On her EP Cigarettes & Heartbreak Vol. 1, Lipstick Killer leans fully into the wreckage, documenting heartbreak as a long emotional free-fall. The project was shaped by the end of a five-year relationship Lipstick Killer once saw as a lifelong commitment.
Released on January 23, Cigarettes & Heartbreak Vol. 1 arrived as a five-track confession shaped by betrayal, rage, obsession, and survival.
“There’s no mystery behind this EP—it was born straight out of betrayal and heartbreak,” Lipstick Killer said in a recent interview. “I was dealing with the end of a relationship with the love of my life after finding out he was cheating, and everything I wrote came from that emotional free-fall.”
Across tracks like “Who Dat (Monsta),” “Delaware Ave,” “Have A Nice Day (feat. Zaydamane),” “Darkness,” and “Real,” Lipstick Killer allows conflicting emotions to coexist. “The songs move through love, anger, obsession, passion, confusion—all of it,” she explained. “Love really is one hell of a drug.”
That commitment to emotional honesty shapes the EP’s sequencing. The track order follows what Lipstick Killer describes as the real cycle of betrayal, and not the fantasy version. “Sometimes people don’t leave right away,” she said. “Who Dat” opens the project as a moment of defiant self-reminder, even while the wounds are still fresh. “Delaware Ave” captures the second, undeniable betrayal. “Have A Nice Day” offers false calm before “Darkness” pulls listeners back into unresolved grief. Ending with “Real” was deliberate. “It’s softer, more vulnerable, and probably unexpected,” she said. “It felt like the most truthful way to close the story.”
Sonically, the EP reflects Lipstick Killer’s continued evolution as a genre-bender. “Delaware Ave” nods to Project Pat and Three 6 Mafia influences, while “Darkness” hints at where she’s headed next—heavier guitars, darker textures, and melodic hooks. “Real,” meanwhile, reveals a more tender side. “I’m not a ‘singer-singer,’ but I can sing,” she said. “Maybe a little T-Boz energy in there.”
For Lipstick Killer, honesty remains the throughline. “My music isn’t a space for judgment; it’s a space for understanding,” she said. With Cigarettes & Heartbreak Vol. 1, that understanding is raw, unresolved, and real. It’s a snapshot of survival in progress.
