By Myren Bobryk-Ozaki | Photo provided by Lilies Of David | February 20, 2026

Based out of New Jersey, Lilies of David is a five-member alt-pop band that merges several sounds and genres to create their own vibrant music voice. 

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We sat down with the front duo, Dierdra McGrath and Jeremy Rotolo, to deep dive into their music, creative process, and their debut album, Diamonds and Ruins, releasing on February 20th. 

What initially started as two music fans creating together slowly grew into the full band they are today. Dierdra and Jeremy share lead vocals, with Jeremy doubling as rhythm guitar, Matt Sonzogni on bass, Derek Arnheiter on drums, and Mike Pulice on lead guitar.

Dierdra described the creation of the band as a slow assembly process. “Me and Jer, we worked together, and we shared a love for music and found that we liked making music together. Throughout the year, after we started doing that, we started to have people who were interested in being a part of what we were doing. It was a spaced-out process. First, we found Matt… then Derek and Mike.”

With more members came more perspectives and changes to the creative process.

When going from a duo to five members, Jeremy shared that “[the creative process] has definitely changed, and I think it's changing even more and evolving even more. The biggest thing is that we have more heads instead of just us two bouncing ideas off of each other. So, it's much more collaborative.”

While Dierdra and Jeremy remain the primary writers and producers of the band, they emphasize that the process is highly collaborative. “When we talk to our band and bring an idea or project to them, we genuinely want to hear their input. If they like it, if they don't like it, and what they hear on the track.”

Dierdra added that “when they came into the band, they helped bring this momentum… so much life to the songs; a whole new flavor and element to it. I couldn't do it without them.” 

The current band wasn’t just a creative shift to the duo; it was an energy and uniqueness shift brought on by sheer talent. “I could show Dierdra how to sing an exact melody I have in my head, but she's gonna sing it a little bit differently than how I sing it. I could show Matt exactly what to play on the bass, but he could play it a different way,” Jeremy said. “Everybody in this band is extremely talented, not only with the playing aspect, but the writing aspect. I think everybody in this band could be a writer of their own, on their own.”

At its core, Lilies of David runs on inter-member support, with Jeremy adding that he “feels like everybody's just a great support system.”

The current streaming and social meta is built for singles, and with seven singles under their belt, Lilies of David choosing to take on an album project was a gear shift. 

When asked about how the project started, Jeremy shared, “With the first batch of songs that we had, we kind of always felt it would be an album.” Dierdra agreed, stating that “they just came one after the other. We found this wave and were very motivated to finish all of these projects that were almost done, halfway done.”

“I think the fact that we're on a time crunch of ‘we want to release this album on February 20th of 2026’ also motivated us to get those things done,” Jeremy added.

Why an album over more singles? 

“We live in a world of singles, for sure. So that was always a question of what would perform better: an album or singles? And I think singles do perform better,” Jeremy said. “But I think that having an album is a solid piece of art that there's continuity to. It was really nice to package it into one thing.”

The vision behind the album was a gradual process: “I would say the album definitely evolved over time,” Dierdra stated. “I didn't really know at first what it was gonna be. I just knew we had this whole batch of songs, and that's what we were experiencing during that time. As life goes on, your experiences change, life changes.”

“With writing and producing any sort of music, or probably any sort of art, you have to be in this kind of flow state,” Jeremy said. “To me, it feels like it’s being given to you, or like you're receiving something. And so, sometimes you pick up a guitar, or you pick up a pen, and you start writing these things that are just kind of coming to you, and you don't even really know what they mean until after the song is complete.”

He continues: “That process kind of translated throughout the entire album as a whole because we were, to the very, very end, kind of deciding on what the name of this album was.” The album’s themes were clear. Heartbreak, introspection, internal struggle, and making fun of modern dating culture, like Skin and Bones. “We just didn’t know what name encapsulated that the best.”

The name came in moments of collaboration with the other members. Jeremy shared that he “got together with the bassist, and we were all discussing what a good potential name would be, and… I had a few ideas that were not that great, to be honest… So, I talked to Matt, and he said, ‘What about Diamonds and Ruins?’” 

Electing to name the album after a specific song raised the stakes and added pressure to the song's performance, however “I think it's an underrated song… 'Diamonds and Ruins', I've always felt proud of, and I've always felt it was a really strong song. I thought that there was a lot of emotion and honesty and vulnerability, and so I felt really comfortable going with the album name of Diamonds and Ruins,” Jeremy said. “It's gonna lift that single even more.”

The naming felt even more appropriate as the band sees the title track as the emotional centrepiece of the album–among the hardest they made for the album and thus far in their music journeys.

“We had to re-record that a few times, because it just wasn't hitting right,” Dierdra said. “That one gave us a little bit of struggle to get it right, because we wanted to do it justice.”

Jeremy agreed: “I would say 'Diamonds and Ruins' probably carries the most weight lyrically and emotionally… that was a tough one, for sure.” In addition to the emotional aspect, the technical parts held their own challenges. “It was a little different because we're doing the duet style on that song, rather than ‘I'm taking lead, and she's harmonizing,’ or vice versa.”

In contrast, songs like Skin and Bones and Tangled Up come much easier emotionally. “Those are always some of my favorite live songs to play,” he said.

Have they taken more risks now than a year ago?

Dierdra answered honestly: “I feel like I took more risks in the beginning… I feel like you're always trying to find that state again. Just free, no expectations whatsoever; I'm just doing this for the fun of it… I feel like a lot of magic happened in that place.”

Jeremy admitted that fear of risk-taking still exists to some degree, even when he is comfortable taking them. “You worry: is this going to be received well?... An audience might be like, ‘I don't agree with that’ or ‘I don't like that.’”

Still, the band support system kicks in, “But I think as we're growing as a band, it's starting to fade away.”

Being based in New Jersey has shaped their music journeys in subtle ways. When describing the Jersey music scene, Dierdra shared: “There's a lot of places in Jersey that invite original music, open mics, and all that. It's such a great location because it's not so far from huge cities like New York or Philly, so it’s a good middle ground to connect to so many different people.”

Jeremy noted Jersey’s musical diversity, with metal, indie pop, surf rock, and others all being prominent. “I do feel there's a little isolation in terms of what we're creating, which I think is actually a good thing.” He added: “I think it helps us stand out a little bit.”

It also helped them create connections across different genres, including potential collaborations. “There might be a country song we throw out there in the future, as well as rappers and hip-hop that might get on one of our tracks,” Jeremy teased. “There's a lot of really cool collaborations that can come from the diversity of this state itself and the music community.”

The day after the album release on February 20th, Lilies of David is holding a release party-concert on the 21st. When asked what they want fans to walk away feeling, Jeremy tied the experience he hopes for his fans to the experiences he’s had. “I have a theater background, and I'm an actor. I remember going to different musicals on Broadway, off-Broadway, and even concerts, and leaving feeling completely inspired.”

Jeremy continued: “If we could provoke that feeling in somebody else, that would be huge for me. The dream is to have somebody feel inspired to go create something honest to them and resonate with the material.” ”I'd second that,” Dierdra followed up.

Five or ten years down the line?

“To me, it would be just to do this,” Dierdra said. “All the focus is on this and being able to make connections. Meeting people who are inspired by what you're doing, and getting inspired.”

Jeremy agreed and added a practical layer to the desire: “The freedom that it could provide in terms of being yourself completely. If you can be financially stable and doing what you love, then there's no other freedom in this life that you could really ask for.”

Their TOP8 inspirations span a wide variety of their sonic choices. “That [variety] probably reflects in all of our songs with how different each of them are,” Jeremy said.

Jeremy cites Fleetwood Mac for aesthetic, production, and sound; Billie Eilish and FINNEAS for production and sound; Fleet Foxes for rawness, arrangements, and storytelling; One Republic and the Jonas Brothers for production. 

Dierdra names Lana Del Rey for vocals and production; Haley Williams for vocals; Alice Phoebe Lou for songwriting, and Radiohead for their experimentation approach to craft. 

“We all have similar but also different tastes,” Dierdra added. ”Combining them all… It's fun to see.”

TOP8’s Take:

Lilies of David is a band bringing experimental ambition, indie alt-pop vulnerability, emotional relatability, and aesthetic nostalgia in the genre to a new stage. Their past singles have shown what the band is capable of, and the new, debut album, Diamonds and Ruins, makes us excited to see what they will continue to bring to the scene.

You can find Lilies of David on their website or Instagram. The new album is out now on Spotify.

Spin the record. Pull up to their release show. And in the spirit of Lilies of David, feel inspired and go make something of your own.