Video: Lauren Ruth Ward, ‘Self Love’

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Lauren Ruth Ward (Photo by Sean Scheidt)

Sometimes you have to be your own biggest cheerleader.

That’s the memo from Lauren Ruth Ward, who spells it out in the new single, “Self Love.” The song is the follow-up to the “Mindseye” EP released a year ago. It’s plucked from a batch of music the Baltimore native has been working on this year with various co-writers and producers, including Charlie Brand (Miniature Tigers), Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers), Louie Diller (Holychild), Jacob Michael (Foreign Air) and, on this single, David Davis (Miguel, War On Drugs). In announcing the new single, Ward hints at a busy 2024 release-wise.

Known (and lauded) for dynamic, bluesy vocals on early releases, Ward employs a pliable, vulnerable rasp on the new single, injecting it with verve to spell out the chorus, “S-E-L-F-L-O-V-E S-E-L-F-L-O-V-E.” Pep talks should always be this catchy.

“Journaling, my therapist and a slew of mind-expanding audiobooks are the three pillars that continue to guide me through my ‘forevermore’ self-love journey. It was the self-love-to-self-confidence pipeline that led me back into the LA dating scene after a career-focused, celibate, spiritual sabbatical,” Ward says. “Among the summer lovers, I observed the same high pendulum swings from codependency to hyper-independence that I had worked so hard to rewire in myself. I found myself having an allergic reaction to those who always need someone to call them baby, and I also wish them their self-love freedom. Choosing myself, loneliness and all, over glimmers of ‘what-if love,’ is my self-love story.”

The rah-rah video will have you rooting for the winner.

It features Evan Payne (SELF) along with Ward (LOVE), who met one night at a party and bonded over their cheerleading pasts. Ward says the video is inspired by the quote: “Your trauma is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.”

||| Watch: The video for “Self Love”

||| Previously: “Mindseye,” “Suburban Ego,” “Messiah,” “You Never Fake It” (with SWIMM), Quarantunes, “Feel Better,” Live at Echo Park Rising 2019, live at Love You Down III, “Sentimental Porno,” “True Romance,” “Speak Politely,” “First Time,” “Man’s Man”