Music

MARVIN Exclusive: LØLØ Embracing Her Messiness, Laughing Before She Cries, and Finally Stopping to Apologize for Feeling Everything

There’s a certain kind of artist who doesn’t just write songs — they excavate. LØLØ is one of them. On her sophomore album god forbid a girl spits out her feelings, the singer-songwriter trades filters for freefall, arriving somewhere rawer, funnier, and more fully herself than anything she’s put to tape before. Where her debut leaned into grit and distortion as a kind of armor, this record strips the curtain back entirely — acoustic guitars in place of heavy riffs, and in place of distance, an almost reckless willingness to let you in. The title alone is a declaration. Part joke, part battle cry, it announces an artist who has finally stopped apologizing for the mess and started owning it.

MARVIN: This record feels like you stopped filtering yourself completely—what finally made you comfortable putting the “uncomfortable” thoughts front and center?

LØLØ: Totally! I think I just stopped thinking (and overthinking) so hard. I grew a lot from writing my first album to my second. I became more confident in myself, and my abilities as a songwriter and an artist. I also stopped caring as much about what other people would think and started focusing more on how I felt.

MARVIN:You’ve described the album as basically ripped from your journal—was there a moment where writing it felt a little too honest to release?

LØLØ: While I’m actually writing the songs, I’m (for better, or for worse) not really thinking about the release of it – but there have been a couple times where at 11:59pm before release day, I start to get a little anxious. For instance, the night before I released “me with no shirt on” I started to panic a little bit!

MARVIN: There’s a real tension between sharp humor and emotional freefall across these songs—how intentional was that balance, or is that just how your brain works in real time?

LØLØ: Haha, I think that’s just how my brain works in real time. I am very emotional, and so I like to make fun of myself. Because I think if I don’t stop and laugh at certain things, I might end up crying. And it’s way more fun to laugh than cry, in my opinion! I think it’s really important to not take yourself too seriously…life is already so heavy and serious as it is, why add to that? I also am a big proponent of making fun of myself before anyone else can…I guess you can say it’s a sort of defense mechanism.

MARVIN: Sonically, this leans harder into grit while still keeping that pop precision—what did you strip back, and what did you refuse to lose?

LØLØ: Well firstly, there’s a bunch of songs that are a lot more stripped back, production wise. On my debut album, I have a lot heavier guitars, bigger drums, and dirtier vocals and mixes. On this album, I use a lot cleaner sounds, and a bunch of the songs are focused around an acoustic guitar. Secondly, I strip back the curtain and let people in a lot closer to my heart, unfiltered and without thinking about anything else but spitting out the truth. In the end though, I think that no matter the production, my music always feels like MY music, no matter how dressed up or not, because of the way I write my lyrics. As long as I don’t lose that, I think I still stay true to myself no matter the production behind it.

MARVIN: Your last era flirted with emotional detachment, and this one runs straight at it—was that shift natural, or did you have to unlearn something to get here?

LØLØ: The shift felt natural honestly! I think through writing the last album, and touring it, I started realizing a lot about myself. Every night on tour, I would end my set by talking about how I realized I was actually really grateful to feel so many things, because that’s what makes us human, and we get to all be human together and feel all the things together, and how special is that?

MARVIN: There’s a line between being self-aware and self-destructive, and this album kind of dances on it—how do you know when you’ve pushed a song far enough?

LØLØ: I guess I never really know. For me, I just write these songs to feel better. It’s like my own personal therapy. Sometimes, the more specific I get, the easier it is to heal or deal with the specific situation I’m going through. Sometimes, that can feel self destructive, but I think most of the time, it’s a good thing. I’m extremely self aware, but I’m also super sensitive and emotional, which makes for a lot of overthinking…but great song ideas!

MARVIN: The title almost reads like a challenge—who exactly are you pushing back against with ‘god forbid a girl spits out her feelings’?

LØLØ: When I first thought of the title, it was me saying that line to myself while making up a fake scenario in my head, about how I might get dragged for writing a lot of breakup songs on this album. So…I guess I was pushing back against the hypothetical haters, haha. But also, it’s pushing back against myself. For whatever reason, I used to feel quite ashamed of my feelings – feeling like I was too sensitive, or too emotional. I’m not sure where it came from, but it was definitely strong. I feel like through writing this album, I learned to embrace my messiness and not be afraid to quite literally “spit out my feelings.” 

What strikes you most when talking to LØLØ isn’t just the candor — it’s the ease with which she’s arrived at it. There’s no performance of vulnerability here, no careful brand of oversharing. She’s simply someone who figured out that the most honest thing she could do was stop self-editing, and that the people on the other end of these songs would be better for it. god forbid a girl spits out her feelings isn’t just a sophomore record; it’s a thesis statement — proof that the messiest, most unguarded version of yourself is often the most worth hearing. And if a few hypothetical haters have something to say about it? Judging by the album, LØLØ already beat them to the punch.