Lucy Rose swoops back into view with new single ‘Whatever You Want’. The English songwriter has really been through it, becoming a mother and enduring health issues. With her mobility restricted, a sense of isolation creeped in, as well as an enduring awareness of the beauty of small moments. New album This Ain’t The Way You Go Out will be released on April 19, preceded by the introductory tracks ‘The Racket’ and ‘Could You Help Me‘. New song ‘Whatever You Want’ is endlessly beautiful, the softness of her approach matched to a calm assurance. Lyrically, she explores parenthood, the feelings of watching her son grow during a time of real uncertainty. Lucy Rose explains… “I think a lot about my son Otis’s future, and instead of having a grand, extravagant life, I just want him to be happy, it’s very much how I feel about my own life now. The things I really dream of and care about are so different now, so many people I know are struggling in different ways, a lot with their own mental health and I just want them to be happy. I think the pressures of society can be a real contributing factor to their unhappiness. I paired this idea with my own personal experience of suddenly feeling so helpless during the time my back was most in disrepair, and then the moments when I was able to walk down the road to my local cafe again and the huge amount of joy that gave me, just being able to do the small and simple things in life again. I distinctly remember thinking, if this is all my life is from now on, just being able to get out the house and doing these small things then I’ll be happy.” Shot alongside film maker Zach Scheiwiller, the video takes Lucy on a night-time stroll around Brighton, with “no plan at all, all instinct based…” [via Clash]

South Korean singer BIBI has released the music video for ‘Sugar Rush’, featuring appearances by (G)I-DLE‘s Soyeon and Choi Yena. In the clip, BIBI performs the song in a colourful, candy-covered set, while wearing outfits that resemble sweet confectioneries. Meanwhile, Choi Yena and (G)I-DLE rapper Soyeon make special cameos as controllers of a claw machine that feed BIBI candies. “I’m sweet, like candy / You could look don’t touch / Don’t try to get handsy / You get sugar rush,” BIBI sings on the chorus of ‘Sugar Rush’. The song was originally released on on February 13 as part of her special single album Bam Yang Gang. [via NME]

Los Angeles based EVOCAPOP artist R E L has shared a new music video. Entitled ‘Intuition’, the emotionally raw and powerful track delves into the profound journey of self-discovery, emphasizing the importance of embracing vulnerability and truth. Her poignant lyrics tell the story of her own recovery, one of healing from a desensitized and overstimulated culture that many of us experience in the modern western world. She confides, “We are conditioned to believe that we need validation or likes or certain status markers, or a certain amount of money or body type to be successful, to be likeable, to be valuable, when we really are all so valuable inside- underneath the facade we’ve built is a society aching for authenticity.” In the accompanying music video, R E L takes on the persona of a pierrot, symbolizing the facade we often wear. As the video unfolds, she sheds her costume and mask, revealing a newfound freedom and inner strength. The cinematic visual beautifully captures the essence of the song’s message, that by stripping away our protective layers, we can discover resilience and the power within.

Natasha Khan last released a Bat For Lashes album in 2019 with Lost Girls. Now, she’s announcing its follow-up, The Dream Of Delphi, and sharing the title track. It comes with a video produced in collaboration with creative director and choreographer Alexandra Green and directed by Freddie Leyden. “This is the manifesto of the album,” she said of the song. “It’s like a spell being cast. It’s the conjuring, the manifestation, the drawing-down of Delphi from the ether. This is me calling on her soul. It’s about going up into the stars and down into the underworld simultaneously, how celestials and deep guttural sounds can come together, how that reflects the journey I went on. It’s about what happens when you’re stretched physically, mentally, even vaginally! I think it’s just humbled me, too, becoming a mother. It’s made me feel more vulnerable than I’ve ever felt before. But I feel more human, more embodied. I can’t escape life by making beautiful things as much as I did. But there’s sort of a beauty to my mortality now.” During quarantine, Khan gave birth to her daughter Delphi, an experience that was formative for the LP. “Motherhood I thought would take me away from my art, but it opened up this massive world,” she said. Last year, she also released a hand-illustrated Tarot deck called Motherwitch. It was done in collaboration with the wellness brand She’s Lost Control. [via Stereogum]

KAETO releases her new single ‘Don’t Ask’ via Lava/Republic Records. The emerging London-based artist is fast carving a space for herself with her unique genre-spanning sound that blends elements of trip-hop, dance and electronic music with punk, alt-pop and more. ‘Don’t Ask’ comes with a video directed by Kaeto and her creative collaborator Maisy Banks and was produced by Max Rad. “In this song I am writing about my relationship with myself”, Kaeto says. “Maisy and I directed the video. The video is a celebration of our skin and the beautiful human body. Liv Lockwood is the incredible choreographer that we worked with. She has an amazing brain and she really understood what we were trying to create. The choreography perfectly encapsulates the internal struggle we experience that is reflected in the song and I loved the use of the symbols of teeth, the mouth, hair and the tongue.”

Last month, Shannon And The Clams announced The Moon Is In The Wrong Place, their new album that they started working on following the tragic death of bandleader Shannon Shaw’s fiancé Joe Haener. They shared ‘The Moon Is In The Wrong Place’ at the time, and now they’re releasing ‘Bean Fields’ with a music video directed by Vanessa Pla and animated by Amber McCall. ‘Bean Fields’ focuses on Haener’s family farm in Aurora, Oregon, which was the site of his fatal car accident but remains a beautiful meeting ground for his family and friends. [via Stereogum]

The 20-year-old newcomer Raven Numan shares a beguiling statement-of-intent as she shares her debut single ‘My Reflection’. ‘My Reflection’ achieves a haunting melancholia that blurs the boundaries between the modern dark-pop scene and the dark intensity of classic ’80s goth and industrial – all while exploring contemporary conversational issues that affect young women all over the world. Her voice is both sultry and elegant, yet with an emotionally detached air that complements the song’s take on the horrors of body dysmorphia. It’s the result of her ongoing creative collaboration with Ade Fenton. Raven says, “‘My Reflection’ is about the unrealistic beauty standards that have been pushed on us since adolescence. We’ve been fed lies about beauty from a young age through countless mediums: lingerie models, makeup commercials, even cartoons employ beauty standards. They try to tell you that these products, this makeup, or our underwear will make you look and feel amazing but that’s not the case. They feed your insecurities and then try to sell you something to make it all better. It breeds self-hatred and insecurity, and both myself and the overwhelming majority of women I know suffer from the unrealistic beauty standards of today.”

Canadian electro-pop sensation, Kiesza releases an electrifying new dance floor single, ‘Dancing and Crying’ featuring Sugar Jesus. This marks the second track of new material from Kiesza’s long-awaited forthcoming album, also called Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1, scheduled for release May 24. Produced by Sugar Jesus (One Direction, Little Mix, Mario), ‘Dancing and Crying’ blends elements of electro-pop and house styles offering listeners an up-beat and immersive dancing experience. In this epic dance-pop whirlwind, Kiesza collaborated with Grammy-nominated songwriter K Sotomayor (Selena Gomez) and Sugar Jesus to write the track. ‘Dancing and Crying’ channels Kiesza’s dance music roots while embracing captivating pop styles reminiscent of artists like Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Baxter, and Raye. “My new song, ‘Dancing and Crying’ was the initial spark that launched this upcoming volume of music. It was the first song Sugar Jesus and I began, and the last to be completed for this volume. ‘Dancing and Crying’ is an Opus. A series of contrasting musical ideas, woven together by a foundation of house beats and bass lines, bridges the gap between my folk origins and the dance music that marked my place on the global map,” states Kiesza. “When my close friend, Grammy-nominated songwriter K. Sotomayor, joined our bite-sized writing team, we revisited this song with fresh ears. Together, the three of us brought it to completion, with a new perspective on the journey we had embarked on, both together and individually. So, in a way, ‘Dancing and Crying’ is both the beginning and the end of Vol. 1. You can think of this title track as the MC of the show, preparing you for what lies ahead. This song is the catalyst for all that has come and will come to pass in this chapter. From its womb came the vision as a whole, from which all else has and will unfold.” The accompanying video was shot at the Raven in Toronto and it was done on a whim. Kiesza was doing a photoshoot and instructed the director D. G Hagey to start filming.

Allie X has shared startling new single ‘Weird World’. The songwriter has carved out a unique niche, subverting pop tropes while also excelling in them. A technically gifted artist, Allie X also brings to the table a gleeful sense of rebellion, infusing each song with her vivid personality. Having written for the likes of Troye Sivan and BTS she’s dealt with some major league players, but this has pushed Allie X away from her solo catalogue. New album Girl With No Face is out now, her first major project since 2020’s Cape God. New single ‘Weird World’ is out now, and it relishes 80s tones – analogue synths pushed to the limit, the audio counterpart to those sensational Dynasty-style power shoulders. She lets the sonics dip a little, though, her playful, DIY approach reminiscent of the retro-futurist fetishim of John Maus, say, but delivered in a vey melodic, sincere format. [via Clash]

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BIBI has unveiled the music video for ‘Animal Farm’, from her upcoming studio debut Noir: Lowlife Princess. The release also marks the musician’s 24th birthday. In the blood-soaked new visual, BIBI shows up at a lavish party attended by masked elites. Brandishing a katana, she begins to behead each partygoer, revealed to all have pig snouts in the place of noses, one by one. “Sing the song of lies to death / Dance like the devil / Under the big guillotine at the centre of the grand feast / Whose neck is that?,” she sings in the chorus. ‘Animal Farm”s music video also introduces a figure named Oh Geum-ji, inspired by the character Lee Geum-ja from famed film director Park Chan-wook’s 2005 revenge-thriller Lady Vengeance, who the narrative of BIBI’s album will be based upon. [via NME]

Weyes Blood has shared the music video for ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,’ the first single from her anticipated new album And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow. Directed by Charlotte Ercoli, the video casts Natalie Mering in a post-apocalyptic musical where, Omega Man-style, she is the last person alive on earth, though she does dance amid the debris and the dead with an animated smartphone. Natalie herself calls this video “demented” and you can watch it above. [via Brooklyn Vegan]

Baby Queen has shared her much teased new single ‘Lazy’. Following on from her stint supporting Olivia Rodrigo on the European leg of her ‘SOUR’ world tour, and coming ahead of another support slot with fellow icon Conan Gray on his US dates throughout October, you can check out the track above. A press release claims Baby Queen – aka Bella Latham – “was asked to elaborate on the track but, in line with the sentiment expressed, she’s too f*g lazy.” [via Dork]

Explosive and energetic femme nu punk/grunge-rockers DOWNGIRL have doused stages around their hometown in Gadigal land in their highly flammable sonic kerosene and are kicking things up a notch with the release of their track, ‘Manic’. Bursting onto the scene with the dynamite ‘Beauty Queen’, this epic second track, ‘Manic’, off the group’s upcoming EP is 4 and a half minutes of powerful punk goodness. The gradual build of gritty riffs and fury-driven drums match the energy of the lyrical confessions that escalate with a fight or flight intensity. By the time it gets there, it fervently begs for relief with a euphoric, wall-to-wall noise-filled chorus and its refrain, ‘Manic’. The song hits like shots of cinnamon whisky – hard, fast and to dizzying effect, with a sweet but spicy aftertaste. Each member gives it their all, and collectively let go like an unrelenting force of nature. The enthralling track begs your worst enemy, ‘Do I have to keep reminding you I’m not too much for you?’. DOWNGIRL on the track’s origin: “‘Manic’ was written during Sydney’s last pandemic lockdown as a back and forth via the WWW. It explores mental health issues and the responsibility we must take for them during a time which is insular and introspective.” Filmed and directed by Stackhat, the music video for ‘Manic’ reflects a distorted reality with scenes of the band members at home, but flipped upside down. Things progressively get weirder. One band member draws a widening circle of smudged pink lipstick in repeated motions while forcing an unconvincing smile. Another beats drumsticks against a box of Froot Loops, while a third screams into the bathroom toilet. It’s disorienting and uncomfortable to watch, much like experiencing the timewarp of lockdown and getting caught in the mental battlefield of too much time spent alone. The mania-fuelled chorus is emphasised with DOWNGIRL piling into the car for a head-banging / scream-along drive down a tree-lined road.

‘Repeat After Me,’ the new single from Cornish singer-songwriter Nell Davies, is a witty indie pop song about being replaced in someone’s affections. Like all Nell’s songs, it’s a completely DIY production, recorded in a converted pigsty in the garden of her house near Penzance. The video, which features Nell’s evil twin, and was inspired by equal parts The Parent Trap, Twin Peaks and Fight Club, was filmed guerrilla-style at a remote Victorian folly in the early hours of the morning, before the tourists turned up. Nell says, “’Repeat After Me’ is about people going through life stubbornly refusing to learn from their mistakes, so making the same ones over and over again. It’s a trait I find extremely irritating, especially in myself.”

flowerovlove has shared a video for her most recent track, ‘I Gotta I Gotta’. Following up on recent singles ‘Get With You’ and ‘Hannah Montana’, she explains: “‘I Gotta I Gotta’ is fueled by searching for where you want to go in life and not knowing where that is, but needing to go now, fearing a lack of time.” [via Dork]

Now that Paramore have returned, it makes cosmic sense that Florida pop-punk trio Meet Me @ The Altar should release a new song too. In the midst of their tour supporting MUNA, Meet Me @ The Altar are back with a brand-new song, ‘Say It (To My Face),’ and it’s a banger. Built on a foundation of soaring, shout-along choruses and chunky guitar, ‘Say It (To My Face)’ is about shutting down anonymous social-media haters and is set to appear on the band’s forthcoming debut album, coming early next year. [via Stereogum]

Sam Smith unveils the official video for their new single, ‘Unholy’ ft. Kim Petras. Directed by the inimitable Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways film, David Bowie, Christina Aguilera) and choreographed by French dance collective (LA)HORDE, the provocative film is set in ‘The Body Shop’, a debauched show-world of wonder and danger. Leading a diverse and Queer cast, Sam Smith stars as the singing MC and Kim Petras as a dancer in a lustful extravaganza of costume, dance, and sexual power. Marrying the spectacle of Bob Fosse rubbing up against the unrestrained nihilism of A Clockwork Orange with a touch of vaudeville thrown in, ‘Unholy’ is a visual feast. Cameos include Gottmik and Violet Chachki (RuPaul’s Drag Race) and adult film star Paddy O’Brian.

Royal & the Serpent has returned with the music video for ‘Death of Me,’ the second chapter of a five-part series. The latest installment from the Los Angeles artist (born Ryan Santiago) is a somber electropop train of thought, and the accompanying visual sees the singer-songwriter thrown into her own version of A Clockwork Orange. Santiago has been releasing a track and video each week as a part of a project dubbed happiness is an inside job, an effort that will allow listeners to join her in pursuit of happiness. ‘Death of Me’ marks the followup to last week’s chapter, ‘IM FINE.’ “It’s kind of like a journey through my thoughts on figuring out how the fuck to be happy (which you would think would be simpler, but they really don’t spell just it out for you!),” Santiago tells Consequence. “This week’s chapter is a song particularly referencing the notion that we’re all losing touch with ourselves and with one another — even though seemingly we’re more connected than ever,” she adds. Indeed, ‘Death of Me’ epitomizes the idea of harsh reality. In a world consumed by technology, Santiago realizes that screens and machines do the inverse of what they were intended for — keeping people connected. The despair of the track is matched by its video, thanks in part to its Kubrick-esque brainwashing sequence and cuts to an empty room colored by dark organs spewing out of Santiago.“The internet killed conversation, personality, and friends/ We’re all depressed and self-obsessed,” she sings over a soft, dragged guitar before shifting to an intense sound with drums to match. For Santiago, this track is sonically “a ride” — one that she is especially satisfied with. “I honestly very rarely am excited to listen to the music I make, but there really is something so special about this one,” Santiago notes. “It somehow still gives me chills and that really never happens if I’m listening to my own stuff. I feel like it’s a little piece of my heart and brain in song form.” [via Consequence]

Upcoming Welsh artist Thallo shares new Welsh language single ‘Pluo’ (transl. Feathering) and announces details of her forthcoming bilingual Crescent EP, inspired by a unique subject matter and one deeply personal to Thallo – immobility. On new single ‘Pluo,’ Thallo showcases her unique sound, one that is enveloping, otherworldly, and multi-instrumented, spanning bedroom and dream-pop with subtle, textured jazz infusions and contemporary classic touches, both ethereal and utterly enthralling. Pluo translates as ‘feathering’ in English, meaning ‘lightly snowing’ which relates to the song’s poignant opening line “I gather dust which is feathering stillness.” Inspired by the effects of a sudden condition that Thallo suffered in 2020 which caused chronic knee pain and debilitating mobility issues, Pluo touches on the peculiar pain of watching the world return to normal following lockdown, whilst Thallo was trapped in what she describes as “My own personal lockdown.” As she expands “I felt so stuck, unable to return to my normal life. But most of all, the song is a cry of fear for the loneliness and hopelessness of being left behind whilst everyone else moves forward.” ‘Pluo’s accompanying video, a collaboration with Welsh channel Lŵp (S4C) produced and co-directed by Aled Wyn Jones and Andy Pritchard, takes inspiration from psychological horror and is filmed at the popular ghost-hunting spot Bron y Garth Hospital – a former 1800s workhouse/hospital now abandoned and frozen in-time. As Thallo explains “The setting perfectly mirrors Pluo’s lyrics of feeling stuck and deteriorating.” It sees Thallo wake to find herself in a blood-filled bath on the decaying hospital floor, what ensues is a struggle to escape the derelict building peppered with eerie imagery and horrifying flashbacks that lead to the chilling conclusion – that Thallo is in fact dead and trapped in purgatory.

Atlanta-based art-rock band Mamalarky release their second full-length album, Pocket Fantasy, on Fire Talk Records. Along with the album release, the band have shared a new video for album track ‘Frog 2’, along with a video directed by Spencer Ford. “I don’t know if I’ve better synthesized the way I feel with words than in this song,” says singer/guitarist Livvy Bennett. “I think I successfully collaged what I feel every day. I was going through a majorly introverted time in my life, but I was feeling hopeful and grounded in that. I was feeling less and less alone in my own little musical world. Michael was bullied into writing this song honestly. We were sitting at this dinky Casio and I said WRITE SOMETHING, and he did somewhat begrudgingly. I wrote the words and harmonies over it on on a series of desert drives between Austin and LA, trying to make something materialize.”

girli is back, but not as you once knew her – she releases her very relatable single, ‘I Really Fked It Up’ via AllPoints/Believe. It is led by a thumping melody and culminates in an urgent chorus, showcasing girli’s soaring vocals. The artist has entered her most unapologetically pop era yet, and ‘I Really Fked It Up’ is just the beginning of the next long-awaited chapter. girli’s new era-defining glam and wardrobe complement a stunning creative directed by the inspirational Fiona Garden (Wet Leg, Years & Years, Grimes and more). Milly Toomey (AKA girli) has been on an explorative journey of self-discovery, only to conclude that she can’t be boxed in. The singer-songwriter had been questioning who she was and had put so much pressure on knowing the answer, but soon realised it’s okay to not always know. To mark this epiphany, girli wrote the music she has always wanted to release, and one of the outcomes is ‘I Really F**ked It Up’. girli explains, “I wrote this song about doing destructive things to feel excitement, and absolutely hating myself for it. Writing this song made the whole project fall into place; why am I like this? Who is controlling my puppet strings when I do things I don’t want to do?”

Alternative artist Molly Moore has released ‘Hate Myself,’ the latest single from her forthcoming album, Miserably Sublime, expected early 2023. The single, co-written with Nevin Sastry (Phem, PRETTYMUCH) and Josh Murty (Maggie Lindemann), is injected with anthemic energy as Molly speaks to the mental turmoil she faced while falling victim to depression and self-sabotage. Amplified by a blend of steady drum beats and searing guitar licks, the track features a sing-along chorus full of self-deprecating dry humor about coming to terms with how you see yourself and those around you. The accompanying music video was directed by Molly and Francesca Maldonado (Justin Bieber, Dixie D’Amelio, Ashley Graham) and leans into the track’s lyrical playfulness as Molly comes face-to-face with herself. “I wrote the song during a very transitional period of my life. I’d been going to therapy and becoming aware that I tend to have a negative narrative happening with myself in my head,” shares Molly. “I was feeling pressure seeing all of my friends living more stable lives than me, getting married and having kids, while I’m in LA writing songs every day. I was also falling in love with someone that was emotionally unavailable, so I wrote this song with a bit of a sarcastic tone to try and process all of this. My goal with this song is to create a conversation that allows people to face their negative internal battles and challenge those perceived truths with another, kinder perspective that we can be nice to ourselves and still be radically honest.” [via Broadway World]

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