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LØLØ goes big with her ambitious debut album ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’, incorporating a wide range of influences and exploring themes of love, heartbreak, and personal growth. Check out our latest Upset cover story.
Words: Ali Shutler.
“It’s go big or go home,” says LØLØ. “And I’m really going for it with this album.” ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’ has just been released, and it sees the Canadian star go beyond the sugary pop-rock songs of recent EPs to incorporate a little bit of everything.
“It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that I’m inspired by Green Day and Weezer,” she admits, but the explosive indie power of Boygenius were also an important touchpoint. Add in a love of musical theatre, the raw might of stripped-down singer-songwriter stuff and a weaving narrative about love, heartbreak and betrayal, ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’ is one hell of an ambitious debut.
LØLØ wasn’t always so sure of herself, though. “I actually used to be so shy,” she explains. Growing up, she was obsessed with musicals from The Golden Age Of Hollywood, took part in tap, dance and acting classes and fell in love with alternative Wizard Of Oz story, Wicked. She even took on the starring role of Elphaba in a school play, but doesn’t think a career in Broadway was ever in the cards. “My voice is too raspy,” she shrugs.
She was fearless acting on stage, but when it came to performing her own Taylor Swift-inspired music at school talent shows or at open mic nights, anxiety was never far behind. To help make things less painless, she kept her lyrics as vague as possible. “I didn’t want anyone to know what the song was actually about,” she offers, but over the course of three EPs (2019’s ‘Sweater Collection’, 2021’s ‘overkill’ and 2022’s ‘debbie downer’), she learnt that honesty was the best policy. “Now the floodgates are open.”
“I just write whatever I’m feeling,” LØLØ continues, describing the creative process as word vomit that she puts melody to. “I didn’t realise I wrote about anxiety so much until people started thanking me for talking about it in my music. I didn’t think I was doing anything special, I was just taking my diary to the stage,” she offers.
There are no lessons learned, though. “My music is very much ‘I don’t know what’s going on’,” she explains, with that self-deprecating humour a through line across the 15 tracks that make up ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’. When she wrote her breakout hit ‘u turn me on (but u give me depression)’, which features the blunt opening lyric, “I wish I fell for an axe murderer instead of you”, she was going for high drama. “I wasn’t trying to do comedy at all, but people kept telling me how hilarious it was. Turns out I am just funny,” she adds with a smirk.
“I didn’t realise I wrote about anxiety so much until people started thanking me”
LØLØ
Her music comes at a time when funny, biting, heartbreaking pop is taking over the charts, thanks to the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter. “I think people are just craving authenticity,” explains LØLØ. “For a while, a lot of pop was about trying to be perfect, but the world is so messy right now. Nothing is perfect, and everybody is struggling with something. Real life isn’t all hot, fun and sex, so people are turning to messy pop,” she adds.
The first song written for ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’ was the closing track ‘u & the tin man’, a song about falling for a guy that seemingly doesn’t have a heart. A year later, LØLØ wrote ‘wish i was a robot’ after getting frustrated at how “overly sensitive and emotional” she was being. “I just had so many anxieties and insecurities that I thought it would be easier to not have any feelings,” LØLØ explains. Realising there was a cool dichotomy between the two songs, she used them as the foundations for her debut album and started building out the world. “I’m a stickler for a theme,” she says. It’s an album about falling in and out of love, set against the insecurities that come with growing up. “It is a purge.”
“I was worried about being too specific with some of these tracks, but the more honest I am, the more people relate to it. It’s like we’re all having the same shared experience,” she explains. “It’s kind of freaky, to be honest.”
In 2018, LØLØ released playful, guitar-driven debut single ‘Yours’, which ended up becoming a radio hit in Canada years before the pop-punk resurgence really kicked off. “I still love that track, but I was shocked it did so well,” she explains. Debut EP ‘Sweater Collection’ featured more of the same, with LØLØ deliberately writing for radio rather than herself. “Nothing really happened with that EP, though, which was a big lesson for me in authenticity. If you try to be something you’re not, people will see straight through that shit,” she offers. “Now I just put out whatever I want to make. I make music because I love it, and it’s therapy for me. Other people liking it is just the cherry on top.”
“Real life isn’t all hot, fun and sex, so people are turning to messy pop”
LØLØ
It’s why, alongside the upbeat bangers, her debut album features plenty of stripped-back songs as well. “They might surprise people, but my songs always start with just me and an acoustic guitar on my bed,” says LØLØ, who wanted to celebrate that. “There’s really nowhere to hide with those tracks either,” she admits. There’s no fear about letting people see her more tender side. “I’m just more confident now.”
In recent years, LØLØ has shared stages with the likes of Against The Current, Waterparks, Neck Deep and State Champs, and worked with Simple Plan on an updated version of ‘I’m Just A Kid’. Despite this, she hates being called a pop-punk artist. “I don’t know if it matters, but I’ve always thought of myself as pop-rock, especially because my music takes influence from such different artists. Maybe there’s something in my lyrics that feels punk, but I really don’t feel like one.”
LØLØ may describe her music as “songs about mental health or falling for assholes”, but there’s so much joy to ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’ as well. “It’s definitely about keeping soft rather than shutting yourself away,” she offers. “I’m all about spreading the love.”
“These songs are free therapy for people,” she continues. “You can scream, cry or dance along to them, but I want people to know they’re not alone.” ■
LØLØ’s album ‘falling for robots and wishing i was one’ is out now. Follow Upset’s Spotify playlist here.
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