Laney Sanace Reclaims Her Direction on 'Hollowing Out the Light'

Lani Nguyen spent two years keeping completely off the internet as Laney Sanace, pulling a viral clip down after it drew massive hate and taking the time away to build her career in person. 'Hollowing Out the Light' came out of that quiet stretch, written to cut through the noise of people trying to dictate who she should be. She started laying down the track with a friend around an airy, retro-leaning sound before handing the project to an engineer to steer it toward straight pop, taking cues from Carly Rae Jepsen and The Weeknd, with Sanace pointing to the bridge's vocal lines and melodies as her favorite piece of the work.

The lyrics go right after the burnout of dealing with bad faith noise, comparing the track's feel to that long late-night drive home after a day where everything went sideways, yet you still feel pushed to keep moving:

'Burn it down, feel it out, look around now Close my eyes, leave behind, it’s the past now Breathe it in, let it go, stand my ground now I’ve dimmed my spark for way too long'

Instead of dwelling on the rough patch, these lines draw a clean line between the past and moving forward. Moving at 120 BPM, the track skips pity and lets the upbeat energy carry the weight, showing what it looks like when an artist finally stops letting outside voices run the room.