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Interview: Lauren Minear Captures the Pain Beneath Anger on “Bruise”

October 24, 2025
William Brookson
Latest posts by William Brookson (see all)

New York-based artist Lauren Minear shares her transformative new album, Boxing Day, featuring the fragile, urgent lead single, “Bruise.” Written in the aftermath of betrayal and self-reflection, the record traces a path through anger, shame, acceptance, and ultimately liberation. With raw confessional lyrics and immersive soundscapes that blend alternative, pop, rock, and folk, Boxing Day is Minear’s most ambitious work to date.

Minear began writing the record in July 2023, after cutting ties with a creative agency she discovered had been stealing from her. “I always write my way through intense feelings,” she explains. “But I realized that the anger and shame I was experiencing went deeper than just this one conflict. These songs allowed me to confront patterns of repressed anger and codependency, and to liberate myself from them in the process.”

At the core of the record is “Bruise,” a song inspired by the paradox of loving someone who also causes deep pain. Acoustic and guitar-driven, the track reveals the sadness that lies beneath anger, reinforced by Minear’s choice to sing the chorus in falsetto to highlight fragility. “We wrote ‘Bruise’ on Day 4 of our Woodstock sessions, bundled up in coats in a freezing guest house,” she recalls. “The environment and the song were well suited, because we ended up with something that sounds fragile. I think the cold added some urgency.

“Bruise” draws on themes of survival, shame, and self-overcoming, and for Minear, singing it still stirs discomfort. “It was painful to write and, for a long time, painful to sing,” she admits. “I’m working on that.”

With Boxing Day, Minear offers her most powerful statement yet: that even in anger and shame, liberation and light can be found.

1. What did you enjoy most about the creation of this new release?
Making this album was painful at times because the material is so personal, but like all good art, it changed me. The most enjoyable parts of the process have been the small moments when I recognize growth in myself – whether that looks like making an empowered decision, or following my instincts against the advice of someone else and seeing it pan out.
2. Share a nugget of advice that has resonated with you most over the years.
Don’t take advice from people who you don’t want to emulate.
3. Who would be your dream artist/band to co-headline a tour with?
This is a very hard question. I’ll say Maggie Rogers.
4. What sets your music apart from others in your genre?
I am a mom and a clinically trained psychotherapist. I have also been in therapy as a patient for twenty years, so my writing offers a unique lens on mental health, motherhood, and identity. Some of my favorite feedback that I’ve gotten about my work is that I am able to make some of life’s most difficult experiences relatable through my writing.
5. Tell us what your favourite song is at the moment and why.
Lately, I’ve been covering “Bad Liar” by Imagine Dragons and also listening to it on repeat when I go for long walks. The lyrics feel like something I could have written myself, and the build of the production makes me feel like I’m flying. It’s one of those songs that felt familiar the first time I heard it.

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