The ability to write as an empathetic, detached witness while clearly grappling with personal experience makes Lala Lala’s newest album, Heaven 2, cinematic. “I feel bad for who you haven’t met…what they’ll never get.” In the track “Arrow,” lead singer Lillie West finds destiny to be obvious–she predicts a loss of self as if it were an upcoming error in the face of desire.
Directed by Laura Gordon & Jackson James, the fourth single’s video echoes themes of desperation, urges to rinse away any stains acquired in the cloak of night. The laundromat setting provides a backdrop of wash cycles incomparable to her own, confronting what’s been illuminated and being realized. Genna Moroni’s choreography here painstakingly spotlights a person caught in a dance that to passers-by could be seen as only emotional despair. From the pavement, Lala Lala announces a vastness that felt only natural has now become difficult to resist succumbing to entirely, “…lake I’m dipping my hand in, try not to drown, but it’s pulling my limbs in.”
A debut in terms of her work with the record label SubPop, Heaven 2 still feels natural to Lala Lala’s discography and its progression, but also reinvigorated with energy, finally allowed to be devoted to just the music. I first discovered Lala Lala during a period of time in which her 2018 tune, “See You at Home,” perfectly encapsulated my own feelings about the daily kind of melancholies. Being somewhere imperfect that occasionally rubs off on you, in a way you can’t quite blame because of your own choosing to stay, was relatable as a fellow Chicagoan–those winters get brutal! Now, I am inspired as a fan to dive back into her consistently water-emphasizing past, especially to see how each struggle made her decision to move onward monumental itself.
Produced bi-coastally, born of Midwestern longing, yet settled in sometimes-quiet decompression, Heaven 2 finds Lala Lala at peace, and questioning if that is permissible. Perspective matters in the song and video for “Even Mountains Erode,” so far, my top ‘offering’ that’s available to stream! Ominously, it nearly asks: are we supposed to stay down, looking at peaks from afar, or be proactive in the face of certain change?
“Does This Go Faster?,” another single, features West in a transitional phase that resembles a hangover, almost contemplating if her route has to mean more than the destination. In her drive for clarity, a song and a map are equals; both the road and car are just means for escape, not much appears worth cherishing besides the horizon. How could her life-chapter’s finale feel monumental and allow for being present, if every piece of the puzzle was a reminder of the past and future at once… “I was asleep part of the night… Couldn’t be here longer than this.”
In her 2020 collaboration with Baths, “€ € € €^^%%!!!!!heaven!!!!!!,” West built a place to watch her own world from, “Mistakes, patterns written… Look like from a distance.” The two acts have said–via BandCamp–their release was born from a mutual fandom, which makes sense as what Lala Lala has always stood for overcoming is never too isolated to be relatable to audiences across the indie-pop genre. Here, she poetically accepted what any of her output would need to be to get somewhere uncertain, but safer. There is a grit to the synths, also played by West, that gives catharsis to ballads like the project’s title track. This song, in particular, made with Aaron Maine, has no shame in being open about the very human experience of existentialism.
The spunk of past hits by the artist, such as “F*ck With Your Friends,” is still heard in highlights like “Car Anymore.” There is a feat of resilience alongside an impression of self-awareness in the sonic sea of distortion, “…Never claimed I was innocent; I don’t mind taking all of the blame.” West may repeatedly proclaim a commitment to bettering herself, but over the course of the album, she still allows her vocals to fully descend into each constructed universe of reflection. Saxophone, played by Sen Morimoto, has an underlying, yet integral role, almost creating a pool to swim in between pleas such as, “Give me one last turn America.” With a sample of La Femme to hook you, Lala Lala has a world here for you to step into, not quite one like that of her instrumental album, previously recorded and released from Iceland, but still a vision that feels holistic.
Another moment that leaves you wondering, in a good way, is “Scammer.” The outro lets the sweeping and electric percussion bleed on, which proves to the ears how essential + intentional each layer of Heaven 2 is. Other artists have used “2” in their release titles to half-ironically denote life’s never-ending challenges that come with living/philosophizing/writing/curating/producing content: Mitski in 2016, Charli xcx in 2017, but here the numerology is earnest and purely symbolizes another way of looking at things. West presents goals for reaching a new life as the culmination of first waking up to where you are. Even her fantasies here insist on staying grounded–she proves how important certainty is in the face of inclinations to grow. Track 9 of 10, “This City,” is sharp and full of blaring guitar that contrasts beautifully with West’s rich voice, leading the overall story to its natural, long-awaited close.
It is inspiring to see an artist who has been so open about feeling lost, now exclaiming the fruits of an invisible labor like self-discovery. I felt transported by each stop on Heaven 2, but still curious about how such soft approaches to heavy matters would remain gripping. Especially during ambient segways, between afterlife-pondering climaxes, I was impressed by how considerate West’s journey was. See the unabashed artist spill all her methods to moving, and moving on, during her upcoming tour, opened by Mother Soki and Lots of Hands, this Spring.
Heaven 2 by Lala Lala is out on February 27, 2026 via SubPop.
Words by Maxwell Williams for Staged Haze
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