Lydia Loveless

Pigeonhole Lydia Loveless at your peril. Over the course of seven studio albums, the Columbus, Ohio-based singer-songwriter has become known for wry, observant lyrics that don’t sugarcoat the realities of everyday life. Throughout 2025, Loveless released a song a month on Bandcamp, challenging themself to be prolific and productive. Several of those appear on their new EP Accolades, which is signature Loveless: a deeply personal meditation on relationships, the music business and navigating the modern world, conveyed via a mix of dark humor, blunt assessments and the occasional sliver of light. Musically, the collection again detonates any expectations, encompassing ‘90s alternative rock (the Liz Phair-esque “Oklahoma”) and muscular bar-band anthems (the Farfisa organ-augmented “What We Learned”) as well as more stripped-down fare. Accolades nods to the sound of Loveless’ earlier work, albeit from the perspective of someone with more life experience. “I do feel like there is a very Americana sense to it as much as there isn’t,” Loveless says with a laugh. “I was really inspired by Tom Petty on a lot of these songs, where I wanted to give them space to breathe, like I feel like a lot of his songs do, and focus more on telling stories than dumping my life on everyone.”