Millennial–punk–emo–goth–anxiety–Harry-Potter–angst–depression–boys–Tiffany-Blue–pop-rock–Green-Day–Breaking-Bad–genre–defying–confessional music. Pop, punk. But never pop punk. Lølø—short for Lauren, but only her mom calls her that—is a Canadian singer blending early-aughts teen angst with new-age nihilism. Music is therapy, and this is truer for Lølø than for most: her songwriting essentially replaced her diary. This explains both her deeply personal themes and her strikingly confessional tone. 

Her latest debut EP, “Debbie Downer”, is an extensive mix of breakup anthems and heartfelt dirges, many of which are refreshingly honest about the singer’s mental health struggles. I was going to list some of my favorite songs of hers to check out, but I realized all six of the songs on her EP were in the top 10, so listen to that. “Asking for a Friend” seemed especially heartfelt, while “Junkie” feels like a modern reimagining of Avril Lavigne, perhaps befitting given their similarities, both being poppy emo-y Canadians. 

Lølø sat down with The Maroon at Lollapalooza 2022 to discuss her influences, her future plans, and what shows to watch. Breaking Bad spoilers ahead, fyi. 

Luke: Let’s start big. What’s your life story? 

Lølø: Well, my first CD ever was American Idiot by Green Day. And then I pretty much blasted that and Hilary Duff and Avril Lavigne, which I feel like is an accurate amalgamation of what my music is today. I actually originally wanted to be on Broadway: That was my dream. And I never wrote songs at all. I thought it was way too cringe because I kept a diary and always wrote out my thoughts. And the thought of someone reading my diary and knowing my thoughts made me want to throw up everywhere.  

But then when high school started, I started learning guitar, and my guitar teacher was like, “You should write songs.” And I was like, “Absolutely not, that will never be for me, I just like singing.” And he’s like, “No, you should write it or I’m not coming back next week”. And I was like, “Oh, fuck, I have to write a song”. So I wrote it, and I immediately loved it. I think because I was already used to pouring my feelings out on paper. I was like, “Fuck Broadway, I want to be an artist.” 

Luke: Can you tell me about your most recent single? 

Lølø: My newest song is called “THE FLOOR IS LAVA!!”. It’s about crippling anxiety; when you’re stuck in bed, and you feel like the floor is fucking lava. So you could shout that one out. 

Luke: Love that. How about your upcoming single? 

Lølø: Oh, it’s called “u turn me on (but u give me depression)”. It’s about a boy that is not good for my brain. But he’s hot, so, you know. 

Luke: What’s your favorite color? 

Lølø: My favorite color is Tiffany Blue. 

Luke: I feel like it would be black, with the whole emo vibe you have going on. 

Lølø: I do love black, yes, but it’s not really a color. But we can make it a color for the purposes of this. I also just don’t want to be like, “What’s your favorite color?” “Black, cuz I’m emo.” 

Luke: I’m pretty sure black is a color. Anyways, emo, how’s that different from pop punk? 

Lølø: Well, I actually don’t consider my music pop punk—I consider it pop rock, like Green Day. Pop punk, I would say, is more like Blink-182 or Simple Plan, but I think people these days, when they hear guitars on songs, just call everything pop punk. 

Luke: Background research seemed to suggest your music was pop punk. 

Lølø: Yeah, because everyone calls it pop punk. But I don’t really care. I think, like, genres in music are, well, not dumb per se, but nonetheless, I don’t like sticking to a specific thing. 

Lølø: Are you interviewing other people today, or just me? 

Luke: Well, you’re the only artist who I got around to interviewing. I kept getting emails like, ‘Oh, you want to interview this group? What about this group?” and I was like, “Boring, boring, boring, oh, this one looks interesting!” I liked the slashes through the ‘O’s. 

Lølø: Oh, I’m honored, I’m honored. 

Luke: And then I made friends with some artists the other day after I got my phone stolen. I saw Metallica with them. 

Lølø: Oh, that’s sick. 

Luke: It would’ve been if I’d ever heard a Metallica song. 

Lølø: Have you seen Stranger Things? The new season, Joseph Quinn, he does, like Metallica. 

Luke: Okay, I can just interview you about TV. Favorite show? 

Lølø: Breaking Bad. 

Luke: Interesting. I watched until— 

Lølø: Oh my God, you didn’t finish it? You started and didn’t finish it? 

Luke: The really nice guy died and I was so sad. Gale. I was so sad I stopped watching. 

Lølø: Yeah, no, I felt bad that Jesse did that. Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones. But, you know, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones have ended. Oh, I also love Better Call Saul, which is like pre-Breaking Bad. 

Luke: Oh, speaking of Saul, I’m considering law school. 

Lølø: Really? I was gonna take the LSAT, and then I was like, “No”. My dad hates me. He really wanted me to be a lawyer. I disappointed him. You could put that in there. “Her dad hates her.” 

Luke: What else? Have you seen that show with Steve Martin and Selena Gomez on Hulu? Only Murders in the Building? 

Lølø: No, I have not seen that. 

Luke: It was so good. Watch that. Selena Gomez might be a singer, but she’s good at acting too. I guess you could do that too. 

Lølø: I used to act when I was little. 

Luke: Oh, you’ve done everything. I have no artistic talent. 

Lølø: You interview people amazingly, so. 

Luke: Oh, thank you. I can write and I can do digital art. I made a bunch of NFTs at one point, but no one bought them. 

Lølø: Oh, that’s so funny. 

Luke: So who’s your favorite act to see today? 

Lølø: Green Day. 

Luke: I was going to guess that, yeah. 

Lølø: Yeah, that’s all I care about. 

Luke: It’s so bad, I only know “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” I’ve never even heard “American Idiot.” 

Lølø: What?! 

Luke: I know, I listened to this the other day, I was like, okay, no, I haven’t heard this song. 

Lølø [to her manager]: He doesn’t… He’s never heard any Green Day song. 

Luke: I’ve heard “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” 

Lølø: That’s it. 

Luke: That’s it, yeah. 

Manager: What?! 

Luke: I know, but. 

Manager: Oh my god. Don’t start now! No, you’re good. You’re in for a treat tonight. 

Lølø: No, definitely, just listen to the whole American Idiot album, that’s my favorite album of all time. 

Luke: How about movies? Anything good I should watch? 

Lølø: Harry Potter is my favorite. 

Luke: That’s good, but J. K. Rowling…? Controversial. 

Lølø: Yes, but because she is… you know… transphobic, doesn’t mean that Harry Potter is. 

Luke: Unless, she comes out like “well, actually…” 

Lølø: No, but like the character of him isn’t. 

Luke: What if she comes out like: “Actually, Harry Potter canonically hates trans people”? 

Lølø: I would say she’s lying. She can’t just do that. It doesn’t say it in the book. You know what I’m saying? 

Luke: But if you read the subtext… 

Lølø: There’s no subtext… 

Luke: I mean, okay, the whole goblins thing though, that’s kind of bad. 

Lølø: Yeah, I’m Jewish and I don’t give a fuck. I don’t like when people try to ruin my favorite characters for me. I have a Harry Potter tattoo. 

Luke: Oh, I saw that, yeah. I can kind of see the issue—like, big nose, they run a bank. But also, you know, whatever, people read into stuff too much. 

Lølø: Who caresssssss. 

Luke: Guybosses. 

Lølø: Yeah!  

Luke: All of them. I didn’t see any girl goblins, so… 

Lølø: True, I don’t think there are any. That’s a good question. 

Luke: How does that work? 

Lølø: How do they multiply? Maybe the wives are at home. 

Luke: Maybe they’re like amoeba. You see one and suddenly it splits into two new goblins, both wearing full business suits. 

Lølø: Something about that grosses me out. 

Luke: Well, yeah, the entire thing grosses me out. 

Lølø: *guitar noises* 

Luke: Oh, 30 Rock, I just started watching 30 Rock. 

Lølø: Oh yeah, I heard that was good. Nah, I’ve never seen it. 

Luke: Super good. I watched the entire first season in one day. 

Lølø: Wow. 

Luke: Okay, anything else you want me to talk about in the interview? 

Lølø: No, I think that’s… I think we’ve covered a lot. I mean, I don’t know. 

Luke: I mean, you’ve done this more than I have, but. 

Lølø: I’m trying. 

Luke: Wait, where in Canada are you from? 

Lølø: Toronto. 

Luke: Oh. 

Lølø: Yeah. But I live in LA now. I moved to LA in January. 

Luke: Oh yeah, what part of LA? 

Lølø: West Hollywood. 

Luke: Oh, I’m from Brentwood. 

Lølø: Oh, nice. Oh, you live in LA? I thought you were from Chicago. 

Luke: God forbid. 

Lølø: I’m dead. 

Luke: Yeah, LA born and somewhat raised. 

Lølø: You’re fucking hilarious. 

Luke: I grew up in Hong Kong. 

Lølø: In Hong Kong? That’s so cool. Do you speak… 

Luke: Nope. 

Lølø: I was like, “What language do they speak there?” 

Luke: Chinese. 

Lølø: Oh, okay. 

Luke: But it’s like, you know how, in elementary school here, you learn Spanish? 

Lølø: Yeah? Do you learn… 

Luke: You learn Chinese, and you don’t actually learn any of it. Like, I know colors and fruits. 

Lølø: That’s how it was with French in Canada. 

Luke: Parlez-vous Français? 

Lølø: No. 

Luke: Yeah. 

Lølø: Je ne sais pas. Or je ne comprends pas. 

Luke: I was in Paris a few months ago, and, at one point, I pointed at myself and said “no parlez vous Français” and this guy looked at me and just shook his head. 

Lølø: Yeah, they’re rude there, right? 

Luke: Literally, I had to. My phone background was “je ne parle pas Français” which is “I don’t speak French”. 

Lølø: I’m dead. They probably hated that. 

Luke: They hated it. At one point I spoke Spanish, I was hoping it was similar enough to be mutually intelligible. It was not. 

Lølø: Jeez. Jeeeeeeez. 

Luke: Anyway… Wait, I had one last thought. What was I saying before the whole French thing? There was something. I was on something good. And then… 

Lølø: LA. 

Luke: Oh yeah, LA. That’s sick, but I’m moving to—well, my family’s moving to Park City in September, so…. 

Lølø: Where is that? 

Luke: Utah. 

Lølø: Oh! 

Luke: Like, ski town. 

Lølø: Wow. 

Luke: So… will be weird. But good skiing. You ski? 

Lølø: No. I used to ski. 

Luke: Whistler? 

Lølø: I’ve never been to Whistler. I skied for like a year but my toes got too cold, so I had to quit. 

Luke: Toe warmers! 

Lølø: Still. I’m very sensitive to cold. 

Luke: It would make such a sick music video though. Black on white, going down the mountain. That’s great color contrast. 

Lølø: Maybe I’ll do it. 

Luke: Yeah, I mean, if you need a director. 

Lølø: Okay! Do you direct? 

Luke: Sure, why not. Let me know. 

Lølø: I mean, you got yourself all the way to Lollapalooza. 

Luke: I did. 

Lølø: So I have faith in you. When there’s a will, there’s a way. 

Luke: It’s going to be a good interview. I’m going for—you know Tom Wolfe? 

Lølø: Uh… 

Luke: New Journalism. Basically, he tries to do this whole thing where he tries to sum up the—I’m not sure I can pronounce this word correctly—zeitgeist, whatever. 

Lølø: Okay, that was right. 

Luke: In like this huge piece that gets everything, like, originally my thing was going to be like commercialism at Lollapalooza, but then I and everyone I know got our phones stolen. Me, my friend, even my boss from last summer. It’s so bad. 

Lølø: Jesus. 

Luke: It’s so incredibly bad. Keep it in your boot or something. 

Lølø: Yeah. Literally. 

Luke: Um, but yeah, so now I’m thinking like “So, I lost my phone at Lollapalooza, and it taught me to be a better man.” 

Lølø: No, you should be like “I lost my phone, but I gained my… dignity” or shit, I don’t know. 

Luke: I learned to live in the moment. 

Lølø: Yeahhhhh. That’s a good idea. 

Luke: Could work. Also, listen to this punk artist. 

Lølø: Lølø. 

Luke: Yeah. 

Lølø: She rocks. Listen to her every night before you go to bed. 

Luke: Oh and make every single “o” in the piece, like, with a line through it. “Løllapaløøza.” 

Lølø: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Luke: Oh, I looked up how to pronounce it, and the example it gave was “Lollapalooza”. 

Lølø: No way. 

Luke: Like, you pronounce the “uh” in “Lollapalooz-uh”. 

Lølø: Lah-Lah. Yeah no, it’s Loh-Loh. 

Luke: So, “Lølø”, short for “Løllapaløøza.” 

Lølø: Yeah. 

Luke: Anyway yeah, I’m super out of ideas. 

Lølø: Alright, you’re good, I think that was a really good interview.