Hasta La Vista, Baby!
If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I value the idea of authenticity. To me, authenticity is about being the real “you.” It’s about forming your own beliefs and values and living up to them without hesitation. It’s about not caring what others think and doing your “thang.” It’s about being real and not playing into society’s expectations of who you are and who you should be. It’s about wholeheartedly living your truth with the purest of intentions.
So why am I getting all TED Talk 101 over here? Well, I guess I can say part of that has to do with me listening to the recent EP release by artist Lauren Sanderson—“Hasta La Vista.” From my very first listen, I was immediately intrigued by the transparency that came with the song, “Creative Freedom.” The Indiana native jumps right into summarizing what many in the music industry have come to know and despise...complete control by a label. The first verse conveys this well-known loss of autonomy with lines like, “Yeah, get that BPM a little faster—We gotta make sure people like this right away—We need every fan and every brand behind us—We need you to do this our way.” In just a few sentences, Sanderson is able to succinctly describe the attempt of the label to manufacture her into another “star”—something that is later reflected on with the lines, “You said you want this, don’t ya?—You’re an up and coming artist, aren’t ya?— You’re a star, girl suck it up.” But instead of folding, Sanderson doubles down on her message by assuring her fans that she’s still the same artist and person they fell in love with.
The next two songs of the short EP carry forward this assurance of the singer’s steadfast dedication to her message. “In My Head” matches the same energy of “Creative Freedom” with a harsher edge. The track starts out with Sanderson proudly proclaiming, “I don’t have time to fuck around—With all this fake shit—I will never suck up to you—That’s just some LA shit,”— her words delivered with a flow as smooth as butter and words as cutting like a knife. The simple acoustic instrumentation gives Sanderson’s vocals just enough space for her lyrics to breathe while delivering her point with her signature “Don’t Panic” ease. And while the song has a blunt exterior, Sanderson still manages to expose her moments of self-doubt and insecurities with the leading hook, “I be in my head sometimes—Feel it in my heart—I can feel it in my chest sometimes.” The next, and last, track, “Back Right Now,” finds Sanderson solidifying her call for individuality and “tell[ing] it to you straight”—-just in case you didn’t get it the first time around.
The content of “Hasta La Vista” shouldn’t come out of left field to anyone who has listened to the outspoken vocalist’s past music (e.g., 2018’s, “Don’t Panic”). Sanderson has always maintained an authentic attitude of individuality and non-conformity amongst the clout chasers of the social media age. Quite frankly, I get exhausted just thinking about how much work people put into maintaining their social media reputation...and maybe that’s why I relate so much to Sanderson and her work. She has an air of relatability that is hard to find today amid all of the social media influencers and Hollywood stars who promote everything under the sun from weight loss tea to the next, best facial scrub. Everything seems so fabricated, it’s hard to tell what is even real anymore. Lauren Sanderson is here to erase that—and I’m here for it.