A Hauntingly Hooky Pop Punk Anthem –

It’s rare I get the opportunity to call a pop-punk track haunting, but that’s exactly how Lauren Budd’s debut single, Girls in LA, crawls under your skin. Beyond the bouncy choruses, the razor-sharp hooks and the crunchy with distortion air, there’s a shadow-steeped thematic atmosphere woven into the production. Her harbingering, sobered yet soaring vocal presence mirrors the tension of contending with superficiality, holding a mirror to how glossy surroundings can grate against internal reckonings until they blur into something emotionally volatile. The confessionally messy texture of the single hits like a cascade of late-night honesty, twisting your heartstrings in knots while the melodies stay lodged firmly in your mind.

As the choruses swell and the grit of the guitar crunch circles her diaristic delivery, the Canadian singer-songwriter stamps out a debut that feels far more seasoned than a first step. Girls in LA carries the scavenged feelings of being somewhere you’re meant to thrive in, only to find the shimmer laced with something sour, something quietly corrosive. Through her gritted vocal ascents and raw melodic choices, she lets those contradictions simmer into something addictively uncomfortable and emotionally magnetic.

Lauren Budd is staking her ground early by pulling from the early-2000s pop-punk world while pairing her bratty rock edge with polished pop instincts. Her writing leans into diary-style candour, channelling emotional impact through melody-driven, hook-bright work that already hints at a catalogue worth keeping tabs on. Girls in LA marks the beginning of her ascent and serves as a clear indicator of what she can build when she allows vulnerability, amplification, and sharp self-awareness to share the same breath.

Girls in LA is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast