Photo courtesy of Bella Treadwell

Lauren Juzang and her friends have an annual tradition of attending Highlands Music Festival to enjoy a weekend reminiscent of adolescence. The all-inclusive getaway brings memories of childhood summer camps to life with rustic cabins and camp activities alongside lakeside stages. Part of the friends tradition includes the classic pastime of developing a camp crush.

There is one specific person for Juzang. It feels like every year the friend group asks one another, “Does he like me?” Despite nothing ever coming to fruition, it is the ‘what if’ that gives their weekend the full nostalgic camp aesthetic.

After their weekend in the Haliburton Highlands last year, Juzang returned to find a new track created by her friends and longtime collaborators, Jason Vance Harris and Aidan Spiro. She was immediately impressed with the piano and drum components, and found herself adding lyrics inspired by her camp crush. She sent it back to the duo, who spent hours not replying and giving Juzang just enough time to second guess every single line. Just as she had replied that she didn’t like it after all, they came back with a resounding ‘yes’. She was on the right track after all.

“Smooth talker” is a carefree, entertaining three minutes of attraction at its most fleeting; when someone can feel completely familiar and entirely unknowable at the same time. After the initial creation, the trio was back in the studio this past February to flesh it out. On the last day, Juzang and Spiro recorded vocals for hours before finding how exactly they wanted to lift the chorus. It was such a rewarding experience because for just a moment it felt like too much; too loud, too difficult. But then they found the key change for the last chorus. They quieted some of the gang vocals. They heard what was definitely the final draft.

The friendship between Juzang and Harris traces back to middle school, and after meeting Spiro a handful of years ago, there was always an interest in making music together. A few songs had been written here and there, but once this song came together, there was no doubt they were on to something.

“I think ‘Smooth talker’ was the glue of the three of us working together,” Juzang said. “It was the first thing that we had all come up with from scratch together. A lot of the rest of the album is either I wrote something myself or I started something with Aidan or I started with Jason and we all collaborated on it, so ‘Smooth talker’ was the first thing that was ours as a collective.”

Adding, “They’re both incredible players. They make choices that I’m just so in awe of. I’m so grateful for both of them.”

“Smooth talker” is not only the first single of the upcoming album, but the first time Juzang created a visual to accompany it. The music video was filmed over the course of six hours inside a bookshop and was truthfully just an afternoon spent with friends. Director Nick Van Horn assisted in bringing a playful introduction to the rest of the album while showcasing Juzang’s creative community.

Her forthcoming debut album, SUPERSTAR, only started to come together a few months ago while writing the title track. It was the first moment that they realized the direction they were going in was much more than a few songs.

Many of the lyrics seem to have a central theme that stems from the idea that she really thought she would have figured out life by now. Whether it was about success or love or financial stability, she found herself having conversations with so many people that had the same result: life looks a lot different than it was made out to be. Most importantly, she was not the only one feeling this way.

“There’s not any shame in admitting that I’m not where I thought I’d be,” she said. “I find a lot of comfort in that everyone is chasing their dream and whatever that looks like. That’s going to be the album: chasing a dream, figuring it out and making friends along the way.”