LAUREL – “Bow Down”

I've spent a considerable amount of time in LAUREL's corner lately. In September, we found her crying on a tennis court over a man whose romantic extracurricular activities would have disqualified him from most respectable sporting institutions. Then she joined FISHER for “Staring At The Sun,” earning a place in our favorite cover art of October. As self-appointed Consigliere of Troop Beverly Hills, I feel I've demonstrated the requisite devotion and officially earned my LAUREL badge. Which brings us rather conveniently to “Bow Down.”

LAUREL's latest is a magnificent declaration of lasting love, delivered with the kind of cinematic grandeur that makes an ordinary romantic commitment feel like a matter of national importance. The production swells and expands around her, carrying the drama of a film's closing scene when the orchestra has been instructed to spare no expense. But the real extravagance is that voice. Rich, unmistakable, capable of moving from a private confession to something approaching a royal proclamation without losing its humanity. Other artists might share elements of her musical vocabulary, but the way LAUREL sings belongs entirely to her. She has the sort of voice that makes you want to learn who it belongs to before the chorus has finished.

And what a fascinating proposition she's making. “Bow Down” concerns the kind of love that survives the initial excitement and becomes a daily decision. LAUREL has described wanting to write about loving forever, something she feels receives considerably less attention than the first intoxicating stages of romance. Fair point. Pop music has spent decades documenting the first kiss, the first fight, the spectacular breakup, and the subsequent revenge wardrobe. Maintaining a relationship after everyone has learned where the other person keeps their dirty laundry? Apparently less commercially interesting. Yet LAUREL finds enormous romance in that very commitment. She sings of being loved like a goddess, of wanting someone to recognize her beauty beneath the surface, and of the strange vulnerability involved in allowing another person to know you completely.

There's a particularly revealing moment when fame, roses, and online hostility enter the picture. Suddenly, the grand romantic fantasy has acquired a few modern inconveniences. She describes herself as having a cold British heart while admitting that underneath it all, she still craves love. It's a wonderful contradiction, and one that gives the song more substance than its sweeping chorus might initially suggest. You can be independent, ambitious, adored by strangers, and still want someone waiting at home who remembers who you were before any of that happened. Preferably someone who thinks you're pretty on the inside, although I see no reason to discourage compliments about the outside as well.

The accompanying video finds LAUREL in an equestrian setting, alternately riding, posing, and sharing the frame with a rather magnificent horse. She directed it herself, explaining that the relationship between horse and rider reflects the mutual trust and vulnerability she wanted to explore. I can appreciate the symbolism, although the song itself supplies enough drama to populate an entire historical miniseries. Give me the manor house, the scandalous correspondence, the candlelit corridors, and at least one emotionally consequential scene in the rain. The horse can stay. In fact, give it top billing.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

“Bow Down” is the latest preview of LAUREL's third studio album, CRYING ON THE TENNIS COURT, arriving January 22, 2027 via 3 Vultures Records. She wrote, recorded, and produced the album herself, which makes the scale of these songs all the more impressive. And judging by her recent invitation for fans to dress according to the themes of her Los Angeles and London shows, she's thinking well beyond the recordings. I love an artist who encourages an audience to make an occasion of things. We could use more of that. Dress for the music. Commit to the atmosphere. Give people a reason to open the wardrobe and reconsider their entire personality for an evening.

LAUREL has supplied the soundtrack, the wardrobe inspiration, and now a fairly persuasive argument for lifelong devotion. And I'm beginning to think she's onto something. There's a particular pleasure in finding an artist whose world you want to keep visiting, especially when each new song gives you another reason to stay. If this is what she's offering ahead of January's album, I intend to see the whole thing through. Besides, I've already committed to the outfit.