Following a trio of breakout EPs, LØLØ is finally gearing up to release her long-awaited debut album in the summer. Here, the Canadian pop-punk star tells us all about it – from her signature self-deprecation to digging deep and getting in touch with what it is to be human…
LØLØ feels things deeply. Always has, always will. But don’t just take our word for it.
“I know everyone is always like, ‘I'm an empath,’ but I actually am!” the star tells Kerrang!. “I feel things really strongly.”
To illustrate her point, she casts her mind back to when she was a kid.
“This is so fucking embarrassing – I should not even say this publicly!” she grins. “But I remember being a little kid and I would steal twist ties from the grocery stores, because I thought they were real and had feelings.”
The kidnapped twist ties’ journey did not, however, end there.
“I would take them home, open my window and hold them up, like, ‘This is the real world!’” she continues, bursting out laughing. “Under my desk, I had a home for them, I made them a bed and an outfit – all for twist ties, for fruit! I really think Toy Story fucked with me. I swear to God, I thought these things were real. So yeah, that's the core of how I am in the real world. I'm aware I'm very overly sensitive about most things, which is hard, especially in this industry – as a sensitive bitch, I have really fucked my career path! I definitely feel things way too strongly. I over-romanticise things in my head. But I mean, the first step is admitting you have a problem, right? (Laughs) So at least I'm aware.”
It’s a story that perfectly explains the dichotomous title of her eagerly-released debut. Released on June 7 via Hopeless Records, falling for robots and wishing i was one is an explosive pop-punk record that is often as hilarious as it is heart-wrenching. The one common thread? Whether she’s dealing the damage, or being dealt it, LØLØ is feeling everything, everywhere all at once.
Here, she tells us more about it, from its Wizard Of Oz-tastic cover, to why she had to shout out Scotland in the lyrics, and the therapeutic power of looooooong showers…
On top of the title, the album cover is very arresting, and you’ve said part of the reason for it is that your favourite film is The Wizard Of Oz and your favourite musical is Wicked. What is it about that story that resonates so much with you?
“It's been my favourite movie since I was little – it's one of the first movies I remember watching. Dorothy was the epitome of growing up; of finding a whole other world, being thrown into something, discovering yourself and then being pushed back into the real world at the end. Wicked, in particular, I found so interesting because I grew up watching the original movie a million times, always thinking, ‘This is the story!’ and then you learn that the wicked witch isn't actually wicked at all. She was just misunderstood.”
There's quite a few songs on the album where we get to hear the wrath of LØLØ on songs like hot girls in hell, but you also turn that same anger on yourself at times. If you had to call it, who gets the harder time on this album – yourself, or the people who’ve fucked you over?
“Honestly, I've always been very self-deprecating. That's how I deal with things – being like, ‘Yeah, I suck’ or whatever. I try not to take things too seriously. But I would say it's pretty split. I mean, I definitely love to shit on people when they've done me wrong. I'm a Scorpio – I want to fucking kill you if you fuck with me. But I know that I'm not perfect, so I can't fault anyone else for being not perfect!”
Do you get the same sense of catharsis when you are being self-deprecating about yourself that you get when you lay into someone who's really wronged you?
“I mean, it's therapeutic writing it regardless. It's like instead of talking to a therapist – which I should probably be doing (laughs) – I'm talking to myself… I’m my own therapist which is a problem, probably.”
You treading the fine line between wit and sincerity in your lyrics brilliantly. There’s ‘Spaced out at dinner like a sad Neil Armstrong’ on suck it up and then you’re singing like a news reporter on gloria with the line ‘There was a butterfly massacre in my stomach, I can confirm there weren’t any survivors.’ What’s the key to writing a funny lyric that stays funny?
“I find that if I'm trying to be witty or funny, it never ever actually comes across. For instance, when I wrote gloria I was just in my friend's room and she had pinned up [fake] butterflies all over her wall and she did a terrible job (laughs). They were all falling down while I was trying to do stuff – every second I would just hear ‘splat!’ So that gave me the idea and I picked up the guitar and I just said it. When I’m trying to be funny, it never works!”
Do you ever worry the humour in your songs might detract somewhat from the serious moments and songs? Like, what if people only focus on one side of you?
“I try to not think about that at all and just write whatever comes out. If I like it, then it goes on. In the past, I've been putting out EPs and singles, so it's been upbeat, crazy, or whatever songs. And it's funny, because the songs that I naturally write, and that I enjoy writing the most, are the slow, sad ones. I don't know why, that's just always been a thing. So many songs have started out just on my bed with a guitar, and it is depressing and then I'll bring it into a producer and we'll make it upbeat. I'm really excited for people to see this other side of me in which I am going deeper and talking about more serious stuff.”
On that subject, there are songs that deal with body dysmorphia, ego, depression… Are there any times where you self-censor your lyrics and go, ‘That’s just for me, not LØLØ’?
“When I'm done writing something, I'm like, ‘Oh, do I want my mom and dad to hear this?’ (Laughs) For some reason, I don't mind the whole world hearing, but when my mom and dad hear it and say, ‘Are you okay?’ I'm like, ‘I don't want to talk about this!’ Because I am a generally really happy, confident, fun person, but I have my moments as everybody does. I'd always kept a diary and I was so private about that, because I was so scared my parents were gonna read it. I would write it out and rip it up into little pieces. But since I started writing songs, now I literally tell everybody my diary entry! It's such a big jump. Once I started writing songs, that went to the other extreme, and I just started oversharing like crazy. So yeah, with the oversharing, I'm just used to it.”
On the intro you sing ‘Maybe I could run away from all my problems, I'd love to go back to Scotland’. Was Scotland just a convenient rhyme, or did you feel a real sense of peace there? What’s with the shout out?
“It wasn’t convenience because I could have done Boston instead! So, basically, my first time ever touring Europe in the UK, was in 2022, in the fall. I had toured before in the U.S., opening for people like New Found Glory or Waterparks – and it went really great. But when I toured Europe and the UK in 2022, I was in front of rooms where people were really screaming my songs. That was the first tour where I was like, ‘Holy shit, I have real fans and people like my songs!’ The first show that me and my band didn't do any fuck ups on – because the first couple nights, we had a couple of fuck ups – was in Scotland. It was just such an amazing show, everyone was fucking screaming for me and my lyrics. It was one of the happiest moments of my life and so I wanted to shout out Scotland.”
Speaking about shout outs, you also write an ode to the therapeutic power of having a long shower…
“I wrote thoughts from the shower almost as a joke just to myself, because I was in the shower, and I just didn't want it to end. Once you get out of the shower and you're not under the warm water anymore, you have to start the rest of your day and deal with everything. I was like, ‘Everyone can relate to this.’ It’s a cool interlude about having anxiety and I wanted it to feel like you were kind of listening to me singing it from the shower (laughs).”
Was it, you know, actually recorded in a shower? It does sound like it…
“It wasn't recorded in the shower, but we did record turning the shower on and off – so that's real!”
Finally, you said the album really explores what it means to be a human these days. What conclusions did you reach on that exploration?
“The takeaway is that people aren't perfect, and I'm not perfect. And that is what being human is. We're not robots. We're not gonna just fly through life unaffected. Things happen. People are gonna suck, people are going to really suck sometimes, but you know… just write break-up songs about them in detail, so that everyone knows it's about them (laughs). Try not to let it really get to you. But if you do let it really get to you, it’s okay. You’re not going to die. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still wish that I had no feelings. But I'm self-aware enough to know that it's not possible. Also, at the end of the day, yeah, sometimes I wish I was a robot, but I am me because of all my emotions. Even though it can be bad sometimes, it can also be great. I always want to be kind and if I didn't have those feelings, then I would be a fucking bitch. So I'm happy that I'm not a bitch! And if it means that I got my heart broken more? Fine. At least I am trying to be a good person.”
u & the tin man is out now. falling for robots and wishing i was one is released on June 7 via Hopeless Records
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