Watch: Facetime After Sex — Girlhouse

Girlhouse is back with her same aloof delivery, but this time embracing a more soulful sound.

On Facetime After Sex, Girlhouse (real name Lauren Luiz) manages to deliver an infectiously laid-back melody whilst evoking a feeling of despondent boredom and disappointment. The opening lines may rank as my favourite this year, with Luiz deadpanning:

“He called his friend on FaceTime, after we had sex the first time. I never talked to him again, and I don’t think I … ever told him why.”

From those opening lines, Facetime After Sex slow motion trips and falls into a big hooky chorus that sounds like Luiz daydreaming for someone just a bit more fucking interesting. One of my favourite touches to the restrained production work here is the occasional moment where Lauren lets out an “Ohhh” that sounds just a bit like a disappointed sigh.

Inspired by an awkward dating phase in her early-20s, Luiz describes the thinking behind Facetime After Sex:

“I wanted FaceTime after Sex to feel as nostalgic as this story is for me. My early 20s were filled with lots of searching for love on the apps (tinder, bumble, etc) right at the beginning of that kind of online dating. Wow. What a time. The types of things people used to say on dates, mostly coming from me, still haunt my dreams. I have some friends that have actually met their current partners on the apps so I know it’s not all bad but for me it was nothing but top tier awkwardness. This song is about a few men I met along my journey to get off of the apps and why I tolerated the shit that I went through.”

Facetime After Sex comes from Girlhouse’s new the third ep. Both are released today.

Listen: Cool Guy — Girlhouse

I wrote about Girlhouse’s hazy sun-kissed sound last year upon the release of her single Happy Now, and Cool Guy is cut from the same cloth. Having garnered Radio 1 and 6Music airplay with recent single paul blart mall cop, Girlhouse, real name Lauren Luiz, now has her sights set on another forthcoming EP, appropriately titled the third ep.

On Cool Guy, Girlhouse continues to channel the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Soccer Mommy, but with just a touch of the polish of post-Folklore Taylor Swift.

Somewhat universally relatable in its theme, albeit to anyone who isn’t the kind of person the song depicts, Cool Guy is a song about those who live with a sense of aloof detachment and privilege. The song’s sound and production treatment fits that theme perfectly — the gradual pace and glossy sheen hits like a musical slow clap. Describing the song’s inspiration, Luiz says:

“The term ‘cool guying’ means to acquire a slight amount of clout and become a complete weirdo. I wrote this with my friend Mark Campbell when I was feeling a lil zesty about some of the clouty people in my life. In all seriousness, no shade on them, I just had to figure out if that was of value to me. I had an ex that got mad at me for calling him ‘cool’ and that was really confusing to me until he ended up actually being very very ‘cool.’”

Cool Guy plays into the broader themes of the forthcoming the third ep, as Luiz describes:

“I split this ep in two acts. The first act follows the euphoria of avoidance, doing everything to detach from all feeling while playing house. The back half is meant to snap you into reality with darker sounds and themes, I talk about losing friendships not only to death but also to the flow of life, and I try to be more vulnerable with the person I love and ask them straight up, “please don’t stop loving me”. The theme of this ep is really about coming to grips with reality and the growing pain that comes with it. I hope you like listening to this train wreck as much as I liked writing it.”

Check out Cool Guy below:

Listen: Happy Now — Girlhouse

With crisp, sun-kissed guitars and hazy vocals, Happy Now feels like summer vacations bottled and spritzed, a film of warmth upon my skin. At the same time, it bristles with a level of anxiety — vocals puncturing the easy-breezy feeling melodies with the refrain of, “Are you fucking happy now?”

The lyrics themselves portray the experience of sacrificing a bit of yourself for someone else, and yet feeling that the sacrifice isn’t recognised. Discussing the song, Girlhouse, real name Lauren Luiz, says:

“Happy now is about trying to make someone else happy at the expense of your own mental health. I wrote it shortly after moving to Nashville and had a lot of anger at the time. It was recorded and produced in the basement of a frat house in Nashville.”

Having grown up in Portland, Luiz initially pursued acting in LA, and it was this that exposed her to the people and places that would ultimately form the basis for her music career. She met her future bandmate and producer Tyler Thompson in the UK whilst studying and working in Bristol. Once Luiz returned to LA, her and Thompson formed the band WILD with another bandmate, who saw success on streaming platforms and through advertising and movie exposure.

In the background, however, Luiz was writing music for her own project, Girlhouse. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Soccer Mommy, The eponymous Girlhouse EP was a breakup letter to LA. Now residing in Nashville, Luiz continues to make music as Girlhouse. Check out Happy Now below: