What Jen Wants

Da sapere

Born in the US and now based in Brighton, Lonnie is an artist carving out a world of her own – one that sits somewhere between saccharine and sordid, playful and unflinchingly raw. Raised in what she describes as a "static and boring" pocket of suburban New Jersey, music was a lifeline. Her father, a former new wave club DJ, and her sister – now in a Leeds-based noise rock band Skintern – helped shape a household where obsession and expression went hand in hand. As a self-professed "chubby emo kid," Gunn found early refuge in music, singing constantly as a child, often improvising melodies before she had the words to match them. By her teens, she was fronting an indie rock band, writing prolifically and even scoring short films with online collaborators. But it wasn't until years later – following a period of personal upheaval spanning late 2024 into 2025 – that music shifted from something she did to something she needed. As her world fractured, songwriting became the one constant: a means of survival as much as self-expression. Visually and conceptually, Lonnie Gunn exists in a world of "fuzzy static heaven" – something beautiful but slightly uncanny, where femininity, the body and surreal discomfort intertwine. It's a space that mirrors her music: intimate yet abrasive, tender yet grotesque. Still early in her journey, Gunn sees this moment not as a reinvention but a threshold. As she puts it, "I'm not a newborn baby, but it is my first day of school." Support from What Jen Wants