By Glenn Alderson
The Vancouver-based artist kicks off a new era with a slow-burning R&B ballad pulled from her upcoming EP Product of Loneliness.
A self-described “pop music anomaly” hailing from Montreal, Laraw’s career has seen her transcend genres while making music in English, French and Arabic. With her latest single and video, “Scissors,” however, listeners in the Anglosphere will be able to fully hear and understand all of the gory details of her personal life. Capitalizing on the pop-punk boom while offering her own spin on things, Laraw depicts the gruesome demise of a relationship over blown-out guitars and a juxtaposition of a surprisingly sweet, pop-centric vocal that accentuate her graphic lyrics and visceral anger.
“Scissors is about the grief of having a loved one completely destroy you,” Laraw says. “Knowing they will and just letting it happen.” The ill-fated couple’s house in the music video finds the camera glancing over some broken glass and furniture as they stumble past each other in hallways, tensions high. In a horror-style twist, Laraw flashes back and forth between a spiky-haired and bloodstained alter ego while the room illuminates red behind her. All the same, Laraw says that the cathartic anthem is the most important song she’s ever written. “I got to actually meet myself, grow, and learn that the first person you should always love is yourself,” she says.
By Glenn Alderson
The Vancouver-based artist kicks off a new era with a slow-burning R&B ballad pulled from her upcoming EP Product of Loneliness.
By Adriel Smiley
With fresh beats and breezy production, the future, once again, is looking bright for the Portland-born rapper.
By Molly Labenski
With duets, found sounds, and a fearless collaborative process, the Vancouver band’s debut album delivers surprises at every turn.