We Speak Music
LLOREN puts us in a ‘California Daydream’ with new single

LLOREN is a burgeoning pop star whose infectious and epic music you have probably heard already, but not actually known it yet. With tracks appearing recently in Greys Anatomy, The L Word, 1923, Wish, The Company You Keep, Made In Chelsea, Love Island UK & USA and more, LLOREN’s own music has been moving its way gradually into the wider consciousness since she got to the finals of The Voice UK in 2018, setting the stage for her emergence as the next alt-pop force of nature.
Her rich, versatile vocal, emotional melodies and cinematic, powerful contemporary inspired compositions have been embraced heavily by the sync/TV/trailer music world since her 2019 debut single ‘Into The Fire’, which also saw her invited to join American artist Fleurie on her first European tour. During the tour, she caught the eyes of promoters who invited her back to open for household names Johannes Oerding and Michael Patrick Kelly.
In the UK, LLOREN is no stranger to the annual PRIDE celebrations having played both Manchester and London where she headlined the women’s stage and has entertained crowds over 10000. She has also toured with Canadian artist Mauvey with whom she collaborated with on the track ‘Pillow’, performing it at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend as well as the Isle Of Wight Festival 2023.
LLOREN, aka Lauren Bannon, is now moving forward with her own artist project again, with an album on the way later this year and with a huge new single ‘California Daydream’ coming out May 17th.
‘California Daydream’, with its pounding 80s inspired rhythms and blissful, cinnamon-sweet pop emotions conjures all the best heart strings tugging cinema moments. The song’s portrayal of a perfect, idealised love made for the ‘silver screen’ subtly suggests that this depiction is more fiction than reality. By likening the relationship to a Hollywood fantasy and referencing iconic figures like James Dean, the lyrics create an atmosphere of romanticised nostalgia but love on the silver screen is scripted, pure fantasy.
“Nothing gets me higher than this dopamine” in the chorus hints at the addictive nature of chasing these idealised fantasies. It suggests that the pursuit of perfect love, as depicted in movies and celebrity culture, can be intoxicating but ultimately fleeting.
On the track, LLOREN explains, “In essence, while the song celebrates the allure of romanticised love, the beauty of it, but it also subtly alludes to the unrealistic expectations perpetuated by popular culture. But ye, it’s also totally just a fun pop song.”
‘California Daydream’, was produced by London based producer, songwriter and mixer Charlie T who has been involved in both Brit and Grammy nominated projects, including working at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row Studios engineering for Paul McCartney, London Grammar, Ed Sheeran and many more. Charlie is now a resident at The Kinks-owned studio, Konk, in North London and has recently worked with the likes of Jax Jones, Kygo, Calum Scott, Lost Frequencies, James TW, James Bay, Sam Fischer and many more.

We Speak Music
Acclaimed US singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd to tour the UK for the first time this summer.

Shortly after releasing her sophomore album in 2007, US-based singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd walked away from music completely for more than 10 years, feeling burned out and unhappy with her career progression like so many other independent artists. After going through a divorce in 2019 and in the midst of a global pandemic, she found herself pulled back toward the siren call of songwriting and again making the leap to pursue it full time. Her latest album ‘Carnival’, released in 2024, is in many ways the culmination of those decisions, and the reintroduction of an artist who now has the wisdom of experience.
There’s an unmistakable urgency you can feel when a song is written and performed from a place of complete honesty. That feeling permeates ‘Carnival’. “I’ve always been envious of writers who say they write songs because they have to, because they had these things they just had to get out of themselves,” Juliet says. “I had never really felt that way until this album. I’ve become someone who writes because they have to.”
Stylistically, ‘Carnival’ draws on a range of influences from Laurel Canyon-era singer/songwriters, to Lilith Fair rockers, to confessional country/folk balladeers, to indie pop. The central theme of the record and that of its title track is not being too precious about any one experience or decision. Take them for what they are, live in the moment, and move on when they’re done. It acknowledges also that memory can be subjective, and ambiguous—was an experience ultimately a good thing or a bad thing? And whose memory can you rely on to determine the answer to that question?
‘Carnival’ doesn’t just deal with the complexities of ending relationships, it also deals with all the feelings that come with moving on. The album’snine songs feature evocative storytelling that reveals a simple truth: when the carnival inevitably leaves town, you’re left with an empty parking lot. And how you remember, it is a choice. As Juliet sings in the title track, “If only there was a way you could bottle up that feeling / and you’d drink it in / when the days are short and you long.”
Across her 20+ year career, Juliet has been admittedly stylistically non-monogamous. Her first full-length album, ‘All Dressed Up’, was released in 2005 and was heavily jazz-influenced- a label that she rejected at the time. “I am a piano player and a woman, so I was immediately compared to Norah Jones—and I bristled at that,” Juliet says. “Listening back now, I can totally see that it was true, and it of course wasn’t a bad thing.” Her follow-up release ‘Leave the Light On,’ came out two years later and featured a slick piano-pop production that led to five of its songs being placed on reality TV shows on MTV and VH1. Coming back after her 10-year break from writing and recording, Juliet released ‘High Road’, a collection of five Americana/soul-tinged songs produced by Jim Ebert (Meredith Brooks, Shai) that earned her widespread recognition and songwriting awards both in her home region of DC as well as nationally.
Now with her first ever UK tour scheduled for July 2025, Juliet has also dropped a completely brand-new single ‘Wild Again’, which like ‘Carnival’, was written with and produced by Todd Wright (Lucy Woodward, Butch Walker, Toby Lightman). ‘Wild Again’, however, charts yet another new step in Juliet’s journey.
“Carnival’, is full of deeply personal songs that are drawn from my real-life experiences and relationships. Coming out of that album cycle, I was feeling a little exhausted by my own navel-gazing and I was craving inspiration elsewhere. So, a lot of the songs I’m writing now are an evolution of sorts – focused more on external stimuli and finding the personal stories and humanity in that. Wild Again is a perfect example of this,” she explains.
The idea for ‘Wild Again’ was born out of a NY Times podcast Juliet listened to about the real-life efforts to return the whale that played Willy in the iconic movie ‘Free Willy’ back into the wild.
“It’s an insane, heartbreaking story that asks all kinds of thorny questions about human responsibility and humility and what’s the “right” thing to do and is that the same as the “kind” thing to do. There was a line that one of the trainers said in the podcast, explaining that they were trying to “train him to be wild again.” The complete absurdity of that statement hit me in the moment, and I immediately started jotting down lyrical ideas”, Juliet says.
Catch Juliet Lloyd on her UK tour this July:
1st July: The Folklore Rooms / Brighton
2nd July: The Hyde Tavern / Winchester
3rd July: Hen and Chicken / Bristol (CRH Music promotions)
4th July: Artisan Tap Hartshill / Stoke-on-Trent
5th July: Waggon & Horses, Nottingham
6th July: Cafe#9 / Sheffield
7th July: Hyde Park Book Club / Leeds
10th July: FortyFive Vinyl Café / York
11th July: The Muddy Puddle / London
13th July: The Wrotham Arms / Broadstairs

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