Stay Present

Last July I worked my first Lollapalooza in 3 years. The Lolla lineup from 2016-2019 was my favorite of the year, but in 2021 that changed. I felt like I only knew a handful of artists. I went from knowing acts all over the lineup to only knowing the headliners and a couple of the other big names. The undercards were unrecognizable. Fortunately, thanks to a couple of friends I got to know a few of those up and coming artists. One of them was Lauren Sanderson, who my friend Megan is obsessed with.

Lauren Sanderson, who hails from Los Angeles but, originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, began her music career on Youtube and SoundCloud. She originally started her channel as a motivational speaker, but then grew into music with rapping and poetry on her channel. After posting her cover of Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved,” she started gaining attention. She released her first EP Center of Expression in 2016 and her second EP Spaces in 2017. Spaces garnered her Billboard attention which lead to her record deal with Epic Records. In 2018, she debuted her first major label EP DON’T PANIC!.

In 2019 she left Epic Records and signed a one album deal with Young Forever. Her debut album Midwest Kids Can Make It Big was released in January 2020. She had a tour planned for that year, but like everything else, it was then rescheduled for 2021. Since live music made its return last year, Lauren has been touring and releasing music independently with a new album on the way.

Lauren Sanderson’s music is primarily pop with a mix of hip hop and alternative styles. Her music has a seductive edge to it at times as well, especially with songs like “But I Like It” and most recently with the release “Gay 4 Me.” Lauren Sanderson also has a huge presence in the LGBTQ+ community as a queer artist and has many gay themes in her music too.

Back at Lollapalooza, I was introduced to Lauren Sanderson because Megan had tickets to her aftershow and was stoked to see her perform. Lauren ended up cancelling all of her Lolla performances due to getting the covo. It wasn’t until a few months later that I realized I should listen to Lauren and so Megan began recommending some of her favorite songs like “17” and “Bathroom Stall in Seattle”, which are now some of my favorites as well.

I’ve been digging her music since I started listening. I even committed to seeing her live when she announced tour dates this past winter. After getting tickets a few months ago, I went with Megan last Monday to see her show and loved it. It was cool to see her perform in a small venue. She attracts a passionate and largely LGBTQ+ audience who went hard the entire time. I honestly felt like an outlier cause I didn’t know every word to every song. It was still fun though and it’s always a blast to witness my friends enjoy their favorite bands or artists. As I mentioned, Lauren has a new album on the way and likely more touring plans in the works. You should really start listening to her now, because there’s a good chance she might not be playing small venues for long. She’s got so many bops and I’m glad my pal was obsessed enough to share them and her with me.

Coachella Band Preview: girl in red

Now that it’s February, we’re closing in on the two month mark until Weekend 1! It feels so weird writing this anticipating Coachella like it’s any other year. It’s not though. We haven’t been thriving on the polo fields since 2019. So much has happened and changed since then, but at the same time, having Coachella back will feel like another part of normal life has returned. I keep writing these blogs like I have for years, but god knows I’m so much more excited and emotional about getting back to Coachella this year than I ever was. That being said, this week I’m stoked to preview an artist I didn’t know much about when the 2020 lineup came out. She was on it but I had no idea at the time. Thankfully over the last two years I got to know and love girl in red.

When girl in red was booked for Coachella 2020, she was up and coming. She was an undercard. But thanks to tik tok and lesbians everywhere, girl in red has since exploded. Last spring girl in red, aka Marie Ulven Ringheim, released her debut album, if i could make it go quiet. The album reached top 10 spots on music charts worldwide. I was able to catch a few songs of her ACL set during Weekend 2. She played the main stage early in the day. She wasn’t drawing a huge crowd at the time, but I guarantee she will at Coachella. This time her name has moved up on the lineup poster and I suspect she’ll be playing a late afternoon or early evening set on the main stage or at Outdoor.

Since I first wrote about girl in red, as I already mentioned, she has gotten a lot bigger. Over the last year, she’s stuck to the festival circuit, in support of her debut album. Her name has been rising higher on every festival lineup though. She has a completely sold out spring North American tour lined up that includes her stops in Indio, before she heads back overseas for the European leg of the tour. The European leg is completely sold out too.

girl in red is an act that you won’t want to miss in April. She fills the indie rock card that now seems a lot more rare at Coachella. However, she’s part of that new wave of Gen Z indie rock, so you’d expect a lot more younger fans at her set. She’s definitely going to crush her first Coachella appearance though. Here’s a few tracks that you’ll need to know before you catch her:

1. we fell in love in october
2. Serotonin
3. i wanna be your girlfriend
4. bad idea!
5. midnight love
6. girls
7. I’ll Call You Mine
8. summer depression
9. Rue
10. You Stupid Bitch

I Gotta Be On My Own

Over the last year, there’s been several times within blog posts where I’ve mentioned having an epic concert night last November. I first wrote about it shortly after it happened when I wrote about Tegan & Sara. Then I wrote about it again while writing about ARIZONA. It’s almost been a year since I saw two concerts in one night so I figured it’s finally time to write about the other concert I attended on November 3rd besides Tegan & Sara, the one that ARIZONA was the opener for.

Before the Tegan & Sara concert last year, my friend and I decided to grab tickets for Hayley Kiyoko. Kiyoko grew up involved in the music and acting communities in Los Angeles, CA. Before even hearing of her music, I knew of her from watching the Disney Channel. She starred in a few episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place and the 2010 Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth. She was also involved with Cartoon Network starring as Velma Dinkley in the 2009 TV film Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and then reprising her role in the sequel Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. She has of course acted in other small parts on various television channels and networks as well, but the roles I just mentioned are what she is best known for.

Hayley Kiyoko (Alcroft) has always been about music though. She started drum lessons at the age of 6 and learned several other instruments over her lifetime such as guitar, bass, piano, and accordion. In 2007, she became part of the all-girl pop group The Stunners which was formed by former pop star Vitamin C. The Stunners lasted as a group until 2011. They broke up before a full album was ever released.

Kiyoko released her debut EP A Belle to Remember in March 2013. Her second EP This Side of Paradise was released a little less than two years later in February of 2015. She co-directed and directed two music videos from the EP for the songs “Girls Like Girls” and “Cliff’s Edge”, respectively. In August 2016, she released the upcoming single, “Gravel to Tempo”, from her latest EP Citrine as well as the music video for it. The EP itself was released just over a year ago on September 30, 2016. Since then she directed two more music videos for the songs “One Bad Night” and “Sleepover”, another new single. Today she debuts her latest single, “Feelings” on MTV’s TRL.

Most of Kiyoko’s following comes from the internet. Her video for “Girls Like Girls” currently has over 79 million views. Last spring she went on her first nationwide headlining tour, which was nearly sold out. Her music draws a lot of attention from the LGBT community because of its subjects. As an out gay woman, Kiyoko wanted to write music that girls and women like her could relate to.

Her music is part of the dreampop/synthpop genre. I’ve always thought her songs have a subtle edge along with a hypnotic flow to them as well. They almost have an R&B style sexual feel going on too.

Last year when my friend and I decided to see her we both knew a handful of her songs. The tickets were pretty cheap too and the show only had some overlap with Tegan & Sara (Hayley Kiyoko was on during the Tegan & Sara opener, but finished before the Canadian twin duo took the stage). Also both shows were in different parts of the same venue. It worked out well for us and made for an epic concert night, one that I’m not sure we’d be able to replicate. It was kind of special occurrence too since we decided to attend Hayley Kiyoko’s show on the day of. It was one I didn’t prepare for, which in some ways made it more exciting. Plus I was super stoked when I realized ARIZONA was the opener for Hayley Kiyoko. She played a short set list, but played all of the songs we both knew and a quality mix from her 3 EP’s. She even covered Hailee Steinfeld’s “Starving”. My friend and I were both glad we went. The venue was small. The setting was intimate. It made for a great opportunity to see her since we both expected her popularity to rise and it has already. We’re lucky we took advantage of the chance to see her.

If you’re into the kind of music she plays, I suggest you check her out. I also recommend that if there’s any artists or bands on the rise that you like that you should go see them live. See them in a small venue. See them in an intimate setting. See them like that because it’s special and you may never get another chance to. I’m glad we saw Hayley Kiyoko like that and I’m glad she gave us an epic concert night we never expected.