Interview: Lyn Lapid Is Anything But A 'BUZZKILL'
Alt-Pop princess Lyn Lapid is releasing her debut album BUZZKILL on April 25. The star sat down with Following Boston and 1824 to give fans the inside scoop on all things music, self-confidence, and her upcoming tour. Lapid's ability to blend jazz and R&B genres with groovy instrumentals creates an entirely unique and captivating sound. Cosigns from megastars like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and JungKook of BTS mark Lapid as an undeniable force and one to watch.
She burst into the spotlight with the viral hit "Producer Man" in 2020. After achieving that success, she notes how she "got into this mindset that I had to make music for clicks and for likes and shares. For a bit, I was stuck in that mindset, and it kind of made music-making a little bit unenjoyable for me. Over the course of my career, I was able to hold a little less weight over time to the statistics." Lapid's debut album is a testament to that mindset shift, with the singer delving into her most honest and vulnerable place yet on songs like the title track.
With BUZZKILL, Lapid's mission is to inspire her fans to focus their energy and time on people who value and reciprocate it. Her inspiration for the title came from her original attitude toward moving to a new city: "My brain kept coming back to the word buzzkill because I felt like everywhere I went, I brought the mood down. I would be meeting so many people that I didn't quite click with, but I would hold onto anyway just for the sake of not being alone." Instead of wallowing in that fear and shrinking her personality, she decided to take the track "in a more comedic way" by making "light of all of these emotions that I've been feeling and poke fun at them." She revealed one of the lyrics from the song where she acknowledges this dichotomy: " 'I really want your pity invite to these things just so I can say that I'd rather stay at home.' I feel like painting that irony in the first track of the album kind of sets up the mood."
Lapid continued to uncover major themes of the album throughout the writing process by editing and refining the ideas she wanted to convey, further solidifying BUZZKILL as a raw snapshot of her psyche in those moments. She noted a specific exchange she had with someone after they found out a song would be about them. It ended up being a productive conversation that deepened their friendship, helping Lapid realize, "The moral of [the album] was to surround myself with people who cared about me the same way that I care about them. Even though my circle would be narrowing."
Spending time with her friends inspired the heart of the album. In the single "death wish," Lapid explores the sour feeling of losing a friend to their romantic relationship: "We had bonded over that mutual understanding that if we were to get into relationships, we wouldn't abandon our personal friendships for the sake of a relationship...[it was] the extreme way to say that platonic friendships are just as important as romantic relationships." She has an incredible ability to articulate universal feelings like this in a cheeky yet personal way.
Perhaps the most intimate song on the album is "Floater Friend." She revealed it "was really healing because I felt like it was most like a diary entry for me to finish and put out." Most people coming-of-age understand how challenging it is to discover one's authentic personality while trying to fit in. For Lapid, she remembers "morphing my personality and myself to fit certain friend groups [and] certain rooms I was in" when she first moved to a new city. She conquered her fears by daring to be herself and embracing those who appreciated her.
Lapid leaned on the color red to convey this concept of fearless living: "When I was making this album I felt like my brain kept returning to the color red. The moral of the album is just accepting who you are and allowing yourself to find the community of people that you truly belong with by being unapologetically yourself. I felt like red was the perfect color to represent because it's a very bold color."
BUZZKILL is a reminder to live confidently and find a community that celebrates you even if it feels hard: "Letting go of the want to be liked by everybody was the moral of the album...I had only felt like a buzzkill with the wrong people, so I just needed to find that sense of community with a small circle of people that truly valued me." BUZZKILL is a "journey to self-acceptance" for both Lapid and the listener.
Lyn Lapid is about to embark on the BUZZKILL World Tour, which stops at Boston's Paradise Rock Club on June 7. Buy tickets here.
May 6 – Kantine am Berghain – Berlin, DE
May 8 – Colours Hoxton – London, UK
May 9 – The Deaf Institute- Manchester, UK
May 11 – Yuca Club – Cologne, DE
May 12 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
May 20 – The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA~
May 21 – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA~
May 24 – The Crocodile – Seattle, WA~
May 25 – Fortune Sound Club – Vancouver, BC~
May 28 – The Grand at The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT~
May 30 – Marquis Theater – Denver, CO~
Jun 1 – Fine Line – Minneapolis, MN~
Jun 3 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL~
Jun 5 – The Axis Club – Toronto, ON+
Jun 7 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA+
Jun 8 – Brooklyn Bowl Philly – Philadelphia, PA+
Jun 10 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY+
Jun 11 – 9:30 Club – Washington, D.C.+
Jun 13 – Amos’ Southend – Charlotte, NC+
Jun 14 – The Loft – Atlanta, GA+
Jun 16 – The Social – Orlando, FL+
Jun 19 – Warehouse Live Midtown – Houston, TX*
Jun 21 – Antone’s Nightclub – Austin, TX*
Jun 22 – Trees – Dallas, TX*
Jun 25 – Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ*
Jun 26 – The Observatory North Park – San Diego, CA*
Jun 28 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA*
~with special guest RC Avenue
+with special guest FIG
*with special guest Sabrina Sterling