LOLO
Everyone needs a purpose—something to rally behind and support with everything. For native Tennessee singer-songwriter LOLO, she knows her own purpose: to be a strong, unrepentant voice for women.
She’s unapologetic in appearance. Leaning against the keyboard in her shredded jeans and Griswolds beanie, she takes a swig of Michelob Ultra. She puts down the bottle and pushes muddled blue strands of hair out of her face with the hand not clutching the mic.
The mic captures the noise as she breathes in. And with her exhale the first note rings through the venue: strong, gritty, soulful.
The audience sits respectfully, enraptured by her range and the full-bodied belts of the more soulful parts of the song. The strength of her voice is undeniable.
“Not gonna let you walk away,” LOLO starts to sing. But this song is not about playing victim or pining away from lost love.
“Not gonna let you walk away, without saying you’re sorry,” her powerful voice pushes through the room.
Whoever it is that she is singing about, she knows she’ll be fine living without him. But he better send his respect on his way out the door.
Lauren Pritchard, known as LOLO, wants her purpose to be known in song and in action.
“I love Katy Perry and Rihanna and all of it, but for what they represent as women to all of these young girls, I would love to see them be a little more feminist and less about getting their bits out,” said Pritchard. “It’s complicated—it’s hard for girls to see what they should be doing because we’re misrepresented everywhere.”
Pritchard is dedicated to both her passion in music and her purpose beyond that. For Pritchard, music has been in the picture since she was a young girl.
Though she didn’t grow up in a family of musicians, Pritchard says they were “definitely a family of music lovers.”
When at 6-year-old, she started playing piano, her parents were right behind her. By 9, she was starting to compose piano pieces of her own.
It was around that time that Pritchard remembers telling her mother she was going to grow up, move to New York and become a singer.
“And I remember her being freaked the hell out,” she says, laughing.
Her parents steadily calmed down as they saw Pritchard’s drive and total dedication to what she wanted for herself. Now 27, Pritchard has quite a few accomplishments to her name. Her drive led her to numerous opportunities over the years, from being featured in songs by Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco to writing music for an off-broadway musical that received a rave review in The New York Times.
Throughout the years, Pritchard has continued to develop her own sound. This sound was constructed on the influences of the broad range of musicians she’s admired over the years—Joni Mitchell, Carole King, TLC, Spice Girls, Eminem, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Johnny Cash.
“I’m drawn to the people who write very honestly and from the heart,” said Pritchard.
LOLO’s own message from the heart seems to be one of strength.
“My favorite singer of all time is Aretha Franklin,” said Pritchard. “She has an amazing way about her voice where there’s this incredible strength, but also this very soft, tender strength that comes through—it has more to do with the words she is singing.”
Pritchard hopes to implement not only this strength within her writing, but honesty as well, knowing people can relate to being vulnerable. For her, tenderness and strength can coexist.
Pritchard’s commitment to strength also comes from her context as a woman in the music industry, she said.
“As a female artist, I’m definitely a healthy feminist,” said Pritchard. “It’s a funny time for girls because we need to realize we have more freedom than ever.”
But this freedom doesn’t mean women are accurately represented within society. Even the word “feminist” has a misconstrued connotation in her mind.
“I think it’s important to be strong and have that be okay,” said Pritchard. “Over time the word feminist has altered what it means to be a strong, defiant woman and it’s sometimes seen as a bad or derogatory thing which is fucking bullshit—I think there’s nothing wrong with being a strong women and getting up and admitting to it.”
As an artist, there are other difficulties that arise specifically from being a woman in this industry.
“One thing that becomes hard as a female artist is that if you’re pissed off in a song, it’s like ‘oh, well she’s a bitch’ or ‘she’s too sad’ or ‘she’s too serious;’ you can’t just have your feelings, they have to be hormonally driven,” said Pritchard. “But no, maybe I’m just pissed off and it has nothing to do with my fucking period.”
Pritchard says she thinks it’s important to embrace what you are feeling and be unapologetic. Similarly, she believes it’s important to be unapologetic in who you are as a person.
From her latest EP, “Comeback Queen,” Pritchard’s favorite song is “Golden Year,” a song she wrote about turning 27. With a birthday on December 27, this “golden” birthday, or the year your age matches the day on which you were born, inspired the song.
“You get into your later 20s and things start making a lot more sense: you start giving less fucks and just being who you are,” said Pritchard. “The song helped remind me of that in a very positive way, like ‘yeah, you’re doing okay, you’re still alive, you’re still here and you’re okay.’”
Moving forward, Pritchard is working on her first full length album with a music friend from LA, Jason Clare, to be released later this year.
“We’re trying to create a musical experience that has some modern elements, but is very organic,” said Pritchard. “We want all real instruments and as little playing as possible with as large of a sound possible.”
Lyrically, Pritchard is again committed to being honest, with themes of strength still making their way onto the tracks.
“It’s one of those things I feel like I end up writing about a lot, somewhat accidentally,” said Pritchard.
From a smaller town, Jackson, Tennessee, she knows first hand the pressures and expectations on women, especially when, as in her case, everyone in the family seems to be married. Pritchard says those in her family do three things really well: “get married, stay married and have kids.”
For Pritchard, she wanted more. She made the decision to make sacrifices for a career that she loves. And she sees women as having this same option.
“We get to be bread winners and providers,” said Pritchard. “We don’t just have to get married and be a housewife."
She’s unapologetic in appearance. Leaning against the keyboard in her shredded jeans and Griswolds beanie, she takes a swig of Michelob Ultra. She puts down the bottle and pushes muddled blue strands of hair out of her face with the hand not clutching the mic.
The mic captures the noise as she breathes in. And with her exhale the first note rings through the venue: strong, gritty, soulful.
The audience sits respectfully, enraptured by her range and the full-bodied belts of the more soulful parts of the song. The strength of her voice is undeniable.
“Not gonna let you walk away,” LOLO starts to sing. But this song is not about playing victim or pining away from lost love.
“Not gonna let you walk away, without saying you’re sorry,” her powerful voice pushes through the room.
Whoever it is that she is singing about, she knows she’ll be fine living without him. But he better send his respect on his way out the door.
Lauren Pritchard, known as LOLO, wants her purpose to be known in song and in action.
“I love Katy Perry and Rihanna and all of it, but for what they represent as women to all of these young girls, I would love to see them be a little more feminist and less about getting their bits out,” said Pritchard. “It’s complicated—it’s hard for girls to see what they should be doing because we’re misrepresented everywhere.”
Pritchard is dedicated to both her passion in music and her purpose beyond that. For Pritchard, music has been in the picture since she was a young girl.
Though she didn’t grow up in a family of musicians, Pritchard says they were “definitely a family of music lovers.”
When at 6-year-old, she started playing piano, her parents were right behind her. By 9, she was starting to compose piano pieces of her own.
It was around that time that Pritchard remembers telling her mother she was going to grow up, move to New York and become a singer.
“And I remember her being freaked the hell out,” she says, laughing.
Her parents steadily calmed down as they saw Pritchard’s drive and total dedication to what she wanted for herself. Now 27, Pritchard has quite a few accomplishments to her name. Her drive led her to numerous opportunities over the years, from being featured in songs by Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco to writing music for an off-broadway musical that received a rave review in The New York Times.
Throughout the years, Pritchard has continued to develop her own sound. This sound was constructed on the influences of the broad range of musicians she’s admired over the years—Joni Mitchell, Carole King, TLC, Spice Girls, Eminem, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Johnny Cash.
“I’m drawn to the people who write very honestly and from the heart,” said Pritchard.
LOLO’s own message from the heart seems to be one of strength.
“My favorite singer of all time is Aretha Franklin,” said Pritchard. “She has an amazing way about her voice where there’s this incredible strength, but also this very soft, tender strength that comes through—it has more to do with the words she is singing.”
Pritchard hopes to implement not only this strength within her writing, but honesty as well, knowing people can relate to being vulnerable. For her, tenderness and strength can coexist.
Pritchard’s commitment to strength also comes from her context as a woman in the music industry, she said.
“As a female artist, I’m definitely a healthy feminist,” said Pritchard. “It’s a funny time for girls because we need to realize we have more freedom than ever.”
But this freedom doesn’t mean women are accurately represented within society. Even the word “feminist” has a misconstrued connotation in her mind.
“I think it’s important to be strong and have that be okay,” said Pritchard. “Over time the word feminist has altered what it means to be a strong, defiant woman and it’s sometimes seen as a bad or derogatory thing which is fucking bullshit—I think there’s nothing wrong with being a strong women and getting up and admitting to it.”
As an artist, there are other difficulties that arise specifically from being a woman in this industry.
“One thing that becomes hard as a female artist is that if you’re pissed off in a song, it’s like ‘oh, well she’s a bitch’ or ‘she’s too sad’ or ‘she’s too serious;’ you can’t just have your feelings, they have to be hormonally driven,” said Pritchard. “But no, maybe I’m just pissed off and it has nothing to do with my fucking period.”
Pritchard says she thinks it’s important to embrace what you are feeling and be unapologetic. Similarly, she believes it’s important to be unapologetic in who you are as a person.
From her latest EP, “Comeback Queen,” Pritchard’s favorite song is “Golden Year,” a song she wrote about turning 27. With a birthday on December 27, this “golden” birthday, or the year your age matches the day on which you were born, inspired the song.
“You get into your later 20s and things start making a lot more sense: you start giving less fucks and just being who you are,” said Pritchard. “The song helped remind me of that in a very positive way, like ‘yeah, you’re doing okay, you’re still alive, you’re still here and you’re okay.’”
Moving forward, Pritchard is working on her first full length album with a music friend from LA, Jason Clare, to be released later this year.
“We’re trying to create a musical experience that has some modern elements, but is very organic,” said Pritchard. “We want all real instruments and as little playing as possible with as large of a sound possible.”
Lyrically, Pritchard is again committed to being honest, with themes of strength still making their way onto the tracks.
“It’s one of those things I feel like I end up writing about a lot, somewhat accidentally,” said Pritchard.
From a smaller town, Jackson, Tennessee, she knows first hand the pressures and expectations on women, especially when, as in her case, everyone in the family seems to be married. Pritchard says those in her family do three things really well: “get married, stay married and have kids.”
For Pritchard, she wanted more. She made the decision to make sacrifices for a career that she loves. And she sees women as having this same option.
“We get to be bread winners and providers,” said Pritchard. “We don’t just have to get married and be a housewife."