Following the viral success of her body-positivity anthem ‘Fat,’ singer-songwriter Kate Yeager returns with a stirring new single, ‘Edit,’ in which Yeager delivers a poignant exploration of self-acceptance and the journey to authenticity, especially for young queer people. The track is shared along-side and incredible, Princess Diaries-esque music video, that was brought to life by a queer woman-led video team. ‘Edit’ comes just in time for pride month, encouraging listeners to challenge societal norms and celebrate individuality. “I feel like the qualifier for a pride song is generally about self acceptance and living your truth. But I feel like it often gets lost that it takes a while to get there,” remarks Kate. “This isn’t about the destination. It’s about the journey. It’s about feeling the pressure to mute certain parts of yourself. To be less gay, less queer, to make yourself more palatable for other people. This song is the painful the realization that people don’t get the full you when you make changes to yourself for their happiness.”

Jen Cloher has never shied away from making bold political statements, and with their latest single ‘Annabelle,’ they delve deep into the personal and the political. The track’s accompanying video paints a stark, harrowing portrait of a protagonist undone by her relentless need to win at all costs. Yet, beneath this personal unraveling lies a trenchant critique of white feminism’s dominance in contemporary discourse—a movement that Cloher asserts is often more focused on advances in individual power than on the collective liberation from systemic oppression. Cloher challenges listeners to reconsider the true meaning of equality and justice, pushing beyond surface-level victories to confront the deeper, more pervasive issues at hand. Cloher worked on ‘Annabelle’ with producer Tom Healy (Marlon Williams/ Tiny Ruins.) ‘Annabelle’s’ accompanying video was co-directed by Jen Cloher and Claire Giuffre, bringing Cloher’s original vision to life and marking their directorial debut. The video features Gabrielle Bradbeer, Esther Henderson, Nathalie Pavlovic, and Melissa Fulton. [via Backseat Mafia]

Kate Bollinger has been putting out dreamy pop songs for a while now, primarily collected in a string of EPs and singles that date back to 2017. Now, the Richmond musician (who is now based in LA) has announced her debut full-length, Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind, which will be out in September. Collaborators on it inclue Sam Evian, Matthew E. White, Jacob Grissom, and Adam Brisbin. Lead single ‘Any Day Now’ is out now. “My good friend Matt [E. White] was visiting from Virginia and we got together to play some music,” Bollinger shared in a statement. “We wrote this song and then drove around Los Angeles together. That same day he helped me realize the kind of record I wanted to make, which I subconsciously knew but couldn’t really find the words for until then.” She continued: “A few months later, I recorded the song at Sam’s [Evian] place in upstate New York with a band we put together. We spent the first day practicing the songs. The next day we recorded the first two songs, ‘Any Day’ Now being the second one. We did it all live in the room, no headphones or click, done in the spirit of most of my favorite music from the late 60s.” [via Stereogum]

MOTHICA has released a new music video. The new music video, for the track ‘The Reaper,’ is taken from the Los Angeles-based alt-pop singer-songwriter’s upcoming new album, Kissing Death, which is scheduled to be released in August this year, via Heavy Heart Records/Rise Records. Speaking about the new song and the accompanying music video, the artist says, “I was listening to a lot of movie soundtracks when I was writing this album, like the synthwave in the movie Drive. I wanted to write an upbeat love song you could dance to. I rarely write about relationships or love, but this one was a fun twist with the subject being my infatuation with the grim reaper. Lyrically, I try to rationalise that he’s a good guy and it became this more lighthearted song of the record that is unlike anything I’ve ever released. I invited dozens of my friends to be in the music video, where I sung the song in 2x speed so you saw this slow motion of a neon-lit club around me, and there’s some humour in there like the grim reaper teaching me how to play pool or my friend dancing on his scythe like its a pole.” [via Distorted Sound]

Detroit five-piece Habibi are sharing ‘In My Dreams,’ along with an accompanying video. ‘In My Dreams’ lulls you gently into the band’s world, encapsulating the glittering and evocative side of new album Dreamachine. The track centers on a steady drum machine pulse, which the band colors with a dazzling array of synth textures and dreamy melodies. The vocals lilt and float above the shimmering instrumentation as the lyrics explore the push and pull of a strained romantic relationship: “The skies above you took away, my own compass gone astray. / I can’t let you hear, I can’t feel you near / How do hands unheld grow old? How does something true unfold? / Now I must be saved, I never asked you to stay.” The band’s Lenny Lynch says of the track, “‘In My Dreams’ beams us up to a dazzling dreamland, a cosmic world of sleepless nights and a hopeless romantic tug-of-war. This song encapsulates the mood of the album: a relentless longing, like something that feels out of reach, but that we are deeply connected to. That emotion is steering the song, as it unfolds like an inward dive into the pulp of Dreamachine. I had been listening to a lot of minimal synth early 80s music, and my dad gave me a keyboard so I started writing songs on it. We had always wanted to go in a synthier direction eventually. James Richardson is our friend in Hudson Valley, NY, and we wanted him to listen to the almost-finished album to see if he was compelled to add anything. He added some mellotron to this song that gave it some really surreal elements in the background.” [via Under The Radar]

When many musicians are remaining silent on the Israel-Hamas war, Kehlani is standing next 2 Palestine. In their new music video for ‘Next 2 U,’ the R&B performer and a troupe of dancers wear keffiyehs on their shoulders and dance in front of Palestinian flags. “They gon’ have to come get me / They gon’ have to see about me / to get next to you,” Kehlani sings, twisting the song’s message to a lover into a statement of defense. (‘Next 2 U’ is a single off their to-be-announced new album.) The video also opens with an anti-war quote from Palestinian poet Hala Alyan: “Keep your moon / We have our own / Keep your army / We have our name / Keep your flag/ We have fruits and in / All the right colors.” Additionally, it closes with a message about the children killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. “We tried to make a scroll honoring the names of thousands of deceased children,” it reads. “The list was so long that our fastest scroll at 3 minutes was illegible.” Instead, Kehlani is encouraging fans to read the list of names “at your own pace.” [via Vulture]

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Frankie Rose shares ‘Sixteen Ways,’ the second single from her forthcoming new album, Love As Projection. Frankie worked with choreographer Neil Schwartz and director Scott Kiernan on the video. “I wanted to make a dance video choreographed by 80s Baby (Neil Shwartz) but with the ESPTV (Scott Kiernan) aesthetic. I trusted them completely and just let them create a world for me. The result is a video that feels like a fever dream in the black lodge complete with my very own machine elves,” says Frankie. Neil Schwartz, the choreographer adds, “I wanted to make sure that the movement matched the aesthetic and wanted to create clean lines focusing more toward the upper body. We focused on the arms to create flowing pictures that would match and compliment the synths, beats, and Vocals, and overall musicality of the track. I wanted to give individuality movement to each dancer while still including a cohesive sea of flowing colors that complimented each dancer to bring about a visual harmony of pictures and shapes”

Margo Price’s fourth album Strays is an early highlight of 2023, with the alt-country songwriter infusing elements of ’70s psychedelia across the LP. Seems like the time period was also a visual influence on Price, as the new music video for the Sharon Van Etten–featuring album cut ‘Radio’ borrows heavily from that decade’s cinematic output—even if the most explicit reference point is Risky Business. “To me, this song is about turning down the noise and opinions of my haters and people who try to tear me down. It’s about having confidence in yourself and your vision,” Price shared about the single. “It’s also a pun about being naked that I lifted from Marilyn Monroe,” she adds, commenting on the song’s repeated line “The only thing I have on is the radio.” The visual captures Price engaging in a self-care routine involving shutting the (rotary) phone off, shedding clothes, and ordering a pizza, all while joint smoke fills the air. Speaking of which, the new video arrives along with the unveiling of Margo Price x Mom Grass, a new cannabis line in collaboration with Dad Grass that includes CBG joints, handmade tie-dyed t-shirts, and embroidered hats which aim to “invoke the free-spirited, psychedelic nature of this latest LP,” per a press release. [via Flood]

On March 10 songwriter, musician, visual artist and writer Shana Cleveland (La Luz) will release her new solo album, Manzanita via Hardly Art Records. Now, she drops the album’s opener ‘A Ghost’, a gorgeous, Mellotron-backed, angelic second taster of the upcoming LP. She wrote Manzanita while pregnant and shortly after giving birth with that experience informing a lot of her songwriting. Of the single Shana says, “I never really gave pregnancy and childbirth very much thought, and when I did become pregnant I was surprised by how much of a psychedelic experience it was. A subtitle for this album could be: ‘What to Expect When You Are Open to the Mysteries of the Universe.’ When I sat outside the house looking out across the field, the chemistry and shape of my body constantly changing, I understood that I was no different than the plants and animals around me.” The video was directed by Vice Cooler and aesthetically was inspired by the show Just for Laughs: Gags, a weird, wordless prank show that Cleveland loved and first saw on hotel TVs when traveling outside the U.S. She shares, “depending on your comfort level for symbolism, it’s a story of someone coming back from the dead to haunt their bff through cheap gags OR a metaphor for pregnancy OR a cautionary tale about colonialism.”

Multi-award-winning artist and Milk! Records co-founder Jen Cloher is sharing the third single ‘My Witch’ from their forthcoming fifth album I Am The River, The River Is Me which will be released on March 3 via Milk! Records / Marathon Artists. On the new single, Cloher said “I went to a party in 2022 where a friend had hired a portable cedar spa. They had set it up in the backyard and after a big feast people started to pile in. As the night progressed things became more and more debauched, bodies tangled together, laughter and booze, like a Bacchanalian scene in a forest… cut to 6 months later when I’m trying to think of a way to tell a funny (but sexy) story to accompany ‘My Witch’. I had been attending Pony Club Gym in Preston for a couple of years and I thought it would make the perfect setting for a pair of babes to be flirting during a steamy workout. Then to casting.. if there’s anyone who reps body positivity and owning their deep hotness it has to be Georgia Maq from Camp Cope. I had my Witch slash Personal Trainer cast! The gym scene needed to be about holding back though because the suggestion of something happening is sexier. Then it came to me! The explosion the song needed during the mega raunch guitar solo could take place in a spa cauldron. Georgia would lure me to her coven where things would turn wild. . Now to casting a coven of hot witches.. Seeing as me and Georgia are songwriters and performers it made sense that her coven would be overflowing with iconic Naarm based songwriting witches – Mo’Ju, Alice Skye, Kira Puru and Lay the Mystic all said yes to my invitation to spend an evening in a spa eating a lot of watermelon. The rest is history.”

North London indie-pop singer-songwriter Natalie Shay recently returned with a new single entitled ‘The Edge,’ a track about the painful breakdown and complete blow up of her friendship with her best friend. Now, Shay shares its official music video. Speaking on the new visual, Shay wrote: “The video was directed by Eleanor Grace Hann. It’s our first time working together on a music video. I had made the concept for the video myself. I wanted the video to be quite literal, ie. actually dancing on an edge of a cliff with a ‘friend’. It was mostly shot at Beachy Head (in the UK), in one day, (a very cold day). It shows the emotional tail end of a friendship breaking down and the comparison to how far it had fallen. My main reference and inspiration for this video was the movie ‘Thirteen,’ one of my favourite movies of all time since I was about 13 myself. It’s a movie about two troubled girls forming an inseparable bond and friendship only for it to go sour and destroy them both.” ‘The Edge,’ alongside its B-side ‘everything’s been happening,’ tells the story of how, once you finally come out of something that had grown bad for you, you reflect and realise so many cracks showed long before you accepted that as the case. Shay reveals, “Despite missing her and the good parts of the friendship so much, I know in order to still respect myself, I have to honour the power of an apology, and in this case, the lack of one.” Both tracks voice the understanding of the power that someone’s dream can hold over their well-being and happiness. Shay admits, “I am guilty of this myself, a lot of my mental health, personality and entire identity are completely wrapped up in my work.” She continues, “This is the same for a lot of creatives and people with a dream or goal from a young age in general. On realising that these goals may not happen the way you’d always planned, or realising things are going to be much harder than you ever expected, this can cause trouble for some people who lack the courage. I think me and my friend are guilty of this, and subsequently this triggered the downfall.” Staying true to her irresistible indie pop sound, ‘The Edge’ shines with kaleidoscopic synths, a contagious beat and energetic melodies. Despite the song’s melancholy theme, sonically it’s the ultimate get up and dance track, allowing you to lose yourself in the music.

Dutch/British artist Someone (aka composer, producer, and visual artist Tessa Rose Jackson) shares the final single ‘Guess I’m Changing’ from her second album Owls, both released now on Tiny Tiger Records. A lush, enveloping psych-pop track recalling the stirring emotional heights of contemporaries such as Feist or Sharon Van Etten and accompanied by a sci-fi visual telling the tale of an android’s awakening, created alongside up-and-coming Hollywood director David Spearing. “This song and video are about rediscovering yourself”, explains Someone “Daring to break a pattern, to accept a chance in yourself and feel free in the journey.” Heavily inspired by the work of Stanley Kubrick as well as Netflix’s ‘Maniac’ and Apple TV’s ‘Severance’ series, the visual follows an android working in a postal factory. “She lives the same loop every day,” explains Someone, “until she a postcard with a picture of a beautiful beach and she starts to realize there may be a bigger, wider world out there. Bit by bit, she starts to break the rules of her rigidly structured life, until finally she manages to break free.” “We wanted to say something about being caught in the mundane routine, whatever that is, and how to break free of that” adds director and long-term collaborator David Spearing. “How the smallest, most seemingly insignificant thing could pull your whole world apart (in a positive way). A nice melancholy idea… set to the most beautiful song.”

One of the UK’s most exciting rising stars and dance-pop icon in waiting Rose Gray has shared her brand new single ‘Ecstasy’, which premiered as Clara Amfo’s Hottest Record in the World on BBC Radio 1, in celebration of her new EP Higher Than The Sun also out now. Speaking about new track ‘Ecstasy’, which is Rose’s biggest floorfiller yet, she explains “’Ecstasy’ is a club banger moment for me. Much like most of my favorite 90’s dance records there’s just this explosion, pure ecstasy, pure anthemic ravey bliss. I played this at Printworks supporting Shygirl and just from how the crowd reacted, I knew I had to lead the EP with this as a single. I wrote it with frequent collaborator Alex Metric, in the studio I became obsessed with the lyric ‘Higher Than The Sun’, it was written in under an hour and felt just so right from the offset. It’s a club record. It undeniably makes you want to dance.“ The track is released alongside a sci-fi chic video, starring Rose and directed by Rauri Cantelo. “We wanted it to feel like a 1990’s meets 1960’s sci-fi,” explains Rose. “I was never very good at science at school, but put me in a Gucci lab coat and it seems I’m able to clone myself into hundreds of Roses.” Director Rauri says, “It’s essentially mad scientist meets uncanny valley, and what better way to show that than by having Rose conduct atom-altering experiments on herself.”

Ahead of the release of her new EP Back to the Start on April 7 via LUSTRE, indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze (aka Amsterdam based musician Nadine Appeldoorn) has revealed her new single ‘Kill Me I Got You’ – accompanied by a black & white 16mm music video, shot in Hervelinghen, France by Wietger Mosch; inspired by the Swedish film ‘Kärlek 65’, and Mr. Bean. Written about sacrificing your own personal authenticity to appease someone else’s desires, the prowling, 60s psych-rock rhythm of ‘Kill Me I Got You’ is an exercise in recognising patterns within herself in relationships. With this song, Appeldoorn feels she has at last gotten to know herself, no matter how uncomfortable those moments of self-reflection may be: “I’ve learned that I should never force things with other people and be honest with myself and others – and I shouldn’t be afraid to communicate that.” Speaking more on the lyrical inspiration of new single ‘Kill Me I Got You’, Appeldoorn said: “It’s about how the search for a profound, real connection with other people can be confusing, lonely and complicated. Why do I ‘kill’ myself to be who someone else wants me to be just so I can be with them?”

Jonnine Standish of HTRK shares the self-directed video for her new track ‘Tea for Two (Boo)’, a haunted and whimsical ghost story taken from Jonnine’s new album Maritz, out later this month. [via Gorilla vs Bear]

Lizzo just dropped her newest music for her song ‘Special’— a glorious start to Black History Month, if you ask us — where she turns into a badass superhero with lengthy flowing waves, vibrant purple eye makeup, and very long nails. She stars as a waitress named Melly (a nod to Lizzo’s legal name, Melissa), who leads a secret double life as a superhero named Lizzo. Unfortunately, in this universe, Melly nor Lizzo are beloved by the general public. Despite that, Lizzo does still have a few fans including a little Black girl with curly hair who adores the superhero. [via Glamour Magazine]

Mol Sullivan isn’t going to let us off the hook. ‘Bury the Hatchet’ is an earworm built around unexpected structures and inventive pop-infused melodies. The Cincinnati-based songwriter’s new EP, A Little Hello, took a circuitous path through struggle and recovery to find its footing in a space where hard questions don’t get buried, and her voice is ready to, as she puts it, “howl a bit.” ‘Bury the Hatchet’ explores how avoidance and intimacy conspire to bring on longing and heartbreak. Sullivan is pointed, asking in the opening verse over emotive guitar leads and buoyant keyboard arrangements, “How can we bury the hatchet when you’re keeping it hidden? How can we unearth the truth and still find room for forgiveness?” Presented through a narrative that sees a wide-eyed version of Sullivan dressed as a cowgirl, navigating a bright-hued world where the cracks are beginning to show. It’s an incredible, strangely-moving video directed and produced by Sullivan. As she repeats the chorus, “What a shame,” over and over, the realization that this desire for openness isn’t going to be returned sets in. Her expressions heighten the lyrics’ emotional impact. “I was just trying to get through to you,” she croons, “But it turns out, I guess, that was too hard to do.” It’s straightforward, but the lilting timbre of her voice makes it hit so hard. When scenes shift to Sullivan’s other side, we are wide awake. A sharp-edged guitar solo and classic “Yeehaw!” send us into the distance. Sullivan tapped into something timeless and unforgettable on ‘Bury the Hatchet,’ using grit and courage to show so much vulnerability that it’s impossible not to feel a deep connection. [via Foxy Digitalis]

Adelaide based singer-songwriter Nyassa first came to attention through her work with the Hilltop Hoods, performing vocals on their The Great Expanse album and touring with the band in 2019 and 2022. She has now stepped into the limelight with the release of her debut single, the spectacular ‘Ghost’. Written by Nyassa with Telenova’s Edward Quinn, the track has a gorgeous, minimalist electronica sound which allows Nyassa’s breathtaking vocals to become the focus and drive the song firmly into your heart. Her passionate, multi-tracked vocals powering through the soaring melodies in the chorus make it quite possibly the most powerful and addictive 15 seconds you will hear in pop all year. Lyrically the song tells of the moment when you know you have to leave a relationship even though that carries a huge amount of pain. “I will love you even when I’m a ghost,” she sings. “Making music feels like being in love – you’re in another world, a beautiful one,” Nyassa says. “I want to make people feel something that they can’t explain. I naturally put a piece of my soul into my songs.” A music video for ‘Ghost’ has also been released. Creatively directed by Nyassa, it was filmed at the historic Martindale Hall and Mintaro Maze and showcases Nyassa’s love of avant-garde fashion and art, in particular couture runways from the 1980s and 1990s and classic 1980s silhouettes. “There’s just something so bold about wearing shoulder pads – I feel as if they hold a power,” she says. “I’m drawn to fashion that looks like art. I love having no boundaries when designing. [From a young age] I didn’t care what everyone else was wearing, it was more important for me to wear what I loved, no matter how different I looked.” [via Women In Pop]

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A powerful anthem committed to truth telling and Indigenous sovereignty, ‘Being Human’ builds its intensity upon an urgent drum beat, driving bass line, angular guitars and synth. The track breaks down before bursting into an exclamation of haka chants from Naarm based Kapa Haka (cultural performance group) Te Hononga o ngā Iwi.

On the meaning behind the song Cloher shares “Of all the songs on this album I am most nervous about, ‘Being Human’ is the one. It’s earnest and basic and raw. Reclaiming your culture is an awkward and messy business. I can see why so many people shy away from it. When you’re not living on your own lands you have to seek it out and find the people who can support you.

“In this song I locate myself on unceded Aboriginal land. Who am I? Who are my people? And how did I come to be here? Why was this an amnesia for so much of my life? And how do I live here today in a way that enacts reparations and shows my respect to the True Owners? For some it will look like virtue signalling and for others it will feel encouraging. Whatever way it lands for you is none of my business. All I know is that through telling my own story without shying away from the truth – I have connected to something so precious – a depth I didn’t know was possible. I have become useful.”

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A note from Jen on ‘Mana Takatāpui’: “In 2019 I typed the words ‘Māori word for Queer’ into Google. The word ‘takatāpui’ flashed onto my screen with this description: ‘Takatāpui is the Māori word meaning a devoted partner of the same sex. In Western terminology, a person who identifies as takatāpui is a Māori individual who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Takatāpui is used nowadays in response to the Western construction of “sexuality, gender, and corresponding identity expressions.”

“I typed my newfound word into the Māori Dictionary app and listened to it being spoken. It was beautiful. The extended ahh after the k, giving it a luxuriousness as it rolled off the speaker’s tongue. I marvelled at the idea of one word that could explain my sexuality, gender and cultural identity. What an incredible language!

“The next day on a walk with a queer, trans Samoan friend, I told them of my new discovery. I took a deep breath remembering the speaker on my app and said “takataapui” aloud for the first time. A sense of belonging ensued, like a question being answered. There was a warmth in my chest, the feeling was pride.

“I’m no expert but I’m guessing Māori pre-colonisation didn’t hold the same beliefs around gender and sexuality as Queen Victoria’s England. I’ve read that our men were hands on dedicated fathers and some of our best midwives; that our women fought side by side on the battlefield and that our wāhine atua (female gods) held as much mana (power and respect) as our tāne atua. Christianity came hand in hand with colonisation; Their missionaries introducing the concepts of body shame, sexual repression, a woman’s menstrual cycle as impure, homosexuality as a perversion and gender as binary.

“Sadly, we may never know exactly what our people believed and practiced but there is a deep knowing that we have always belonged. This song and clip are a celebration of my people, of takatāpui who get up everyday and resist oppression just by existing. Through art making and performing; politics, activism and community organisation all the while raising families, reclaiming their language and remembering who we are and have always been.

“This clip stars heroes of mine – those who continue to weave our takatāpuitanga (queer Māori culture) by standing tall. You will see dancing on the steps of NZ Parliament Greens MP Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere, whose PhD and accompanying whāriki (weaving) ‘Mana Takatāpui’ inspired the name of this song; members of the legendary Pōneke (Wellington) based Tiwhanawhana Kapa Haka who formed 30 years ago as a place for takatāpui to stand proud in our tikanga (cultural practices), the gorgeous Tangaroa Paul, a non-binary model for Infamy Apparel and soon to be Dr. Tangaroa, Jacob Tamata, an exciting new choreographer and passionate advocate of vogue ballroom dancing, The Tiwhas, a Māori drag queen trio who serve takatāpui cabaret goodness wherever they go and Quack Pirihi, a brave, young non-binary activist who champions rangatahi (young people) growing up in a system that was never designed for Māori to succeed.

“Even though I have spent most of my life away from my land – making this album and clip has been a true homecoming. It is on my matrilineal moana (ocean) Whangaroa Harbour in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland NZ) that you can see me sailing along and singing while playing my Aunty Maera’s guitar.

“I hope this becomes the anthem takatāpui can sing at the top of their lungs in the car, cleaning the house, at the club (remixed!) or at the next Pride day. This song is for all of us. The joyful celebration we need and deserve right now.”

I Am The River, The River Is Me:

1. Mana Takatāpui
2. Harakeke
3. My Witch
4. Being Human
5. I Am The River, The River Is Me
6. Protest Song
7. The Wild
8. Aroha Mai, Aroha Atu
9. He Toka-Tu-Moana
10. I Am Coming Home

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