GRRRL Music: Your debut Long Way Home was raw teenage heartbreak; the new record feels confident and nuanced. Has your approach to vulnerability changed?

Låpsley: When you’re 18 you’re awash in “firsts,” so the emotions land in extremes—Hurt Me, Falling Short, trains and journeys, everything life‑or‑death. Now there’s a trust in myself that lets me explore the shades between those extremes. The pain is still there, but it’s layered with self‑worth and boundaries, and the production mirrors that complexity.

 

GRRRL Music: I’m obsessed with “Heartless.” Where were you—emotionally or creatively—when you wrote it?
Låpsley: “Heartless” captured a coldness I felt after being hurt. I’d gone from victim to the one hurting others, and that lyric—“night stretches beyond darkness, it wraps around me and I wake up heartless”—was my first real self‑reflection. You either stay the victim or heal; the next two records map that healing.
 

GRRRL Music: We love your “beep‑boop” production. How has your sound evolved, and what steered you on the new album?
Låpsley: Early on I didn’t even know what a producer was—I was in GarageBand with one keyboard, slicing audio by hand. Now I co‑write and work with producers who understand me—Joe Brown, Greg Abrahams—but only those who treat me as an equal. 
 

GRRRL Music : Congrats on launching Her  Own  Recordings! What’s been the biggest unexpected challenge?
Låpsley: The industry is a monopoly. To land on Spotify playlists you need a “digital person,” but that role almost never exists outside major‑label payrolls. Halfway through my campaign an ex‑major‑label exec started consulting—and saved us—but until then we were locked out. Releasing an album ethically costs about £80 k, and I raised that by writing for other artists.
 

GRRRL Music: Now that you’re fully independent, how has that freedom changed your music?
Låpsley: I protect Låpsley from anyone who doesn’t “get” me. My gate is high; growth happens with a tiny circle who respect me as a woman and leader.
 

GRRRL Music: You write from the viewpoint of “the woman dating a man after their recent divorce”—a perspective we rarely hear. Can you talk about that?
Låpsley: “Featherweight Champion Of The World” came from dating someone freshly divorced. He told me about the marriage in the middle of the sea—literally—so I couldn’t run away. Lines like

“After her comes afterburn
Soothe it in the sea
You built a home, then took it down
Wood back to the trees
And you're mapping my topography
I'm changing with the leaves
And I can't take my gaze away
And you can't keep your hands off me”
 

GRRRL Music: The album feels like a story: love triangle begins, lessons learned, self‑possession at the end. Did we read that right?
Låpsley: Pretty much. It ends on “Lilac Hues,” written in the thick of choosing between two lovers—one “red,” one “blue,” and me in the lilac middle. I realised I actually want traditional things—marriage, kids—and that shook me. Finishing the record with Greg after our breakup, while my new partner waited in South Africa, was wild but necessary.

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GRRRL Music : Tour plans? Anything you’d love our followers to check out?
Låpsley: U.S. agent still pending, but I’ll shout when Los Angeles is on the books! Meanwhile, I’ve hand‑poured a candle called “Six Hands”—smoked wood, earth, a hint of sex—to immerse you in the album. They’re on lapsley.store, packed by me.

Interview by Ashley & Kelsey for GRRRL Music. Text lightly edited for length and clarity.