Written by Lauren Minear and produced by Dan Weeks for The Online Recording Studio, ‘Heartbroken’ is an intimate and emotional song about identity in motherhood. It is based on Lauren’s own experiences of early motherhood and her evolving sense of self during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
“I’d had it in my head for a while that I wanted to write a song about the feeling of no longer recognizing yourself in the mirror,” she says. “I think most people can relate to that at one time in their lives or another. For me, I had my second child two weeks before COVID lockdown started in the US. At the height of the pandemic, I had put my work as a psychotherapist on hold to take care of my two kids, and given the stress of that work against the backdrop of the challenging political climate, I had a really hard time emotionally. That’s what this song is about.”
In her lyrics, “You look familiar, but not how I remember”, Lauren conveys the complexities of identity she feels when looking in the mirror. “This brand new person, staring back at me, she brings me to my knees,” conjures a powerful and relatable image of how we all identify to our sense of self and our internal and external identities as they grow and develop over the years.
Lauren’s creative process for ‘Heartbroken’ was inspired by Taylor Swift’s 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’. “I had seen in an interview that she improvised the initial version of that song over four chords when she was feeling sad one day at rehearsal. I was also going through a hard time, so I decided to try it,” she says.
‘Heartbroken’ follows on from Lauren’s releases earlier this year, including ‘Soul Tied’ which captures the struggles of identity often experienced in early motherhood, as well as ‘Last Generation’, which channels Lauren’s anxieties about the current political and environmental landscape.
In her music, Lauren writes about the complexities of human emotions and relationships in a way that is digestible and relatable. Her sound transpires multiple genres, including soul, indie, rock, and pop. Her songs showcase her talent for conveying her emotions and feelings through lyrics and music.
Lauren shows no sign of slowing down, with three more singles planned for release later this year followed by her LP “Invisible Woman” in October. She says this will be “an introspective, raw look at the experience and shape of motherhood during the pandemic.”
Lauren Minear was born in Manhattan and grew up in Nashville. She has a life-long love of music. She took piano and vocal lessons as a child and first started songwriting when she was in high school. She wrote her first song, “Daddy’s Little Girl” aged just 14. Now a mother of two and living on the outskirts of New York City, when Lauren’s not making music she’s listening to albums on long walks, spending time with her family, or doing yoga.
Lauren is always looking for new ideas and makes music at home in her home studio. When inspiration strikes, she jots down her thoughts on her notes app or in one of her multiple notebooks around the house. Lauren has used music throughout her life to help her understand herself and connect with others in a more meaningful way. Her music offers an insight into her unique perspective on creativity and recovery from years of doing her own healing work as well as helping others on their own recovery journeys.