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RadioFree.com: Seeing as how your name is very musical, is it safe to assume that music was really important to your parents, and that you were exposed to a lot of it growing up?
LYRICA: Awww! [laughs] It is safe to assume, because you're right! But yeah, my name...I don't know if that was done on purpose because they were music fans, but I got lucky. My dad was in a punk rock band in Japan, and my mom was in a pop band. And they came to New York City because they were both a huge fan of The Velvet Underground. They heard Lou Reed was up there, so they came down and wanted to be part of the music scene. But I think they realized that things had drastically changed since, like, the '60s. But yeah, I listened to a lot of The Beatles, and the classic rock bands, and all the '90s songs growing up--so yeah, huge music lover here!
Given that the heyday of the cassette tape was a little before your time, what do you associate with cassettes, and mixtapes in particular? Is there any sort of romanticism to be found there, or is a digital playlist just as good?
I was born in '94, so I think [cassettes were] pretty much over. But I was kind of able to enjoy both, like being able to come out of the tape realm into the digital--I was able to enjoy both worlds, so it is nostalgic. But also, for me, I personally remember my dad recording his singing on cassette tapes, and I saw him playing with it, and he would have to rewind it back manually. I remember him sitting on the floor doing that. So yeah, it's nostalgic, for sure.
 
One of the film's concepts is that music has the power to take you back to a certain point in your past. In real life, it's probably the closest thing we have to an actual time machine. For you, what songs just take you back the instant you hear them?
Oh my gosh! Mitski, "Your Best American Girl." That song takes me back to a bad breakup. [laughs] And then a lot of Nirvana songs. I used to be a very emotional teenager, and it takes me back to those moments when I was just really going through it as a teen. And as a 27-year-old, it's very nice to go back to thinking that I'm, like, 14 again!
Early on, your character Chloe plans to go to a karaoke night and sing Cardi B. What songs are your own weapon of choice for karaoke?
Oooh boy! I mean, I gotta admit, I do like me "WAP." I do like to listen to "WAP," I think it's so fun, I have a great time. And also, [sings] "Be careful with me..." I know a good amount of Cardi B songs...Like, when I read that scene, I looked at [writer/director Greg Bjorkman] and I was like, "How'd you know?" [laughs]
Throughout the movie, Chloe's level of happiness in her married life is used as a barometer to gauge how much Laura has fixed or borked the timeline, as she continually Butterfly Effects her own best friend...
She just turns to the party scene and sees me with the wrong guy, she's like, "Nope, gotta go back and do that again!" [laughs]
...How was that experience of playing multiple versions of Chloe, and having multiple takes on a single role?
That was really interesting. I had a notebook that I dedicated to this movie, just because I visually need to see things mapped out, or else I can't understand what's going on. So I would read the full script multiple times, and then label chronologically, as a timeline, what happens in the movie. And then I would make another timeline of how things are going to be shot, just kind of figuring out like, "Oh, so this scene is not being shot after that scene, even though it seems like it would be after that scene because chronologically it happens that way. But because things changed in the timeline..." You know, stuff like that. So that was kind of a really challenging task. But I was lucky enough to [be] shooting the last season of a show that I was on that had time travel (like, time travel was very involved in the last season), so I had a bit of practice of learning how to know what I was doing when I was doing it. [laughs] It just takes reading the script over and over and over again. [laughs]
You'll be reprising your Runaways role of Nico Minoru for Marvel's Midnight Suns video game. Will this be your first official voice acting role?
No, I actually voiced for a pilot in the past, for a different animated show. So I was kind of in the voice world, but I'm [by] no means, like, skilled at it. So I was really nervous to be coming on to this project, because everyone else, they're really established voice actors in the voice acting world. And meanwhile, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I hope I don't mess this up." [laughs]
Did voicing a familiar character like Nico make the experience a little easier for you?
[nods] Yeah, because then I have an excuse! [jokes] The director would be like, "Why does it sound like that?" It'd be like, "Because that's how she sounds, okay?" [laughs] But yeah, it was helpful that I came from playing this character for many years.
How did you feel about getting to return to a character after you had had some time to step back and be away from her?
Oh, I was so excited! I was so excited, and I wished I had my other castmates in it, too! That would have been so fun. But yeah, just super excited and anticipating when I'll be able to announce it, because I know there are people out there that were curious to see if I'd be doing it.
Lyrica, thanks very much for your time today, I really appreciate it!
Thank you so much! It's been amazing to chat with you, thank you for having me!
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