Lauran Hibberd - INTERVIEW

All words from Isadora May.

With her pastel pink hair and punk aesthetic, Lauran Hibberd looks like she’s walked straight off the set of your favourite nineties teen movie- and her music would slot seamlessly into the soundtrack. With musical stylings reminiscent of female-led bands such as Letters to Cleo and Hole, Lauran Hibberd is expertly melding rock and pop to form her own genre of bubblegum grunge.

Hibberd is only twenty-two, but her lyrics reveal an artist who is wise and humorous beyond her years. ‘Sugar Daddy’, released in 2019, is a hilarious love letter to older men with cash to spare and room in their life for a younger woman. She draws material from real-life situations and true stories, but the current lockdown hasn’t stopped her from getting inspired: ‘it’s nice to have time to reflect and focus on nothing else but writing so I feel that I’ve almost adopted a new writing routine in this time. I’ve toured a lot over the last year or so, so it’s nice to revisit and put time into old ideas as well as make brand new ones’.

Raised on the Isle of Wight, Hibberd’s early work was influenced by softer indie artists including Laura Marling and Lucy Rose. After experimenting with her sound, she has discovered a flair for peppy rock that is guaranteed to stick in your head long after your first listen. Speaking about this musical transformation, Hibberd said ‘I’m definitely happy with how my sound has evolved and I feel comfortable and confident with where I am at now, however I am a firm believer artists have to try new things and develop as they grow so who knows what I’ll sound like next year’.

Her latest release, ‘Old Nudes’, is a tongue-in-cheek take on a situation many young women know all too well: an ex hoarding compromising pics and a bad attitude. Hibberd’s brash vocals and bold lyrics ensure she is the powerful one in this situation; it’s a one-up for a sisterhood sick of being held hostage by images ‘stored on his iPhone 3’. There has been much debate in the music industry about a lack of female faces taking centre stage, but Hibberd feels as though she’s been able to make her voice heard: ‘I personally feel like I’ve had great support and was due to play a summer full of great festivals including, Truck, Tramlines, Y Not, Great Escape and Kendal Calling… I’d like to think that by now we’d all be treated equally, and it would just be the case of good music fighting the good cause. I personally just like to keep that quality on a pedestal, as it will always win in the end’.

Billed as ‘One to Watch’ in 2019 by Radio One’s Huw Stephens, Lauran Hibberd is splashing a much-needed pop of colour across the indie-rock landscape. Is she letting lockdown hold her back? Hell no! Although she’s missing the festival circuit, supporting The Academic and heading out on her own headline tour, In the meantime she is working hard to bring her fans something exciting: ‘I’ve been trying to write a song a day in lockdown, so expect a 40 track debut album from me!’.

Listen to Lauran's new single in our LISTEN UP playlist alongside all our new favourite tunes!