Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry announces debut solo album ‘Vicious Creature’ with vivacious single ‘Crocodile Tears’
Chvrches‘ Lauren Mayberry has announced her debut solo album ‘Vicious Creature’ and shared her new single ‘Crocodile Tears’.
Written alongside Mathew Koma (Winnetka Bowling League) and Ethan Gruska, Mayberry’s new vivacious track features an 80s-sounding beat and vibrant synths while lyrics – “Crocodile tears running down your face / Oh, what a man will say just to get his way / Always crying wolf /So I’m sad to say / I don’t really want to hear it” – describe the feeling of being fed up with having to deal with men who would say anything to get what they want.
Directed by Charlotte Patmore, the song’s accompanying visualiser sees clips of Mayberry in a lavish hotel room dressed in an oversized My Bloody Valentine t-shirt and red tights while posing and having tea.
Speaking about the songs that make up her LP in a press release, Mayberry explained that she wanted to adopt “a sort of character where I could really let go of the idea that I need to be ‘nice,’ because I think that holds so many women back in their lives.”
“If I didn’t have to be seen as ‘nice,’ I would feel comfortable telling certain people to fuck off when they treat me like shit – on this record, and in these songs, I get to do that.”
‘Vicious Creature’ – the singer’s debut solo after serving as the frontwoman of Chvrches since 2011 – is set for release on December 6 via Island. You can pre-order/pre-save the LP here.
A press release for the album reads that the LP sees the Scottish singer write about “sexuality and empowerment from a profoundly personal perspective for the very first time, reconnecting with the icons of her youth (Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna) as well as ‘90s British girl groups such as All Saints and Sugababes, whose music made a formative impact on her in the 2000s.”
The LP also saw her work with Koma and Gruska as well as Tobias Jesso Jr. (Harry Styles, Adele) and Dan McDougall, helping her access “not only a new world of inspiration but the deep well of creativity she’s had within her all along.”
“So much of this process has been an exercise in empowering myself to listen to my own intuition – something I really trained myself out of,” Mayberry said. “That’s ultimately why you start making things – because you felt a feeling, and you wanted to articulate that somehow. I think it was important for me to relearn that kind of independence, and recognize what I bring to any table I choose to sit at.”
Lauren Mayberry’s ‘Vicious Creature’ tracklist is:
1. ‘Something in the Air’
2. ‘Crocodile Tears’
3. ‘Shame’
4. ‘Anywhere But Dancing’
5. ‘Punch Drunk’
6. ‘Oh, Mother’
7. ‘Sorry, Etc’
8. ‘Change Shapes’
9. ‘Mantra’
10. ‘A Work of Fiction’
11. ‘Sunday Best’
12. ‘Are You Awake’
The LP will also feature Mayberry’s previously released songs ‘Something In The Air‘, ‘Are You Awake?’, ‘Shame’ and ‘Change Shapes’.
Speaking about other things that served as inspiration for her while creating her album, the singer cited musicals such as Cabaret and Chicago and shared “Especially when it came to the visuals for the album, I knew I wanted them to be a part of the storytelling in a way I haven’t been able to do previously,” she says. “I wanted to have an ownership over my physical self and how I was involved in the visual part of the storytelling, so I felt like I was in the driving seat of the aesthetic rather than fitting into a landscape that wasn’t really for me.”
With Chvrches’ debut album ‘The Bones Of What You Believe‘ celebrating its 10th anniversary back in 2023, Mayberry took a moment to reflect on her time with the group and said: “There’s things I’ve never been comfortable performing or sharing with a band of men. As much as my time with the band has always had this feminist narrative underpinning it, a lot of my role felt like it was more about me trying to fit in than leading the conversation, and I wondered what it would look like for me to create under different circumstances.”
Previously speaking to NME about her solo era and album, Mayberry explained how she compartmentalised the material she was writing as separate to Chvrches and said: “it was easy, because it was born out of things that I couldn’t or wouldn’t write in the band”.
Along with the announcement of ‘Vicious Creature’, the singer has also shared the dates of her 2025 North American tour. A ticket pre-sale will be available tomorrow (October 30) for those who sign up here. General ticket sales will commence on Friday (November 1) at 10am local time. Check out a full list of Mayberry’s live dates below and visit here to purchase tickets.
Lauren Mayberry 2025 North American Tour Dates are:
JANUARY 2025
28 – House of Blues – San Diego, CA
29 – Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
31 – Soundwell – Salt Lake City, UT
FEBRUARY 2025
1 – Gothic – Denver, CO
2 – Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS
3 – Fine Line – Minneapolis, MN
5 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
7 – Concert Hall – Toronto, ON
8 – Electric City – Buffalo, NY
9 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
11 – Royale – Boston, MA
13 – Webster Hall – New York, NY
14 – Empire Live – Albany, NY
17 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
18 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
20 – Masquerade – Hell – Atlanta, GA
21 – The Underground – Charlotte, NC
22 – The Mil at Cannery Hall – Nashville, TN
24 – White Oak Downstairs – Houston, TX
25 – Granada – Dallas, TX
26 – Emo’s – Austin, TX
28 – Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
MARCH 2025
2 – The Belasco – Los Angeles, CA
Upon announcing her solo endeavour last year, Mayberry shared her hopes that her music would be a “fun, freaky, sad, weird, joyful pop playground”.
The post Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry announces debut solo album ‘Vicious Creature’ with vivacious single ‘Crocodile Tears’ appeared first on NME.
Anagricel Duran
NME
