Margo Price Releases Timely New Single, ‘Lydia’
Written before Roe was overturned, the prescient ‘Lydia’ sees Price break form, writing a Townes Van Zandt-style character study about a woman who finds herself pregnant and unable to raise a baby.
Margo Price tackles the timely issue of abortion rights and body autonomy on her latest single, “Lydia.”
The new single sits at over 6-minutes and is the third single off of Price’s upcoming album, Strays, set to release on January 13.
“Lydia” is a heavily evocative track from the singer-songwriter. The song grapples with a woman’s right to choose, inspired by scenes that she would experience on tour, from methadone clinics to women’s health clinics that she would see in Vancouver.
“Lydia” comes from a place of meditation, as Margo explains that she was searching for relief the night she wrote this song in her Canadian hotel room. She notes: “I was jet lagged and feeling really depressed, hopeless, but instead of taking a nap, I picked up the guitar and the words just flowed out all in one quick moment.”
The inspiration for the song adds a touch of realism to Price’s music, which she typically forgoes to sing about her own personal experiences. When describing her songwriting process for her new single, Margo describes:
“I hit record on my phone to make a demo and sort of blacked out or went into this meditative state, and boom – eight minutes later, I had this song. It’s one of the only songs I’ve ever written that doesn’t have any real melody or even rhyme, but somehow it still works. Songs like that are rare and don’t come often.
It was inspired by a cacophony of things. There was a women’s health clinic and a methadone clinic with a needle exchange right outside of our venue. I was looking into the eyes of the people I passed and thinking about their stories and really being a conduit for pain.
The song feels like a premonition now, with women’s rights being stripped and all the abortion bans happening. When I listen back, I hear what might go through a woman’s mind when she has a difficult decision to make about her body, her choices, and her future.”
“Lydia” is a heartfelt look at abortion rights and the struggles of young women, making it clear that Price’s upcoming album, Strays, might be her most emotional to date.
