Growing up in the city of Portland, OR, a place of polar opposites, girlhouse’s Lauren Luiz first began to make her mark as an actress in her early twenties. Appearing in shows like the NBC hit series Grimm. Driven by her first serious breakup, she migrated to LA in 2013 to pursue her acting career, where she got her first big break in a production of Spring Awakening. The show took her to Broadway, New York, and saw her perform for President Barack Obama at The White House. While her music had yet to come to the forefront of her creative spirit, it was this pursuit of an acting dream that led her to the places and people she would come to build her music career around. It was here in LA that she met her future band mate/producer Tyler Thompson. The two had an instant creative connection and stayed firmly in touch when Lauren had to uproot to New York for Spring Awakening. Once that show ended, she returned to LA and the pair formed their first musical venture WILD, together with another band mate.
WILD became a huge force on the US folk-pop scene. They went onto release a handful of singles and an album that garnered them more than 50 million streams, a slot at SXSW, and sync deals with the likes of Mazda, Switch, and Pixar and more. But while WILD was still going strong, Lauren had spent the entire time writing music for herself, something different to what the band had been producing so far and so began to explore a new aesthetic. This was the formation of girlhouse, a solo project that Lauren felt was more in keeping with who she was as an artist and gave her a creative outlet to drive her own passions.
Fast forward to today and girlhouse has released four exceptional and critically acclaimed EPs — which spawned the singles “you don’t think about me,” “cool guy,” “paul blart mall cop,” “concussion,” “pretty girl in LA,” “the fatalist,” “knuckle tattoo” and many more and has amassed over 20 Million streams. She’s toured with Sabrina Carpenter, The Wrecks, and more, as well as opened for Halsey last summer.
girlhouse is a tastemaker favorite, having been featured on Billboard’s 10 Cool New Pop Songs, WONDERLAND, NOTION, DUMMY, EARMILK, ONES TO WATCH, DIY MAG, The Line of Best Fit, Under The Radar, The Independent, La Blogotheque, Coup de Main, Atwood Magazine, Record of The Day, Songwriting Magazine and landed on Spotify’s New Music Friday US, All New Indie and Today’s Indie Rock, and Apple Music’s New In Rock playlists to name a few, as well as hitting the #1 spot on HYPE MACHINE multiple times.
Inspired heavily by the works of fellow female singer-songwriters such as Phoebe Bridgers, Soccer Mommy, and Lucy Dacus and now living in LA, her personal life still continues to inspire and influence her music, offering us all a window into her soul and creating a bright and sweeping world for us all to enjoy.
Rarely does modern music earn the badge timeless, but BEL cuts through the noise. Hailing from the small town of Clovis, California, Isabel Whelan crafts nostalgic songs with honesty and attention to detail, occupying the intersection of indie, pop, and folk, while taking cues from the likes of Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell, and Mazzy Star.
In 2022, BEL released four singles (including collaborations with girlhouse and Boyish), which culminated in the release of her sophomore EP, Jet Lag. Throughout the rollout, she steadily built a core fanbase on socials while receiving support from Sirius XM (300+ organic plays), Pandora (2 playlist covers), Spotify, Apple, and several publications. BEL headlined the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and supported Isaac Dunbar, Beach Weather, and Kristiane, positioning herself on the precipice of the indie zeitgeist.
After landing on a handful of “Artists to Watch in ’23,” lists, BEL has been steadily releasing a string of singles leading up to her third EP due out later this year. The project’s collaborators include Sean Silverman (Beach Weather), Jack Laboz, Jon Santana, Day Wave + more. Her single “Are You Okay?,” reached #1 on SiriusXMU organically in April/May 2023 along with support on AltNation and KCRW. After her recent direct support for Boyish on their June 2023 US tour, and upcoming Mind The Gap festival, 2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year of releases and live performances for BEL.
