling through its curves without ever losing its depth. Even the whistle solo midway through sounds perfectly at home – a little burst of carefree playfulness caught on tape.
The lyrics share that looseness. Forde begins with one of the song’s most affecting ideas: If every memory disappeared and she had to make the choice from scratch, she believes she would still end up right here. “If I was born yesterday / I think I’d still wish for something like this / I think I’d still choose someone like you.”
There’s real weight beneath the breeziness of those lines. Starting over usually means erasing what came before; Forde imagines a reset that proves how much the present matters. The wish is simple: Give her another first encounter, another dance, another chance to discover the same person from zero.
“The beauty of the present moment and the reminder that life is so sweet, I’d choose to be here with you every time if I could,” she explains.
From there, “Do It All Over” gets flirtier. “Pretend you don’t know my name / And we’ll play the game / Curiosity all in my skin,” Forde sings, borrowing the thrill of unfamiliarity without sacrificing the closeness earned afterward. Her narrator wants the butterflies back. She wants anticipation, discovery, that delicious little question mark hanging over a person before you know where any of it will lead.
For Forde, that impulse gets to the core of the song.
“Sometimes the beginning of a relationship is the most exciting part, and we’re chasing that high as the weeks months and years go by. This song is about starting from scratch, bringing it back to the basics and catching the spark again as if it’s the very first time.”
Striped shirt on a summer’s day
Trynna catch a wave
Make me feel the same way that I did
when I first saw you dance
Giving me a chance
Can we do it all over?
Pretend you don’t know my name
And we’ll play the game
Curiosity all in my skin
Now you’re loving me
Now you’re seeing me
So let’s do it all over
And yet the beauty of “Do It All Over” lies in how little desperation enters that wish.
Forde sounds fulfilled. She’s singing from abundance, letting affection become playful again simply because there is joy in revisiting what brought two people together. The music carries the ease of a day going exactly as it should: Good company, bare feet, nowhere pressing to be, the world briefly reduced to whoever is standing beside you.
That glow is exactly where Lila Forde wants to live.
“I live a carefree and vibrant life in Los Angeles, teeming with friends collaborators and inspiration. There are bumps in the road, but overall life is pretty sweet. That’s who I am and that’s how I want my music to make you feel!”
If there was more left to say
A different room a different day
Ya know I said it all before
but I’ll tell you again in a different way
You got me going
La da da
La da da
La da da
That sunny disposition runs straight through Life Can Still Be Sweet, even as the record wanders into harder territory. Its songs read like dispatches from Forde’s twenties – funny one minute, bruising the next, always alert to whatever goodness remains within reach. “Do It All Over” offers one of the album’s purest expressions of that outlook. Here, nobody is waiting for happiness to arrive or searching for a grand revelation. Forde already has what she wants; the magic comes from recognizing it while it’s happening. That same perspective gives the album its name.
“There are hard times, and sad times, and stressful times,” she says. “… lessons to learn, hearts to break, truths to face, rent to pay, but through it all, life is still the sweetest thing we little humans get to experience. And it’s a wondrous thing, this life! There’s always something to be grateful for.”
Crucially, Forde is documenting this chapter while she is still inside it. Life Can Still Be Sweet is not a retrospective on a younger self from some safer distance; these relationships, growing pains, family realities, and flashes of delight belong to her present tense. The record catches a young artist becoming more certain of who she is while remaining open to wherever the next day takes her.
Oh boy now we’re going in
Setting sail again
Make me feel the same way that I did
Giving me the chills
Got me in my feels
Can we do it all over
This time it won’t be the same
Come on play the game
You and me babe it’s a win win
Now you’re loving me
Now you’re seeing me
So let’s do it all over
“I’m just so excited and grateful to be living my dream!” she beams. “I think I’m still living my album, it’s not a past version of myself, it’s right now, baby! Each song I release, I’m more proud of than the last. How amazing is life!? I hope each person who listens to this album feels their heart opening up, even if it’s just a little bit. I’m just trying to make y’all feel something!”
This immediacy suits “Do It All Over.” A cold drink, a patch of sun, your favorite person close by – Forde understands how enormous a good day can become when you are present enough to notice it. And if the great luxury is knowing exactly what you have and still wanting to choose it again, she sounds ready to keep pressing replay.
Dive into Atwood Magazine’s full conversation with Lila Forde below as she opens up about the true bliss at the heart of “Do It All Over,” the making and meaning of Life Can Still Be Sweet, growing into herself, and the people and experiences filling this chapter of her life.
Life Can Still Be Sweet is out October 2, 2026!
Striped shirt on a summer’s day
Trynna catch a wave
Make me feel the same way that I did
when I first saw you dance
Giving me a chance
Can we do it all over?
Pretend you don’t know my name
And we’ll play the game
Curiosity all in my skin
Now you’re loving me
Now you’re seeing me
So let’s do it all over
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:: stream/purchase Do It All Over here ::
:: connect with Lila Forde here ::
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Stream: “Do It All Over” – Lila Forde
A CONVERSATION WITH LILA FORDE
Atwood Magazine: Lila, hello and thank you for your time! For those who are just discovering you today, what do you want them to know about you and your music?
Lila Forde: I live a carefree and vibrant life in Los Angeles ca, teeming with friends collaborators and inspiration. there are bumps in the road, but overall life is pretty sweet. That’s who I am and that’s how I want my music to make you feel!
Who are some of your musical north stars, and what are you most excited about the music you’re making now?
Lila Forde: I love the classic good stuff, and I hope to be the classic good stuff one day! big Beatles girl, Bonnie Raitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Prince, Carole King, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt, JONI of course… you get the picture!
It’s been just over a year since the release of your debut album, Vessel. What’s your relationship with that record and its songs today?
Lila Forde: I’m glad it has its own legs now so it can continue to live and grow alongside me. A reminder of where I began! I’m proud of that record, and even more ready to share the next chapter.
How do you feel Life Can Still Be Sweet reintroduces you, especially compared to Vessel?
Lila Forde: I’m older and wiser now, and all the closer to becoming who I’m meant to be. This album feels like the natural progression of growing up. Girl becomes woman, navigates heartbreak, friendship, roommates, a sick parent, and all the other things that make our twenties so wild and delightful.
What does the title Life Can Still Be Sweet mean to you?
Lila Forde: There are hard times, and sad times, and stressful times. lessons to learn, hearts to break, truths to face, rent to pay, but through it all life is still the sweetest thing we little humans get to experience. And it’s a wondrous thing, this life! There’s always something to be grateful for.
Today we’re premiering the single “Do It All Over,” which finds you bottling sunlit nostalgia, flirtation, and the thrill of falling for the same feeling all over again. What’s the story behind this song?
Lila Forde: The origins started one summer night on an El Sereno balcony. Rachel brought her perfumes to the party, we smelled them, then started a musical idea based on the scent. No recollection of what that scent was now, but that’s how we started the song! Trivia question – does Rachel get writers share for that? [laughs]
I love the opening lyric, “If I was born yesterday / I think I’d still wish for something like this / I think I’d still choose someone like you.” What were you trying to capture there?
Lila Forde: The beauty of the present moment and the reminder that life is so sweet, I’d choose to be here with you every time if I could.
“Do It All Over” feels like a song about wanting to return to the first spark without losing everything that came after it: “Pretend you don’t know my name / and we’ll play the game.” What does that idea mean to you?
Lila Forde: Sometimes the beginning of a relationship is the most exciting part, and we’re chasing that high as the weeks months and years go by. This song is about starting from scratch, bringing it back to the basics and catching the spark again as if it’s the very first time.
What did Marcel Camargo and Joey Dosik bring out of this song, and out of you?
Lila Forde: Marcel and I started writing it at the perfume party – I think the first few lines just fell out of us that night, but we needed a little help finishing it. Marcel mentioned he had a friend Joey, and thus became the beginning of a beloved and unique little trio. The three of us together make a perfect Braintrust with all the right flavors.
The “Do It All Over” video feels so homegrown and familiar. What did you want this visual to add to the music’s experience?
Lila Forde: To me, this song feels deliciously summery, like a day on the beach with friends, or somebody’s summer BBQ, flirting and running around barefoot, carefree and wild. So I put out the bat signal, made some chile, the homies flocked, and we did two takes on 16mm film! bob’s your uncle!
“Life Can Still Be Sweet” was the first song to introduce this chapter, and it feels like the album’s thesis in miniature. Why did it feel like the right place to begin?
Lila Forde: As my favorite high school teacher Daren taught me, say what you’re gonna say, say how you’re gonna say it, then say it a few more times. So I started by saying the thing. Why not?
This album seems to hold a lot at once: Sweetness, uncertainty, growing pains, humor, heartbreak, family, friendship, and the feeling of becoming more yourself. How do you feel these songs speak to each other?
Lila Forde: They touch on all different subjects, but they’re cut from the same cloth – from the psyche of a girl as she navigates all the things in life. I hope this glimpse into my world can offer some comfort or joy, or perhaps a reminder. To ride the wave, don’t be so glum because Life Can Still Be Sweet when you’re waiting for it to begin!
What do you hope listeners take away from “Do It All Over” and Life Can Still Be Sweet, and what have you taken away from creating this music and now putting it out?
Lila Forde: I’m just so excited and grateful to be living my dream! I think I’m still living my album, it’s not a past version of myself, it’s right now baby!!! Each song I release, I’m more proud of than the last! How amazing is life! I hope each person who listens to this album feels their heart opening up, even if it’s just a little bit. I’m just trying to make y’all feel something!
In the spirit of paying it forward, who are you listening to these days that you’d recommend to our readers?
Lila Forde: Yebba, Madison Cunningham, Theo Katzman, Medium Build, oh and Talk Talk!
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:: stream/purchase Do It All Over here ::
:: connect with Lila Forde here ::
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Stream: “Do It All Over” – Lila Forde
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