LØLØ - BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 2, 13 MAY 2026

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

With LØLØ’s diaristic new album, ‘god forbid a girl spits out her feelings!’, released in mid-April, being an album about ‘learning, losing, falling in love, falling apart and refusing to apologize for any of it’, the Canadian singer/songwriter headed, unapologetically, soon after, to Europe and the UK for ‘god forbid a girl goes on tour!’, where new and old fans fell in love with her stage presence and performance, either for the first time, or all over again.

‘Dear Diary, today is May 13th. I’m in Birming-HAM,’ LØLØ’s recorded voice echoes out of the speakers. ‘I mean, Birminghum… Or is it Birmingum?’ She is urged to stop journaling, as the show is starting. Her bandmates walk on stage and start playing the opening bars to ‘the devil wears converse’, before the much-loved singer arrives, wearing a tank top featuring a British flag, and her familiar plaid micro skirt. With knee length socks and trainers, she looks part pop-punk princess, part sporty cheerleader.

While failed relationships have inspired her songs, she has definitely won the heart of many UK pop rock fans. Songs such as ‘007’ and the title track of her new album are delicious bites of pleasure. Despite being written at low points in her love life, they are relatable and healing, but also, pure joy to listen to, all rolled up in one. 

She officially welcomes the audience to the tour and tells everyone how, as a child, she would rip the pages of her diary into pieces, as she was scared of anyone knowing her deepest, darkest thoughts, but now, in her career, she tells everyone all of her deepest, darkest thoughts. And tonight is a celebration of the messiness that the writing of her album was. 

Some recorded ‘Dear diary’ intros to songs such as ‘me with no shirt on’, make the show stand out as more than just a concert on stage, giving it an almost theatre-like, fairytale storyline, with LØLØ even getting a diary and pen and pretending to write in the diary. “Has anyone here ever sent or received a sexy picture?” she asks the crowd. There’s a cheer. She grabs an acoustic guitar to play the song. She has a gorgeous voice, which makes the song a sumptuous, radio-friendly gem. ‘the punisher’ is another velvety tune and a slice of melodic bliss. 

Addictive ear-worm ‘debbie downer’ sees numerous cheerleading pom poms being thrown out to the audience and an audience member chosen to get up on stage to join in with the active tune. ‘faceplant’ includes a short segment of The Killers' ‘Mr Brightside’, while we’re told to ‘give it up for being delulu’ and how ‘delusional darling’ is about ‘ignoring every single bright and shining, humungous red flag, because sometimes it’s easier to be delulu’. Suppprt artist Ella Red joins LØLØ for the second part of the song. 

The crowd get the choice of either ‘lonely & pathetic’ or ‘hurt less’. The cheers are more or less the same, although ‘lonely & pathetic’ just about wins. It’s hard to pick a favourite when it comes to LØLØ’s songs as they are all high quality.

The 20-song setlist includes an encore of ‘wish I was a robot’ (which LØLØ performs on her own with an acoustic guitar) and ‘hot girls in hell' (which starts off delicately, before exploding into a celebration of exes rotting in hell). LØLØ gives a little speech before ‘wish I was a robot’ about how we are all human and we all have feelings. So many feelings are felt through the songs and by each and everyone in the audience. The standout feeling that we left the show with was that LØLØ is one incredibly talented singer/songwriter and that she has a very, very bright future ahead of her. Dear diary, we’re glad that LØLØ is not a robot. We had a great time at the show tonight – and hope that LØLØ comes back to Birmingham again soon.