Music Crowns is proud to premiere ‘are we alright?’, the striking new release from London avant-pop artist, composer, vocalist and producer Lolli Wren.
There are some questions that become more complicated the longer you sit with them. “Are we alright?” is one of them. On her latest release, Lolli Wren takes those four deceptively simple words and turns them into an expansive, cinematic exploration of existential dread, digital overload and the strange loneliness of living in an age where we are supposedly more connected than ever. Blending avant-pop, experimental pop, progressive pop and art pop, ‘are we alright?’ feels both intensely contemporary and strangely timeless, capturing the uneasy atmosphere of a world that never seems to switch off.
Wren’s inspiration came from witnessing what she describes as the “ubiquitous existential dread” surrounding people trapped in cycles of doomscrolling and urban isolation. Rather than attempting to offer a neat solution, the song becomes a reaching hand towards anyone who recognises that feeling. Its darkness is deliberate, but there is warmth underneath it. The question is not posed from a position of certainty, but from inside the uncertainty itself. In that sense, ‘are we alright?’ becomes less a song about having the answers and more a song about admitting that sometimes none of us do.
The cinematic atmosphere is strengthened by Wren’s connection to the 1988 cult science-fiction film They Live. Its vision of a hidden dystopia provides an evocative backdrop for a track concerned with the invisible pressures of modern existence. Wren brings that influence into the present, where the surreal can be found in the everyday: endless scrolling, crowded cities that can feel strangely empty, economic pressure and the constant demand to remain switched on. The resulting soundscape feels like the soundtrack to a dystopian film that has already begun.
At the centre of it all is Wren’s extraordinary voice. With a range spanning more than four octaves, she has developed an approach to vocals that is as much about character and storytelling as it is technical ability. Distortion, agility, intricate harmonies and layered arrangements all feature across the release, while every backing vocal was written and performed by Wren herself. Her voice becomes an entire ecosystem, shifting between intimacy and scale and creating the impression of multiple perspectives inhabiting the same emotional space.
That vocal philosophy is perhaps unsurprising given Wren’s background. In 2021, she gained worldwide attention through her work as a vocal scientist, studying and recreating the techniques of hundreds of renowned artists under her “Fairy Voice Mother” persona. That work has grown into a huge online audience of more than 375,000 YouTube subscribers and 51 million views, with artists including Shakira and Ren publicly sharing her analysis. Yet ‘are we alright?’ reveals another side of that expertise. Here, Wren is not analysing the voice. She is using it to construct her own artistic language.
The release follows her debut album To Build A Sea, released in November 2024, which has since surpassed 500,000 Spotify streams. Character-led visuals, conceptual storytelling and elaborate vocal arrangements have become central to Wren’s creative identity, drawing on a diverse range of influences including Björk, Kate Bush, Queen, Stromae, Sleep Token and Jeff Buckley. Those influences can be felt in her willingness to move between genres and moods without treating conventional boundaries as particularly important.
For ‘are we alright?’, Wren worked with Eduardo Moreira, who produced the track and served as its main instrumentalist, while Barry O’Connell handled mixing and mastering. Together, they help create a production expansive enough to accommodate Wren’s vocal architecture without losing sight of the emotional core. The track is ambitious, but its ambition never obscures the question at its centre.
And perhaps that is what makes this release such an apt premiere for Music Crowns. ‘are we alright?’ is ultimately about connection. It is about the moment when the noise becomes overwhelming and you wonder whether everyone else is feeling it too. Lolli Wren does not offer an easy answer. Instead, she offers a song, a voice and a reminder that.
Instagram | Spotify | Website | PR: Danielle Holian, Decent Music PR
