Riley Lauren’s goodbye to Philly
The homegrown singer-songwriter dazzled at her Kung Fu Necktie farewell concert ahead of a move to Nashville in pursuit of her musical future.
Riley Lauren | Photo by Maeve Zeleniak for WXPN
Riley Lauren isn’t wasting time. The math major-turned-stylist-turned-singer-songwriter grew up in the Philly area, and in just three years has built a music career that’s taking her to Nashville this month.
“I’ve just always been the type of person where I’m not going to be complacent in something that isn’t serving me. I feel like life is too short to not do what you feel like you’re meant to be doing,” Lauren said. “Trying to be a successful musician is really hard, but I’d rather be broke every day and working towards something that is my true passion… Every day I wake up and I’m like, ‘I’m going to do something that is like actively working towards something that is going to make me happy today,’ you know?”
Lauren, who learned piano as a child, has spent the last few years singing in a wedding band, forming connections with other artists in the city. Armed with mentors guiding her through the soft skills in the music industry – how to find the better parts of her voice, how to book shows, how to present oneself onstage – she went forth to start booking solo gigs and to write her own songs.
The show at Kung Fu Necktie was both a way for Lauren to say goodbye to one stage of her life and a way to celebrate fellow artists. Sage Thomas and Daphne Eckman, with very different music styles but alike in raw talent, took the stage first. Thomas dazzled with new release “SHE,” then Eckman and her band took the stage to up the energy with pop-punk, complete with an encore cover of Brie Larson’s “Black Sheep.”
While she says she thrives with collaboration, Lauren says she works best when the pressure is off. “I definitely think it speaks volumes that my most popular song is ‘warm for a while’ and that’s the song that I resonate with the most, because I think for a while I was kind of getting caught up in the instrumentation of my songs,” Lauren said. “I could only play like a certain amount of chords [on guitar], and kind of being limited in that way allowed me to just focus on the vocal melody and the lyrics and just like the general vibe of the song.”
“Warm for a While” is a bittersweet meditation on a breakup, perfectly encapsulating the feeling of loving someone as a person, even though they might not necessarily be your person. Lauren’s rendition perfectly displayed her style, blending Noah Kahan-style storytelling with a voice that brings Sarah Bareilles and Stevie Nicks to mind.
Lauren said she only permitted herself to cover Carol Ades’ “26” after she turned the song’s titular age, putting a folksy spin on the song while retaining that raw growing-up and feeling lost sensibility that Ades creates in the 2022 single.
And Lauren’s very much in that in-between. She found herself stagnant performing at weddings and singing covers. Nashville is the perfect city for her musical career, she said. “There’s so many people that I really connect with and their artistry really speaks to me,” Lauren said “To just be in a place where I can constantly just be writing and collaborating with artists, I want to be in a place that’s more suited to my genre and surrounded by those who are actively doing what I want to do.”
Perhaps the most vulnerable point in the show was for the yet-unreleased “At All.” Seated before her family, friends, and fans, Lauren explained two things: that she had a limited knowledge of guitar, and that she is living with a chronic illness that attacks her diaphragm. What followed was an exquisite acoustic rendition, her lilting melodies leaving the audience both cheering and crying.
Lauren’s 2025 single “Down” was utterly triumphant. After years of building towards this moment, Lauren is going to make it happen. And Philly can’t wait to see all she does next.
