“Remember me when you become famous,” one commenter (@2_JenniferChiang) wrote on YouTube six years ago in reply to Lyn Lapid’s cover of “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R. The video is pure analogue ASMR: a bespectacled teenage Lapid, her ukulele, a white scrunchie holding her hair back in a ponytail and her face absent of makeup. It was the hype around this video that set her music career in motion.
In some ways, this video fundamentally captures the essence of 22 year-old Lapid today, and the connection she makes with her fans.
The Filipina American still gives off down-to-earth energy for a rising music star—not just in her songwriting, but also live onstage and over Zoom. During her concerts, she engages with her audiences and talks to them as if it’s a gathering of close friends—albeit in bigger spaces, and involving sweaty dancing next to strangers. I recently witnessed the magnitude of her presence during one of her stops in Germany at an intimate venue. There were no flashy gimmicks and no elaborate light displays—just Lapid and her bandmates (Kayla Ramillano and Tyler Nam) playing tunes and enjoying the show.
It’s equally what makes her such a phenom online (almost five million TikTok followers and more than a billion streams around the world). In fact, in May, Elton John selected her single, “Death Wish,” to play on his Apple Music radio show, Rocket Hour. In addition, Lapid’s dramatic, synth-y cover of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” is featured in an episode of the Amazon Prime show, We Were Liars.
Lapid wrapped up her BUZZKILL World Tour in North America on July 1—after performing in Europe. And during her first international live shows, what she discovered were testaments to her popularity, as well as her preternatural ability to connect with people. “I was unsure of what the vibe was going to be in Europe because obviously I was going to countries like Germany and the Netherlands, where English isn’t the main language and so I was, ‘Will the fans there know my lyrics and stuff?’” she says. “I was pleasantly surprised to see that the German fans and the fans in Amsterdam were singing every lyric to the songs.”
Lapid’s sublime mix of R&B, jazz, indie and pop makes her music perfect for hot summer days, lying on the beach and driving anywhere with your besties. But a closer listen to Lapid’s tracks reveals a large part of her identity: she pours out sentiments of being an outsider, a feeling many—myself included—can relate to. “With this album especially, I wanted to be completely unafraid of being open and vulnerable in my songwriting,” she says. “I always knew that aspect of my songwriting is kind of what allowed me to gain the circle of listeners, and supporters, and the fanbase that I have today, ‘cause I feel like my listeners really appreciate authenticity in my music. I wanted to be that times five with (BUZZKILL). With this album I am doing that and almost being uncomfortably vulnerable and real in the music.”
With “BUZZKILL,” Lyn Lapid wanted to be completely unafraid of being open and vulnerable in her songwriting.
Caity Krone
BUZZKILL effuses harmonious juxtapositions. On one hand, there are Lapid’s lyrics of feeling unsettled and unhappy in a situation. On the other hand, the aura she emits is very much “I don’t give a f*ck,” and let’s try to make the best out of this situation. In the title track for example, she sings, “The people around are a decibel too loud/They’re falling in love and all getting drunk/Guess I’m in the wrong crowd/Maybe, I’m tired, or maybe it’s fear/If it’s up to me, then I would be anywhere but here.”
Some of her feelings of not belonging come from her childhood. Before moving to Los Angeles, Lapid lived in suburban Maryland. During her youth, she felt isolated being one of the few Filipinos around, and channeled those emotions into her songwriting. “Growing up I wasn’t really surrounded by fellow Filipinos unless it was like my close family members. That experience of feeling almost like an outsider is what inspired a lot of the music,” she says. “I tried to be as immersed in my culture as much as possible. My mom was cooking and introducing Filipino food and keeping that part of my identity alive. That allowed me to stay in touch with my culture.”
