CHVRCHES' Lauren Mayberry responds to "bullshit" album review

CHVRCHES made their big return on Friday, releasing their first album in three years, Love Is Dead. While many have been loving the new record, one early review of the album lead to the group’s singer, Lauren Mayberry, taking to Twitter to label the review as “bullshit”.

Last week, Stereogum published a review of Love Is Dead which said, amongst other things, that the album is “not a faceplant, but it’s definitely a stumble”, and asking whether Love Is Dead is “worse than the previous CHVRCHES albums, or has the band merely fallen out of fashion?”

CHVRCHES’ frontwoman Lauren Mayberry soon took to Twitter to express her distaste at the author’s evaluation of the album, noting that it felt more like a personal attack than a measured analysis.

“I try never to read reviews about our band or our music but today I read something that made me think (again) that this rhetoric is kind of bullshit,” Mayberry wrote on Twitter. “Not because it’s a “bad” review, but beyond that. If you don’t like the music, fine. If you don’t like the band, fine. If you don’t like me, fine/I feel you 99% of the time. But please don’t make this music and this record a symbol or scapegoat for something else.”

“Our music has recently been complimented more “in hindsight” because there was an “outspoken” woman in the band, but I have sure as shit had enough of it being overly praised or crucified because our band had people in it who bothered to have common sense opinions about common sense things.”

If you’re disappointed in me for not making “better” music, that’s your prerogative,” Mayberry continued. “But I am disappointed in you for not making better journalism and / or changing the way that you are for the moment we are in.”

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— Lauren Mayberry (@laurenevemay) May 24, 2018

Now, after gaining widespread support of her response to Stereogum’s review, Lauren Mayberry was interviewed by NME over the weekend where she explained what went into her decision to respond in the way that she did.

“To me that wasn’t because it was a bad review. I think it’s different because I used to work in media and I feel like a lot of journalism is based on snark and celebrity culture,” she explained.

“The thing that annoyed me about is that it was you’re not reviewing the music, you’re reviewing what you think of me as a person and what you think of the things that I stand for and whether you think that’s superficial or not, whether it’s shallow or not.”

“That’s fine if you wanna write about the music, but then don’t belittle the other things because you don’t like this record,” Mayberry continued. “Putting the word resistance in inverted commas isn’t funny, because that’s a thing that’s actually happening and I do feel like it’s easy for a person on a certain level of privilege to look down on those on another.”

Lauren Mayberry also conceded that the group’s tight touring schedule and being left jetlagged partly inspired her to respond to the reviewer, noting that “It’s not good to be very tired and go on the internet.”

CHVRCHES are set to touch down in Australia in July for an appearance at Splendour In The Grass, and will also play a handful of sideshows while they’re in the country. With Love Is Dead having been released on Friday, now’s the perfect time to become familiar with the group’s latest set of tunes.