RECESSION POP ROYALTY LA ROUX REINTRODUCES HERSELF WITH NEW SONIC ERA

Creative Director + Photos / Lauren Nakao Winn

Stylist / Morgan Bienvenue

Stylist Assist / Almanda Le

HMUA / Lauren Simpson

Story / Bri Ng Schwartz

Shot at DWNTWN Studio.

 

“When I watch the Bulletproof video, or a live performance of Sexothque from 2014, I find them unrecognizable.”- Elly Jackson of La Roux. 

 

suit: Everyday Mountaineering, shirt: Isabel Marant, undershirt: talent’s own, jewelry: talent’s own, Keane, StudioCult, Ming Yu Wang

La Roux is fresh off of her most recent US tour, making her return to the US after 10 years away. These shows introduced La Roux’s new sonic era – one marked by a moodier, darker shift from the electronic, disco-driven pop hits we came to know and love. This moment is a re-invention in more ways than just her sound. 

Your Spring shows in New York and Los Angeles marked your return to the US, what was that like? 

It was the place that I was most keen to come back to. The new music is inspired and influenced by West Coast California pop, R&B and hip hop references, so it was quite important for me to come out here. I have great American fans. Audiences have been so smiley and so welcoming. 

Do you have any memorable experiences from the tour? 

I was looking at some of the pictures the other day. It was so nice to remember special moments with the crowds and how intimate and loving those shows actually were. I’ve done a fair amount of touring in my life, but I had a long hiatus, so to come back and to have that energy in the room was really special. There was so much to love. 

You’re getting ready to release new music. What inspired this new sound and new direction? 

I felt like I needed to get away from disco quite badly. I’ve done two disco records and I just felt like I needed to move away from that. I also felt a bit creatively bored. I was trying to feed in what I liked about old R&B and hip hop with what I liked about new R&B and hip hop and put it in my own context. 

La Roux, in 2025, is a solo act vs a duo. How does it feel to have sole agency in this way? 

Something that people don’t understand is that in all of my records, I’ve performed like ninety-five percent of the parts. It’s something that I’m putting as a focus on this record because I feel like it hasn’t been heard for whatever reason. It’s really important to me because I put the work in. I put the time in. I play like three or four instruments and I always have. It’s been difficult not being recognized. 

I have recorded with other people, and have engineers and had additional production and co-producers at time but they’ve never written any of the parts or the chords or the compositions of my records. 

It’s always been my music. 

jacket: Arbitro, jeans: Sandro, undershirt: talent’s own, shoes: Clark’s, jewelry: talent’s own, Keane, StudioCult, Ming Yu Wang

You’ve gone through so many sonic and visual changes since your debut. Are there still parts of you from that time that you still carry with you when you’re on stage and in the studio? 

I think that’s what makes part of putting a show together complicated for me. I have to embody all the ranges of things that I’ve put out there over the years. The first record feels totally different to the second record. The second record has some connection to the third record for sure, and then the music I’m putting out next is different again. Trying to mesh those worlds into one space that makes sense and that works together has always been a challenge for me. It was a challenge this year, but I feel like that’s kind of where the relationship with the musical director and the band came in. I was very, very lucky to have some of the best people working with me on that with a great understanding of getting that balance. 

The main thing that I’ve had to change over the years is the way that we perform “Bulletproof” because it’s the one that sticks out the most. It’s not connected to the rest of my work, even though I’m immensely proud of it and it’s a hugely successful song. I feel like we got the balance pretty right this time. 

Speaking of Bulletproof, it went viral last year from a TikTok trend. How do you think TikTok and social media has changed the music industry and the way music is produced? 

With me it’s easier because it’s an old song, but it means people can rediscover you twenty years later without you doing anything. You can’t just keep fighting it. You just have to get with the times and grow and move and try to work with it in some way. The landscape is harder than it’s ever been and I don’t think that streaming and TikTok are necessarily helping artists. 

People are looking for that perfect sound bite. I think it’s really hard. You get it and your managers and your label are really happy, but I don’t really wanna play that game. 

What does social media look like for you as an artist?

I’ve gotten my head around social media over the last ten years. I rejected it all completely when I was younger which did affect me negatively. None of the people I liked growing up would ever have anything to do with it. I wanted to keep my private life private. I didn’t get it. Now I understand it’s more an obvious promotional tool. It’s been a struggle for me. I’ve been stubborn about it. 

How do you want to access your new fan base with your new music, and what do you want to say to your old fanbase? 

This is gonna sound really old school, but I still feel like one of the best ways for your music to spread is people coming to your shows and telling their friends about it. I’m hoping that the songs are just good enough that people like them, talk about them enough, and play them. With my old fans, I feel like it’s always a La Roux record so I don’t feel like anyone’s gonna be disappointed. I don’t think it’s like such a departure that old fans would be like I don’t get this. 

Although I did have someone say last night “Why were they playing 90s R&B before you came on?” and I was like “Cause I like it.” 

At the New York show I attended, there was a remix of Lloyd’s “You” that I loved. 

See? I was backstage vibing! 

That’s the music I grew up listening to on the radio and so it brought me back and put me in a really good mood before your set. 

I think it’s important. I don’t want dance music playing before I come on stage, It’s nice to have a nice loose loungy tempo before you come on as well. That’s right for me. 

I’m not 21 anymore. A lot of people still relate me to that 80s sound which is what I was, but I’ve also had how many records since then? I can’t be the same person forever. 

In your opinion at its best, what are the makings of a great pop record? 

A great pop record should be about escape, but also relatability. It’s having that balance between making you feel like you’re going into the artists’ world, but also that you can relate to it. It can be something that relates to something personal in your life. That combination is really important.

suit: Wiederhoeft, shoes: R13, sunglasses: Cutler and Gross, jewelry: talent’s own, Keane, StudioCult, Ming Yu Wang

What can you share about your new single coming out later this Fall? 

I’m super, super, super excited about it. It’s what I’ve been working towards this whole time. We’re shooting stuff and creating artwork at the moment. It’s very nice to be back in a world building space and to be releasing new music. My fans have been so incredibly patient every time I’ve released music. It’s going to be a real relief and a joy for me to get new music out finally. 

Toward the end of our day, we joked about “recession pop” a term coined by Gen-Z internet culture as music made famous during the great recession of 2007-2009, when La Roux first came on the scene. When I ask her how she feels about the concept, she laughs. 

“I think it’s funny. I waited so long to put out new music, of course there would be another recession by the time I did.” 

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