Empress Of
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You already know Empress Of. You’ve heard her music. She’s your favorite artist’s favorite artist. She’s toured with Carly Rae Jepsen, Blood Orange, Maggie Rogers and Mura Masa, and collaborated with Khalid, Tommy Genesis, Shygirl and KITO. And if you don’t know her, the Los Angeles musician’s fourth album, For Your Consideration, will make you a fan.
As Empress Of, Lorely Rodriguez has always made music that crosses genre and style with ease. The Honduran-American artist draws inspiration from Cocteau Twins, Bjork and Robyn in the same breath and infuses every song with genuine emotion. For Your Consideration, a follow-up to 2020’s I’m Your Empress Of and 2022’s Save Me EP, amplifies those qualities, embracing a camp, fantasy-tinged vibe that plays with the idea of Hollywood. Lorely wrote the album in LA, Miami and Montreal, and worked with a collection of songwriters and producers, including Nick León, Billboard, Valley Girls, Cecile Believe and Umru. The album evolved out of the title track, which Lorely conjured out of the midst of disappointment.
Lorely, who executive produced all of the songs, was inspired by vocal music and wanted to infused each track with layers of her voice. Her vocals became the drum beats, the bass and the keyboard lines, with ASMR breathing tinging the album. She tapped Rina Sawayama for evocative single “Kiss Me” and Muna for pulsating album closer “What’s Love.” The songs, which veer between English and Spanish, are sexy and flirtatious. They reflect on the transactional nature of love and sex, which is mirrored by the ephemeral sense of existence in the entertainment industry.
For Your Consideration unwinds a colorful tapestry of life and love in Los Angeles today. It sees Lorely at her most vulnerable and poignant, but also at her least heartbroken. It’s who she is now, as a person and as an artist. It’s also a reminder that you should already have Empress Of in heavy rotation.
