With WORK, LACES flips the burnout blues into a glittering, gut-punching manifesto of resistance, rage, and radical joy. The EP pulses with lived experience, from office breakdowns to emotional labor. Jessica Vaughn (formerly Charlotte Sometimes) wraps every song in alt-pop, coming as a warning flare. Across seven tracks, she confronts hustle culture and patriarchal expectations with a defiant, hyper-relatable soundtrack.
“Open for Business” unfolds like a meditation turned revelation. Vaughn’s high, crystalline vocals start soft and reflective, but as sparkling synths and glitzy beats take over, the song becomes a swelling anthem of resilience. Her voice climbs with growing conviction, singing, “I’m open to cry,” and by the final chorus, it’s a liberation spell. Then comes “I Quit for Summer,” a sun-drenched kiss-off to toxic work culture. It bursts with punchy hooks, and the way her voice becomes tender, sugary, luscious when she soars it, makes the song all the more feisty and tasty. The hyped backing vocals level up the funness and make you wanna sing along.
On “Hard Work,” Vaughn turns the mirror toward long-term love as her breathy delivery rides the shimmering production. You totally don’t expect another layer of her voice soaring to the top of her lungs as she sings. The EP closes with the searing “Women’s Work,” a fierce, witty anthem that aims to shatter every expectation shoved onto women’s backs. Over catchy beats, she sings passionately. The soulful harmonies bring softness, sincerity, and gravity to the painful strivance she sings about.
Listen to Vaughn get to WORK on Spotify, with these amazing empowering pieces of art.
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Review by: Naomi Joan