CHVRCHES’ Lauren Mayberry sends a message to sexist internet trolls

By Lilian min

August 31, 2015

By Lilian min

August 31, 2015

Lauren Mayberry is the angel-voiced lead singer for the Scottish band CHVRCHES. She’s also become one of the most prominent female indie musicians to take a stand against online misogyny, in part because like many in the music industry, she’s been subjected to countless threats and harassment online on the basis of her sex. As she publicly takes on the subject in publications like The Guardian, she’s been inundated with even more vitriol, but Mayberry’s holding onto her message and fighting back even harder.

Case in point: CHVRCHES, in the ramp-up to their second album Every Open Eye, released a music video for their new single “Leave a Trace.” The video is atmospheric, a play on water metaphors and a showcase of the transitive properties of fog machines.

But unfortunately, the misogynistic trolls who lurk in every corner of the Internet, like hibernating bed bugs, came after the band over one detail: Mayberry’s dress and her slicked back hair.

Uh, what? The dress is a cute LBD; the hair is, uh, wet hair. Yet somehow, these trolls are taking those totally normal music video (and really, IRL) looks and spewing sexually aggressive and violent messages about Mayberry. It’s safe to say she’s had enough, and so she took them to task in a new interview, while offering advice and support for other groups on the Internet dealing with troll hate.

In an interview with the UK’s Channel 4 News, Mayberry addressed the serious nature of the comments directed against her, saying, “I am a 27-year-old woman wearing a mini-dress with wet-looking hair. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, but there is a difference between criticism and hatred.” She also points out the crucial aspect that many people oftentimes miss when it comes to public figures dealing with hateful speech online — the fact that fans who might identify with that figure would feel and internalize those comments by proxy:

Watch Mayberry’s entire interview below. We applaud her continued work combating sexual harassment and threats, and can’t wait to hear not just what CHVRCHES’ next album sounds like, but also how, hopefully, things change from here.