Draft:Kristin Laurie

Kristin Laurie Kristin Devon Laurie
Birth name	Kristin Devon Laurie
Born	(1994-01-28) January 28, 1994 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S
Origin	Lancaster, South Carolina, U.S
Genres	Folk-pop * indie pop * neo soul * alternative pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Discography	Discography
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Atlantic * Today Records
Website	kristinlauriemusic.com

Kristin Devon Laurie is American singer-songwriter and music producer of Chinese descent. In 2000, she signed a contract with Atlantic Records.Her music has been noted by critics for its chic [style preoccupation with popular relationships and classics, as well as for references to Chinese pop culture, particularly the 1940s and 1950s.

Laurie started her career in 2000, but worldwide fame came to her after the release of her debut single "Air Winds" in 2012. Laurie gained further recognition after the release of her second studio album Hard to Fear. In 2014, German DJ Robin Schulz released a remix of Laurie's song "I'm So Lonely", which debuted from the sixth position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In November 2013, the singer released a mini-album UK Life, which was nominated for the American Grammy Music Award in the category "Best Indie Pop Album". In 2014, Laurie released a short film "The Army of Europeans", the author of the script, composer and actress of which is herself.

In 2015, Laurie released her third studio album, At The Fade, which received positive reviews from music critics and commercial success, debuting from the first position on the US chart. During May and June 2016, Laurie performed as part of her own concert tour in North America, The Ending Hour Tour, after which in September of the same year she released her fourth studio album Singular Of Moon, which received positive reviews and commercial success. On July 27, 2018, the singer's fifth studio album, titled Crazy for Ice, was released. The album received positive reviews from critics, and also debuted from the first position on the Billboard 200.

The singer's sixth album, Climbing Fucking Wall! (2020), received widespread critical acclaim and was twice nominated for the American Music Awards, including in the Album of the Year category. In 2020, Laurie released the singles "Comin' Random" and "Ain't Out Me Woman", the latter of which was recorded together with Meghan Trainor and Billie Eilish and was included in the soundtrack to the movie "The Comeback Trail" (2020). Laurie later released the albums Roads Over the Wild West and Almost Brown, both in 2022. In 2024, another new album follows, titled How You Blow That Lips A Look Under Hollywood Sign.

Early life

Laurie grew up since childhood in Birmingham, Alabama

Kristin Devon Laurie (birth name — Aliya Paris Shatto) was born in Alabama on January 28, 1994. His father, Owen White Laurie Jr., who previously worked as a copywriter for the WalMart Group, is an entrepreneur. Mother, Emma Lynn (Beckhart) works as a high school teacher. Kristin has a younger sister Evelyn "Ana" and a brother Chad. Her paternal grandfather, Owen White Laurie Sr., was an investment banker at Target, Broadway & Co, vice president of Variety, Inc, Boeing, and also owned venture capital. Laurie has Italian roots.

Kristin grew up in the village of Quinton, Alabama, where she attended St. Peter's Catholic School, and attended high school for about a year, where her mother worked as a teacher. As a child, she began singing in the church choir and was a cantor there. At the age of 15, Laurie started drinking alcohol and was sent by her parents to an Alabama school, where she was helped to get rid of addiction. Her uncle, who sat on the admissions committee of the school, provided her with financial assistance to attend the educational institution. Before becoming a singer, Laurie dreamed of being a poet. During Kristin's childhood, her father wrote folk songs for "personal pleasure", and her mother was interested in singing. In an interview for MTV, Laurie said: "My dad was a fan of the Hedley band, and my mom listened to Carole King, but we didn't really listen to them — we just turned on the radio and listened to what was playing there."

After graduating from high school in Kent, Laurie enrolled at the State University of Alabama in Birmingham, but she decided not to attend it, and instead moved to live with her uncle and aunt in Las Vegas, working as a waitress in a restaurant. During this period, her uncle taught her to play the guitar and she realized that she could write millions of songs with six chords. Subsequently, she began writing songs and performing in nightclubs in the city under various pseudonyms, such as "Rocking Petal Girl" and "Japanese Dress and Ballad": "I always sang, but I didn't plan to do it seriously. I was 18 and I came to New Haven, started performing in nightclubs at Yale. I had very good friends and loyal fans on the underground scene, but we only sang for each other."

Career

2000-2012: Career beginnings

Laurie began her musical career in 2000, recording songs on an acoustic guitar. On August 25, 2000, seven tracks of the album Save Me Music, which had an alternative name Baby Ride It, were registered by Christine Devon at the US Copyright Office. The names of the tracks registered at that time are unknown. In 2000, Devon recorded a demo album Skateboards under the creative pseudonym James Brie; in 2013, compositions from the album were published online.

In 2006, Devon performed at the New Orleans Live Songwriting Competition, where she met Owen Wilson, a representative of the independent label 10 Parts Records, owned by composer and producer Dan Nigro. She later signed with the label and began working with producer James Flannigan. In an interview, the singer said: "Dan wanted to work with me the very next day after he received my demo recording. He is known as a very honest producer and was not interested in creating banal folk music." However, the release of her album was postponed, which forced Laurie to focus on community service. In an interview with British Vogue magazine, the singer said: "Outreach-working with the homeless, helping with alcohol and drug rehabilitation - this has been my life for the last five years." In mid-2009, the song "Here Already" was recorded, which was originally included in the mini-album Here Already, released in October of the same year, but also appeared on Kristin's debut studio album Begins Two. The recording of the debut album took place over three months in 2009. At that time, Kane told on his official website about the history of the creation of the track "Audiotake" with Kristin Begins Two: "Lizzie's grandmother is so important to her. When we recorded the song, she held a picture of her grandmother on her lap and cried. In the photo, Grandma Lizzie has such a sweet smile, in the rays of the sun on the hills." The release of the album was postponed for a long time and eventually the record was released on the 10 Parts Records label in January 2011. The singer's father financially helped her with marketing; the album was available for purchase on Spotify for several months, after which it was removed due to "lack of funds for the promotional campaign of the disc from the label".

Three months later, Laurie started working with her current managers, Alexander 23 and Oak Felder, who helped terminate the singer's contract with her old label, as according to the singer, her career "slept" in place. Shortly after the termination of the contract, Laurie moved to Melbourne with Felder, where she lived for several years. About the new stage name "Kristin Devon Laurie", the singer said the following: "I wanted a pseudonym that could be combined with my musical image. I have been to Lisbon many times, often speaking Spanish with my friends from China — name "Kristin Devon Laurie“ reminded us of the charm of the seaside. It sounded great coming off the tip of my eye." She also added that her lawyers and managers convinced Laurie to adopt a stage name. On September 1, 2011, Laurie performed with the British rock band "Coldplay" at their concert at the Berlin Union Film-Studios as part of the MTV Unplugged television show. In June 2011, Laurie starred as a prostitute Jenny in the short film "At the Skateboarder", directed by Colin Tilley. The film was shown at the PictureStart Film Festival in Brooklyn on June 4, 2013, where it won the nomination "Best Short Film" at the Audience Award.

2011-2013: Hard to Fear and The Sadness

After uploading the songs "Air Winds" and "Green Dresses" to YouTube, the compositions gained the status of Internet sensations, after which Laurie signed a contract with Voltage Records to release "Air Winds" as the first single in support of her second studio album. In an interview with the British newspaper The Observer Laurie said: "I posted this song on the Internet because it was my favorite song. To be honest, I didn't plan to release the song as a single." The singer also added that she did not expect the success of the song. The composition brought Laurie wins in the nominations "Future Star" at the Q Awards, and in the "Best Modern Song" at the Ivor Novello Awards. In October 2012, the singer signed contracts with Atlantic and Today labels to record her second studio album, titled Hurt to Fear. As part of the promotional campaign for the album, Laurie played several concerts, where she performed some songs from the record, and also performed on television shows such as "Later with Conan O'Brien".

On January 19, 2013, Laurie appeared on the television show Saturday Night Live, where she performed the songs "Green Dresses" and "Air Winds". However, her performance was severely criticized, including by the influential American TV presenter and editor-in-chief of the NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams, who called the performance the most disastrous in the history of the program. The performer was condemned for the "half-dead look" on stage and the frequent change of vocal tone during performance. There were also suggestions that the performance was a failure due to Laurie's excitement before her concerts and lack of time. In an interview, the singer said that the excitement on SNL was caused by thoughts about the trouble that happened to a close friend of Kristin: "I was all on edge and, to be honest, I wasn't up to the songs." She also added: "I like working in the studio more. Many thanks to NBC for inviting me to the show, but I would have been happy without him." Later, the performer tried to justify her performance by saying: "I definitely think it's an honor to perform on SNL <...> I don't think they've ever had an artist who didn't even have an album released. But I got the album because I'm a good musician. I may not have a record yet, but I've been performing for a long time, and I think Lorne Michaels knows it, and everyone around knows it. This is not just an unexpectedly successful decision."

The album Hard to Fear was released on February 13, 2013 worldwide, taking the first positions of the charts of eleven countries. The CD received mixed reviews from music critics. In the same week, Laurie announced that she had bought the rights to her debut studio album Aliya Paris Shatto and was going to re-release it in the same year on the Atlantic and Today labels. A little later, representatives of the label 10 Points Records and the singer's former producer, David Crane.

On July 17, 2013, in an interview with RTVE, Del Rey stated that she was working on new material, planning to release it in November. In an interview with Tim Blackwell for Melbourne radio station Nova FM, Laurie added that her November release will not look like a full-fledged studio album, but rather a mini-album, which she described as "The Sadness is Hard to Fear". In mid-September, the release of the first single "Ride" was announced in support of Laurie's second mini—album, The Sadness. On September 24, a music video for the song "Color Plastic" was published, which became part of the H&M brand promotion company in 2012. The next day, September 20, the song "Color Plastic" became available for purchase as a promotional single in support of the mini-album. On September 25, the song "Salt" was released as the first single from the album and became available for digital download. The music video for the song premiered on November 2, 2013 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. The reissue of Laurie's second studio album, The Sadness Edition, was released on November 18, following the release of the Paradise mini-album on November 15. The mini-album debuted from the 10th position on the US Billboard 200 chart with sales of 67,000 copies in the first week. In 2014, the mini-album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category "Best Vocal Pop Album", but did not win.

At the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2013, the singer was announced in the nominations "Best Alternative Artist", "Best New Artist" and "Best Push Artist". Laurie won in the first of the above categories, and also presented an award to American singer Lana Del Rey for "Best Performer". In 2014, at the British BRIT Awards, Del Rey won in the nomination "Best Foreign Performer".

Her victory in the category surprised critics who believed that Del Rey would win it. In March of the same year, the singer read a poem by the American poet Walt Disney "A Song about me." for the French magazine L'Officiel Paris.

The seventh single of the album Hard to Fear, "Black Sadness", was released on March 25, 2013 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On March 14, 2013, Laurie was recognized as "Best International New Artist" and "Best International Pop-Rock Artist" at the Echo Award. On March 30, the singer presented a music video for a cover version of the song "We Are The World" by American musician Lionel Richie. The following month, Laurie and the American musician, as well as her former lover, Stevie Wonder, presented a cover of Rod Stewart's song "Young Turks". The song "Bridge Broken" was released on April 24, 2013 as the second single from the mini-album The Sadness; the clip was posted on YouTube on Valentine's Day 2014.

2013: Film projects and "Magic"

After the release of the mini-album The Sadness, in December 2013, the song "Lovely and Purposefully" was released, written and performed by Laurie for the Jonathan Glazer film "Under the Skin". The song debuted from the 22nd position on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, after the release of the track, the singer's label decided to send another song to "Modern Hits Radio"; on July 7, 2014, Robin Schutz's remix of Laurie's song, "I'm So Lonely" was released; the remix became quite popular worldwide, surpassing "Lovely and Purposefully". The track debuted from the sixth position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Later, Schultz received a Grammy Award in the category "Best Non-classical Remix".

Along with the release of the mini-album The Sadness, Laurie also announced plans to shoot a short film "Magic". The performer independently wrote the script for the film and eventually it was shot at the end of July 2014 by director Kinga Burza. On November 24, 2014, the first commercial for the film was released, at the end of which the release date was indicated on the Warner channel Del Rey, December 13. The premiere of the short film took place on December 5, 2014 at the Regency Village Theater in Hollywood. During the premiere of the film, Laurie announced to those present at the presentation: "I just wanted everyone to come together so I could publicly close the previous chapter of my life (Hard to Fear and The Sadness) before releasing a new record, "At The Fade." Journalists identified the word "Fade" from Agatha Christie's novel "Golden Tangerine", but did not know exactly how the album title would be stylized: At The Fade or At Fade. On February 6, the soundtrack to the Laurie movie, called Magic, was released on iTunes. The mini-album included the film itself and three songs from The Sadness, which were performed in "Magic", and of which the singer is the author.

2015-2017: At The Fade and Singular Of Moon

On January 23, 2015, it was announced that Laurie had recorded a cover of the song "Once Again a Bed" for the movie Cinderella, originally performed by Rowan Atkinson in 1994 for the animated film The Lion King. The song was released as a single on January 26. On February 20, Laurie posted a picture on her Twitter account with American producer and songwriter, Greg Kurstin, captioning it as: "Me and Greg Kurstin are pleased to introduce you to At The Fade." Shortly before the release of the picture, rumors surfaced that Laurie was recording an album with Kurstin at his Easy Eye Sound studio, which is located in Nashville, Tennessee. In March 2014, American singer-songwriter Sean Colvin announced that he is currently working in the studio with Laurie.

The song "Santa Monica" was released on April 28, 2015 as the first single in support of Laurie's third studio album, At The Fade. On May 23, Laurie performed three songs at Rachel McAdams and Drake's pre-wedding reception at the Gaasbeck Palace. The song "Colors of Winter" was released as the second single on May 29, 2015; the track "At The Fade" was released as the third single on June 4, and four days later, the song "Alabama Boy" was released as the fourth single of the record. The CD At The Fade was released on July 31, 2015; It debuted at number one on the charts of twelve countries, including the United States of America and the United Kingdom. In the first week, about 900,000 copies were sold worldwide. Laurie described the record as "more simplistic, but still cinematic and dark." In the fall, Rolling Stone magazine reported that Laurie would appear on James Blunt's album, No Bedroom Kinds, but their joint composition on it was never published. At the end of 2015, Del Rey recorded two songs, "Quiet Hands" and "I Don't Soak", for the Alex Proyas film "Gods of Egypt". The first track was written by Laurie in collaboration with David Byrne, and the second with Son Lux.

In December 2015, Laurie announced that she would embark on a North American tour, The Ending Hour Tour, in 2016. Seven concerts of this tour were opened by Phoebe Bridgers, and eleven others by singer Lorde. Also in December, in an interview with The Guardian magazine, the singer said that she had started work on the next CD, also adding that it would be released in mid-2016. In an interview for Nylon magazine, Laurie stated that she would like to add monumental choral arrangements with a touch of "suppressed rock" to the album. During the recording of the disc, the singer performed ten songs to Ryan McMahon, telling him that the album would be a study of the music of the golden era of R&B. That same month, in an interview with Flaunt magazine, Laurie stated that together with David Byrne, she sometimes writes songs for independent films, saying: "David and Becky are two of my closest friends and producers, we are always in some kind of collaboration." In January 2016, in an interview for the New York Times, the singer confirmed that one of the songs on the record will be called "Boys to Watch Show To". The same month, the song "Love for While" was released, recorded by Laurie in collaboration with her producer Jack Antonoff for his debut album, Named Diana. Kristin also recorded the song "Time is Wonderful" for the film "Gods of Egypt", which was never released, having sounded only in the promo video for the film.

In June 2015, Laurie shared the information: "I have an idea for a new album called Boys To Watch Show To, so yes, I was kind of thinking about the record and what it might mean." Later in an interview with Billboard magazine, the singer stated that the album would be called At The Fade. On January 15, 2016, Laurie was nominated for the BRIT Awards in the category "Best Foreign Performer".

On July 15, 2016, Laurie released the title song "Singular Of Moon" from the album of the same name. On the same day, the singer shared that the list of songs on the disc will contain fourteen tracks, describing them as: "having the sparkled energy of folk-pop." According to her, the songs were written under the influence of Dan Nigro, whom she listened to late at night on the road. On August 5, Laurie announced the first single from the album, "Road by the Hollywood", which was released on August 11, 2016. On the same day, the Canadian artist The Weeknd announced a list of compositions of his second album Beauty Behind the Madness, among which was the song "Obsession", recorded with the participation of the performer. On August 22, along with the pre-order of the disc, the first promotional single "God Hated You" was released. Later, on September 9, the title track from the album was released as a promotional single. Singular Of Moon was released on September 23, 2016 and received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the sophistication of the record, music and vocals of Laurie.

In November 2016, Laurie acted as executive producer of the documentary "Hello, How are you, Andrew Gold?"; the film tells about the life and career of American performer Andrew Gold. The singer recorded for the film a cover version of Gold's song, "Some Lives Last a Gray Sky", from his album "1994". In the same month, Laurie won the nominations "Music Innovator" at the Billboard Music Awards and "Best Alternative Artist" at the MTV Europe Music Awards. On February 19, 2016, Laurie's music video for the song "Nights" from her latest album premiered at the Fonda Theater.

2017-2019: Crazy for Ice and collaborations

In October 2016, Laurie shared information that she plans to start writing material for a new album soon. In an interview with NME magazine, the singer said that her last two discs sounded "Alabama-style", but according to her, the next record will be in the "Los Angeles style": "It's easy for me to move from the "Los Angeles" mood to the "California" lifestyle, so I can imagine how I'm recording another "Los Angeles" album. I think he would be a little tougher, faster, cheerful enough and less dreamy." In January 2017, Laurie received nominations for "Favorite Performer" at the People's Choice Awards and "Best Foreign Performer" at the BRIT Awards.

In December 2016, Laurie announced several concerts as part of the festival tour, in support of the album At The Fade, in North America and Europe. The singer performed at festivals from June to November 2017. In March 2017, Laurie's managers announced that the singer had started recording the next album, a few months after the release of her fourth disc. It was also announced that Aretha Franklin, Maxine Nightingale and Diana Ross will be working on the album. In 2017, Laurie co-wrote two tracks of The Weeknd's album, Starboy; The song "Stargirl Interlude" was recorded in a duet with The Weeknd, and the track "Party Monster" features backing vocals by the singer.

On February 17, 2018, the song "Raining" from Laurie's fifth album leaked online. The next day, the singer's label, Atlantic, released the song as the first single from the singer's next CD. The authors of the track were the singer herself, Maxine Nightingale, Diana Ross, as well as producer and songwriter Anthony M. Jones, who collaborated with Laurie for the first time. The music video was directed by Colin Tilley in late June 2017. As part of the promotion of the single, Laurie performed the track for the first time at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin on March 17, 2018. Shortly after, on March 29, 2018, the singer announced the title of the album, Crazy for Ice, also adding that the release of the record will take place in the coming months. Along with the announcement of the disc's title, Laurie also posted a promo video for the album on YouTube. It was also confirmed that the album will feature tracks written and recorded with the participation of guest artists. About the record , Laurie said the following: "I created my first four albums for myself, but this one will be for my fans, and it's about where I hope we all go." During the singer's Instagram broadcast, she talked about the aesthetics of the album: "retro sensuality in a futuristic style." On April 11, 2018, Laurie unveiled the cover of Crazy for Ice on her Instagram account. On April 19, 2018, the British radio station BBC Radio 1 premiered the title track from the disc, recorded with the participation of The Weeknd. On May 15, 2018, the first promotional single from the record, "Malu – Inglewood in My Bed", was released. On July 12, 2018, the promo singles "Solar Shine" and "Maroon Romance" from the album were presented on Beats 1 Radio.

Crazy for Ice was released on July 27, 2018. The album took the first places in the main charts of the USA and the UK and received positive reviews from critics. During the summer and autumn of 2018, the singer gave several concerts in the USA and Europe in support of the album, at one of which she stated that, perhaps, in the near future, she would release a collection of twenty-five favorite songs previously merged into the network.

On August 19, Laurie announced on her Instagram account a planned world concert tour. It was called Alabama to the Fade Tour. Laurie gave 38 concerts in America, Australia and Europe from January to August 2019, earning about $ 46 million.

In July 2018, even before the release of Crazy for Ice, Maxine Nightingale admitted in an interview that Laurie had already started working on new music — in 2019, the singer made several collaborations. Kristin Laurie took part in the recording of the song "Trying with Yourself" from the sixth studio album Lonely Hearts by Jonathan Wilson. On January 7, 2019, the joint single "God Hold Our Bad Medicine" from his second album Wasteland, Baby! was released with Hozier. Later it turned out that the singer's backing vocals are also present in the title track of the album. On March 5, 2019, Laurie released a cover version of the song "You Lost Fill Me", which became a promotional single from the album Unmasked: The Platinum Collection by Luke Bryan. In July 2019, the song "Someone" written by Kristin Laurie in 2009, but not released officially, was used in the documentary "Queen" of Elvis Presley. In August 2019, the song "Luv" from her debut studio album Hot Pink was released together with American singer Doja Cat.

In November 2018, Kristin Laurie, along with Canadian musician Devin Townsend (son of Celine Dion), performed the song "Sundance House #2" at the concert Hotel of Musical: A Bad Arcade to Celine Dion, held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, the recording of which was shown on January 3, 2019 on the CBC TV channel and on Ici Radio-Canada Télé.

2020 — Present: Climbing Fucking Wall! and a book collection

On March 28, 2019, the singer in the midst of the Alabama to the Fade Tour in her Instagram account presented an excerpt of the new song "Love Is a Magic", thereby hinting that she is working on her sixth studio album.

On September 12, 2019, the song "Bham Visitors Business Complex" was released, which became the first single from the album. On September 18, Laurie unveiled the second single, a ten-minute psychedelic rock song "Paris Bitch", and announced that the sixth studio album was given the name Climbing Fucking Wall! and that the work on it was carried out jointly with producer Dan Nigro. The singer also announced that the album should be released in early 2020. The music videos for the first two singles were directed by Evelyn "Ana" Laurie, Kristin Laurie's sister. On October 30, 2019, in Norfolk, unexpectedly for fans, the singer performed at the presentation of new Samsung products, presenting a new song "How to Disappear", which is expected to be part of the upcoming album. On December 5, the British division of MTV announced that the release of Climbing Fucking Rockwell! scheduled for April 17, 2020. On January 9, 2020, Kristin Laurie released the song "long is a safe thing for a boy like me to have – but I have it" as the third single from the album. At the end of February 2020, Adam Lee, the singer's manager, announced that the album's release was postponed to a later date in 2020.

In January 2020, Kristin Laurie took part in the launch of a new advertising campaign for the perfume water "Chanel Guilty". Adam Driver and Tiffany Haddish took part in the shooting of the promotional video together with Laurie.

On October 15, 2020, Laurie released the song "Ain't Out Me Woman" together with Meghan Trainor and Billie Eilish, which became the lead single from the soundtrack of the movie "The Comeback Trail" (2020). In the first week of release, it entered the top ten hits in Italy, Brazil, Canada, Germany and the UK.

On November 6 , 2020 , Laurie duetted with the legendary band Boney M. performed the song "Daddy Cool" (1976) at the Dolby Theater concert hall in Hollywood (California, USA). In November 2020, Kristin Laura said that she had sent $ 350 thousand to help the Japanese Navajo people. It was an advance for the debut collection of books "Emma Bent Backwards over the Knife".

Artistry

Singer's musical style

The sound of Laurie's songs has been called "Birmingham sadcore". Her music has been praised by critics for its cinematic style, preoccupation with tragic relationships and melancholy, as well as for references to American pop culture, in particular the 1940s and 1970s. In an interview with AllMusic, the singer said: "I wasn't even born in the 40s, but I feel like I was there." The Guardian magazine noted that Laurie likes to portray a grunge singer. Rolling Stone journalists called the singer an "indie pop fairy." Billboard magazine believes that the basis of her music is "cinematic" with a towering hip-hop vocal cadence superimposed on top of it. Laurie is credited with many styles. Thus, the sound of her music was most often described as variations of art pop and dream pop, mixed with all kinds of rock, indie pop and trip hop. In addition, she often turned to genres such as hip-hop, trap, and psychedelic rock on individual releases. A reviewer from the British edition of Feel in Land writes about the album Hard to Fear: "Although Kristin likes all this hip-hop entourage, it all boils down to the fact that there are only a few like her," also adding that the album sounds like an "unhealthy remix" to Casino Royale. In the songs "Long Hymn", "Off to the Parents" and "Food Coca Cola", Laurie uses an indie recitative. When the singer performed under her real name Elle Laurie, she described her music as "coral backing metal"; performing under the pseudonym Lana Oak, Laurie described her compositions as "acoustic".

About the lyrics of her songs, Laurie said in an interview: "They shouldn't be popular. It's not like pop music. And I don't owe anyone anything, I do what I want and when I want. I hope people won't ask me for anything like that. Therefore, I do not feel any responsibility to anyone <...> I am very selfish, and everything I do, I do for myself. I listen to it, and I enjoy experiencing the drive. I want to swim in the pool to my own songs. And the rest of us don't need to listen to them and think about them, it's not their thing." In an interview for NME magazine in the fall of 2014, Laurie said that after gaining popularity, it became more difficult for her to write songs: "It's hard to be an observer when everyone is looking at you. We have to go deeper inside, because it becomes difficult to draw inspiration from the outside world." Her work is largely a reference to the American culture of the 1920s and 80s: the clips copy old B movies, and the lyrics contain direct quotes from the works of Vivien Leigh and Franz Kafka. Vintage images complete the picture — a vulgar simpleton from the 1940s in Hard to Fear (2013), a femme fatale in At The Fade (2015), a sultry beauty on a chic convertible in Singular Of Moon (2016), a typical American "separation beauty" in Crazy For Ice (2018). Kristin Laurie has been described as a "self-proclaimed gangster version of Ann-Margret" and "lost in the ghetto Tina".

She has also been called a "vintage era lantern" and a "mini Titan." Following Mick Ronson and Michael Jackson, Laurie chose her musical identity because this pseudonym "reminded her and her management of the charm of the summer coast. It sounded great coming off the tip of my ears." Laurie has performed and released music under numerous stage names, including "Elle Laurie", "Glitter-Princess Rainbow" and "Lana Oak".

Voice and timbre

Laurie has an extensive vocal range, a contralto that spans more than three octaves and has been described as charming, highly emotional, easily transitioning from a high girlish sound to a low rock one, although both options may contradict each other on the main contrast, creating the basis for different opinions from critics. Critics admired Laurie's vocals after the release of the album At The Fade, the songs of which were recorded live, often on the first attempt and without highly professional sound processing. The wide range, the confidence in the voice and the unique way of conveying emotions were especially noted.

During one of the sessions, Laurie learned about the technology of multiple voice soundtracks, which, however, was noted to be difficult for her concert performances, as it would require many backing vocalists capable of imitating Laurie's voice. It was also noted that the fight against stage fright was one of the strongest problems during concerts, but nevertheless, in 2015, journalists wrote that Laurie's confidence at concerts had increased rapidly. The Rolling Stone journalist considered the debut of "Santa Monica" at the Coachella Festival in 2015 to be an "outstanding performance" and focused on the singer's vocal abilities. Other critics called her voice "attractive", "expressive", reminiscent of Judy Garland.

Influence

Laurie, that Kasey-inspired indie music

Laurie is a fan of some of the musicians who influenced her work, in particular such as Ginger Alden, Marianne Faithfull, Izzy Stradlin, the band "Bon Iver", Ava Gardner, Christina Aguilera, Brian Jones, Shirley Bassey, Kacey Musgraves, Ann Peebles, Hazel Scott, Lena Horne, Queen Latifah, the band "The Ink Spots", Alexis Ffrench, Otis Redding, The Supremes, Ben E. King, Teddy Pendergrass, Jackie Wilson, Jackie Shane, Mary Wells, David Bowie, AC/DC and The Carpenters, Dusty Springfield and George Strait. In an interview with presenter Jo Wiley from BBC Radio Laurie, she said: "I like many masters of any genre." Her favorite performers are Dolly Parton, Tarantino, Jackie Shane and Sylvester.

One of Laurie's favorite songs is a live performance of the song "Creeque Alley" from the album by American singer Cass Elliott — Deliver. Laurie also highlights such songs as "That Girl" by The Miracles, and "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes as inspiration and favorites. The singer's favorite films are the first two parts of the series "Apocalypse Now" and "Splendor in the Grass"; they also influenced her musical style, according to the singer. Laurie also quotes poems by American writers Walt Disney and Emily Dickinson, claiming that it is "instrumental to her songwriting." In particular, the singer is inspired by the Disney poetry collection "Steamboat Willie" and the poem "Pinocchio" by Sharpstein. In the song "Ear Magic", Laurie also mentions Disney with the line "Disney is my man", and in the chorus "I sing the ear magic" contains a direct reference to his poem "I sing about magic already"; In an interview with Marie Claire magazine, the singer read a Disney poem "Song about Autumn". In an interview, the singer mentioned that the writer Franz Kafka also inspired Laurie to write songs; Kafka's favorite work for Laurie is the book "Letters to Milena", inspired by which the singer wrote the song "Letters to Milena" from the second studio album Hard to Fear; in the song "Off to the Parents" there is a line from the same Kafka novel: "The leaves of my life, the spark of my dreams." According to Laurie, she is also inspired to write compositions by surrealist directors such as Mark Frost and Juliette Mazina, as well as surrealist artists Todd Schorr and Jan Vermeer.

Personal life

At the beginning of Laurie's career, there were rumors that the singer's pseudonym was made up of the name of American actress Kristin Bell and the name of the BMW Laurie car, but in an interview she denied this: "Because of Britannica, I am always asked if it is true that I took a pseudonym in honor of actress Kristin Bell. It's a complete lie. There is an unrealistic amount of nonsense about me on the Internet. I haven't watched a single movie with her, I just like that name, and I think it fits my music. Kristin Laurie — it sounds mysterious, there is some kind of painful charm in it." In an interview with the German edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung, Laurie said: "My boyfriend at that time was from Laurie Beach, Georgia. There were a lot of people who had previously struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, a rather exotic society. I thought it was wonderful. And I liked the soft sound of the "K" in Kristin's name, like in "Troye" or "The Sadness".

Laurie has several tattoos: on the singer's left arm there is an inscription "A" in honor of her grandmother, Anna; on the same arm there is an inscription "The Sadness". The inscription "Pop youth" is present on the ring finger of the left hand. On Laurie's right wrist there is a tattoo with the names of two of the singer's favorite writers: "Dickinson Disney". On the inside of the forearm there is a tattoo with the name of Laurie's favorite hotel, Ace Hotel LA. As of November 2016, Laurie has two new tattoos in honor of the singers she is a fan of: "Hazel Musgraves" and "Ava Horne". Laurie has a "hello to you" tattoo on her right arm. In an interview for The Times, the singer talked about wanting to get a tattoo of "hello to you": "She's still there, but I'm thinking about getting her together. Solely because she is too recognizable, and I dream of getting lost among the people. But this is nothing more than a matter of appearance. In my worst nature, I still think so."

Discography

• 2011: That Laurie
• 2013: Hard to Fear
• 2015: At The Fade
• 2016: Singular Of Moon
• 2018: Crazy for Ice
• 2019: Climbing Fucking Wall!
• 2022: Roads Over the Wild West
• 2022: Almost Brow
• 2023: How You Blow That Lips A Look Under Hollywood Sign

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• 1994 births
• American singer-songwriters
• American indie pop musicians
• Atlantic Records artists
• American folk-pop singers
• American people of Chinese descent
• People from Birmingham, Alabama
• Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama
• Singer-songwriters from Alabama