Inspired by nostalgia and her core memories growing up, the creative Torontonian singer and songwriter Lauren Isenburg known as renforshort explored a cathartic journey with mental health and vulnerability in her full-length debut album titled, dear amelia, released on July 8, 2022.
In a press conference done with renforshort she revealed she had a tough year behind the scenes while writing the project, and Amelia is a symbol that represents herself. She used the name Amelia to guide the narrative on the album and she said it’s the person she confided in while she wrote it.
“Amelia is a character. All of the songs are basically addressed to her, and the thing about Amelia is while she’s a character, she’s also me. She’s the personification of this part of my brain that I put so much stress on. Instead of speaking out, I’m speaking and complaining to myself; being so inward,” renforshort said.
The artist said she listened to The Strokes, Mitski, a lot of hyperpop, and the album XO, by Elliot Smith while she worked on the project. Listeners can hear the impact from the sound, and the influences of what she listened to off of the 12 tracks on dear amelia. For a total of eight months, renforshort said she wrote about two to three songs a day. Her decision to choose which song made it on her debut album depended on if the song was a good fit.
“I was writing everyday for like eight months. Sometimes two songs a day, three songs a day. There’s a lot of songs, and they will be used. It’s just what fits on the project and what fits the narrative. I went from there,” renforshort said. “I got the collaborations of my dreams on the album that worked out! There’s people who I would love to work with, and who knows if they’ll ever happen. They’re very far-fetched, but I definitely tried to get in everyone I wanted to work with and have collaborated on the project because the debut is really important. I wanted to make sure that everything was ticked.”
The first song on the album is “i miss myself,” and it was the last song she wrote for the project. She said she wrote it with the intention of it being the opening track, and it took her a while to finish because she wanted everything to align. She chose to end the album with a ballad titled “amelia” because she wants her listeners to feel the connection with missing a person who one used to be. In “amelia,” renforshort yearns for a past version of herself she wished she could return to.
“It closes with the song ‘amelia’ because you lose that part of yourself, and that kind of goes back to ‘i miss myself’. It’s like you put so much stress on yourself, that inevitably something goes wrong, and you lose elements of who you once were. Whether that’s happiness, or even sadness, it’s like ‘Inside Out’. Amelia, and the song have inspired a lot of things, but it’s also about losing that part of yourself,” renforshort said. “Every song (on the album) is addressed to Amelia, like a letter.”
It was the songwriting she said for the album that felt cathartic for her. When she first began to write music she said the songs she wrote were emotional. She wants to help people who go through similar experiences as her, and the core values she said when writing music are mental health and honesty. She wishes to help as many people through her music by “selfishly helping herself in a way”.
“When I write my own music I try to make it as open as possible for listeners to interpret while still having a clear message. I think it’s fine to have songs that don’t really have a resolution because I don’t have a resolution all of the time for how I’m feeling, and I think that’s fine,” renforshort said. “With every record, I find I get more vulnerable. I think these are the most emotional songs I have probably written in my career.”
As well as her recent debut album, renforshort is excited to be headlining her tour this fall. Having the opportunity to be a headliner gives her another outlet to express herself and her art. She’s excited to see everyone united, and she hopes people feel they’re in a positive and safe space who attend her shows.
“You never know what anyone is going through. Try to be kind and respectful because people need that. People need that within a day,” renforshort said. “Bringing that positivity makes such a big difference. Every positive interaction I’ve had on the street with a stranger has stuck with me forever. I think what I can do, and what a lot of people can do is bring that positivity back into the world because times are weird.”
Renforshort’s first stop on her North American tour is in her hometown of Toronto on September 15, and she will be performing her last stop at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles on October 5 before she kicks off her tour in the U.K. and Europe. Her North American tour dates can be found here:
Sept. 15 Toronto, ON Long Boat Hall
Sept. 17 Detroit, MI The Loving Touch
Sept. 18 Chicago, IL Riot Fest
Sept. 20 Pittsburgh, PA Thunderbird
Sept. 22 Nashville, TN The End
Sept. 23 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade (Purgatory)
Sept. 25 Dover, DE Firefly Festival
Sept. 27 Washington, DC Songbyrd Music House
Sept. 28 New York, NY Baby’s All Right
Oct. 1 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
Oct. 2 Montreal, QC Pop Montreal at Le Ministere
Oct. 5 Los Angeles, CA Moroccan Lounge
To stream her recent album, access below.
