Madi Diaz announces her new album, Fatal Optimist, out October 10 via ANTI-, its lead single/video, ‘Feel Something’, as well as a North American Tour. Diaz is an artist who cuts to the emotional core of her own experiences with startling precision. Following 2021’s breakthrough History of a Feeling and 2024’s two-time Grammy nominated Weird Faith, she’s now asking audiences to lean in close. Fatal Optimist could be considered the final chapter in her heartache trilogy, and the rawest entry. This is the Madi Diaz album most likely to haunt you with its starkness.
Song by song, Diaz traces the phases of dissolution and rebirth. In the video for ‘Feel Something’, Allister Ann captures the romantic spell being fully broken, while Diaz reveals the futility of reaching for emotional connection after it’s already been lost. Today’s single presents the oscillating emotions of post-break-up limbo with energetic acoustic strumming, languid electric guitar, and a final declaration, “Fuck my life, goddamnit I might!” She moves confidently and quickly in her vocal style, showcasing her mastering the craft of phrasing: “I used to think I needed to read your mind/I’m only gonna find what I’m gonna find, and then we’ll fuck and then we’ll fight.”
Reflecting on the track, Diaz says, “‘Feel Something’ is about the deep yearning and desire to connect. It’s the moment when you’re trying to call in the love that was lost. It’s the first single off the album because it has the sense of urgency and panic that I felt at that first moment I noticed I was alone in my relationship.”
In Diaz’s words, “Fatal Optimism is the innate hope for something magical. It’s the weird faith that kicks in while knowing that there is just plain risk that comes with wanting someone or something. It’s when you have no control over the outcome, but still choose to experience every moment that happens, and put your whole heart in it.”
Fatal Optimist:
- Hope Less
- Ambivalence
- Feel Something
- Good Liar
- Lone Wolf
- Heavy Metal
- If Time Does What It’s Supposed To
- Flirting
- Why’d You Have To Bring Me Flowers
- Time Difference
- Fatal Optimist
