Let’s say you’ve had a long day. Not the catastrophic kind, just the standard existential dread with a side of self-doubt. You want something to listen to that won’t lie to you about how everything’s fine, but also won’t actively make you feel worse. Congratulations. You’re exactly the kind of person Michael Lazar made Daydreaming for.
Daydreaming is about allowing yourself to float. Which sounds nice, until you realize that sometimes floating also means drifting aimlessly into feelings you thought you’d sorted out already. Throughout the project, Lazar’s DIY approach is clear; not just in his songwriting and production, but in the emotional clarity that runs through every track.
The production is lush in the way that actually means something. No meaningless trap hi-hats. No awkward acoustic drops pretending to be “intimate.” Just well-crafted, emotionally literate pop songs that feel like they were made by a real person. Probably because they were. Lazar wrote, produced, performed, and likely cried over every single track himself, which is refreshing in an age when “indie” music is often just Spotify-core with ironic cover art.
The opening track, “Daydreaming,” isn’t here to shout or dazzle. It’s the musical equivalent of that quiet moment when you finally flop onto your couch after a long day and just breathe out. A delicate string-pluck-led ballad wrapped in subtle synths, it carries that kind of emotional bare-knuckle honesty you’d expect from Troye Sivan or Lauv; vulnerable without being melodramatic. It’s got the earnest theatricality of something like Dear Evan Hansen; building this fragile little world of longing and hope, but the sadness isn’t fishing for sympathy. It just hangs there, like a memory you can’t quite put away, and honestly, that’s a relief.
Then “Magic Hour” steps in, shimmering with synths and layered harmonies that could easily score a Glee season finale, if Glee had more taste and fewer plot holes. It leans into retro-pop with a sweetness that nods at twee-pop but keeps things firmly in Lazar’s soft-spoken lane. The production is cinematic without tipping into overblown spectacle, down to a somewhat orchestral nature. It’s more like golden-hour reflection than spotlight-stealing drama, but also somewhere between ’80s nostalgia and modern indie pop, with a vibe that’s polished but intimate; think MUNA in their quieter, moodier moments. The whole thing feels like the perfect soundtrack to a fleeting golden moment you want to stretch out forever.
The EP takes a sharp left turn with a vocal-heavy cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” delivered not as some overblown reimagining but with a kind of delicate restraint that somehow makes the old chestnut feel genuinely personal again. Lazar doesn’t mess around trying to reinvent the wheel or tear the song apart like it’s some edgy indie experiment. Instead, he honors it with the emotional honesty of a Broadway encore and it slots perfectly into the EP’s intimate, unpretentious vibe.
Then there’s the closer, “Life of the Butterfly,” which is basically grief and healing personified as monarch butterflies. Inspired by Lazar’s real-life experience raising these fragile creatures after losing his mother, the track weaves tender melodies and reflective lyrics into something quietly powerful.
Which brings us to the point: Daydreaming by Michael Lazar isn’t trying to impress you; it’s trying to reach you. It’s an EP by someone who’s clearly spent more time healing than branding. And in a landscape of soulless content engineered for vibes playlists and TikTok’s For You page, that alone is quietly radical.
This isn’t just music to cry to. It’s music for people who’ve already cried and are trying to remember how to feel anything else. It’s what happens when a queer Latin indie-pop artist decides that making something beautiful matters more than being seen as impressive. And that, more than anything, is what makes Daydreaming worth your time.
Follow Michael Lazar
Promoted Content
About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
