Leicester-born, London-based Shivani Day releases her debut single, ‘Rhetoric’ via FAMM. Laying fresh roots into untouched soil, ‘Rhetoric’ was co-produced by Shivani and close collaborator Minas who weave traditional South Asian musical forms into textured elements of Electronica and R&B. Having discovered her moral compass at an early age, the creative process encouraged Shivani to re-visit early memories to inspire themes of identity, equality and integrity. The Erea Ferreiro(Ojerime, Odeal) directed video resembles ‘Rhetoric’ according to Shivani’s vision – and her initial mood board – with subtle nods to her heritage, from styling details to a mesmerising snake which is an integral symbol in Indian mythology. Dedicated to conquering her self-inflicted limitations, Shivani intends to let her carefully curated soundscape speak for her inner thoughts.

Directed by Maegan Houang, Mitski‘s ‘Star’ video feels timeless, and like a modern film by famed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi boiled down to its most abstract elements. “Unlike the more narrative/concept driven videos Mitski and I have done together in the past, I wanted this video to encapsulate the impressionistic circularity we all experience. Our lives oscillate between light and dark repeating itself in an endless cycle where nothing is permanent. The best moments are fleeting, but so are the bad,” states Houang. The ‘Star’ video was filmed on a small pond overnight in summer 2023 and presents Mitski performing on a boat in real water amongst painted pieces of wood, creating the illusion of mountains in the background and eliciting what Houang describes as “an otherworldly, atmospheric feeling” to perfectly match the song. Mitski and Houang have a history of collaborating.

Glaswegian alternative indie-pop artist Zoe Graham shares new single ‘Evilin’ – a brass-backed journey of confusion created by a person who’s no good for you. Guitars curdle with plush synths and tautly machined drums, as Zoe draws influence from Kate Bush (she shares a knack for catch-you-off-guard choruses with the ‘80s icon), St Vincent (Daddy’s Home was a regular backing sound during writing sessions), and Beck (“he’s very free as a songwriter; everything’s thought through, but it’s not painstaking”). She leans on David Bowie’s advice not to stay grounded in your deep pool of ideas, but rather to push up and off, and let your toes just brush the floor from time to time. “’Evilin’ is a battle cry” says Zoe. “It reads like a reenactment of how it feels to be purposely confused. Evilin is a channeller of emotional exhaustion. Someone you feel like you depend on and feel scared of all at once. Someone you will put before yourself, and not in a fun way. She isn’t good for you, but there’s something about her you wish you could be more of yourself, a determined independence, relentlessness but a lack of empathy.” The track is accompanied by a video starring Evilin (played by Zoe’s mum, Annette Staines), a cook and 70s star who becomes trapped in her own television show. “Imagine if Fanny Cradock and Killing Eve’s Villanelle were forced into a room together to make a prim and proper cooking show. What would that look like? How would the chaos ensue? How would these two ferocious women work with each other? Well, I knew I was going to be involved, but the only way I was really ever going to create such drama, such stylish feist, was to call my mother and ask her to star in my music video.” said Zoe. “Watching your own mother smash up cakes and jelly soundtracked to my new single, using rolling pins and spatulas as props was utterly wild. It may have been the strangest day of 2024 so far.”

The Brooklyn-born, LA-based singer Zsela has spent the early years of this decade popping up all over the cooler corners of the music industry. Her debut album Big For You, coming this June via Mexican Summer, includes contributions from Marc Ribot, Nick Hakim, Casey MQ, and Jasper Marsalis (Slauson Malone 1), and Zsela’s co-produced it with Daniel Aged and Gabe Wax, who’ve worked with names like Frank Ocean and Soccer Mommy. Zsela teased the album last month with the release of the fizzy, funky, sophisticated synth track ‘Fire Excape.’ Now, along with the proper announcement, comes opening track ‘Lily Of The Nile.’ It’s a slow-burn art-pop song that makes abundant use of Zsela’s low bellow, and it arrives with a video directed by Chester Raj Anand. A statement from Zsela: “It was important for me to stay open in this process, finding the truth of what the songs want to be. That meant breaking them down and building them back up again and again, not being precious and trying to listen… At the heart, it touches on the causal versus intentional dance we play between being “full of you” and “full for you” — the complexity and magnitude of the space we take and fill up for love.” [via Stereogum]

Hayley Mary has returned with a new single and a music video ‘One Last Drag’, which is a pop song about glorifying self-awareness. The song is co-written and co-produced by Hayley’s husband who also happens to be the DMA’s guitarist, Johnny Took. They happened to write the song in a hotel room! The song is also co-produced by the producer of The Jezabels’, Lachlan Mitchell. “I was sitting on the balcony with a wine, borderline chain-smoking, knowing that I would be regretting the cigarettes in the morning but unable to stop. He started looping a guitar intro that he was working on for Gwen Stefani and I just started writing a poem to it in my head. I asked him if I could record it so I wouldn’t forget it, and those draft vocals ended up being the final vocals you hear in the verses.” explains Hayley Mary. The song is a dark post-punk banger that talks about cigarettes and addiction. The cigarette in the song portrays anything that looks or feels good at the moment, but eventually ruins one’s life. It talks about how addiction is harmful to everyone. “I fell for the excitement, the promise of relief, of sexy malaise when real life was too high definition. In recent years, however, I’ve become aware of the potential emptiness of that promise as well,” says Hayley. [via Music Feeds]

Grab your roller skates, baby, Bonnie McKee has news. She’s ramping up to release a new album and trying to steal your man (but only musically and jokingly). In her latest single, ‘Jenny’s Got a Boyfriend,’ she gets campy, sassy and dancey as she falls for your boyfriend in a gender-swapped take on the ’80s hit ‘Jessie’s Girl.’ “I’ve always wanted to write a song that had someone’s name in it like ‘Jessie’s Girl’ or ‘Hey Mickey’ or ‘Billie Jean,’ McKee tells PAPER. “I had this experience because I had a friend who had a boyfriend who was just such a flirt. He was incredibly hot and he knew it. He was always giving me the wrong idea. Not just me, me and all of the girlfriends in the group. We were all convinced that he had a secret crush on all of us. Nothing ever happened. He was such a rake, I guess is what they call him, and I wrote a song about it. Then me and my girlfriends would bop around in the car to it.” The visuals for ‘Jenny’s Got a Boyfriend,’ are a neon, retro, skating-rink fantasy. “I’ve always wanted to do a skating music video, I can skate but I’m not like amazing,” she says. “I’ve always been obsessed with Boogie Nights and Xanadu. I love the ’70s and ’80s roller skating style — the whole aesthetic of that. The song feels like a roller Boogie moment.” In the video, McKee’s part of a “love triangle between Jenny and Jenny’s boyfriend” as they all work together at the rink. “I needed to have some story I could tell that made sense,” she says. “So it seemed like a workplace romance made the most sense. I just put us in little uniforms, and we were in the roller rink after hours. And things get spicy. I love that.” [via PAPER]

Bristol-based artist Emily Perry – AKA Pem has announced her forthcoming EP, cloud work, alongside the new single, ‘grips’. On the new single, Pem says: “A song about wanting to hold on tightly to other people to escape and “forget” everything else for a while. It is inspired by my favourite song ‘Forget About’ by Sybille Baier.” cloud work is a collection of five songs that Pem wrote during an intensely challenging chapter in her life. Full of references to water, sky, flight, memory, and birds, these are the metaphors and symbols that helped her work through the grief of losing her father last year. She says, “the process of creating cloud work enabled me to find beauty, meaning and comfort in a very difficult time.” [via Line Of Best Fit]

Softcult share a final preview of their blissful EP with ‘One Of The Pack,’ a fuzzy inclusionary anthem that depicts their idea of Heaven as one that champions ALL women. Mercedes and Phoenix explain: “When we wrote this song, we wanted to celebrate women supporting women, and of course that includes POC and transgender women. It’s sad that that’s something that I feel I need to specify and include in a statement like this, but the truth is there are some TERFs out there trying to exclude certain communities from feminism and even the term ‘woman.’ We pride ourselves on being intersectional feminists, even introducing riot grrrl feminism and activism to the shoegaze community in our own way, and we want anyone listening to our music to know that POC, trans women, and non-binary people will always be a welcome and crucial part of our grrrl gang. This song is hopefully one you can sing to your best friend to let them know; ‘I know you have to deal with a lot of bullshit from other people, but I will always be here for you. I see you, I’ll support you, and I love you.’”

This is already an iconic Eurovision collaboration: Aiko (Czechia 2024) and TEYA (Austria 2023, as part of Teya and Salena) have released a song together. In the song ‘Hunger’, Aiko and TEYA sing about the experience of feeling like you need to have a certain body to fit in with societal standards. For women in particular, they address the pressure to appeal to the male gaze. With this powerful message, they show that women are taught from an early age to eat less so they can fit in, seeing their bodies as the enemy, hence the title ‘Hunger’. In the video, you can see them walk on treadmills, emphasising this point as well. It is a great song with an important message, and yet it is catchy at the same time! Aiko and TEYA did a great job by combining their songwriting skills. [via ESCXTRA]

In November 2022, Christine And The Queens released Redcar les adorables étoiles, which was followed by PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE in June 2023. Now, the French musician is back with a new song called ‘rentrez chez moi.’ ‘rentrez chez moi’ was written, composed, and produced by Chris. The music video was directed by Sasha Mongin, produced by Premier Cri, and shot in Paris and Hanches. [via Stereogum]

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Olivia Rodrigo has dropped the music video for ‘get him back!,’ one of many highlights off her brand-new sophomore album GUTS. ‘get him back!’ is as much about seeking revenge on a former partner as it is about wanting to kiss and make up with them. So, it’s fitting that the tune’s music video features no fewer than eight identical Olivias, almost as if they’re each representing one of the contradicting voices in Rodrigo’s head telling her to key this scumbag’s car — but wait, what if she can fix him?!?! The surrealist clip was directed by Jack Begert, who’s also behind similarly eye-catching music videos like Doja Cat’s ‘Juicy’ and Amine’s ‘Blackjack.’ This one boasts no shortage of smashed car windows, trashed bedrooms, and thrown steak knives, but the good news it looks like no Olivia Rodrigos were harmed in its making. [via Consequence]

Synth-heavy post-punk upstarts Home Counties have finally returned, after slipping away from the public eye following a jam-packed 2022. Last year saw the band release the fantastic EP In A Middle English Town, followed by a relentless live schedule, and a move to London. Now, ahead of a much-anticipated debut full length, Home Counties have released a stellar new single, finally ending their time away. ‘Bethnal Green’ is three minutes of nothing but hooks. The opening synthesiser motif is so off-kilter and distinct it becomes a hook of its own, the band toying with the vintage tones of artists like DEVO and Kraftwerk but inject it with a shiny pop polish. Synthesisers have always been a staple of Home Counties’ sound, but guitars truly are a foundation this time around, leaving plenty of space for the cascading wall of synths. Lois Kelly’s primary hook is arguably the band’s catchiest yet, the melody enchanting, the stacked gang vocals enduring. Home Counties have returned with a bang, to say the least. Their time in hibernation has clearly involved no rest or relaxation, the first glimpse of their hard work being the absolutely fantastic ‘Bethnal Green’. [via Clash]

ratbag opens a portal into her weird world of shoegaze with latest single ‘exit girl’. The burgeoning star’s talent extends way beyond that of an internet personality. ratbag is a multifaceted artist beckoning mere mortals into her wild world of art, work that bleeds beyond the sonic realm and into the freaky horrors and mesmerizing drama of the visual space. Surrealism bleeds out of otherworldly places, and it is one of the most compelling concepts for fans of mind-boggling stories of fiction to seek out and admire. Whether it be something of music, sculpture, animation, or story, it’s rare for an artist to fully immerse themselves in each of these encompassing realms at once, but then again, ratbag is not one for the ordinary. Following the release of her latest single and music video for ‘exit girl’, that idea is especially apparent. Simmering in the worlds of punk and shoegaze, ratbag’s latest release comes only recently after her introduction as a musician. Her debut single ‘rats in my walls’ came out in July, and already the artist is displaying a confidence that is especially apparent through the world of horror shown in the music video that accompanies her new release. The music video for ‘exit girl’ is the world’s first taste of ratbag’s unique visual style and is also the first look into the lore behind the artist. For starters, the music video introduces ratbag’s team of fictional bandmates, each representing a different aspect of her personality. The band are made up of animated monsters going by the names Deemo, Eugene, Slug and Fritz, reminiscent of other ambitious groups like Gorillaz or even Dethklok. Matching the horror-inspired elements of this music video is, of course, the song. Carefully calculated in its many independent rhythms, beats pulse in time throughout ‘exit girl’. The song is something of a scrappy little robot that blisters with life as it thrashes between the verses and choruses. Buzzing with personality and a lively fortitude, the track will lure in lovers of alternative and punk sounds especially. Beyond sound, it’s an addictive narrative, too. ratbag explains, “This claustrophobic circus of clowns is getting old. Sometimes, we just want out.” Featuring scratchy electric guitar and catchy piano chords, it’s a song that’s easy to love in its complexity. [via Line Of Best Fit]

FLOSS is set to mesmerize listeners with her latest EP release, Replica Of My Heart. After being hailed by VOGUE as one of the most exciting musicians in the German-speaking region, FLOSS delves into speculative “what if” future scenarios reminiscent of Black Mirror, apocalyptic themes, and her ambivalent inner world. The Berlin-based winner of the Lollapalooza Newcomer Contest transforms romantic-bittersweet futuristic fantasies and traumatic experiences into highly hypnotic pop songs. In a Matrix-esque world of organ scarcity, FLOSS’s zeitgeisty feminist fantasy pop collides with hypnotic and edgy sounds, and heartbreak merges with dystopia on the EP’s title track, ‘Replica Of My Heart.’ The accompanying short film features FLOSS portraying her own clone, created by the ‘Replica Of My Heart’ services in a Matrix-esque world suffering from organ scarcity, all in an effort to obtain her unharmed heart. The serious and personal background is made evident through the visuals, which build upon FLOSS’s first music video with Joko Winterscheidt, where they advocated for organ donation alongside Junge Helden e.V. [via Kaltblut]

Platinum-certified Filipino-American artist Bella Poarch returns with a new single, ‘Crush’, which features Lauv. “’Crush’ is this fun, brighter side of me that I’m excited to showcase. The song itself is light, cheeky, and it gives you the flirty feeling of butterflies in your stomach that you get when sparks begin to fly,” Poarch says. “It’s about being in the moment and indulging in the simple things like binging Love Island, or having an innocent crush without overthinking it (which I’m guilty of). Lauv is such an incredible artist and being able to work with him is such an honor. He’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and I LAUVed working with him.” Lauv added, “‘Crush’ is about that feeling when you’re into someone but don’t wanna cross the line cause it’s so fun just being slightly into them.” [via The Line of Best Fit]

Mitski celebrates her album release, and that’s not all: It comes with a video for ‘My Love Mine All Mine.’ In the short, directed by A.G. Rojas, Mitski builds a precarious tower of dining chairs, balanced on a little egg, and embarks on a gravity-defying dance to the top. Watch it below. [via Pitchfork]

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Mitski wrote these songs in little bursts over the past few years, and they feel informed by moments of noticing – noticing a sound that’s out of place, a building that groans in decay, an opinion that splits a room, a feeling that can’t be contained in a body.

It was recorded at both the Bomb Shelter in East Nashville and Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles, and incorporates an orchestra arranged and conducted by Drew Erickson, as well as a full choir of 17 people — 12 in Los Angeles and 5 in Nashville — arranged by Mitski. For the first time, it felt important to Mitski to have a band recording live together in the studio, to create this new sublime sound. Working with her longtime producer Patrick Hyland, the album has a wide-range of references, from Ennio Morricone’s bombastic Spaghetti Western scores to Carter Burwell’s tundra-filling Fargo soundtrack, from the breathy intimacy of Arthur Russell to the strident aliveness of Scott Walker or Igor Stravinsky, from the jubilation of Caetano Veloso to the twangy longing of Faron Young.

Lead single ‘Bug Like an Angel’ finds the divine in the ordinary, in the boozy drowning of sorrow. The narrator sings from the strange comfort of rock bottom: “sometimes a drink feels like family.” And suddenly, that choir of angels sings: “FAMILY!” This first track introduces a cosmic paradox: “The wrath of the devil was also given him by God.” This is an album in which dark and light exist in the same gesture, the same broken prayer. Like the Buddha inviting the demon Mara in for tea, The Land embraces brutal, daily pain — the necessary toll of transcendent love.

The accompanying ‘Bug Like an Angel’ video — directed by Noel Paul — explores community and an unflinching look at self-destruction so extreme it verges on a state of dance. The song’s narrator is depicted as a woman staggering and collapsing outside of a bar, welcomed by and ultimately rejecting the gentle embrace of a choir of which Mitski is a member.

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We:

1. Bug Like an Angel
2. Buffalo Replaced
3. Heaven
4. I Don’t Like My Mind
5. The Deal
6. When Memories Snow
7. My Love Mine All Mine
8. The Frost
9. Star
10. I’m Your Man
11. I Love Me After You

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