Maude Latour is Indie Pop's Most Promising Newcomer
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Like many other people, I miss Lorde so much. I listen to her old music to fill that void in my heart, but it’s not the same—I need new music. So until she finally releases her third album, which sounds like the latest iteration of “when pigs fly,” I have to find substitutes for her energy by listening to similar artists—among them, Maude Latour.
Latour is a 21-year-old Columbia University student living in New York City, best known for bedroom pop songs like “Block Your Number,” “Furniture,” and “One More Weekend.” As a fellow 20-something college student living in a big city, I often find myself gravitating toward music that resonates with me and artists who are similar to me. Granted, I’m not a TikTok star with millions of streams on my music, but you get the idea.
Latour has found success through TikTok, amassing over 3 million likes across her video posts. While her music and songwriting often bear resemblances to Lorde’s, she does have her own style: one more upbeat and poppy than the heartwrenching records we’ve come to expect from Lorde. Despite having a decent social media following on TikTok and Instagram, I think she’s on the cusp of developing mainstream success; so if you have an individuality complex and want to be able to say you liked her before she was famous, I’d suggest listening now.
She doesn’t have many songs out yet: she released a six-song EP, “Starsick,” in 2019 and has dropped four other singles since. However, with the recent increase in attention on social media, it’s likely that she’ll continue to put out new music in the coming months.
If you’re anything like me and value the craft of songwriting, you’ll appreciate Latour’s talent. She independently writes and helps produce her own music, which often focuses on love, heartbreak and self-reflection. As a philosophy student, she has used TikToks to state the importance of encouraging introspection and transcendence within her music, which you can hear in songs like “Ride My Bike,” where she sings: “My mother made me promise home for dinner before dark / But a God I can't explain says ‘Take a right at Central Park’ / To clear my mind.”
But for me, where Latour really shines is in her four post-EP singles. Songs like “Furniture” and “Block Your Number” showcase a more refined sound and production, stronger lyrics, and an overall more confident disposition. Latour is getting into the groove and into her niche, and her music is all the better for it. She captures genuine feelings of heartbreak, ones that are messy, contradictory and lonely. In “Furniture,” she sings: “And damn, I really hate your guts / I hate all your friends and I miss you so much / But I blocked all your texts,” capturing the all-too-relatable conflicting emotions of hating an ex but still missing them and the time you spent together.
Latour is yet another artist making successful use of the social media business model for promoting music. Her account shares random personal stories, acoustic versions of her songs, behind-the-scenes footage and promotional content for her music. This type of social media presence emphasizes a genuine relationship with supporters, where the artist is sharing aspects of their life in addition to content about their music.
While we may be seeing more mainstream celebrities post on social media, it’s often disingenuous and carefully constructed by a social media team. Contrastingly, Latour will often refer to her followers as her “besties” and share details about her life outside of music. We should expect to continue seeing smaller artists make effective use of their social media platforms, like TikTok, as ways to connect with supporters while simultaneously putting out their music.
So yes, I can definitely hear Lorde’s sound come through in songs like “Block Your Number,” but Latour has proven herself to be an artist in her own right, one who we will likely see hit the mainstream in the near future, deservedly so. Act fast if you want to be able to say, “I knew her before she was famous.”