LØLØ is coming to terms with feeling things deeply on her new album god forbid a girl spits out her feelings!
Lauren Mandel, the Toronto-based pop rock singer-songwriter known as LØLØ, began writing songs and playing open mics around the city as a highschooler. In 2020, her popularity grew through her alternative perspective covers of popular songs like Taylor Swift’s “Betty” and The Kid Laroi’s “Without You,” which blew up on TikTok.
Since then, she’s come out with two albums, three EPs, and toured with bands like Simple Plan, Marianas Trench and New Found Glory. A few weeks before Mandel released her third album, god forbid a girl spits out her feelings!, Now Toronto caught up with her to learn more about going viral on TikTok, the Toronto open mic scene, and toeing the line between self-deprecation and being too mean.
The Toronto live music scene
Born and raised in Toronto, Mandel says she felt privileged to cut her teeth in a multicultural city that prioritized live music. By attending shows and open mic nights, she realized that if the people she saw on stage could genre bend, then so could she.
“There were so many bands playing in bars with bands and open mics. I used to go to different open mics at Supermarket [Bar and Variety],” Mandel explained. “[Toronto] was a great place to be as a developing artist trying to figure out what my sound was.”
Her love for rock and pop-punk also came from some of Canada’s greats. When she was growing up, Montreal’s Simple Plan and Napanee’s Avril Lavigne were getting heavy airplay on the radio. Mandel recalls, “That support probably skewed my love for [pop-punk], because I was hearing it all the time.”
Tiktok and the pandemic
During the COVID-19 lockdown, when the rest of the country was stuck at home, Mandel used the free time to her advantage. She began posting opposite perspective covers of hit songs by Taylor Swift and Adele, among other artists. By posting online consistently when TikTok itself was blowing up, her videos went viral.
@lolopopgurl It’s so sad from betty’s POV 🙁 should I write the rest?? #taylorswift #songwriter #folklore #cover ♬ betty from bettys perspective – LØLØ
Mandel says she probably couldn’t have reached such big heights without a record label if it wasn’t for TikTok and other social media platforms.
“Before the pandemic and before Tiktok, you needed to be signed to a label, and then you become a superstar,” she muses. “Whereas now, we all have access to these things, so anyone can be an artist, and anyone can share their art with a click of a button.”
But with the rise of TikTok comes a tradeoff: fewer superstars. She says there used to be superstars like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and then a slew of “unknown” artists. And now, “all the unknown people are all releasing music.”
“Because of that, I don’t want to say you’re less famous, but it’s more, ‘what are you going to do with your 15 seconds? Hopefully it lasts.”
Six years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are realizing,‘I could do this too.’ Due to the influx of small artists who all want to make it big, Mandel says, “It’s harder to make [viewers] care, but it’s easier to get more views, because now there are more people online, more people watching, and more people doing.”
“People now are pickier with what they care about, because there’s so much out there and you have to get really lucky and break through the noise.”
However, luck isn’t all it takes to break through the noise anymore. Mandel says successful artists need all three factors for the stars to align: luck, talent, and hard work.
“You need to be working your ass off, and at the same time you need to be really talented, because you can only fake it till you make it for so long.”
The fine line between self-deprecation and being pathetic.
Mandel is no stranger to making fun of herself. She literally has a song called, “lonely & pathetic.” Other song titles, like “dumbest girl in the world” and “debbie downer” might seem like they were written by a girl who enjoys being mean to herself, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
She is actually very in control to what degree she makes fun of herself, which prevents others from making fun of her. Mandel says, “I’m very self-aware, but I’m also very emotional.”
“When I’m writing songs, I always want to make sure it doesn’t sound too pathetic. I also don’t want to be a pathetic person. I won’t allow myself to do that. It is a very tough line to toe,” she explains. “But I think it’s also very important to be a little bit self-deprecating and not take yourself too seriously. Because I think once we start taking ourselves too seriously, life in general becomes much harder than it needs to be.”
What should fans take away from LØLØ’s new album?
On her last album, Mandel says she sang about her feelings in a negative light, writing things like “I wish I could be numb. I hate how I have all these feelings and I’m so oversensitive and I’m overemotional.”
But on her sophomore album, god forbid a girl spits out her feelings! She wants fans to take away the sentiment that it’s okay to have all these feelings.
“It’s okay to be sensitive and it’s okay to say what’s on your mind. We are human, and what’s so special about being human is that we feel things. If you feel things deeply, you’re not alone. I’m with you.”
