Full Review

Chloe Lilac, Douchebag Review

Chloe Lilac is a Brooklyn born vocalist and songwriter that cut her teeth as a teenager on the Manhattan busking circuit. “I’d be in class with my Bluetooth headphones and my computer, doing production on Garageband,” she recalls. Her mind would be elsewhere, replaying a slideshow of scenes from the night before standing at sunrise with her guitar in Union Square, or playing in front of Soho House at 2 a.m. because “I heard Drake hung out there.” Lilac has learned to channel her cynical rebellion and consequent creative redemption into her pop-punk spirit at only eighteen years of age. “I was raised on Frank Zappa, the Talking Heads, and Bowie,” the singer says. In her mid-teens, Lilac wrote a song a day and released a new song each week on Soundcloud. Her single “Summer” reached more than 10 million streams on Spotify, and her previous self-released single “Stolen Liquor,” a haunting ode to an earnest bad decision, hit #1 on Hype Machine. After singing to RCA Records last year Lilac her debut EP Manic Pixie Dream. Lilac is now releasing her sophomore EP entitled DOUCHEBAG.

Bottom Line: Douchebag finds Lilac channeling her raw emotion into seven songs that combine old school pop-punk and synth-pop synths. Her rebellious lyrics are framed with powerful trap drums, catchy electric guitar figures, and Lilac’s passionate singing. With personal and tinged lyrics from being of a generation coming of age during unprecedented uncertainty, polarization, and pain. “I want people to feel less alone,” Lilac says. “But really, I just want them to have fun.” She expresses a full range of emotions of who Chloe Lilac is. The opening track, “Obvious,” has a bouncing piano figure that is off-set with big bass. Lilac’s relaxed singing speaks about the emotion of wanting to be wanted. She sings, ‘Cause you don’t make it obvious, And you don’t ever really open up to me, And I don’t wanna end up as a casualty. “Douchebag” is Lilac expressing her raw emotion in a way that only a pop-punk melody can. The song has a companion video that is visually stunning with Lilac acting as the director, and she shows off her dance moves while portraying different types of guys. “Jansport” is about Lilac’s first breakup. “I was in this awful situationship with this guy who really just objectified me the whole time. For months, my closest friends kept telling me to break up with him, but I just couldn’t bring myself to end things. Finally, I had a moment where I realized what role I actually played in his life, versus what he’d been telling me.” Lilac continues, “As a young woman, I’m so conditioned to just take what men give me and thank them for it. These songs on my EP are about empowering myself and my listeners to give them strength to manifest confidence. It’s for myself and for them. It’s both.” Overall, Douchebag will empower, entertain, and stimulate self-exploration as your aural senses are drenched in pop-punk’s pure raw attitude. That’s the short of it!