Review: Lauran Hibberd - Girlfriend Material

Lauran Hibberd

Girlfriend Material

‘Girlfriend Material’ is unabashedly Lauran Hibberd in all her glory. A deeply personal exploration of her whirlwind past few years. She’s allowing herself to feel it all, but unafraid to still have fun while doing so.

Lauran Hibberd’s debut album ‘Garageband Superstar’ was bittersweet for the Pop-punk singer. It arrived shortly after the passing of her father and the end of a long-term relationship. It was the culmination of years of recording, releasing EPs and relentless touring. Now her follow-up ‘Girlfriend Material’ finds Hibbered processing it all and coming into herself as an artist.

Confident in herself and her style, she’s not afraid to take risks with her sound across the album whilst opening up more than ever, resulting in one of the most enjoyable and emotionally mature albums of the year so far.

Opener and lead single, ‘I Suck At Grieving’ immediately sets the tone. It’s a mature, beautiful and unsparingly honest depiction of what it’s like to go through the intensity of grief. Case in point the brilliantly devastating lines “Stuck in bed with no good reason, I'm not ill and I'm not bleeding, So why the hell do they call it healing?”

Whilst Hibberd’s always been keen to open up to fans through music, previously it’s been with a self-depreciating or knowing wink. Throughout ‘Girlfriend Material’, she’s letting the listener in like never before. She’s always been ‘real’ but never before so raw. It becomes quickly evident that with her second record, growth is the name of the game. Whether it’s through the ferocious, head-banging rock anthem ‘Better Than I Was Before’ or the terrific ‘Jealous’ with its spoken word voicemail styled spoken word adlibs akin to the pop-punk classic ‘Complicated’ by Avril Lavigne.

‘Happy For You’ pairs perfectly with ‘Jealous’. Both sharply navigate the breakdown of a long-term relationship and the bewildering emotional wreckage it leaves behind as you’re forced to witness them unabashedly move on. ‘Anti Fragile’ meanwhile is an introspective and mellow acoustic ballad that puts Hibberd’s underused softer vocal register in the spotlight with shining results.

That’s not to say Hibberd has shied away from her classic tongue-in-cheek humour, it’s once more an ever-present delight. Her trademark personality and humour shine through on ‘Mary’ as she explores unexpected desires and her sexuality in this tale of a double date with a difference. This variance in style and sentiment across the album means that when Hibberd returns to these more traditional Pop-punk roots they hit that much harder. 

For example, ‘2nd Prettiest (Girl In The World)’ is destined to bring carnage to clubs with its stadium-level sound and stomp-along chorus, whilst ‘So Romantic’ is an almighty middle finger to modern dating, the “fucked up guys” who love to mess you around and the demise of traditional romance. 

Second albums are meant to be notoriously difficult, if so, no one gave Hibberd the memo. ‘Girlfriend Material’ is unabashedly Lauran Hibberd in all her glory. A deeply personal exploration of her whirlwind past few years. She’s allowing herself to feel it all, but unafraid to still have fun while doing so.

Rating: 8.5/10
Words: Philip Giouras