Lauren Hartung’s father is a musician, and so is her uncle. It was only destiny for the Texas native—who goes by Ren Hart on stage—to follow their footsteps. “I started writing songs when I was a child. I was, like, 6 the first time. In middle school, I started to get more serious with it, but I was getting bullied about it, so I stopped,” she stated. “But then I was like, ‘Wait, that's stupid. It makes me happy.’”
Once high school and college came around, she decided, “that doesn't just have to be like a pipe dream… I can actually do something with music.” Not too long after graduating university, she was off to her urban dream: living in New York City while chasing her sound.
The very first song she released, priority, was published in 2023 under her government name—it was a “straight song” that she did all the production for, with the exception of recording her vocals. Back then, she barely dabbled with love songs. That shifted when Hart started exclusively seeing women, stating that “my writing got a lot more authentic, and that just goes along with discovering yourself and... being able to write from like a personal experience rather than a story that you heard or made up.”
While that track featured pre-recorded drum beats and synth melodies, her most recent song, the clown, has more of a heavy guitar flare to it. She explained, “I think that rock has always been a cornerstone of my music taste,” citing one of her favorite music inspirations as Paramore—Hayley Williams especially. “Also, I love Olivia Rodrigo. I think she does pop rock very well,” she added.
In just a year of residing in the Big Apple, Hart feels quite empowered in the creative scene, particularly as she figures out the genre she wants to focus on. “I have so many musician friends now, and they've really helped me realize that it's okay to change your sound, and it's a journey,” she said. Although her upbringing was near a city coined as the Live Music Capital of the World, she feels New York City’s scene is much more vast in its community.
Even in such a locale, however, there's room for Hart to foster a sense of comfort. “Maybe not in such an obvious way, but I think songs, especially ones that I don't share with other people, are a bit more [raw],” she noted. Some of her earliest drafts from grade school are still in the notebooks she uses today, but “they're really depressing,” so they aren’t set to be heard by any audience in the near future. That being said, Hart is of the belief that distance from writing something to when she releases it can help; it's not so fresh, and she's had time to process it before “giving it to the world for opinions.”
One of her biggest challenges when creating is telling herself, “No,” before she even allows an opportunity to unfold, but she is building her familiarity with not feeling completely polished prior to participating in what’s in store for her. “I feel like my art is a lot about it being okay to be vulnerable,” she stated. “This is such a classic answer, but if I can make at least one person feel affected by my music in a positive [and relevant] way, then I feel like I've done my job, you know?” Part of that includes embracing her own sense of openness.
Hart describes this process in terms of using the New York City subway. “In Texas, my car was my safe space. I'd be warming up my voice on the way, but literally today, I was on the fucking train, like, humming and doing some little vocal warmups, and that is not something you really have anywhere else,” she laughed. “People are weird here. I feel like it allows you to be a little more vulnerable because you realize that no one actually gives a shit.”
Down the road, she hopes to land a show at the iconic New York venue of Madison Square Garden—a dream Hart has had since being a teenager, knowing early on that she wanted to move to the city. Also part of her vision is collaborating with Paul McCartney as well as opening for Chappell Roan, a fellow lesbian musician.
“When I moved here originally, people kept asking if I was moving for my music, and I was too embarrassed to be like, ‘Yeah, kinda,’” she mentioned. “But I just kept being like, ‘Yeah, I'm moving for my music.’”
For Hart, the opportunities are so abundant. “I've really made a lot of progress and community, and I'm very grateful to New York for embracing me,” she gushed about her home.
