Toronto's renforshort reigns supreme on her latest grunge-pop anthem "nostalgic (luvsick)"

The moniker of singer/songwriter Lauren Isenberg, renforshort began sharing her musical talents via her YouTube channel with covers of her favourite tracks and a handful of her own original material. Since then her songwriting and platform have grown in massive ways.

With July’s single “fuck i love my friends”, written and completed during lockdown she created an anthem for a generation dealing with the fallout and social isolation of the pandemic. It’s a track that’s sure to take on even more meaning as the world continues to adapt and change to life under COVID-19.

With her eyes set on a full-length album release, following her debut EP teenage angst earlier this year, Isenberg is continuing to draw on that sentiment and reminisce with the release of her new single. However, “nostalgic” wasn’t written about remembering life before the pandemic, it was in fact written awhile back and sees Isenberg put on one of her favourite songwriting frameworks to play.

“I have categories in my head that are like different types of songs,” she explains. “The way I hear melodies is that they match certain feelings or one of those categories.” For “nostalgic” she dived into her ‘pre-breakup breakup song’ mode, imagining life without her boyfriend so she could get into that headspace and make everything seem more real. It’s a mindset she visits a lot explaining that “you can be as dramatic as you want, just like you’re going through the breakup but you don’t have to be going through the breakup.” There’s no real pain in an imaginary breakup after all.

Isenberg’s blend of modern pop influences while recalling ‘90s and ‘00s grunge finds a real sweet spot on “nostalgic”. Referencing fellow Canadian and teen-angst stalwart Avril Lavigne, you can hear the throwback moments best in the track’s pre-chorus. Isenberg also had another trick for channeling that era’s sound telling us “when we wrote it every time we sang it we were singing it in the Blink 182 voice, so there’s definitely some of that in there.”

The visual element of her artistry has grown too and for “nostalgic” she has channeled the Scott Pilgrim universe explaining “[it’s] basically the backbone for the entire creative arch surrounding the song, the visuals and cover art are reminiscent of Scott’s character.” I think that it’s really cool to be able to be in Scott's shoes and play his character for a brief moment, also pulling in Edgar Wright’s creative style is something I wanted to be prevalent in the creatives.”

In the time since Isenberg wrote “nostalgic” it’s meaning has shifted with her own experiences, she says “now more [than] ever it feels very real for me, after all my friends have left for school and are moving away I feel like I’m thinking about our times together more than ever and this song really brings out those feelings and moments.” Discussing how the pandemic may affect the way her fans interpret the song she adds “I think there’s something about the writing that really connects and people can put their own spin on what they want it to mean.”