LACES Rips Hustle Culture a New One on ‘WORK’

In an age when burnout is branded as ambition and rest is rationed like a luxury good, WORK arrives like a Molotov cocktail in a cubicle. The new EP from LACES—aka Jessica Vaughn, aka the artist formerly known as Charlotte Sometimes—doesn’t just critique hustle culture. It sets it on fire, dances through the smoke, and dares the rest of us to breathe a little deeper.

Across seven tracks, Vaughn turns the conveyor belt of late-stage capitalism into a stage for pop rebellion. The opener, “Hard Work,” offers no corporate pep talk. Instead, it lays bare the invisible labor of love—the folding of laundry, the folding of egos. It’s intimate, lived-in, and radical in its refusal to glamorize grit. Then comes “Open for Business,” where Vaughn trades trauma for transcendence, crafting a survivor’s anthem with teeth. By the time “Salt” hisses into view, she’s gone full venom, torching the narcissists and silver spoon execs who gatekeep the industry she’s now reengineering from the inside.

And just when you think the EP might collapse under the weight of its own righteous fury, LACES hits the eject button with “I Quit for Summer”—a sparkling, sun-drunk pop gem that turns joy into protest and rebellion into a beach day. It’s the season’s most satisfying middle finger.

Elsewhere, Vaughn gets meta on “15 Minutes,” skewering the fame machine with the wit of someone who’s survived it—teen stardom, major label deals, The Voice, all of it. “Extraordinary” is the emotional heartbeat of the record: a soaring ballad about self-worth unmoored from applause. And the closer, “Women’s Work,” is a punk-pop wink and a roar, shredding gender expectations and exalting the magic of women who do it all—and refuse to apologize.

WORK is far more than a clever concept. It’s the culmination of a life that has defied every script: raised in foster care, adopted, hospitalized, silenced by a rare jaw disease, assaulted on tour, and still—still—Vaughn rises, not just as a voice but as a force. Now a powerhouse exec at Head Bitch Music, she’s using her scars like armor, crafting anthems that cut through the noise.

There are plenty of albums about labor. WORK is about liberation. It’s a pop punch in the gut, a danceable manifesto, and a dare: to make room for joy, rage, healing, and hope—in other words, to make room for life.

Listen to “WORK” on Spotify here.