JULY 29, 2022 – LOS ANGELES, CA – Rule-breaking and genre-bending artist Lauren Sanderson is ready to make her own luck. In her introspective yet dynamic second LP, Death Of A Fantasy (out today), she grapples with what it means to take responsibility for herself and her own happiness— even if it means cutting out the things that make her most “comfortable.”
“How much do you play a part in your own suffering? Making this album meant killing my fantasy and stepping into my reality – I’m responsible for my own fulfillment and there’s no one else to blame for unhappiness.”
Death Of A Fantasy takes the listener through a journey of self-discovery, certainly, but it’s also a meditation on love, loss and loneliness, with a backdrop of any number of genres. The 11-track album includes some fan-favorite singles released over the last 16 months in addition to five new tracks which show off some of her boldest choices yet.
“A thousand times, I’ve said to me / You choose your reality,” she sings on the biting track “SENSORYOVERLOAD*” which she describes as both a panic attack and a hug, all in one song. “I haven’t been able to truly express the overwhelming anxieties I’ve felt for the past couple years until I made this song,” Sanderson shares on the track. “When it’s felt like everything, everywhere, all at once and you get so trapped in your own mind that you even convince yourself there’s no way out. I wanted this song to recreate that feeling but, in a way, that’s comforting – So whoever’s struggling and hears this knows they’re not the only one feeling that way.” Fans can watch the music video for “SENSORYOVERLOAD*” today here.
It’s been a seemingly short two years since her 2020 debut album Midwest Kids Can Make It Big — a nod to her Indiana roots — but Sanderson hasn’t broken her stride. Having opened for FINNEAS and Chase Atlantic in 2019, her Death Of A Fantasy headline tour took her through the whole of the US in May of 2022, including performances at Irving Plaza and El Rey. She has steadily built a loyal cult following thanks to her no-holds-barred honesty, relentless DIY work ethic and electric persona. MTV, Billboard, Zane Lowe’s Beats 1, Alt Press, NPR, Cosmopolitan & Spotify’s New Music Friday have all signed on in support of her swirling, intoxicating blend of rock, pop, hip-hop and R&B.
Sanderson attributes her sound to complete creative control; “I’ve spent so long fighting internally about what I wanted to say or how I wanted to look,” she says, “and now I’m not fighting anymore. I’m just doing it.” She has always been outspoken about her point of view — from doing a Ted Talk at age 19 to being a fierce representative of the LGBTQ+ community. “I’ve never had too much of an internal struggle with queerness, because it’s always been so obvious to me,” she says. “Like, of course this is okay, of course this is normal.”
Death Of A Fantasy is available to stream today at https://laurensanderson.ffm.to/deathofafantasy.
