The frontwoman of the Scottish synth-pop trio had a dream music career, but it came with years of online misogyny and artistic frustration. As she prepares to release her debut solo album, she discusses going her own way
A graphic novel company recently sent Lauren Mayberry a pitch asking if they could use her likeness. The comic was to be set in a post-apocalyptic Scotland (Mayberry is from Glasgow and was born in Stirling) and it featured Lauren, feminist firebrand, as one of a group of women who, Handmaid’s Tale-style, had been imprisoned, repeatedly raped and inseminated by the planet’s remaining men. Lauren was going to free all the women, and then take them to the Highlands – where they’d start a revolution!
Mayberry, desensitised to this geek version of what she calls “men’s feminism”, sent a polite reply, saying that tonally it was a little odd, and could they possibly explore some alternative ideas. The pitch was not unusual: the difference, these days, was that it came via her female manager with a “not sure about this one” attached, and she didn’t have to explain to any men why she turned it down.
