LAUREL - 'Change'
LAUREL releases her first single of 2023, the sublime heartbreak-tinged ‘Change’.
In 2018 indie crooner Laurel Arnell-Cullen’s raw takes’ on ‘Sun King’ and ‘Life Worth Living’ demonstrated unfiltered emotion in its purest form, lo-fi melancholic numbers lead by a powerful set of lungs.
Two years later her power pop anthem ‘Scream Drive Faster’ ditched the bedroom acoustics and strutted in with glossy 80’s synths that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Laura Branigan record. Her trendy new direction garnered praise from Vogue and collaborations with the likes of Burberry and Vivienne Westwood.
The sharp U-turn was followed by a surprise link-up with Brooklyn producer Chrome Sparks (Khalid, Emotional Oranges, Bryson Tiller) who she met when he was stranded in Williamsburg with a flat bike tyre.
Together they crafted a two-part EP arc PETROL BLOOM and LIMBO CHERRY which both drew positive experience from her sunny new life in California and the fresh perspectives from her travels across America.
Her latest single ‘Change’ deals with the flipside, choosing instead to focus on a mutual struggle in a relationship. Backed by breezy flutes and plucky guitars, she battles with desire, lust, frustration and ultimately acceptance by the last lines of the song “you told me you would change, you’re spinning out of my orbit”.
Opening up further she said “Change is about the end of a relationship,” she explains. “You’re holding on and telling each other you will change if only you could have one more chance. In the end, it’s always just words, living in a fantasy, scared to let go of the dream rather than the person.”
While it is certain that ‘Change’ stamps a full-stop on a former romance, it ironically signals a fresh beginning for LAUREL’s new era.
Words by Oliver Evans
