REVIEW: Avery Cochrane Steps Into Her Next Era With ‘Toy Gun’
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY NEO VASQUEZ ☆
POP’S NEXT BREAKOUT STAR IS TRADING HEARTBREAK FOR THE LAST LAUGH—Avery Cochrane released “Toy Gun” last week, the lead single off her upcoming debut album and her first new music since March's “Male Validation and Other Drugs.” The synth-pop track marks a shift in tone for the 24-year-old Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter, trading the fumbling, love-struck confusion of her debut EP for something steadier: a song about faking confidence in a relationship that had already stopped working.
Cochrane said she “wrote this song about the freedom of leaving a relationship that was emotionally draining.” Her song explores what the meaning of being “toughened with a toy gun” is and the emotional labor behind being the secure partner in an insecure relationship.
That idea runs through the whole track. Over verses about a partner who withdraws and a narrator who keeps reaching out anyway, Cochrane traces what it feels like to perform steadiness she doesn’t actually have. By the song’s back half, that performance falls away, and what’s left is closer to relief than heartbreak—a repeated line about no longer owing anyone anything that functions less like a kiss-off and more like a fact she’s finally settled into. Produced by Petro A.P., the track leans into a disco-adjacent pop sound, built around a driving rhythm section and a chorus meant to stick.
Cochrane has spent the last year building an audience mostly through social media and steady touring. Her song “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night” has passed 46 million views online and was featured in Amazon’s “Off Campus,” and she’s played sets at SXSW and Summerfest, sold out her EP release shows in the U.S. and U.K., and performed at the Stonewall Inn to kick off Pride Month this year. Her sound has drawn comparisons to ABBA, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan—reference points that track with her mix of sharp pop songwriting and campy presentation.
Early listener response has been positive, with fans on social media pointing to the production as a step up from her debut EP and singling out a melodic turn in the verses and the strength of the chorus. The cover art has also drawn attention, with some hoping it previews a broader visual direction for the album.
Cochrane will head out on her first headlining tour, Weapons of Iridescence, starting October 3 in Washington, D.C., with stops that include New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Chicago’s Subterranean and West Hollywood’s Troubadour before wrapping in Seattle in November. With a debut album expected to follow, “Toy Gun” reads less like a standalone single than an opening statement for what’s next.
