Lydia Sutherland Confesses some Feelings Don’t Fit in her New Single “Dressing Room”

In the latest release from Lydia Sutherland, the songwriter turned artist strips down to uncover deep vulnerability.

“Dressing Room” gives the emerging artist the floor to further explore the burden of physical insecurity she’s touched on in the past while honing in on her own banjo-pop sound.

In a track built on raw honesty, Lydia continues to deliver authenticity, finding ways to push the boundaries of country music to include stories like the one told in this song.

About “Dressing Room”

In “Dressing Room” Lydia invites her audience to peer into her own physiological hurdles associated with body image issues in a story that is sadly too relatable. The song recounts a dressing room breakdown where the person in the mirror is never the person we want to be.

With the intimacy of bedroom-pop laced in country twang, Lydia blurs genre lines with “Dressing Room”. After establishing herself as a songwriter in Nashville, Lydia has embarked on the journey of discovering her own sound as an artist.

Written by Sutherlenad herself along with collaborators Chris Yurchuck and Frances Litterski, “Dressing Room” features Lydia’s signature airy vocals which masterfully elevate the track to a peak of emotional intimacy in harmony with the song’s lyrics.

Thematically, Lydia is not one to shy away from uncovering her own insecurities in an effort to connect with her fans. In an earlier release this year, “Look Like Your Exes”, she explored similar themes about problems of comparison and physical insecurities stating “I wrote ‘Look Like Your Exes’ at a time where I felt overwhelmed and insecure about the way I looked compared to my boyfriend’s exes. This is the most vulnerable and honest song I’ve released yet.”

Lydia Talked To Us About The Feeling Of Releasing Such Personal Music

Production includes minimalistic mandolin, soft lap steel, banjo, and guitar, and fluttering piano, from Todd Lombardo and Sam Ellis, the latter also credited as the producer of the track.

Influenced by pop but anchored in the intimacy afforded by acoustic country, the track oozes authenticity.

Subtle harmonies in the chorus add just the right amount of power and depth to balance the sensitive tone of the song. In terms of vocal style, the track feels like a homecoming to Lydia’s early work, exploring her Quebecois roots through francophone pop ballads; her voice sounds so delicate it’s practically fragile.

Inside Lydia Sutherland’s “Dressing Room”

Skillful songwriting manages to sum up the song in its opening lines: “Nothing like a mental breakdown in H&M, The mirror added 20 pounds when I just lost 10. Guess I’ll skip dinner.” In bold and brave Lydia fashion, she consciously chooses to call out the clothing retailer, H&M, notorious for using unsustainable materials, not paying their workers a living wage, and inconsistent sizing that often runs small.

Continuing through the first verse Lydia sings, “Every body, every size in that new collection, So why am I the body type that’s the exception.” In a culture of fast fashion, where cheap trends are marketed non-stop to continue an infinite cycle of buying for massive corporate profits, it’s no wonder why so many of the clothes we feel pressured to buy don’t make us feel good.

This, combined with social media, where influence and its corresponding degrees of comparison become integral parts of our self image – despite most content being an idealized highlight reel; it seems obvious why nearly everyone battles with insecurity.

Lydia shared on instagram about the latest release writing “Dressing Room is a song I needed to hear when I was younger. I lost over 80 pounds and still to this day see me as the overweight 12 year old people were really mean to. Words are hard to get out of your head even 12 years later and dressing rooms make them louder. If you relate to this song no matter what size you are I am so sorry.”

Lyric Video For Lydia’s Single

Released with the song is a lyric video centered around Sutherland.

Further conveying the uncomfortable and, at times, brutally disheartening feelings that inspired the song, Lydia is seen seated on the floor, draped in a baggy sweatsuit. She is crouched over holding, somewhat concealing, herself. As she sings, her facial expressions and body language reveal in a raw, ironically non-performative way, the insecurity and shame associated with body image issues.

In the final cut, multiple frames are spliced alongside one another to emulate a multi-mirrored dressing room. The multiple reflections produce the same overwhelming sensation Lydia is trying to communicate in her song – how hard it is to face so many images of someone you don’t like but can’t escape.

“Dressing Room” is an important song, not only because it manages to beautifully, albeit tragically, convey Lydia’s personal struggle to find peace within her body but on a larger scale, because of its mass relatability.

More About Lydia Sutherland

Based in Nashville but born in Quebec, Lydia Sutherland has spent the last several years paving her own path as a country songstress. Since being discovered on the hit French TV show La Voix in 2018 she has collaborated as a writer with the likes of Robyn Ottolini, Jake Davey, and Chelsea Berman. Lydia has established herself as a sought after songwriter in country music both domestically and across the world.

Stepping into the spotlight as an artist, Lydia is expected to release a forthcoming full length debut album. With a backlog of over 900 songs, and a iHeart Radio “future Star” under her belt, we cannot wait to hear what Lydia will choose to release next.