About
Laura Beth Johnson is the queer singer-songwriter behind Girl Love, a solo folk-pop project rooted in storytelling, soul, and spiritual reclamation. Based in Albany, New York, Laura is an award-winning poet and songwriter known for weaving dark, evocative narratives with haunting melodies and bold, expressive vocals. Through Girl Love, she seeks to affirm queer holiness and create space for truth and transformation.
Laura released an indie-folk album, The Sorrow Estate, in 2016. The record introduced her signature blend of poetic lyricism and emotional depth, and featured the spoken word piece “Crazy and Special,” which earned the Lucy Monroe Brooker Poetry Prize in 2017.
Her work has continued to garner recognition across both songwriting and poetry communities. She won The Folk Project’s New Jersey Songwriters Contest with her song Estate Sale in 2024, received a Songwriting Scholarship from Image Magazine in 2019, a Poetry Scholarship from the Hudson Valley Writers Guild in 2022, and a Songwriting Scholarship from the Music Masters Collective in 2024. That same year, she was selected as one of ten Capital Region songwriters to attend the INK Songwriters Retreat through SongCity of Troy.
In 2023, Laura released her debut self-titled album as Girl Love to a sold-out audience at the legendary folk venue Caffe Lena. In 2025, she recorded and released a live album titled Altar (Live at Mount Ida). She followed that with the EP Holy Now, continuing her exploration of identity, faith, and liberation through music.
Laura has been nominated for 6 Edison Awards. She has also shared the stage with acclaimed artists including Mary Gauthier, Laurie MacAllister (of Red Molly), and Sawyer Fredericks. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Writing and Communications from Houghton College.
Praise for Girl Love
“Girl Love’s music sounds like if God and the Devil reconciled their differences and did what they always really wanted to do, which is start a polycule. There’s a worship of the smutty, a tarnishing of the sacred, and it all rides on the silver crest of her voice, which turns even the most casual utterance into a bold intonation.”
— Dustin Lowman, Singer-Songwriter
“(Girl Love’s) warm legato style lent itself to the intimate setting, beckoning listeners to lean in and join the moment she was creating, a glimpse of the artist at work… a one of a kind experience full of raw emotion, community, and a certain kind of magic.”
— Rory Graham of Metroland Now on the making of Altar (Live at Mount Ida)
“Girl Love’s lyrics are captivating, poetic, and infused with honesty and heart. Her voice and presence are ethereal and mysterious to me, but at the same time she feels like an old friend. She’s up there in the clouds and down here on earth, all at once.”