Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter LoRen is excited to announce the Friday, March 24 release of her new four-song EP, Pardon Me. In her evolution as a woman of color creating inspirational music, LoRen sang in church as a young child, studied classical and Broadway music, collaborated on international house music projects, performed in front of thousands, and earned a degree in audio production. As a pastor’s daughter, she’s a proud believer with deep gospel roots and powerful, diverse influences — Sam Cooke, Lauryn Hill, Taylor Swift, DMX and bands like NEEDTOBREATHE are a few that have impacted her approach to music and resistance to the norm.
Now as an experienced storyteller, LoRen weaves her faith and authenticity into uplifting songs immediately branded as her own through her unique voice, perspective and overall sonic quality. With Pardon Me, which was produced by local Pittsburgh musician Paul Luc and producer/engineer Dave Hidek, listeners will hear LoRen truly emerge through a showcase that disrupts cultural norms, discusses the highs and lows of her new journey of motherhood, and digs deeper into her convictions. Or as she passionately states herself, “On these four songs, I’m declaring that I will no longer hold my tongue.”
Leading the collection is “Black Women,” a song that was originally written as a poem that LoRen deemed “too heavy” to share. She began writing it toward the end of her 2020 pregnancy, a time where LoRen experienced several instances where racial bias revealed itself within her doctor appointments. The more she educated herself on the statistics around Black maternal health, the more unsettled she became.
After being encouraged by family to share the poem to social media, she received hundreds of heartfelt responses from women around the world. The positive feedback encouraged LoRen to take her thoughts from poem to a full song, where she dives deeper into the truth of how women of color often fear being dismissed.
LoRen poetically declares hard truths as she shares the trauma surrounding Black maternal health and other stereotypes that plague Black women with a candor rarely heard in modern music. “Black Women” also presents itself as a delicate dance between gentle and disruptive, qualities LoRen knows coexist in all of us yet many Black women seem to get categorized as either one or the other. Further, LoRen hopes “Black Women” feels therapeutic to those who can relate to it and provokes empathy for those who cannot.
“In public, I am often over-accommodating and reserved,” she explains. “Enduring pain in silence, and tirelessly carrying the torch of society’s view of my ancestor’s unhuman strength, this song is that bold inner perspective that I could no longer keep to myself. This is my interpretation of walking in the freedom of Nina Simone — I am responding to the suffrage that has been ‘in plain sight’ for so long.”
The EP lays the groundwork for a full-length album that will continue LoRen’s mission of positively altering the world by challenging dated and destructive perspectives with music fueled by genuine love and strength from within. For the last three years, she’s curated an annual live music experience for diverse songwriters entitled NO COVERS. When not creating, LoRen is committed to living a content and simple life. She’s unashamedly a lover of her husband, daughter, thrifting, and all things holistic.
Pardon Me EP tracklist:
Black Women
Hair Store Bamboo
Navy Mae
Pardon Me
LoRen online:
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