Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry Pulls Back Layers of ‘Shame’ on New Single

Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry is pulling back layers of discomfort on her latest release, “Shame,” a follow-up to her recent solo debut, “Are You Awake?” The record, she explained in a statement, toys with the double meaning of its title. “I had the idea for a while of a song that had the tagline of “what a shame,” but in a sarcastic way,” Mayberry said. “The shame you feel and internalize, but what a shame you feel like that and can’t change it.”

Through hallowed percussion, Mayberry details feelings of schizophrenia and hypocrisy while reeling through the dissonance between what she actually feels and what she has been told she should. “Looking back on a lot of my life in terms of relationships, sexuality and my sense of self in the world, there is a lot of shame associated with that,” she explained. “I came into my teens in the early-mid 2000s, a time period we now regard as a bit of a shithole in terms of gender and media messages (post–Woodstock 99, the dawn of sex tape leaks, Girls Gone Wild, etc. etc).”

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She continued: “What was deemed “attractive” for women and girls was quite disturbing in hindsight, and that’s what went into my brain at a formative time, romanticizing bargain basement, local band boy versions of Reality Bites Ethan Hawke. But now I know better, my wiring is still to find those things attractive on a cellular level. I know not to want those things academically, but emotionally, romantically, sexually, I have been trained to find those things valuable and attractive. I know you are what you eat and it’s the taste that keeps me tame.”

Branching out on her own has allowed Mayberry to explore these kinds of complex ideas more deeply. She first announced she would be stepping away from Chvrches to pursue a solo career in July. “There would be lyrics or concepts that I had come up with over the last couple of years and then thought that I couldn’t do in a Chvrches song,” she told NME in an interview. “These are things that I just need to say from my point of view. Obviously I’m the narrator in Chvrches, but you’re still speaking on behalf of a group.”

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