INTERVIEW: renforshort on new single 'virtual reality' and sexism in music: "I am at a disadvantage because I am a woman and that's just the sad reality of this industry and of life"
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Steph Verschuren
Canada’s Lauren Isenberg, who performs under the name renforshort, started releasing music as an independent artist in 2019. Mixing electro, indie and alt-pop she soon attracted critical acclaim and was signed in Interscope Records, releasing her debut EP teenage angst in 2020.
Her popularity has continued to grow with single ‘fuck i luv my friends’ collecting over 5 million global streams, contributing to her 54 million total global streams. Last month she released her latest single ‘virtual reality’ which tackles our obsessive addiction to technology and the pitfalls that come along with that. “I think a lot of people have a very unhealthy relationship with technology because it’s never really been restricted enough to consider mental health and overall health, and that has fucked so many people up, now more than ever,” she says.
With her second EP due soon, 2021 is set to be the year renforshort solidifies her previous success and builds on her reputation as a new artist to closely watch. We recently caught up with her to find out more.
Hello Ren, thank you so much for carving some time for us today.
Thank you for talking to me!
I want to go straight into your latest single ‘virtual reality’: “I wake up and check my phone before I even take a breath”. Your music speaks volumes to your peers and reminds those of us who are a little past that era how impacted having all access is having on this generation. Can you just talk me through this track and your desire for it?
I think a lot of people got from it that it's ‘fuck social media’. But honestly, it's more about wanting to just be a person again. I feel like, not even just over quarantine but in general for the past few years, I haven't had any desire really to go on a walk or go outside. I'm most comfortable in my room and just... kind of alone, which sounds sad but it's not a sad thing. It's more it's where I'm comfortable. I'm an introverted person. I don't like talking to people that much. I hate running into people I know in public. That kind of stuff. I just wanted to get over that and be more of a social person and more comfortable doing things like that. Where social media plays into this whole song is we’re so used to waking up and checking our phones and we all know we should stop or take a break from it because it's not the healthiest thing for you. But we can't because the world is built around it. Everything that we need to do, wow we communicate, everything. Social media kind of takes away that incentive to want to go outside and see your friends or go to a friend's house.
We've never been so connected but we're still so disconnected at the same time. You often write about the human condition - the flaws, the secrets, the concerns that niggle us. What is it in you that makes you want to pull apart those little secret concerns that we have?
It feels niche. I like talking about things that people aren't always comfortable talking about. For me the big thing is mental health. It's been super hard for me to talk about it. I can talk about it with my therapist, but person to person, face to face, it's hard to talk about. I feel super lucky to have a platform and a place where I can talk about it. It actually helps people. That was my whole goal with everything really, to help people. I didn't know how much it would do. Even if it helped one person, I would be so happy. But I've noticed just in people messaging me, it's helped so many people and I think that's a big aspect of art and any medium. If it can help at least one person, connect with one person, then it's being done right and you've done your job.
The internet has absolutely changed the music industry, however, we as the listeners are now able to connect more directly with the artists, and say how their songs affected them or what they like. You've described the perks but what are also the pitfalls of an online industry?
For example, my tone is pretty sarcastic. I just always have been like that and it's kind of been my downfall a little bit. A lot of the times the way that I speak doesn't translate well on social media but most people know that. I'm talking more about when I text people or I private message people I'm like, ‘oh maybe that wasn't the right way of saying it’. A big downfall is that there is a lot of pressure, what you put on the internet and what you write on the internet is going to be there forever. As many people that want to see it can see it. There is a little bit of a mind fuck that comes with that because you're just concerned with pleasing everyone. The last thing I'll ever do is offend anyone. That's my whole deal. There's a lot of shitty things that come with social media, I think it's bad for a lot of people's mental health. I think there's a lot of comparing that happens especially with young girls and young men. You compare yourself to other people on social media and that's really harmful. I also think that a big reason why our generation is more in touch with themselves and in touch with their mental health and everything is because of social media as well. Making it more accessible and more people talk about it and share their stories. That's been a big help for me and a lot of other people which is great. There's definitely a lot of bad things but there's a lot of good things as well.
There's a lot of winning things on there as well like your music and your integrity. Now, ‘fuck, i luv my friends’ which you released last year - I adore this track. There’s the guitars. There’s that kick drum and the whole thing is like this ultimate band camp love letter. Did you always imagine it to be this cheer squad? Just dissect that song for me because I love it.
Honestly at first when we wrote it I was like ‘yo, this is a country song’. It kind of has a country tinge. But Nirvana is one of my biggest inspirations ever and having that little grungy aspect and bringing that Nirvana-y sound into my music. I use the Nirvana pedal a lot in a lot of my songs. So sonically, I like for it to sound kind of like that. More OG grunge. But lyrically, the weird, bizarre thing about that song is that I have three friends. Literally I have three friends and I wrote a love letter to them that made it seem like I had thousands of them. There are so many people commenting on the song when it came out, ‘I love the song but I don't have any friends’. I was like ‘babes, me neither! i have 3 of them, we're in this together’. It was a surprising song because it does feel a little bit different than everything else I’ve ever done. it's not too upbeat, it's not too slow. It's definitely a weird different song and I really like it. The truth is I didn't love it before I put it out, but after it was out, I started to just like it more. I knew that other people would like it and that was cool. It's definitely a weird song for me. I don't think too much about it but I do think about it a lot if that makes sense.
It's a bloody brilliant song so rock on for doing it. I want to talk to you a little bit about your back story. Can you first of all talk me through your years of growing up, but particularly your exposure to music and how it affected you as the artist that you are today?
Yeah, so as I was saying, I grew up with a heavy grunge influence. My parents were very into grunge. My dad said he found it before it was cool, so I know where i get that annoying gene from where I’m like ‘I found it before it was cool!’ I grew up listening to Nirvana, I grew up listening to Red Hot Chilli Peppers. My parents had these discs that my dad’s friend made him when he got a new car, or like when they got married. We just listened to those all the time. I had an iPod that my dad gave me and it basically just had their music on it. I was exposed to all that music at a young age and it was everything. A lot of classic rock, a lot of ‘90s grunge and there was a lot of hip hop as well like from the ‘80s and ‘90s. My dad has a lot of vinyl, so we would listen to those all the time. My mum was really into music. she was in fan clubs when she was younger like Santana fan clubs and Duran Duran fan clubs - she was like the head of the Duran Duran fan club! It was definitely a big thing at my house growing up. All my brothers are very talented, they're really great instrumentalists so we just jammed, and it was a cool environment to be in growing up and I’m really thankful for that. A lot of my influences do come from how I grew up and what I grew up listening to.
When was it you started to pen songs and use your voice as an instrument? When did that attraction to make it your own come from?
I started writing music fairly young. I would say I was probably 10 or something. I knew how to play the piano. I was starting to learn how to play the guitar and I'd just write shit, just a basic progression. I didn't have anything really to write about so I wrote about what I saw on movies and what I saw on television. I used to love writing books, I’d write little books about whatever and I loved music. So I started writing music and it never really became a real thing until I was 14 or 15. Then I just started writing constantly because I had the resources to do so. I was better at guitar,I was better at piano. I was more in touch with myself, I experienced some more things.
Beautiful. I mean, you did kind of blow up at the end of your adolescence. This is like a huge thing for most people but I imagine there's still a bit of a sacrifice that comes with being propelled so publicly, right when you're still figuring out who you are. What was a couple of the biggest sacrifices that you made to get you where you are today?
That's a really good question. I've been thinking about this a lot recently actually because I am at a disadvantage because I am a woman and that's just the sad reality of this industry, and of life. I've noticed that I've had to work a lot harder than a dude would have to work to get to the same place that I am. When I'm performing, I feel men in particular love to judge women for what they do, and the type of music I make is about being authentic and real. I just want to fuck around when I’m on stage and I want to have a good time but having to deal with ‘oh, she's weird, she's a weirdo, that's so unladylike... blah blah blah’. It bothered me at first but now I just don't give a fuck because it's stupid. Honestly, it's just like the annoying incels on my page that DM me that shit. They're like ‘you're a slut’ and I’m like, ‘you're an asshole’. There's shit like that that I don't like and it was really, really difficult for me when I started. I think that was the big hunch for me because nothing else really ever bothered me. I never really cared about what other people had to say about me as a person unless I did something bad I’d want to know, or if i hurt someone else's feelings. That's the stuff I want to know. I don't want to hear that me simply being a woman is offending you and doing what any man can do and no one would be fazed, but for some reason it is not right for me to do. So that was really really annoying - it still is really annoying, but you just have to ignore those people because they're sad. That's something they have to work on themselves.
Absolutely. We couldn't have said it better here at Women In Pop. And lastly before I leave you, you've got an EP on the horizon. ‘virtual reality’ has this kind of sharper pop sound to previous releases. Can we expect a similar style for the rest of the EP? Or are we going to be eclectic as fuck?
I'm going to say that it is a body of work that most people could listen and have one song, no matter what type of music you like, on this project and like it because it goes everywhere. I don't want to conform to one style of music, you know? So there's definitely underlying elements that follow through in my music. Like, the grungier style, but, you know, I'll make a stripped back acoustic sound that sounds like it should be in a Disney movie.
You made a country song that you turned into a grunge song.
Yeah exactly! I have afterthoughts which is sad as fuck. There's a lot and I'm really really proud of it. I'm really really excited to put it out. I’m really grateful to have people that I know will stick around and there's the people who like that certain sound, that more alternative sound. There's people that like that slower sound. I think that I have a good group of people sticking by me that are going to really like it. I think it's, like, five million times better than my last project. Not that the last project was bad, I love it. But I think it's a really special project so I’m really excited about it.
‘virtual reality’ is out now. You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things renforshort you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
