We Speak Music

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

Published

2 years ago

May 17, 2024

Don Reed

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 17^th.

‘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

Col Darcy Unveils New Single ‘Pay Up’

Published

12 hours ago

August 4, 2026

Philomena Marie

Col Darcy’s ‘Pay Up’ arrives with the calm authority of an artist who has already learned that longevity is its own form of victory. The second single from ‘Redemption’, his forthcoming album, is a composed piece of independent hip-hop that places persistence, ambition and personal conviction at its centre. Rather than presenting success as spectacle, Darcy approaches it as something accumulated slowly, through experience, discipline and faith in one’s own direction.

That sense of earned perspective has been central to Darcy’s work from the beginning. As Caper, he drew national attention with ‘How Would You Like To Be Me?’, a politically charged anti-racism song whose influence eventually extended into cinema. Alongside ‘Opportunity’, the track appeared in Netflix’s A Second Chance: Rivals!, bringing Darcy’s writing to an audience well beyond the usual confines of Australian hip-hop. Yet his subsequent career has remained grounded in independence, with the acclaimed ‘Beautiful Hopeless’ further establishing his commitment to thoughtful writing and considered craft.

‘Pay Up’ continues that trajectory while revealing an artist interested in the emotional economics of perseverance. Darcy writes from the perspective of someone who has experienced the slow rewards of staying the course. The lyrics use sharp wordplay and layered metaphor to turn a familiar idea into something more personal. His delivery is particularly effective for its restraint. There is no need to overstate the message when the voice behind it sounds as though it has lived through the argument already.

The song also reflects the wider concerns of ‘Redemption’, a record shaped by travel, fatherhood, gratitude and renewed self-awareness. Much of the album was recorded in Bali, and the island’s atmosphere reportedly helped cultivate its more contemplative dimensions. That background lends ‘Pay Up’ an intriguing duality. It is a song about ambition, but not restless ambition. Its confidence feels less like hunger for external validation and more like an acceptance that the journey itself has meaning.

What emerges is a track that understands hip-hop as both music and testimony. Darcy’s influences, from Tupac Shakur and Eminem to Kendrick Lamar, belong to a lineage in which personal narrative can become social observation and self-examination can become communal language. ‘Pay Up’ honours that tradition while remaining contemporary in its presentation. As a statement of intent for ‘Redemption’, it suggests an artist who has found greater clarity without sacrificing his edge, and who understands that the most durable kind of success is the kind you build yourself.