Lil Lotus – the musical alias of Texan John Villagran – was a project that started in 2016, a time when pop-punk and emo were very much out of the mainstream. Confined to the bedroom production that birthed the SoundCloud rap scene – a sphere that gave rise to the likes of Trippie Redd and the late Juice WRLD – Lotus began dropping his emo-inflected tracks online, building a significant following that presented him with the chance to open for the likes of Senses Fail, nothing,nowhere. and Papa Roach. Now signed to legendary punk label Epitaph – who put out his debut album ERRØR BØY earlier this year – Lil Lotus’ career is blossoming thanks in no small part to pop-punk’s current renaissance. According to him, though, the roots of the current boom lie in the scene he and ...