What does the musical debut of Madonna’s daughter Lolahol, aka Lourdes Leon, sound like?

Her name has been known throughout the world since her birth: Lourdes Leon, the eldest daughter of Madonna, the undisputed queen of pop. Born in 1996 while Madonna was working on her seventh studio album, Ray of Light, which was critically acclaimed and is still considered one of her best LPs, the twenty-something was placed under the spotlight at an early age as a result of her prestigious lineage. Although she did not immediately assert a taste or talent for music that she shares with her mother, Lourdes Leon first made a name for herself in fashion. A few years after launching her own brand “Material Girl” at just fourteen, the American began to attract the attention of big names in the industry: in 2019, she starred in a campaign for Miu Miu, and then for Marc Jacobs in 2021, the year she became the face of the famous crystal brand Swarovski. Lourdes Leon also appeared in the latest Mugler videos, like the high-octane film unveiled early June for the spring-summer 2022 collection, in which she starred alongside rapper Megan Thee Stallion, actress Chloë Sevigny and models Bella Hadid and Amber Valletta.

 

Alongside her place in the fashion spotlight, Lourdes Leon has been quietly preparing her arrival on the music scene. The curtain has now lifted: behind the stage name Lolahol, Madonna’s daughter unveiled on Wednesday 24^th August her very first track Lock&Key, alongside a video clip that is both dreamy and sensual. The 25-year-old singer’s soft vocals seem to address her love interest to a soundtrack reminiscent of the beats that marked 90s pop and house music, and a score with dreampop overtones. “Why can’t I just lock into a Polly pocket / It could all be crystal clear / Keep a photo of you in my locket / addicted to the comfort” she begins in the first verse, before moving on to a chorus calling for deliverance: “I need a breeze / Whisk me away / I need to breathe / Nothing to say”.

 

The production of the track and the video was overseen by a close friend of Lourdes Leon: Alexandra Drewchin, alias Eartheater, a singer-songwriter whose music at the crossroads of experimental pop and psychedelic folk has recently been making headlines. In 2019, the 33-year-old American, who also featured in the cast of the latest Mugler videos, founded her own label Chemical X Records to release her mixtape Trinity. Since then, Alexandra Drewchin and her label have branched out to mentoring new artists such as Lourdes Leon, who she also directed last year in the video clip of her track Joyride to a script reminiscent of the GTA video game. The influence of the Pennsylvania-born singer can be seen both in the writing and lyrics full of metaphors, the ethereal melodies co-written with Lolahol and the style of the video clip for the track, directed by Eartheater herself. The video shows Madonna’s daughter moving from car to car, wandering through a cemetery in the arms of a young man before emerging from a giant heart-shaped locket into the sea foam to demonstrate her dancing skills. A locket which, like the one worn around her neck, may well, if the title of the piece is anything to go by, contain her deepest feelings.

Lolahol, Lock&Key (Chemical X Records), available.