Empress Of: "I'm trying to feel sexy in this uncertainty"

Following a breakup, Empress Of’s new album sees her living her best life and having a blast.

Following a breakup, Empress Of’s new album sees her living her best life and having a blast.

Words: Abigail Firth. Photos: Kaio Cesar.

To make her fourth album, Empress Of escaped to Miami. After having her heart broken by a director, getting out of Los Angeles – where she's been based for most of her career – was likely necessary. What came out of the endeavour is Empress Of's glossiest, sexiest, campiest album yet.

Titled 'For Your Consideration' after the Oscars campaign her ex was running when they split, it's an unapologetic single girls album, and ironically, her most collaborative.

By contrast, her relationship status has changed again since writing the record, so she isn't bitter about having to promote an album about severe singledom on Valentine's Day when we speak from her hotel room in Shoreditch. A little jet lagged and still coming down from the adrenaline rush of playing her first show back in months in London the night before, Empress Of (Lorely Rodriguez to her mates) is just about awake for our chat.

Following a breakup, Empress Of’s new album sees her living her best life and having a blast.

Words: Abigail Firth. Photos: Kaio Cesar.

Titled 'For Your Consideration' after the Oscars campaign her ex was running when they split, it's an unapologetic single girls album, and ironically, her most collaborative.

Rejecting the introspection often explored in her previous albums, 'For Your Consideration' starts quiet and heartbroken, swiftly moving into something more daring. Writing while rebounding and swiping on dating apps for the first time, the album marks a narrative departure from her last full-length, 'I'm Your Empress Of'. That too centred around themes of loneliness and disconnection, but this time, she's revelling in it.

"I rented a convertible, I was at strip clubs; there's something special about music in Miami"

To aid that feeling, Lorely – for the first time since her debut releases – flips between singing in English and Spanish throughout the album. Working with future reggaeton producer Nick Léon and flying out to his base in Miami to do so, the glamour of 'For Your Consideration' is rooted in Lorely living it up in the Floridian city.

Singing in Spanish for the saucier portions of the lyrics works perfectly; think of the way Rosalia makes the track 'HENTAI' sound like a heartfelt ballad; that's sort of the vibe here.

"I was working with a close friend, Jarina DeMarco, who co-wrote some songs with me in Spanish, I just wanted to explore that side of myself, and the lyrics are so flirtatious. There's one line that I say in Spanish that I think is the best line on this album; when I wrote it, I was like, that's a bar. Oh my God. It says, 'tengo la boca abierta pero no estoy cantando', which is 'my mouth is open, but I'm not singing'. I was like, you know, oral or whatever, but as a singer, the way I sing it in Spanish, it's so confident, it's so swaggy, it just feels very fluid."

Also on the album are Rina Sawayama - whom Lorely supported on tour at the end of 2023 - on the dreamy single 'Kiss Me', and MUNA, on closing track 'What's Love'. Both features feel like perfect additions, with Lorely admitting that hearing Rina's verse for the first time had her screaming in the car and that working with MUNA felt like a manifested dream, and the collaborations didn't stop there.

"I produced pretty much all of the last album, and I think when I produce, I just like to make dance music, and for this record 'For Your Consideration', I had so many collaborators and co-writers, I was searching for sounds. I worked with some producers who produced and wrote 'XS' with Rina [Sawayama], some Caroline [Polachek] stuff, and some Carly [Rae Jepsen] stuff. I worked with Umru, who's part of the PC Music world, really throwing in people from all over the spectrum of pop. I think it's really fun when I get in the room with those people because I'm not gonna make a song that sounds like any of those artists, but it's really fun for me to use those textures and sounds."

It all works together to usher in Empress Of's big pop girl era. Elevated by campy visuals and bigger production, 'For Your Consideration's sonic landscape is as vast as Lorely's ambition. From the sweaty Miami clubs to the top of the Hollywood hills, she cultivates the sound of letting go and starting again, using her breathing as a beat across the record that grounds it amongst the wobbling club synths.

"It's so confident, it's so swaggy"

As the cycle goes on, she'll be returning to the stage for a bigger and better tour (few details as of yet) this year. But with so many changes to her process this time around, how was she feeling with extra cooks in the kitchen?

'For Your Consideration' marks the longest gap between Empress Of projects so far, with Lorely turning out her first three albums with just a couple of years between them, but her vision for this one is fully realised. Embracing changes to her life, sound and process, she acknowledges the fact that she's not your average pop star, but truly, she's all the better for it.

"Don't remind me! Someone wrote like, her last album was four years ago, and I felt put on blast! I've been writing this record for two years, and the truth was, I just wasn't ready to write a record after 'I'm Your Empress Of'. This album is so sonically different from that record, and that took time to step away from. There are people who put records out every year, but I want to make something that feels like I conceptualised it, you know? And it just took me time with this one. I had to arrive somewhere. It just took four years; I'm not mad about it. I don't think it works in the economy of today's music. But I don't care."

Taken from the April 2024 issue of Dork. Empress Of's album 'For Your Consideration' is out 22nd March.