Maude Latour’s “Headphones”

Columbia’s Maude Latour’s latest single shifts the mindset of a bewildering breakup

By: gracie-kibort

It's a universal feeling. The abrupt, self-combusting, train-stopping, understanding post-breakup that one is alone again. Things are swift and suddenly silent and simultaneously suffocating. At face value, Maude Latour's latest single, "Headphones," appears to be the fresh, intricately created indie breakup bop that we all crave far more than we'd care to admit. Maude, a 22-year old senior at Columbia University, is creating a new universe of music, an era solely focused on the world living inside of her head. After all, she has to live there for the rest of her life. 

Latour's music, reminiscent of pre-Solar Power Lorde, sings about the realization that she's the only inhabitant of her brain for the rest of her life. "Headphones" preaches the importance of constructing a world of self-love, but not based on one's lonesome. "So I read the letter that I wrote to myself in my sleep, and I know I'm okay/I know there's a brighter day, but it's not today." Latour's single acts as a reminder that despite the bleakness encompassing us, things will get better, and it is crucial to look within for guidance. She sings for the cautiously optimistic dreamer Gen Z in all of us. Despite her pop vocals, she manages to avoid the nausea-inducing Pinterest quote style of inspirational self-reflection. Instead, her layered vocals and pops of color within the song encourage the listener to hear love ubiquitously. Latour encourages us all to crawl a little deeper into the tunnels of our brains and listen to the world around us, for it shall reward us far more than we may already understand.