Do you crave 2000s pop punk princesses? I know I do! LØLØ, whose real name is Lauren Mandel, is a beautiful mix of Avril Lavigne and 3OH!3. Turns out you can be sad and also horny at the same time, finally, a bridge between my two favourite genres! She describes her sound as a “more punk rock Walmart Taylor Swift,” which is not bad for a person who broke her nose, chin and jaw in March of 2023 and had to relearn how to talk and sing.
I had the pleasure of meeting her at Warped Tour, and she is a ray of sunshine who I think could easily beat most people in a fight. You have to be if you want to resurrect a genre and make your dreams come true as a little girl growing up in Toronto. god forbid a girl go on tour! Marks LØLØ’s first headline tour in Montreal and choosing Les Foufounes Électroniques was a bold move.
It’s always funny when out of town artists play Foufounes Électriques because they’re never sure what to do about the height of the stage. For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of smelling-I mean experiencing foufs the stage is a solid 4+ feet in the air and makes everyone look like you’re using the 0.5 wide-angle camera when you look down at them. I imagine it’s like performing for ants or getting the feeling that if you fall off the monkey bars on the playground you’ll 100% die immediately.
There’s also always something that happens every time I’m here. At least this time the victim was just my nearly empty bag with my jacket, which was slammed into miscellaneous alcohol BY A BAR STOOL. The same guy slinging the barstool (luckily no one was hurt, although how he got a barstool to the stage I have no idea) once calmed down, immediately opened up ChatGPT to a pre-saved conversation and wrote about how it’s been a rough couple of weeks and got several paragraphs in return so I know he’s worse off than my washable bag. Even if I had to stick my second SD card in rice. A truly bizarre night.
You can also spot the out of towners/non regulars when they go to get a beer and realize that foufs is a cash only venue. Sitting in my princess throne (the leather booth seat directly beside the GAB where I can see LØLØ through the sound booth’s metal fence) I was actively watching people’s soul die as they sashay from the euphoria of the dance floor, only to read the cash only sign that unfolds a Greek tragedy in real time across their faces. I feel like Panic from Disney’s Hercules when they meet my eyes. Like, sorry girl, I’m just trying to sit down; I didn’t mean to be the gargoyle of the ATM.
Some celebrities ooze charisma but LØLØ leans into the awkwardness, and it works for her. She has a magnetic stage presence, despite narrating her journal entries out loud mid-concert. me with no shirt on has haunted me since the day it came out. She emits a frequency that feels like getting your oracle handed to you by a drunk girl reapplying her eyeliner at 3am in the one unbroken mirror of the dive bar bathroom. You experience euphoria but you also come face to face with all the worst choices you’ve made in the past. She also almost always introduces u turn me on (but you give me depression) with “I wrote this song about someone I was obsessed with who also made me very mentally ill. Even more than I already am which says a lot!” So she definitely gets it.
LØLØ clearly cares a lot about her fans. It’s unusual that an artist playing such small venues lets the audience pick a surprise song, but it was a refreshing touch. Montreal had the choice between hurt less or loney & pathetic and hurt less won but it was incredibly close. I think her songwriting is very fun and woven with the experiences she’s lived. I have nothing but respect for artists who write and compose their own music as well as write and compose for other people.
Honestly, LØLØ (potentially teaming up with BBNO$) would be at the top of my personal list of recommendations for Canada’s first Eurovision entry. I need the Canadian specific brand of horny chaos to finally reach the world’s stage. And LØLØ did not disappoint before her song god forbid a girl spits out her feelings! She yelled out “block your ex! or call your ex? Let’s get messsssyyyyy Montreal!” She also yelled “Give it up for being delulu!!!!!” And honestly, if you don’t have homegrown hutzpa, fake it till you make it is fine.
Review & photos – Ashtyn Turner
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