Ones To Watch: Maude Latour

Genre: Pop
For Fans Of: Lorde, Olivia Rodrigo, Hayley Kiyoko
Release: 001 (EP)
Signed: Warner Records
Hometown: New York City, New York

Maude Latour has already had a whirlwind few years. The singer-songwriter signed her first record deal, graduated from Columbia University, amassed a passionate fanbase after going viral on TikTok (“One More Weekend” has achieved 34M+ Spotify streams), and appeared on the cover of the Chicago Tribune as well as within The New York Times. Latour capped off last year with the release of her EP, 001; an escape from the sorrow that dominated her 2021 EP, Strangers Forever.

The 7-track EP, 001, which Latour largely recorded and wrote with producer Mike Adubato (Goo Goo Dolls, O.A.R.), shows the emotional richness that results from her growing gifts as a songwriter. Latour has already played some of 001‘s songs at her live shows, making a powerful connection with her ever-growing fanbase. In concert, she dedicates the dreamy yet resolute “Lola” to victims of sexual assault. The performance, which includes Latour wailing the lyrics “Keep my girls protected / I’m turned on when I’m respected”, creates a space where, she says, her audience members “truly find intimacy and healing. The song is for protecting the people you love. It’s for protecting my sister and myself and my friends and trans people and queer people—it’s for a solidarity between people”.

Other tracks on 001 combine vivid imagery with Latour’s precisely honed yet conversational lyrics to sneakily staggering effect. “Trees” resembles a walk in the park on its surface, its strutting beat and glossy guitars sounding like a sun-dappled day amidst nature—but its lyrics are bittersweet, longing for her deceased grandmother. The pulsing “Cyclone” uses imagery borrowed from heavy weather to explore the turmoil and intensity of close friendships. The beautifully minimal “Living It” is similarly tender and emotional, digging into, as maude puts it “the difficult emotional parts of working on a friendship—feelings that were sticky.”