I wasn’t even trying to feel things—I was just scrolling, half-distracted, waiting for a friend to text me back about drinks. Then Laugh Track slipped into my headphones like an uninvited truth. That opening line—“I hurt more than I’d like to admit / But I’ll always go along with the bit”—hit me right in that soft spot I pretend doesn’t exist when I’m three tequila sodas deep and laughing too hard at someone else’s story. It didn’t feel like I was discovering a song. It felt like someone had cracked open a secret diary I didn’t remember writing.
The track is stripped-down, built on an intimate acoustic guitar that feels like it was recorded in your bedroom with the door shut and the lights dimmed. It’s confessional and cheeky in equal measure—like catching your reflection mid-rant and suddenly realizing how absurd (and maybe a little endearing) your angst actually is.
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Ava calls out her own tendencies with that disarming, slightly self-deprecating wit we love in our favorite sad girl anthems. “I say I too much which isn’t so good / And think of other people way more than I should”—girl, same. It’s that feeling of cracking a joke while your heart’s quietly breaking underneath. I’ve definitely made myself the clown just to keep the energy up in a friend group when all I wanted was to disappear. Ava doesn’t just admit that impulse—she turns it into art.
And can we talk about that line: “People pleasing is just as self-focused / As narcissism and now I’ve taken notice”? It’s one of those moments that hits like a whispered truth. A reminder that yes, you can be sweet and still be stuck in your own head, spiraling about how everyone perceives you. She’s not scolding us—she’s right there with us, trying to figure it out.
The chorus is where everything crystallizes. “When I turn on the TV / In the flaws, that’s where I see me”—there’s something weirdly comforting about recognizing your own dysfunction in fictional characters. I used to rewatch New Girl not for the laughs, but because Jess’s awkwardness made mine feel less isolating. And when Ava sings about Ted Mosby, architect, I laughed out loud because yes, we all have that one sitcom character we hate to admit we identify with.
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But what takes Laugh Track from a clever acoustic jam to something that lingers is the final repetition of “We’re all laughing / Is it with me or at me?” That’s the feeling some people carry into parties, relationships, and any situation where we might be exosed. The tension between connection and insecurity is raw and it’s all wrapped in this simple melody.
So if you ever feel like you’re stuck in a Truman Show loop, overanalyzing every eye-roll or pause in a group chat, listen to Laugh Track. Michelle Ava Valianti sees us. And more importantly, she’s laughing with us. Maybe a little at herself. But never at you.
Let’s raise a glass to the girls who overthink, overshare, and still show up smiling. We’re the main characters now.
