We had the pleasure of sitting down with super impressive Lauren Sanderson last week to catch up with her on her new music and what she has in store for her upcoming tour. Lauren is an unapologetic force in the indie pop and alternative scene who’s never afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve. She’s fiercely independent, making waves with her approach to music and fearlessly championing queer voices.
During our chat, Lauren opened up about her journey—from a small-town dreamer to headlining tours and dropping tracks that hit hard and speak to her fans. She’s all about authenticity, breaking boundaries, and staying true to herself, no matter what. Her energy is electric, her vibe is pure confidence, and her music? It’s a whole mood.
It was clear from our convo that Lauren’s on a mission to inspire others to live their truth, and she’s killing it. Lauren Sanderson is a name you need on your radar—she’s just getting started, and we can’t wait to see where she’s headed next! Read on for our full interview with Lauren.
Nonchalant Mag: “You’ve got your Girl from the Internet tour coming up and you’re going to be performing at The Dinah, but before we get into that, specifically for our British readers, I’d love you to talk us through your journey growing up, and specifically when you figured out you were queer.”
Lauren: “Well, I was in the Midwest, which to anybody in London, it’s like the middle and fucking nowhere, and basically there was really no queer representation or anything. So it’s not like I was really seeing it ever. I kind of was just living my life, and I always knew that I was different and I had, like, a little space to me, but I feel like it was kind of when I was in high school and I discovered Fifth Harmony. And I was like, alright, alright.
Do you know Fifth Harmony?”
Nonchalant Mag: “Yeah, yeah. They made it over to the UK via American X Factor.”
Lauren: “Ah cool, so as soon as I saw Fifth Harmony, I was like, alright, I see these girls as like, my friends see like their boy bands. And I’m like, I might be gay, but I didn’t even know that gay was a thing until I started watching MTV, and I was like, oh, okay. But I never really truthfully, struggled with it because I didn’t even know it really existed, or I never thought it was going to apply to me. I know a lot of queer people are in the closet for a very long time, and then they kind of wake up one day and then they have to come out with a secret. But I never really had the secret. I just was like, it just hit me one day, and I was like, yeah.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Is that because of where you’re from then would you say?”
Lauren: “Honestly? I think maybe so because I just never saw it represented and I never saw it around me, I never really even thought to put myself in that bubble. I never saw two girls kiss before, you know. So then when I did, and I felt a way about it, then I was like, oh, I want to do that.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Yeah, makes total sense to me haha.
“So, when I was reading about all the cool stuff that you’ve done over the years and all the cool stuff that you’re doing now, my first question was, how do you fit it all in how do you stay sane and healthy?”
Lauren: “I don’t…
“I try my best to manage it all. I already don’t like sleeping as it is, and sleeping is just so important when you’re doing all this stuff and you have super big dreams, but I feel like my brain never stops, because I just have so many plans, and I have such aspirations in life. I say that but I’ve been sober for the past year. So I haven’t been drinking alcohol for a year now, and that’s helped me so much to stay on the ground. Because I was getting carried away. And for me when you put drinking in with my career together it’s like a perfect combination because it’s just never-ending, go, go, go. But I would say the real answer is I go to therapy every week and check in with myself all the time but there’s still so much to be done.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Huge congrats on the sober year, by the way, that’s super impressive.”
Lauren: “Thank you. It’s been so cool because I started as a 30-day detox kind of thing. And then after 30 days, I’m like, I don’t even want to drink because I just feel like I’m still detoxing. And then after 60 days, it felt like I’m just so much more clear-headed and sharp.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Yeah, it’s honestly great, I can see how that would be a great move for your career too. What are your tips to avoid drinking then? Because I imagine after gigs it’s such a party culture.”
Lauren: “It’s funny because I just go to sleep. Like, when you’re not drinking, you don’t have so much energy, when you haven’t had a drink you can listen to your body more. When I was drinking, I would just have so much fake energy. Now I’m like, I’m tired. Plus, I don’t really get FOMO either, because a lot of FOMO comes from drinking. Everybody having such a fun time because everybody’s fucked up. But when you’re sober, you’re just like, you guys will have fun. That’s kind of a boring answer, but also, like, I love to be in bed now.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Haha, I know what I mean, I also love that haha. Congrats. It’s a big achievement.
“You’re performing at The Dinah this year. Can you give us any information on what you have in store for fans?”
Lauren: “It’s gonna be very gay, very hot, very fun, and very awesome.”
Nonchalant Mag “We can’t wait, and we’ll see you there. You teased your new music and new song Hypocrite… So will fans be hearing all of your new stuff?”
Lauren: “Absolutely, yeah, there’s going to be some new stuff, and there’s going to be old stuff. I’m just trying to really celebrate queerness and party and have fun. Also, if you need a girlfriend, come to a Lauren Sanderson show.”
Nonchalant Mag: “So we noticed you posted on your social media that you have ‘leg 1’ of your tour, are you considering coming over to London or the UK at all for ‘leg 2’?”
Lauren: “So, In my ‘leg 2’ [of the tour] will be another US run, but then ‘leg 3’, we’ll see baby, we’ll see – I love the UK. I think it is so cool there. I love the way you guys talk, I love your perspective on life too, it’s nice and refreshing to hear you talk.”
Nonchalant Mag: “So talking of your new music, what and who’s inspiring you at the minute?”
Lauren “Honestly, my fans just told me that they want emotional bangers, and so that’s just kind of where my head’s at. This is a form of expression. My music is very therapeutic for me, and I want to inspire people, and I want to say stuff in my music that connects with them, but also I’m not the one who’s listening to it. They’re the one who has to listen to it. So that’s why I was like – what do you guys want to hear? And they said we want gay, emotional bangers. And so I said, okay, and actually, I’m announcing it and posting the cover art for my new EP, and that’s going to be called ‘Fine, I’ll get in my feelings’. And, um, that’s going to be five songs, and that comes out the week before my tour. I just want to be unfiltered in my music. And life’s too short to overthink it.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Lauren: “Yeah, I’ve wasted a lot of time overthinking. I really want to stand tall in what I make and what I do, and not question myself. Because I feel like I’ve come this far. What’s the point? What’s the point in questioning it now?
Nonchalant Mag “Absolutely…
So you mentioned your fans, and this is quite topical at the minute. But how do you balance being a public figure and then maintaining your own personal boundaries?”
Lauren: “Yeah, it’s a hard one these days. I think Chappell Roan commented on this really well the other day.
For the most part, I’ll fucking put my foot down if I have to, if somebody’s being weird, yeah. People think that I know everything about them, just like they know everything about me, but I don’t know them. The funniest one is when people get mad at me for not responding [to DMs], and then they start sending me really mean messages, being like, I’m done supporting you.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Oh, nooo, that’s so sad.”
Lauren: “I give as much as I feel like I can give, and if somebody’s going to be weird, then get the fuck away from me.”
Nonchalant Mag: I completely agree with that. Yeah, it’s important to protect your boundaries. I couldn’t be famous, it looks hard haha, well done hahaha.”
Lauren: “Well, I’m still on the come-up, you know, and it’s crazy. I can’t imagine being actually, like, famous, famous, like Lady Gaga or something. I think that is the biggest thing I have to work on – I still feel completely unknown to anyone.”
Nonchalant Mag: Oh, really. That’s so interesting. So in the UK we we talk a lot about Imposter Syndrome. Do you experience having Imposter Syndrome then because that sounds similar?”
Lauren: Yeah, I have a lot of Imposter Syndrome, because I just can’t fathom that people know me and listen to my music like it doesn’t really hit me, I do want it to hit me a little bit soon.”
Nonchalant Mag: “It’s a nice thing. You’re super humble.”
Lauren: “Thank you. Yeah, I’m just trying to keep growing. And I think this project that I’m making right now, this EP is definitely the next level for me. I’m putting so much more thought and intention into the music than I ever have, and the rollout and just everything has so much more thought. I’m very excited, but I’m hoping my imposter syndrome dies. Hahah.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Yeah, I’m sure it will, although I’ve heard it always stays with you but you get better at dealing with it haha.
So we’ve spoken about the boundaries with fans. On the flip side can you think of the coolest thing a fan has given you?”
Lauren: “There are so many really cool things. Something that was really cool that somebody did the other day was at my show in Nashville, and they brought me a jacket that they painted my two pit bulls, my two dogs, on the jacket. Oh, and I thought that was so cute.”
Nonchalant Mag “That’s so cool. So, gifts are okay, especially when they involve your dogs?”
Lauren: “Hahaha, yes, oh my god, gifts yes they are ok, and I love food gifts as well. That’s my love language. I like it when people will be like, “I know you like Jalapeno Cheetos”, I think that’s so funny and sweet.”
Nonchalant Mag: “Okay, cool. So don’t forget the Jalapeno Cheetos then haha.
So lastly, we’ve discussed your tour dates and your new music. What’s next for you after all of that?”
Lauren “It’s time to make my album. Um, back to the studio after the tour, I’m gonna come back, finish my album, go on another leg of my tour, come back, release my album, and then well who knows what after that. But for 2025 I really want to have a support slot. So I want to open for somebody on tour. I really want to collaborate with another artist, or, a few collaborations. I’m trying to dream so big, and I’ve gotten so many things from so many crazy universe success moments and absolute delusion. Like doing my TED talk. Yeah, it’s time to just dream huge again, and just be like, of course, I’m going to open for Miley Cyrus, that’s the goal.”
Nonchalant Mag “Awe, that would be awesome, it’s great you’re manifesting, we’ll all manifest that because we’d love to see that. It will happen for sure.
Thanks so much for chatting to us Lauren, we can’t wait to see you perform at The Dinah.”
Lauren: “Thank you, looking forward to it and see you there!”
Abi is the Founding Director of Nonchalant Ltd. She’s previously had a 7-year career in Digital Marketing within the eCommerce and Travel Sector. Aside from running Nonchalant Ltd, she’s a Software Engineer and has worked on large scale projects for some of the biggest tech giants and was recently shortlisted on the Makers, Google Startups, and Computer Weekly ‘Women in Software Powerlist 2020’.
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