The indie pop, “California keeper, ex restaurant singer” Avery Cochrane released her second EP, Male Validation and Other Drugs, today, on March 27, 2026, following singles “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night”, “Griever”, and “Losing Streak” prior to the EP’s release.
Standout Tracks: Losing Streak, Sex, Etc., Oh, Mercy!
First and most notable, with 3.7 million streams on Spotify, “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night” was released in August 2025. Cochrane then released a second version of the track, “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night – Alone in My Bedroom Version” in late September 2025, as well as three versions featuring Banoffee, Nick Bertossi, and Brady Prince on “The Remixes”, released in November of the same year. Subsequently, Cochrane released noteworthy tracks prior to the album’s release, “Griever,” the EP’s opening track, on January 16, 2026 and lastly released the EP’s third track, “Losing Streak,” in late February.
Male Validation and Other Drugs Track list:
- Griever
- Loneliness in Numbers
- Losing Streak
- Sex, Etc.
- Male Validation and Other Drugs
- Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night
- Oh, Mercy!
The EP’s opening track, “Griever,” opens with airy, isolated vocals emphasizing the lyrics in the chorus: “I swear I’m not a griever / but then I had to see ya.” Moving into the chorus, the song explores the feeling of being “flattened by the ringer”, following a series of misfortunes in the singer’s life since losing their partner, seemingly to a breakup by which they show up with another girl, and forces her into relapsing her feelings of grieving upon seeing them: “Three years gone, but I’m ten years weaker.” This theme, accompanied by pop-like synth and upbeat drums picking up the energy in the song, juxtaposes the bitterness and affliction in the song.
“Loneliness in Numbers” excellently describes the feeling of cyclical heartbreak avoidance. In this lighter, more pop-like upbeat ballad, Cochrane explores the feeling of wanting to accept someone knowing her but being “too afraid to ask” and instead setting off a “nuclear blast” response and again settling for “loneliness in numbers / I always see heartbreak coming.” Interestingly, Cochrane refers to her home as a matrix, whereby “you touch my heart when you touch your phone,” touching on the feeling of disconnection in a digital age, accompanied by “material obsession” and “depression.” This melodic track packs more than might seem upon first listen.
The EP’s third track, and final single, “Losing Streak,” follows a couple of “longtime lover[s]” who can’t seem to get back in sync with one another. The song starts with a light and pop-like piano, channelling a retro synth sound. The light and breathy vocals of the chorus contrast with the power of the chorus, driving the song’s feeling of suffering “for the sake of saying, ‘We made it far’” and not knowing where to go next. Most interestingly, Cochrane changes the last refrain of the chorus midway through the song from “Longtime lover, you’re killing me” to “Longtime lover, just fight for me” only once.
This emphasis on begging someone not to give up is prevalent in the way each respective lover in the song is struggling: one is struggling with themselves and to be there for the other, “Had to up the dosage on your sertraline,” while the other is being hurt the more they try to keep the relationship together. Ultimately, Cochrane highlights that “It’s everything / incompatible intricacies” rather than a simple breakup; rather, there are layers to each person and how they interconnect: “You know you’re still my family / flash flood, freak show, fever dream.” The song reflects the theme of being intertwined, albeit in a complicated way, builds in the bridge with a slight shift to a minor sound, gritty guitar, followed by a prominent guitar melody and vocal layering, leading back into the final chorus of the song, with harmonies prevalent throughout the remainder. Cochrane displays the subtle ways things become increasingly complicated, but seemingly at a crossroads of not giving up in this powerhouse of a track.
“Sex, Etc.” is like an 80’s pop hit with staccato synth and a breathy upbeat chorus. Cochrane, feeling “Used and discarded,” asks early in the song, “Did you get what you need, what you wanted?” The song surmises different vices of trying to recover from heartbreak, “Look what you made a girl do,” and doing it unapologetically: “You don’t get to tell me how I can and can’t heal.” After the bridge, the chorus undergoes a higher key change with vocals reminiscent of Olivia Newton John. Cochrane calls herself as a former “hopeless romancer, spiritual cancer / traded it in for the traits of a dancer” as she is stuck in a cycle doing anything because she’s “desperate for connection” but wondering when this feeling will end. The sound of this track is definitely not one to be overlooked.
The EP’s namesake track, “Male Validation and Other Drugs,” is the most gritty and grunge-like track exploring the crushing feeling of wanting male validation despite hating the feeling it evokes. Cochrane says, “I honestly care what he thinks” and will “pit the girls against me” to achieve it, even though it ends with never hearing from him again. Although the vocals and the sound of the track contrast each other, they equally balance each other out to drive the song’s messages: “I don’t like my body, so I let the boys have it,” craving acceptance and the feeling of wanting to be wanted in whatever means necessary. The song explores the ideas that Cochrane knows are not the most sound, but being unable to fight the patriarchal notion of craving male validation, no matter how much one may despise it: “Not to be demeaning, and not to be dramatic / but it’s been so long since I’ve been kissed and all my worth depends on it.”
One of Cochrane’s most popular songs to date, “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night”, which she describes as “about not having a strong or prideful sense of self, so you morph into whatever you think people want from you”, explores the different ways of changing yourself across multiple aspects of life: love, music, social scenes, and even sexuality. Cochrane, a bi woman, has expressed that a lot of her songs are about her experience with her long-term girlfriend, but that there are also a lot of hetero songs in [her] discography. “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night” tells us fitting in is about more than changing who you are, but explores the ways people feel the need to shift themselves to fit into spaces and with people in order to feel radical acceptance. It talks about a girl whom everyone wants, and nobody really knows, a concept that listeners know they’re not alone in.
The EP’s final track and longest, “Oh, Mercy!” starts as an acoustic song. Deceivingly, harsh yet upbeat instrumentals are introduced along with glitching vocal harmonies and melodies that only build throughout the song. Here, Cochrane tackles much of what the EP tackles: the innate patriarchal damage girls and women grow up with, despite best efforts to forsake it altogether, “Oh, I can’t be normal or impartial / oh my pain is patriarchal.”
The song proceeds to explore themes of numbness, despair, and lawlessness, begging for mercy in a seemingly helpless state. From hoping, “Save me I’ve been feeling nothing / praying for beauty in the numbness” to understanding, “Can’t fix the world / can’t fix my mind” this song beautifully, and melodically, explores the feeling of wanting something more and wanting to feel saved from feeling despair while also conveying a sense of hopelessness in feeling her mind can’t be fixed; let alone a world that can’t be either.
From this Cochrane goes on to beg for mercy in a world where she gives all she has, “Blood, sweat, love and tears for profit” in a land that doesn’t care about how much is given because it likely won’t be enough since it “Turns out stolen land is lawless.” In a last-ditch effort to look for some light, Cochrane sings rather early in the song, “Oh great creator tell her she’ll be fine / have mercy on my side” and changes this refrain slightly throughout the rest of the track. Ultimately, this track fuses together sound and themes across the EP, all while creating a sound that stands out among its other tracks, fading out with mesmerizing vocal melodies to draw the EP to a close.
Male Validation and Other Drugs is a powerful and deeply relatable across topics to a wide range of audiences. Her sound is reminiscent of today’s biggest pop stars, yet she is mixing sounds and instruments to create work that is uniquely her own. Avery Cochrane is definitely an artist to follow, and her second EP is one to absolutely listen to. You can see her in upcoming shows in early May in Boston, New York, Seattle, and Washington.
Listen to Male Validation and Other Drugs here.