As her voice belts out in a broken cry of wasted love, the scrunch of her eyes and the break in her high note indicate a familiar acrid taste of a failed relationship.
It is oddly cathartic to hear the quick strums of her ukulele and the steady but bold beat of the drums along with LP’s rough voice and heartbreaking lyrics. LP moreso cries wasted love than sings it in the EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, and a part of you breaks as the song continues to rise and rise until the end of the song where she repeats frustrated and despaired: “Wasted all my love on you, Wasted all my love on you.” The vulnerability of the entire session reminds you of an anguished love that finally feels vindicated and yet bared and vulnerable in tears of nostalgia.
Born and raised in New York, singer/songwriter LP (born as Laura Perogilizzi), commands her audience with her wild, yet operatic trained voice, and fills the room with the strums of her ukulele to a rhythm with roots of indie rock and pop.
She is known for her androgynous look and queer identity—a conversation LP never got to have with her mom after losing her to cancer as a teenager. Her unique voice, reminiscent of Stevie Nicks but a little raspier and higher, was vocally trained by her opera singer mother.
LP has released five studio albums while also being a successful songwriter for artists such as Rihanna, Cher, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis, and more. Since her first debut album in 2001, Heart-Shaped Scar, to her latest one, Heart to Mouth, LP has evolved from her soft-rock tones to a unique sound often imbued with her sharp whistles and ukulele.
Heart to Mouth retains these unique qualities that cross between rock and pop but brings in a new breath with powerful emotional ballads like “Recovery.” Unlike “Wasted Love,” “Recovery” lacks LP’s trademark ukulele and whistles, and is replaced by a melancholic piano and LP’s soft pleading, “Can’t you see I’m in recovery?/Just let it be, I’m in recovery.”
LP’s voice inevitably pierces to your soul in this album with “Recovery” as its meaning extends beyond a breakup to the exhausting emotions of escaping a toxic relationship. With most of her songs, LP’s voice is paired well with a bottle of whiskey and a broken heart.
