Florida native and Los Angeles-based queer indie pop star Caroline Kingsbury returns with a bold new EP, following her most-recent tour with Pom Pom Squad. Inspired by the 1981 musical comedy film of the same name—a cult follow-up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show— Shock Treatment draws on the film’s themes of societal pressure and the blurred lines between reality and fantasy. With her signature fearless style, Kingsbury imagines a world of reverse conversion therapy, where queerness is not only normalized but celebrated, and heterosexuality is marginalized—flipping the script in that’s both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant.
Kingsbury is sharing the EP’s first single, also titled ‘Shock Treatment,’ a euphoric release reminiscent of Robyn’s ‘Dancing on My Own.’ Bursting with alluring 80’s synth and irresistibly danceable, feel-good energy, ‘Shock Treatment’ blends infectious pop with sharp social commentary—one of Kingsbury’s greatest strengths. Over the pulsing beat, she declares, “I really need to move somebody tonight…even if it’s fake love just for an hour or two.” In a time of increasing political uncertainty, ‘Shock Treatment’ arrives as a defiant anthem, embracing joy as a radical act.
While on tour with Pom Pom Squad this past March, Kingsbury waved the Transgender Pride Flag and reminded audiences: “It’s now more important than ever for us to be together, experiencing queer joy.” That spirit pulses through Shock Treatment, and it’s a message she’ll carry across the country this summer.