London-based neo-soul artist Pollena has released the video for new single ‘Diamonds’ starring acclaimed writer and actor Jack Holden. Star of the critically acclaimed West End show ‘Cruise’ and BBC’s ‘Marriage’, Holden performs as a theater technician on the cusp of exploring his true passion. His first steps into his own limelight represent the journey we’re all on to find ourselves, and is reflected in the other characters we see – parents, families, children, all trying to express themselves in love and creativity. Each story embodies the track’s core message of fighting against societal pressures that force us into lives and roles we don’t fit: “I’m tired of society dictating how we should live our lives. With ‘Diamonds’, I want to encourage listeners to fight for what makes them happy, for a better, truer life.” Pollena. Jack Holden and cast in video for ‘Diamonds’ Holden stars alongside a cast of dancers and families in the piece conceptualised and directed by Georgia Rajah, best known for her work on the BBC documentary ‘Learning To Grieve.’

It was Halloween earlier this week and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are howling at the moon with their new music video, ‘Wolf,’ starring Britt Lower of Severance. The visuals were directed by Allie Avital, and open with Lower seated across a table from veteran character actor Will Brill. After a blue jay sings to her — in Karen O’s voice, no less — Lower’s character heeds the call of the wild. She hunts, changes hair color, and generally enjoys her feral life. As the song breaks down into the repeated phrase, “Into the wild,” she even runs into Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing in a seedy bar. At the end she meets again with her housebroken former partner, with unexpected results. “It was our great fortune to collaborate with the powerhouses Allie and Brit on this video for ‘Wolf,’” Karen O said in a statement. “Allie casts a spell with the gorgeous world she weaves — always with teeth that bite, and Britt embodies all the contradictions in the themes of ‘Wolf,’ so enamored with her performance that’s got as much heaven as it does hell. We were beside ourselves with excitement when Allie cast Brit as the lead in the video, YYYs are serious nerds for Severance, what luck when the stars align.” Lower added, “When I heard the title of the song and description of the role were both ‘Wolf’ it was a full body ‘yes.’ To get to work on a story about a woman discovering the wild within and without was a dream. And to do so alongside legend Karen O… I mean, I’m speechless.” [via Consequence]

New York Korean-American artist Margaret Sohn, who performs as Miss Grit, has announced their debut album, Follow The Cyborg, out February 24 via Mute. The album is deeply conceptual, “following the path of a non-human machine as it moves from its helpless origin to awareness and liberation,” as a press release lays out. Follow The Cyborg follows Miss Grit’s two EPs: 2021’s Imposter and 2019’s Talk Talk. Along with the album announcement, Sohn is sharing the title track, which is below and comes with a video directed by Curry Sicong Tian. Recorded entirely in Sohn’s home studio, Follow The Cyborg features the already released single ‘Like You,’ plus contributions from Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, Aron Kobayashi Ritch of Momma, and Pearla. Opening up about ‘Follow The Cyborg‘s many cinematic influences and its accompanying video, Sohn says: “I wanted to place my body in the cyber world, allowing the different variations of my ghost to move about freely. I wanted to look a little freakish, unrecognizable to myself to avoid my instinctive filtration.” [via Stereogum]

Last year, the London-based musician Eva Liu released her debut EP as mui zyu, a wonderful thing vomits, which was fronted by the lead single ‘pour a brain.’ Now, she’s back with news of her first full-length album, Rotten Bun For An Eggless Century, which was co-produced with her Dama Scout bandmate Luciano Rossi. ‘Ghost With A Peach Skin,’ the first we’re hearing from it, is a warm and interior burble with sticky synths and a lullaby-esque melody. “This song is about leaving your former self and entering your new peach skin. Peaches are considered a symbol of longevity and even immortality in Chinese culture,” Liu, who was born in Hong Kong, said in a statement, continuing: The protagonist has overcome enemies and has bruises to prove the damage. However the bruised peach becomes stronger by overcoming them. The song features guzheng samples that have been highly edited and mangled. We liked the idea of having an excellent musician improvise on the traditional Chinese zither and ‘bruising’ their performance with distortion and effects to create a new stronger sound with little of its former self present – much like the meaning of the song. The ‘ghost’ inside refers to the ghost we used to be, the ghosts we carry with us and the ghosts we have to overcome too. Watch a CLUMP Collective-directed video for it above. [via Stereogum]

Steady Holiday’s Dre Babinski has announced a new album, Newfound Oxygen, her follow-up to Take The Corners Gently, which came out in early 2021. This one will be out in early 2023, and today the Los Angeles-based musician has shared its lead single, ‘Can’t Find A Way,’ a sweepingly sad track about not feeling the same way about someone else as they do about you. “Can’t find a way to fall in love with you/ You worship everything I do/ But I know I can’t find a way to fall in love,” Babinski sings. The track comes with a music video directed by Isaac Ravishankara. “I wanted to make a video that was far less literal than the song itself, but externalized the same emotional core – that the world as I know it is suddenly disoriented,” Babinski explains. “We brought to life the scene from the single’s artwork with fishing wire, blowdryers, and a platform that shifted to a 45 degree angle that the camera and table/chair was mounted to. I had to hold on for dear life.” [via Stereogum]

indie-pop wonderkid Ellie Dixon releases satirical new video ‘Swing!’. The hyper realistic clip plays on Ellie’s experience receiving unexpected online negativity last year. Directed by Jasmine De Silva, the video sees Ellie bounce from set-to-set tackling hurtling baseballs and intrusive microphones. Responding to the incessant nature of trolling, Ellie finds the confidence to swing back when times get tough. With intelligently balanced wit, Ellie taps into the damaging impact traditional feminine stereotypes and impeccable beauty expectations (bright lipsticks, baseball hair curlers, bleach-blonde barbies) have on women today. Speaking of the video, Ellie says, “For this video, I had this idea where I was being bombarded with baseballs and ended up on a baseball pitch against my will. It was a visual metaphor for when you find yourself in unexpected, unpleasant situations and you have to learn to get through them. The director instantly understood the sense of humour and surreal imagery I wanted – I love blending real life with elevated fantasy. The styling brought such a playful, retro feel to the whole video. You have no clue what decade you’re in, but you want to stay.”

Global pop icon P!NK releases her new single, ‘Never Gonna Not Dance Again,’ out now via RCA Records. Produced by GRAMMY-winning hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback, who also co-wrote the song with P!NK, the vibrant pop single is a euphoric and joyful ode to dancing through the hard times. Accompanying the song’s release is its playful music video, co-directed by P!NK and creative duo Nick Florez & RJ Durell. Set in a grocery store, the visual finds P!NK dancing and skating through the aisles, joined by a colorful cast of characters.

Following the release of their second EP, Modern Millenial, LibraLibra return with their utterly unique fusion of pop, electro and punk with an immense new single. Lulling us into a false sense of security with a sweeping orchestral intro, ‘Frenemies‘ soon builds with a haunting majesty into an epic frenzied cacophony. Reflecting on the comfort we may find in fake or damaging ‘friendships’, the track fizzes with a chaotic energy that’ll blast into the ears with a fierce sense of urgency. As it rages with a colossal magnificence, front woman Beth’s vocals simmer with a sultry allure before exploding into a riotous anthem seething with dark undertones. Of the track, Beth explains: “‘Frenemies’ is for all the fake friendships out there. Those friendships bound together through getting f**ked up, losing yourselves, your keys, your phone, blacking out and ending up a shell of your former self in a random kitchen at 4am with no way to get home. Your frenemy is your ride or die, you both should and could be each other’s saviors, but instead the chaos is calling and annihilation feels really good.“ ‘Frenemies’ is accompanied by a brand new video. Directed by kink photographer Sorry Jonny Died, it offers an eerie insight into the wonderfully sordid underbelly of LibraLibra’s world. [via Get In Her Ears]

After coming of age in a “chaotic, bohemian household,” and splitting time between Los Angeles and London for the past two years, budding singer-songwriter Grace Inspace Garner has forged a brand new musical alchemy that blends her interests in rock, pop, and “journalistic observations to create a unique, colorful world.” She found her bearings in London while fiddling with dynamic arrangements and experiments alongside a battalion of musicians holed up in her apartment, which presided over a mechanic’s garage. Garner’s single ‘Last Girl’ is a hypnotizing, electronic spark that highlights her infectious pop vocals. The song flutters and flickers, never pausing for a moment. It’s energetic, memorable, and an irreverent-but-earnest take on dystopia, written and recorded in an Airstream trailer while she was decamped near the Jedediah Smith River and Redwood Forest. Ever since her time in London toying with recordings that featured faint clanks of tools in the background, Garner’s had her sights set on making music that’s industrial in how it combines the sounds that populate her own creative psyche with the echoes of the real world surrounding her at all times. ‘Last Girl’ is a product of Garner’s writing blueprint, in which she composed “poems about places and people set to my head music.” “Imagine if you woke up one day and you’d missed the memo about pairing off for the apocalypse and you were left stranded on Earth while all the couples fled to safety in their spaceships,” Garner says. “You’re left roaming the Earth alone, enjoying the freedom and lamenting the loneliness. That’s the tale of ‘Last Girl’; I wanted to write a song that would celebrate the power of being alone as well as make fun of my insecurities about it.” [via FLOOD]

Nashville indie pop artist daena portrays a magician in the video for her new single ‘Disappearing Act’ – and she’s the most magical talent to hit Music City in quite some time. daena grew up not far from Bruce Springsteen’s old stomping ground in New Jersey. You can hear a little bit of The Boss in her music, as well as 2000s Liz Phair, Prince and Taylor Swift. And, like any great magician, daena surprises you with each new single. ‘Disappearing Act’ urges listeners not to be intimidated by the “perfect life” others project on social media. If you look behind the façade of perfection, even folks like Kim Kardashian have their struggles (Pete didn’t work out, Kanye’s gone crazy, etc.). [via Ladygunn]

With its distorted guitars and echoed backing vocals, ‘Love!’ is infused with 2000s pop nostalgia, with Hallie recalling ‘Cool’ by Gwen Stefani as an influence. “Oscar and I listened to ‘Cool’ by Gwen Stefani in the studio and I loved how the main hook of the song was one lyric and that lyric felt almost personified by the energy and sonic world of the song.” Still, the track sits well amongst other contemporaries (Oliva Rodrigo, Clairo), with hints of pop-punk and dream-pop revealing themselves throughout. Initially lamenting a romantic love lost, Hallie was able to re-channel that energy into a song of appreciation for the supportive bubble of friends around them, and the result is a refreshing take on the relatable concept of love. “I initially wrote ‘Love!’ about my then partner, when I woke up on my period feeling irritable but was instantly comforted by the love and depth of connection we had,” they comment. After finishing the writing and production with Oscar Sharah, I found new meaning in the song, and how in my current life it speaks to the platonic love surrounding me. It’s really nice to be reminded that within all the chaos and confusion of my early 20’s, there is so much support and love in friendships that often surpasses the romantic flings in my life.” As the track unravels, Hallie, we get to see Hallie’s witty lyricism revealing itself (“You call my bluffs / Like I call my mom / You hold me still / With a finger and thumb”) before the track blossoms into luscious guitar lines and a euphoric sense of closure and acceptance. In the accompanying video, Hallie is seen with their closest friends, as they explain, “Running lines and dancing around in our lounge room felt so healing for my inner child; it felt like we were 8 again being silly and full of joy while being creative. We’re all working out who we are and what we want at this time in our early 20’s, so it’s really nice to be reminded that within all the chaos and confusion, there is so much love and we can grow and work it out together. I am so in love with my friends!” [via Line Of Best Fit]

The post appeared first on She Makes Music.

17-year-old, NY-based recording artist Sky Katz has debuted the official video for new single, ‘Why Did You Call?’ A gorgeously-shot visual brimming with poignancy, heartbreak, and biting emotion, Sky delivers her strongest video to-date in a lush display of the intricacies of young love depicted as a stunning short film. Detailing the concept behind the video, of which she wrote the treatment and self-directed, Sky notes: “I had been waiting to make a short film/music video for such a long time. I just haven’t felt like I had the right song for it just yet. Once my song ‘Why Did You Call?’ came out, I realized that this would be the perfect song to make my vision come true. I had in my head exactly what I wanted the video to be and look like. I created a treatment, secured the locations and talent both behind and in front of the camera, including Savannah LaRain who co stars with me on our Netflix series Surviving Summer. We play love interests in my film, which I am so excited to share with my fans. An important part of the inspiration behind this video is for people see a story normalizing young, gay love because it’s so much more rare to see than the usual straight storylines. Whether you relate on a personal level or if you’re just seeing how normal and healthy a same sex relationship is, I find it extremely important to represent and show a relationship like this, especially knowing a large part of my demographic are young kids. I am very pleased with how the video turned out, and I think/hope everyone is going to love it.”

Sydney-based artist Ainsley Farrell has shared her latest single and video ‘Buffet’. This is the second single from her sophomore album, Dirt, set to be released early 2023. Ainsley had this to say about ‘Buffet’: “This song came from a place of feeling angry, powerless and minimized after a few different experiences where men thought they could violate my space and then just go about their day. The main experience the song touches on is when an old man hit on me at a buffet by comparing me to the food. I made excuses for the men who inappropriately hit on me, groped me, and shoved me. Singing this song helps me take back my power and stand up to them when I wasn’t able to at the time.”

After emerging as a viral phenomenon, 20-year-old Mississippi-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Cothran has released the official video for her debut single ‘Baby Why’ via Republic Records. On the track written by Cothran, she leans into a classic throwback vibe with a resounding refrain punctuated by her dynamic vocal range. About the video Sarah commented, “I was inspired by a lot of vintage sounds when I was writing and producing ‘Baby Why’ and I knew I wanted to carry that out into the visuals surrounding the song. In the music video I’m arguing with ‘my boyfriend’ on the phone while watching television. The song involves a lot of back and forth in a toxic relationship and I feel like the beginning scenes really captured that. I then start zoning out and imagining myself in different TV channels. I wanted to make sure to keep a nice balance of the 50’s era inspirations while also staying true to me, and this felt like the perfect way to do so. It was such a cool way to show my personality and combine a lot of the time periods that inspire me in both music and fashion. I got to dress up in so many different outfits and makeup looks so it was like a teenage dream come true!”

At just 17 years old, up-and-comer flowerovlove is quickly blossoming into everyone’s chic, new bedroom-pop fav. Drawing inspiration from artists like Tame Impala, the artist’s love of nature and an earnest approach to songwriting has her living up to her namesake, reflecting the beauty and natural growth of a flower. Coming off the back of her previous single, ‘Hannah Montana,’ flowerovlove returns with her latest offering, ‘Get With You.’ Full of sunny guitars, hand claps and a punchy refrain, the psych-pop confection sees the artist curiously muse over a burgeoning crush with a playful mix of nostalgia and wistfulness. “‘Get With You’ is a mindset of going after something you want,” flowerovlove explains. “Needing, wanting and urging to ‘get with it.'” The track arrives alongside a new visual directed by the artist’s brother, Wilfred Cisse, that shows flowerovlove followed by an obsessed doppelganger from London to Los Angeles. Equal parts Scooby Doo hijinks and David Lynchian existential horror, the music video juxtaposes the song’s light-hearted atmosphere with a mounting sense of paranoia, as flowerovlove’s stalker escalates from popping out of a pool and drinking her leftover tea to hiding out in bathrooms and eerily looming in her backyard. “The ‘Get With You’ visual is a metaphor for chasing after your higher self, chasing after the person you want to be, your dreams and your goals,” the artist says. “Joyce is going after flowerovlove from London to LA to pursue her dreams.” [via PAPER]

With three EPs to their name and having shared stages with the likes of Grinspoon, Amyl & The Sniffers, Clowns, Cosmic Psychos, DZ Deathrays, WAAX and many more, it would seem like the time for alt-punk-rock four-piece VOIID to release an album may be edging near… which now we get the first taste of in the form of new single and video ‘Lexapro’. A nostalgic and chaotically harmonious cut of 90s leaning alt rock goodness, ‘Lexapro’ pairs clean tremolo guitar lines with big distorted riffs and an undeniable anthemic chorus with vocal powerhouse Anji Greenwood’s irresistible delivery the sonic cherry on top. Of the single the band explain, “’Lexapro’ is a huge rant about coming to terms with the realisation of what place women hold in the world, struggling with the intricacies of your mental health and the frustration that comes with wanting to open up but fearing if people will listen. It’s about feeling forever unheard, forever less than, forever inadequate”. ‘Lexapro’ comes with an appropriately fun and trippy video, channelling a little bit of ‘Black Hole Sun’ by Soundgarden vibes across it’s fever dream style visuals and rotating scenes that are sure to remain in your mind long after the video finishes. [via Pilerats]

Black Honey have returned with new single ‘Charlie Bronson’, which marks the group’s first outing of 2022. ‘Charlie Bronson’ is Black Honey’s first new release since their Written & Directed album landed in March last year, and is teamed with a Craig Hemming-directed video. Lead vocalist Izzy B. Phillips says of the new outing, “There’s a personality in my head that feels like Britain’s most notorious prisoner. Sometimes I can’t make sense of anything. It’s a bind of frustration from having to constantly present myself in a way that society accepts. My mind works differently. I say all the wrong things. I hate being ‘ladylike’. I was punished so much for what I know to be my good qualities; a strong minded neurodivergent person who is creative, inquisitive, excitable and in my own universe.” “I was medicated, my shine dimmed and I began to see how the world rewards women who turn invisible,” she adds. “‘Charlie Bronson’ is my rage.” [via Line Of Best Fit]

Singer-songwriter-producer Nina Diaz, premieres new alternative/rock video single ‘Holy Mary Mother In Me’ as a declaration of autonomy in the face of laws rescinding abortion rights. The track which recalls artists like Stone Temple Pilots, Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Babes in Toyland, stems from her upcoming studio album titled, I Could Be You, You Could Be Me, which drops on August 18. On writing and performing the song ‘Holy Mary Mother In Me’ Nina Diaz says: “I have a chaotic spiritual practice. I pull, with respect, from many religions and form what make sense to me. Mother Mary in Catholicism represents strength to me and goddess energy. Archangel Michael helps cut energetic cords that stop you from moving on or healing. When I first wrote this song, I was in the process of breaking free from authority. Now this song means even more to me when I perform since people in power are banning certain rights for women in Texas. There have been times on tour, or here at home, when passing an abortion clinic, anti-choice groups would not only carry photos of fetuses, but they would hold up images of Mother Mary. Yes, in Catholicism she does represent purity and life. But to me she also represents strength, choice, individuality and courage. Considering the recent ban on abortions in Texas, I feel this song, and the symbolism in this video represents the frustration of what it feels like when someone tells you what you can or cannot do with your own body. Especially when you are feeling lost, or stuck, or at a crossroads. As I mentioned before, Mother Mary is a badass in my eyes, and I am interpreting what it’s like to break free from the fears of others, and to have the right to make decisions for your own life.” The video was directed and edited by Nina Diaz, and was shot with the help of camera assistants Carly Garza and Ann Correa. Discussing the video production Diaz says: “There is much symbolisms in this video. I draw inspiration from Pamela Colman Smith’s illustrations used for tarot card decks. I also bring back the theme of “shadow work” as I include a shadow dance as part of the visuals. I want to share how the tarot cards are interpreted here: Two of Swords represents a stalemate, truce or being at a crossroads. Three of Swords represents a fundamentally sorrowful experience. Eight of Swords a feeling of being trapped and victimized. Ten of Swords represents destruction, being pinned down by a multitude of things or situations. I cut the ties binding me as the Eight of Swords, freeing myself to make a choice and embrace my power after feeling lost for so long.”

Night School’s forthcoming third album Invoke clearly reflects the band’s come-up within various West Coast rock circles, with the scuzzy sunshine pop of Best Coast and the tunneling shoegaze of Nothing both rearing their heads on the album’s early singles. The second single from the project arrives today, with ‘Tunnel Vision’ hitting that balance perfectly, thanks in part to production from ex-Nothing instrumentalist Nick Bassett. “‘Tunnel Vision’ just sort of spilled out of my head one night,” the band’s Sarah Vyeda shares, noting that the pandemic inspired her to spend more time with her guitar. “After I had written out the rhythm and lyrics, it came together pretty quickly and was one of the first songs we recorded for Invoke. I love the heaviness and chaos music can convey, and I wanted to feel that when writing my first song.” The track arrives with a visual directed by the band which blends Midsommar’s sense of sunlit horrors with the dreamstate imagery (and, notably, the white dresses) of Picnic at Hanging Rock. [via FLOOD]

Early in 2020, during the twilight hours of an otherwise uneventful Sunday, the sky turned a lurid shade of orange with the air carrying greater qualities of smoke than a West Auckland shed party. The sun grew so dim you’d be convinced it was barely a spark from a Bic lighter, blotted out by a thick blanket of smog which had drifted trans-Tasman from the bushfires raging in Australia. Given the extremely low light and poor visibility, I didn’t even think it was a good idea to drive that day let alone film a music video. However, that is exactly what dream-pop sensations CRUSH and co-director Martin Sagadin decided to do, setting their haunting, dub-infused new single ‘Abstract Oils’ to the backdrop of weather conditions fit to hail in an apocalypse. CRUSH, if you haven’t yet crossed paths with them, is something of a “supergroup”. Comprised of Richard Larsen and Bevan Smith from Ōtautahi’s Glass Vaults, Charlotte Forrester of Pōneke sibling ensemble Womb and Cory Champion (Borrowed cs), the band serve lush, ethereal melodies with rich textural depth. The ghostly vocal harmonies of ‘Abstract Oils’ weave between each other, wistfully pulling the listeners attention between acoustic elements as they arrive and depart from the mix. It’s engaging listening which floats breezily from movement to movement — not unlike the several thousand square kilometres of bushfire smoke that showed up just in time to shoot one of the most beautiful music videos you’ll see this year. [via Under The Radar]

Christabel (the solo moniker of Tāmaki Makaurau’s Christabel Williams) has unveiled spiky new soul-pop anthem ‘JEALOUS’, along with an eye-popping video co-starring Stranger Things actor Konstantin Podprugin. Flexing her acting skills in director Mason Cade Packer’s clip filmed with friends in LA, there’s definite shades of John Waters’ Serial Mom as Christabel prepares an outrageously gross dinner for her cheating hubby in the couple’s cosy ’60s retro suburban home. Stacking the catchy hooks and sawtooth synths perilously high, hit play on the knives-out visuals made with support from NZ On Air below and be aware of the accompanying content warning: mild adult themes, blood and cannibalism… Christabel says: “This song, unlike most of mine, is not based on personal experience this time! Jealous was carved from observing toxic relationships between friends and people I knew. The kind of relationship that really isn’t ever going to work, the kicking, screaming, on and off again, absolute chalk and cheese kind of relationship. This was my chance to put myself in their shoes, become a whole new character, and then do the same on-screen.” [via Under The Radar]

R&B singer and Dreamville associate Ari Lennox released her debut album, Shea Butter Baby, back in 2019, and she’s spent the past couple years putting out some loose singles. Now, she’s announced her sophomore album, age/sex/location, which will be out on September 9. It looks like out of that long string of singles, only ‘Pressure’ made the cut for the album, but now she is sharing another new track, the seductive and smooth ‘Hoodie,’ whose chorus goes like this: “Can I fit in that hoodie? I’m tryna get in that hoodie.” The track’s music video co-stars Isaiah Rashad. [via Stereogum]

Following a tantalizing pair of singles, Philly-based women punk rockers Vixen77 announce their highly anticipated debut album Easy Access, out October 14. Distributed via Megaforce Records (Metallica, Anthrax, Meat Puppets, Dirty Honey, Plush, etc.), the album features twelve tumultuous tracks recorded in an impressive seventy-two hours at Retro City Studios (Mannequin Pussy, Mitski, Lizzo, The Menzingers) that navigate life through love and rock ‘n’ roll. Alongside the news, they also shared their latest taste of the project with the single and video ‘Some Days’. A back-and-forth ripper, the track is about preserving one’s mental health, and accepting that some days, it’s okay to not be okay. The band expands, “It’s about mental health and how you have to try to be okay all the time. Some days you don’t because you don’t want to, and some days you won’t because you’re unable to.”

Sylvan Esso let their freak selves shine with the release of a resounding new album, No Rules Sandy. Created primarily over the course of three weeks that Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn spent in a small Los Angeles rental home at the beginning of 2022, it is both the fastest the band has ever made a record, and the most uninhibited. “Even if we weren’t feeling good, we would just sit down and try to make something,” Meath says. “Pretty much every day that we did that, we got a song that we liked.” Out now on Loma Vista Recordings, No Rules Sandy is accompanied by a thrilling music video for the standout ‘Echo Party’. Directed by Lindsey Nico Mann (Major Lazer, Silk City, Teenage Wrist, Dirty Projectors, Alice Glass), the visual follows Meath as she raves from a downtown, warehouse dancefloor to the mossy ground of an otherworldly forest. Over wobbling bass, warbling vocals and ecstatic promise of a party you may never be able to leave, an exhilarating tension emerges between the lightness and darkness of a good time.

Danish superstar MØ has today released Motordrome: The Dødsdrom Edition, an expanded version of her recent album Motordrome, alongside a new single ‘Spaceman’, which are both out now via RCA. Featuring the 1996 #1 hit by Babylon Zoo, MØ’s new single ‘Spaceman’ is an upbeat and eccentric track that feels like an alternate reality rave and is accompanied by a mesmerising and dramatic video by Fa & Fon, who also directed the ‘New Moon’ video. MØ says: “I wrote my version of the song with Noonie Bao, Ilsey Juber, and Oscar Holter, building on the original version written by Jas Mann. It was Oscar Holter who had the brilliant idea to use the hook from Babylon Zoo’s cult classic ‘Spaceman’ as the chorus, and we all loved that idea! We wrote our demo back in 2017, but the timing just didn’t feel right. Then came 2022, and all of a sudden, I was like “it’s now!” We decided to rework the production a little bit – describing the vibe we were going for as “Gotham rave party” – and that’s how we arrived at the final version.”

Bella Poarch has released her EP Dolls, as well as a new music video for her track, ‘Living Hell’. The new EP includes previously released tracks ‘Build A Bitch’, ‘Inferno’ as well as title track ‘Dolls’. New single, ‘Living Hell’ also features on the EP as well as tracks ‘Villain’ and ‘No Man’s Land’, which features Grimes. “I’m really excited to release my first EP after starting this journey during lockdown,” Poarch said. “Dolls is my personal story of challenges and growth over time that I hope my fans can relate to.” In the sinister video for Bella’s latest single, ‘Living Hell’, the TikTok star is trapped in a room, something she’s previously discussed experiencing in childhood. According to a release, the video is meant to depict Poarch seeing her younger self, and realizing “the pain inflicted on her as a child no longer defines her life.” [via NME]

Jackie Cohen has unveiled her new single ‘The Valley’, which is taken from the upcoming album Pratfall. The track features Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering on the 12-string guitar as well as backing vocals from Shaun Fleming (aka Diane Coffee). Check out its Marly Ludwig-directed video above. Discussing ‘The Valley’, Cohen explained in a statement: “This folk song is for the Valley girls and Ventura Boulevard pervs. It’s my most autobiographical song. A love letter within the context of Stockholm Syndrome. When I wrote this song, I was listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell and Radiohead and Paul Simon, all artists who have mastered the glitteringly pretty and haunted song about being back in a town. This song, for me, is like those big amalgamated memory sequences that happen in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Vanilla Sky.” Both films are about these deeply melancholic characters who aren’t ready to reckon with themselves, and they kick and thrash and self-sabotage until they are so badly injured that they elect to undergo fantastic dystopian medical procedures meant to erase their pain and affect ignorant bliss. There is no bliss. Their formative memories bubble up and mash together and distort and zombify. When I wrote ‘The Valley,’ I was just beginning to notice the bubbling. It’s a sentimental song about the catastrophe of realizing who you are a second too late and the weirdly serene experience of looking back in grief as everything unravels. For a while, it really felt like I had escaped the trappings of my upbringing. It really annoys me how everything really does boil down to childhood. I think it’s really cool that we made an orchestral piece without an orchestra.” [via Our Culture Mag]

Mia Rodriguez has shared her third single for the year, ‘I LUV U’. “Loving people is hard, sometimes it can hurt – so much so, that it tears emotions in two different directions,” Rodriguez explained in a statement accompanying the track, which oscillates between acoustic guitar-driven verses and a heavily-distorted refrain. “[The lyric] ‘I love you so much I want to punch you in the face‘ isn’t literal, but it symbolises the overwhelming feelings which you can be impacted by from love,” she added. ‘I LUV U’ arrives alongside a Josh Harris-directed music video, which sends Rodriguez back to high school and has the feel of a horror film. “It was fun to take this video into a darker place that symbolises the overwhelming feelings that can be triggered by love,” Rodriguez said of the video. [via NME]

A dark angel has fallen straight into the pop charts. With twisted lyrics contemplating love, life, and death, DeathbyRomy sings and screams harmonies over tracks mixed with industrial noise. After working with Capitol Records on two recent releases, Love u — to Death and Songs For My Funeral, Romy Flores is back to being an independent artist, creating without boundaries—an approach that lead to her sexiest and most abrasive track to date, ‘No Mercy.’ In the song, Flores brought melodrama to hardcore, gently singing morbid lyrics: “Your nightmare is the man of my dreams / It turns me on when he makes you bleed / Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the sickest bitch of all.” Following the steps of City Morgue, Flores is continuing to reinvent nu metal by instituting a guitar riff, screaming an almost Korn-like chorus and following a catchy pop structure. Adding more metal into her sound is a route that works well for the DeathbyRomy persona Flores fabricated at age 15. ‘No Mercy’ is explosive and electronic, appealing to the highly online culture of her generation. She is neither emo nor goth, both words never resonated with her—unlike the outcast label she recalls receiving in high school. Due to the bullying, Flores sought refuge in an online community—and after dropping out and earning her GED, she has emerged as an edgy pop star known for playing with trap and rock and roll simultaneously. With the track’s music video—a Phobia Films production directed by Flores herself, Gnarlos Wright, and Rake—released today, DeathbyRomy will be seen dancing in a cool-toned trailer park, lying on an abandonded railroad tracks, and locked up with her dangerous lover. She’s surrounded by neighbors, including little girls in babydoll dresses carrying rifles. It’s chaotic and creepy with vomited blood and strobe light flashes. [via Document]

London singer-songwriter Salt Ashes follows up previous single ‘Body Says’ with a new electrifying single ‘Didn’t See It Coming,’ The songstress spoke about it embodying her toxic take on a love song. Salt Ashes explains: “‘Didn’t See It Coming’ is my f*cked up version of a love song. It’s how an unexpected love managed to pull me away from a way of life I thought I wasn’t ready to leave until they slapped me in the face… metaphorically, of course.” Love flows in the air and latches on you when you least expect it. As Salt Ashes puts in, it usually blinds our judgment until we get metaphorically slapped in the face. The beginning ‘Didn’t See It Coming’ has the creeping escalation of what falling in love could sound like. [via Indie Music]

Canadian superstar Carly Rae Jepsen released a brand-new single last week, ‘Beach House,’ to promote her upcoming studio album The Loneliest Time. She had previously released ‘Western Wind’ just in time for her set at Coachella 2022, but ‘Beach House’ is keeping the momentum going even further for the album. In the music video for ‘Beach House,’ Jepsen is first seen having a conversation with two other women who are in committed relationships. While they reminisce about being single and think that Jepsen is living her best life, the singer notes that it isn’t easy out there in the dating scene. “You guys don’t know what it’s like out there,” Jepsen argues, before breaking out to sing her latest song. ‘Beach House’ is all about the roller-coaster ride of being single. Going on dates and meeting guys who she’s not into, who are taken, or who overpromise and underdeliver. Ultimately, these men are bound to “hurt your feelings,” Jepsen sings. [via Pride]

M.I.A. takes on influencer culture with the release of her new single ‘Popular,’ the latest preview of her upcoming album MATA. The track arrives with a creepy music video starring an “influencer-bot-in-training” fittingly named M.A.I. Over an uptempo dance beat propelled forward by tribal drums and celebratory horns, the British-Tamil artist sarcastically regurgitates empty phrases that often pour out of the mouths of influencers. “Love me like I love me,” she sings on the chorus. “Suddenly it’s about me/ You wanna be around me/ ‘Cause I love myself/ I’m living my best life.” In the music video, M.I.A. trains her robot counterpart by showing M.A.I. how to dance more fluidly and rap along to ‘Popular.’ At one point, that means reducing the influencer bot’s screen time. By the end of the clip, the fed-up musician decides it’s all an exercise in futility. Watch the Arnaud Bresson-directed clip above. [via Consequence]

Legendary indie rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs recently released a brand new music video for their latest single, ‘Burning.’ This new single is off of their highly anticipated fifth album Cool It Down, the band’s first new album in nine years, which releases on September 30. The music video for ‘Burning,’ directed by musician Cody Critcheloe, is incredibly visually impressive, to say the least. The video features amazing choreography, set design and visual effects. These things, when combined with the creative use of colors and occasional subtitled dialogue for the characters within the video, create an incredible visual experience that is both surreal and energetic, fitting the song ‘Burning,’ incredibly well. [via mxdwn]

Australian queer pop artist Hallie introduces their brand-new single/music video, ‘Do It,’ a song capturing the longing for a romantic response. Hallie explains, “I wrote ‘Do it’ about trying to get into the swing of dating again and the child-like nerves of flirting. I was experiencing loneliness while simultaneously wanting to explore my sexuality and make new connections. I find that stage just as exciting as it is scary and confronting and this song is me being honest with how I was feeling and giving myself a push toward exploring those crushes.” The video for ‘Do It,’ co-directed by Hallie and Lili Pedrazzini, depicts Hallie at once elated over their new crush and frustrated by the lack of reciprocity. ‘Do It’ opens on emerging, trickling guitars topped by a soft, echoing voice. As the tune ramps up, it takes on the contagious heft and energy of alt-pop flavored with hints of alt-rock. Vaguely reminiscent of Liz Phair, the song pushes out potent leitmotifs intermingled with gentle, shimmering chapters. Hallie’s crème de la crème voice imbues the lyrics with deliciously nuanced tones, alluring and evocative. [via Guitar Girl Mag]

Singer-songwriter ella jane has shared a new video for ‘How Do I Lose You’ off her forthcoming project marginalia coming out October 28 via FADER Label (Clairo, Matt and Kim). Of the track, ella jane says, “‘How Do I Lose You’ is a quintessential example of how much I love to pair fairly unhappy lyrics with upbeat, danceable music. I get such a kick out of tricking the listener like that. So despite its quick pace and jumpy melody, the track is really about the anxiety of being in an undefined, ‘let’s see where this goes’ type of (non-)relationship.” Ella continues, “Musically, it’s definitely one of my poppier efforts, but I love the way the production kind of indie-fies it. Part of that is actually thanks to Orla Gartland (although I don’t think she knows it yet); I was really inspired by this video she posted a while back where she explains how she duct-taped the strings of an upright piano to create this muted, mallet-y sound in her song ‘More Like You.’ I tried the trick on my piano at home, and soon started bringing a roll of duct tape with me every time I went to the studio. It immediately became a really big component of the texture of ‘How Do I Lose You,’ and later many other tracks on my forthcoming project.” The video, directed by Aerin Moreno (Girlpool), mirrors this combo of lighthearted and doubt, with a very camp alien encounter that could have gone in a much more gruesome direction. It’s easy to laugh along with ella… the over-the-top makeup of the Seuss-like alien as he peeks through the window conveys the absurdity of how the non-relationship has become the norm. If we’re not laughing – if we’re not jamming to upbeat melodies – we’re crying. And now’s not the time for tears. [via Northern Transmissions]

Los Angeles pop star MIZZI is treating us to a vibrant end to the summer with her newest video for ‘BOMB.’ Directed by Adam Shattuck, the visual follows MIZZI as she embraces confidence, allowing listeners to dive into her world and feel just as empowered. With inviting graphics and a rain of color, the video is also a perfect representation of MIZZI’s sound – electric, capturing and fun. ‘BOMB’ is the most recent video off MIZZI’s previously released LP, SUGAR HIGH. “The ‘BOMB’ music video was so much fun to shoot,” MIZZI recalls. “We wanted it bright and colorful for the summer with an edge. The set, dancers and giant lollipops really made the song come to life.”

The post appeared first on She Makes Music.