Lauren Mayberry - Vicious Creature

Watching Lauren Mayberry’s evolution as a frontwoman over the past thirteen years has certainly been captivating, with her confidence and creativity growing around each of Chvrches’ album releases. So, when the Glasgow native announced her solo foray with the haunting single ‘Are You Awake’ and a slew of live shows last September, it felt like the start of a truly exciting new era for the singer. What was less expected, however, was that it’d take well over a year for her debut full-length to land. And while exactly what caused the delays is still somewhat of a mystery, what is certain is that ‘Vicious Creature’ sees Lauren at her most emboldened. Channelling her younger love of ‘80s pop, ‘00s R&B and musical theatre - think Madonna, All Saints and Liza Minelli respectively - there’s an even more distilled sense of her personality across the album’s twelve tracks, which run the gamut of the female experience in 2024.

Its soaring opener ‘Something In The Air’ sees her face off against conspiracy theorists and mansplainers, before the stomp of ‘Shame’ tries to shrug off patriarchal beauty standards in favour of more mental freedom. Elsewhere, ‘Change Shapes’ is a delicious bop of a track, landing somewhere in the Venn diagram between Sugababes’ ‘Push The Button’ and vogueing, while the frenetic ‘Sorry, Etc’ dives into the complicated tangle of wanting to fit in with her male counterparts (“I bit my tongue to be one of the boys / I sold my soul to be one of the boys”).

An album that manages to be poignant and pointed without sacrificing any of its unabashed sparkle, ‘Vicious Creature’ adds even more dimension to the Chvrches singer; a sonic origin story that’s been well worth the wait.