When Lights pays a visit to Fanshawe on September 16 to perform in Forwell Hall, it will be just weeks before the October 4 release of her coming sophomore album, Siberia, and following a successful summer promoting and revealing her latest work to eager fans.

For the new album, Lights said she challenged herself to blend her signature pop melodies with her love of dubstep to create something new, something textured and unique. Though the undertaking alone must surely have been trying, she faced a different sort of challenge in having to sit on the completed record for so long, waiting for the opportunity to release it.

"The bulk of the record was finished back when there was still snow on the ground," she laughed. "I've been sitting on this stuff for a long time, so you can imagine how exciting finally getting to put the record out and finally getting to play live is for me."

"I love doing college dates because they're always a bit different from most shows," she continued. "I don't know why — they've just got more energy, and everyone is more invested because it's their school. It's cool, I really love it. And that's why I always look forward to it."

To say it's been an busy summer would be an understatement; in the weeks following the album announcement, Lights released a hand—drawn lyric video, celebrated with a number of memorable festival performances, including Osheaga Festival Musique et Arts in Montréal — where she performed three new songs from Siberia: "Toes" (the first official single from the new album), "Everybody Breaks A Glass" and "Where The Fence Is Low" — and last week in Guelph where she was joined by hip hop artist Shad, who performed his vocals on "Everybody Breaks A Glass" for the first time live.

"It's interesting starting to add new songs into the set - you wish that you had a tour to get comfortable playing them, but you don't, so you just have to practice a ton and make sure they sound good, and seeing the response has been great."

"I just want to share it with the world. I always tell people, 'You know, when you're really proud of something, you should want to stand on top of a mountain and tell everybody what you've done,' and that's exactly what I feel when I make music."

However, she stresses, you're not going to get the same Lights that you got last time. Instead of rushing out something new, she dug a little deeper in order to inject the same spirit that went into The Listening while still creating something new and worthy of attention.

"It's an emotional roller coaster, releasing a second record," she explained. "People have expectations of what they want to hear, and the last thing you want to do is let people down. I had to go back and rediscover myself — it's like wiping the slate clean and saying, 'What do I want to do now?' That's the way I had to look at it."

"I've never been so nervous, but it's really fun to feel that, and I think it's important. At this point, I'm so proud of this record that I'm ready for anything! I can't wait to put it out and I can't wait for it to be everyone else's, because it's already mine and I'm eager to share it. I'm really looking forward to it."

Tickets for the concert next Friday are only available through the Biz Booth (if you haven't missed out on them already) and are $8 in advance or $12 at the door. For more on this show, see the event listings on fsu.ca, and follow Lights on Twitter @lights for all the latest on the record or on her massive tour kicking off in October.