Lauryn Harris’ Sophomore EP Taps into the Human Experience

By Samantha Oesch
Music Journalist

Texas State alumna, Lauryn Harris, has gracefully emerged from her cocoon since her new EP TOUCH N GO has made its debut in June of 2021. The Houston-based songwriter has finally returned to the stage in her hometown with new performances of her latest tracks.

After no performances since Fall of 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the R&B pop artist graced her audience with new summer tracks. Since the release of TOUCH N GO, Harris has performed two shows in Houston and is ready to visit other stages.

“It was awesome. I hadn’t performed since October of 2019. It felt good to be back onstage, and especially to perform new music,” Harris said. “I’d be down to travel to go back to Austin, like that area to get some performances in.”

TOUCH N GO is Harris’s sophomore EP following her 2018 release, Inside My Head. The songwriter was nervous about her sophomore release after three years.

“To be honest, I felt like because it had been so long since I put a project out, I was really doubting this project,” Harris said. “I kind of just had to close my eyes and just throw it out there.”

Harris’ sophomore EP represents how she has matured internally and musically. Where Inside My Head was an unpolished gem, TOUCH N GO shines like a gleaming diamond. Harris shows a more vulnerable side to herself lyrically with this new release.

“I feel Inside My Head is like the little sister of TOUCH N GO now. I feel like TOUCH N GO is grown and Inside My Head is just like ‘we’re just experimenting and trying to see if this is really what we want,’” Harris said. “They’re similar in a way of some of the topics, but I just feel like I’m a little more open on TOUCH N GO.”

Harris’s sophomore EP has a balanced mix of feel-good summer tracks and heart shredding ballads that anyone can resonate with. Upbeat tracks such as “Petals” and “Leaderboard” have playful melodies and lyrics that also embody human experience. In “Leaderboard”, Harris sings, “We don’t have to play. There ain’t no leaderboard so why we gotta keep score?” The impressionable line sets the song’s tone in a captivating way that is easy to sing along to. 

Ballads such as “Cocoon” and deeper cuts such as “Hardheaded” dive into romance and turmoil that compel listeners to ponder on Harris’s lyrics that may reflect on their own relationships with others.

“I write on real-life experiences and stuff, so I feel like this [“Cocoon”] is something that I’m going through at the moment with somebody that I like,” Harris said. “I feel like “Hardheaded” was kind of based on me too, but it’s just based on a lot of experiences that I know my friends have gone through too. And I feel like a lot of people go through this.”

TOUCH N GO puts the audience on an emotional rollercoaster that has the power to enable internal confrontation in past situations with loved ones, while dancing through it all. Harris has achieved the art of creating music that catalyzes a plethora of reactions, whether it is pure fun or heartfelt nostalgia. Stream TOUCH N GO on all platforms and follow Lauryn Harris for more updates on music and performances.

Featured Image by Kailyn Harris