Caturday With Pour La Vie

October 4, 2025
Culture & Music
Photographer:
Frances Davison
Stylist, Words & Production:
Beanie Stolper

Drake’s watching, A.R. Rahman’s listening, Pour La Vie’s just getting started and is about to be everywhere. One hand on a neuroscience paper, the other clutching a post-shoot Nando’s, piano-shaped bag swinging, she moves through stages, studios, and city streets like she owns them. Classically trained at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, producing, songwriting, playing multiple instruments, and already co-signed by legends. Pour La Vie turned a simple social media bet into 100k followers overnight, and the world is paying attention. At 18, she’s living decades worth of dreams in real time, blending Amsterdam, London, and LA energy with a debut that’s intimate, euphoric, and impossible to ignore. Sweet, unstoppable, and effortlessly stylish, she’s proof that stardom can be precise, playful, and personal all at once. Step back and take check. The next era is here, and Pour La Vie is in the front seat.

Hermès jacket, The Frankie Shop shirt, Kenzo trousers, Le Damier de Louis Vuitton rings

  • Beanie Stolper: Your journey is already moving at lightning speed, when you look back, what feels like the real turning point that set everything in motion?
    Pour La Vie: Music has always played such a central role in my life, I mean I grew up studying classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague from the age of 10, which was already really intense and fast paced. But when it comes to social media, it all started with a bet I made with a friend. I told her my biggest dream was to be a performing singer, but that it felt “unreachable”. She disagreed, so she bet me that if I posted every day for six months, I’d hit 100k followers. I accepted, convinced I’d prove her wrong. Instead, the very next month I was already at 100k. At that moment everything changed for me mentally. Suddenly, what I thought was impossible just felt like a code I hadn’t cracked yet.
    BS: You’ve already got icons like Missy Elliott and Daniel Caesar watching. Who was the first cosign that made you stop, scream, and screenshot?
    PLV: It’s a tie between two legends in completely different spaces: Drake and A.R. Rahman. I grew up listening to every Drake album, and also watching every Bollywood film with Rahman’s music shaping their worlds. Speaking to both of them made me feel like I was living in a dream I never wanted to wake up from.
    BS: Amsterdam, London, LA, your creative world is already global. How do those cities shift the way you write and dream about music?
    PLV: I write based on what I feel, and where I am always influences that feeling. Amsterdam is my hometown, it makes me reflect on my past and my childhood. London opened my eyes to what opportunities the world had to offer, to endless possibilities, it made me write about growth and explore boundaries. LA is the city I once romanticised, the place where I believed dreams turn real. Being there makes me write about success, drive, and belief in myself.
    BS: Strip away the noise, co-signs, tours, press. What’s the one truth you always want your music to say? PLV: Justice. No matter what I write, whether it’s about a feeling I’m experiencing or an issue I want to shine a light on, I always end up expressing what feels right to me, what I feel needs to be heard. That sense of honesty and conviction is something I think will always play a significant role in my music.
BS: Is there a family story or sound from your Indian or Surinamese roots you haven’t put into a track yet but can’t stop thinking about?
PLV: YES!! There’s this Surinamese rhythmic genre called Kaseko. Every time I hear it, I can’t help but move. I’ve promised myself that whenever I release my first album, I’ll find a way to weave it in.
BS: You started in classical, what’s one lesson from that world you think pop still gets wrong?
PLV: Intentionality. In classical music, every motif, rhythm, every harmonic progression has a reason behind it, a meaning tied to the message the composer is trying to convey. In pop, sounds often get used just because they “sound cool.” I’ll be the first to acknowledge the beauty of simplicity, but I think that real beauty is unlocked when that simplicity is a choice. A choice with meaning, with reason. That’s what I try to bring into my own music.
BS: You’re 18, playing multiple instruments, producing, songwriting… and about to drop your debut. Does it ever feel like you’re living five lifetimes at once?
PLV: Honestly, sometimes it feels more like 50. My days can look like waking up to head straight into the studio, then coming home and working on a neuroscience paper for university. But I love that balance. My identity is built around diversity, my Indian-Surinamese heritage being a prime example. I think diversity is the enemy of boredom. And for me, it’s the spark of creativity.
BS: You’re on the road with Sienna Spiro, what’s the high of being on stage like compared to the intimacy of being in the studio?
PLV: To me, the studio is reflection, and the stage is pride. In my opinion the most powerful songs demand vulnerability to write, and when I step on stage, I feel like I’m honouring that vulnerability, I’m being proud of the journey from the private moment of writing to the public moment of sharing.

Gucci shirt, skirt, shoes tights & necklace, Le Damier de Louis Vuitton earrings

Prada jacket & skirt

Hermès jacket, The Frankie Shop shirt, Kenzo trousers, Le Damier de Louis Vuitton rings

Aries Arise suit, Palace Skateboards top, Jimmy Choo shoes 



BS: You’re building this whole world through both sound and style. What’s the story behind the tailored look you’re repping?
PLV: Style has always been another language for me, just like music. I grew up watching my parents and grandparents put so much thought into how they dressed, not just for appearances but as a way of showing respect and pride. For me, style represents precision and timelessness, it mirrors how I approach music. Every choice is intentional, just like every note I write.
BS: Your upcoming music feels personal but also expansive. What kind of world do you want people to step into when they hit play for the first time?
PLV: Sometimes, you hear a song that you instantly put on repeat because it just feels euphoric. It’s this feeling that I want to evoke in people when they listen to my music. I want them to step into a world where they say, “Oh my god, I need to replay that.”
BS: You’ve already worked with a dream list of collaborators. What’s the one session you still want, and what has to be in the room for it to be perfect?
PLV: My absolute dream is to curate a room where legends from completely different traditions come together. I imagine people like Timbaland, A.R. Rahman, Simon Rattle, and Ustad Zakir Hussain all in one space. Each of them is a master of their field—hip-hop, Bollywood, orchestral, Indian percussion—and the idea of blending those worlds into something new has always excited me beyond words.
BS: And finally—the big one. Debut season is coming in Spring. What three words would you use to describe the era you’re stepping into?
PLV: Feeling, not admiring.

Click to check out Pour La Vie’s playlist!

Photographer: Frances Davison
Words, Styling & Production: Beanie Stolper
Talent: Pour La Vie
Make up: Sasha Chudeeva
Hair: Takeru Urushibara
Photographer’s assistant: Eve Eberlin
Stylist’s assistant: Kate Silva
Videographer: Amanda Louise Macchia
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