Lauren Mayberry is always a rebel with a cause. Whether in her own solo work or as a member of Chvrches, when she picks up a microphone, you need to listen. Mayberry’s latest single, “Change Shapes,” is no different. On the agenda for this record is inequitable gendered labor in romantic relationships.
Yes, that’s a mouthful, but it is nowhere near as exhausting as walking the emotional tightrope that is the male ego. “It’s exhausting trying so hard all the time / Performative hypocrisy took over my mind / I’m a doll inside a box / With a ball and a chain / I bend over backwards, tiptoe along every wire / Guess I’m quite the actress, no one knows I’m a liar / I’m preaching to the choir / I’m a body for hire / And I think you should know / I change shapes ’til I get what I want from you / It’s your game, now you’re mad that I learned the rules,” sings Mayberry.
What started off as a stress-induced rant, thanks to Mayberry’s spunky vocals and Matthew Koma’s charismatic production, “Change Shapes,” is the ultimate “no thanks” to traditional heteronormative expectations of women. Given that today is International Women’s Day, it could not have been timed better.
Listen to “Change Shapes” above.