Southern California native, Lakin, performed at Waynesburg University’s first coffeehouse of the year as a one-woman show, with nothing more than a guitar and a looping station. Lakin was welcomed to the campus for her performance by a full house of students. In addition to students packing into the Beehive for Lakin’s performance, students were also anticipating the introduction of the new series of coffee mugs that students receive at each coffeehouse.

Lakin performed her one-woman show sound as though there were several performers through the use of a looping station.

“I got my first looping station, it was like a miniature version of the one I have now, back in 2009,” said Lakin. “It took me probably about the first year to really learn how to understand how it worked because you’re singing and you’re playing and trying to stomp on all the buttons to build the sound.”

Lakin explained that once she got the hang of the basics of what each button did and how many loops she could layer, she started to get more creative in her own songwriting. The looping station has proved to be an attention-grabber in her performances, thanks to a growing popularity of its use along more prominent artists.

“A lot of people will recognize what I’m doing now because a lot of artists in the limelight have started using it, so they actually know what it is,” said Lakin.

Lakin is not just a cover artist, she also writes and performs her own original music. Her music features stories turned-to-song based from events in her own life, events she sees, or something she thinks people need to hear.

“I want people to remember the stories I tell through my music,” said Lakin. “You never know what someone may need to hear and what they may be going through. I want my songs to speak to them on a relatable level.”

Lakin has also adopted the challenge of writing songs from other people’s point of view.

“It opens up a whole [other] door of themes and ideas to consider how someone else might feel about a situation because you and I can other experience what you and I experience, but how does someone else feel?” said Lakin.

Lakin enjoys playing a wide range of musical genres with her roots in soul, but her performances feature other genres like pop and jazz.

The coffeehouse mugs this year will be featuring a different campus building on the mug. The first mug debuted from the collection was a black mug featuring Miller Hall.