Photo Credit: Chris Wellsow
Having placed ‘Introverted Extrovert’ on The Honey POP’s list of 6 Songs We Have On Repeat, pop-trap princess Laura Brizuela’s vibey anti-romance single ‘EMOJI’ (out via Embassy of Music on 11 August) offers her take on why 2023 marks the burst of the dating bubble. German-Paraguayan artist’s hybrid of R&B, trap, and K-Pop evoking Alina Smith and Kep1er, together with remarkable vocal performance and first-person storytelling are giveaways for an emerging talent in tune with her fanbase.
‘Get me fancy food and some overpriced drink / Take me on a date, buy the world just for me / Send some cute a** text and some cute emoji.’
Never the artist to mince her words, Brizuela’s lyrics are drawn from real-life experiences in the dating market where big pay cheques and bigger egos hold the monopoly. “It’s about superficial dating where you feel like it has no substance, there is no connection, and it’s just about materialism, cool events, great food, but very empty emotions,” Brizuela explains the song’s concept. “I collected stories of my own and also listened to a lot of girlfriends who were talking about their experiences, and they were so frustrated: I’m dating this guy and it’s going nowhere, I don’t feel seen, I don’t feel heard, it’s just always so plastic. And then I was like: let’s write a song about it!”
“EMOJI is the song with the most painful process because I recorded it five times in different pitches, different BPMs.” – Laura Brizuela
While the dating scene is known for its shallowness, EMOJI’s creation was anything but. “To be honest with you, EMOJI is the song with the most painful process because I recorded it five times in different pitches, different BPMs,” Brizuela sighs. “I went through so many hating and loving emotions with this song while it was always not working.” After the zillionth rewrite and chord change, leaving her comfort zone paid off in the end. “Now, like two weeks ago, I really felt at peace with the song, with the entire emotion and the attitude behind it. Before it was very girly, and now I feel like it has more story and more meaning.”
