The song marks a chilling turn in the band’s sonic journey. Blending alternative, dark pop, and ballad-style songwriting, the track conjures an atmosphere that’s as seductive as it is sinister. With siren-like vocals, ethereal synths, and cinematic orchestration, the song stands as one of the most haunting moments on Daedric’s forthcoming album.

Inspired by the eerie magic of Pan’s Labyrinth and the sultry darkness of The Weeknd’s early Trilogy era, ‘Dark Legacy’ is unlike anything else in Daedric’s catalog. The track was initially written by Clay and later elevated by Geoff, who infused it with dramatic orchestral elements in the second chorus, heightening its hypnotic tension.

Lyrically, ‘Dark Legacy’ dives deep into questions of fate versus free will, exploring overwhelming desire, possession, and the loss of self in a toxic relationship. Fire and shadow imagery reflect the dangerous allure of forbidden love the kind that consumes everything in its path.

Musically, the track builds with drums, guitars, bass, and synthesizers, weaving in unconventional sonic textures, including a distorted monster-like vocal that Clay originally recorded as a placeholder that ended up defining the song. A striking Arabic-inspired section adds an exotic flair, reinforcing the song’s sensual yet ominous pull.

“This was my Weeknd song. I wanted that sexy, sultry, but dark energy,” says Daedric.

Letters Sent Home have released a brand new music video. The new track, titled ‘Focus,’ is the latest offering from the German alternative rock quartet and follows on from their previous single, ‘Bloom,’ which was released back in July. The new single features a guest appearance from post-hardcore powerhouse THE NARRATOR.

Speaking about the song, vocalist Emily Paschke explains, “we all know that one person who always seems to have it worse than everyone else – at least in their own eyes. Focus is about ending a friendship with that person because being around them has become too exhausting. And in this song, we’re not heartbroken or hurt. We’re annoyed, we’re furious, and yes – we’re petty. While our parts in the song perfectly portray that pettiness, THE NARRATOR is the perfect voice to channel and embody the anger.”

Battle Beast have released a brand new music video. The new music video, for the track ‘Angel Of Midnight,’ is taken from the Finnish power metal band’s upcoming album, Steelbound, which is scheduled to be released in October this year, via Nuclear Blast Records.

Speaking about the new song, bassist Eero Sipilä says, “I really had an internal battle with writing this one. We’re a heavy metal band. Will we be burned at the stake, for making a hard rock tune with romantic notions? Then it hit me: We’re BATTLE BEAST – we can do whatever the hell we want. Midnight nods deeply to BON JOVI, DEF LEPPARD, WHITESNAKE – all the greats – and makes no qualms about it. So let the feeling carry you, and crank it like it’s 1987.”

Frayle have released a brand new music video. The new music video, for the track ‘Heretic,’ is taken from the Cleveland, Ohio-based doom metal band’s upcoming third album, Heretics & Lullabies, which is scheduled to be released in October this year, via Napalm Records.

Speaking about the new song, the band comment, “’Heretic’ explores the nature of heresy, spiritual struggle and the rejection of religious dogma. Just because we reject spiritual conformity and societal norms, does this, in and of itself, make us a ‘bad person’? Is god a supreme being, the collective subconscious, or simply an ideal? We believe that relying on yourself and your own morals can ultimately evolve into being your own savior. We are all gods.”

Evanescence’s Amy Lee has teamed up with Poppy and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante on a new song titled ‘End of You.’ The track is accompanied by a cinematic music video.

The three artists had been teasing the single in the days leading up its release, and the payoff is an epic track that shines the spotlight on all three vocalists.

Lee gets the song started with the initial verses and the soaring chorus, giving off an Evanescence-meets-James-Bond-theme vibe. Poppy then sings the next set of verses in a clean voice, giving way to Lee again for the second chorus. Then it gets heavy as Poppy screams, “The end of you is the start of life for me,” leading to LaPlante’s explosive screams. The Spiritbox singer also shows off her clean singing, as all three vocalists come together at the end of the song.

Elettra Storm has released a video for ‘Blue Phoenix’, first single taken from the new album Evertale to be released on October 24 by Scarlet Records.

One of the most aggressive track of the album that explodes in a powerful chorus and in epic guitar solos and leads, it’s a tale of revenge and rebirth: like the phoenix every man can rise from his own ashes. It doesn’t matter all the pain, the betrayals, the wounds that the world inflicts to you, you can always find a way to get your life back on track, if you are able to keep your inner flame alive, the spark at the core of your soul that gives you strength and purpose.

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Dutch symphonic metal titans EPICA have released a brand new single, ‘Arcana’. The track heralds a new chapter in EPICA’s two-decade-long history and marks the band’s first new release since the group’s chart-topping 2021 album Omega and the collaboration EP The Alchemy Project. It offers a glimpse into the band’s future music, coming in 2025. EPICA comments: “‘Arcana’ guides you through the universal stages of spiritual evolution in life. It leads the way to a higher consciousness and spiritual self-awareness. Writing this song was a spontaneous effort, so it came together quickly, which felt so natural that it wrote itself. The music contains classic EPICA elements but has some vibes that might remind you of ’80s alternative rock or modern metal.” [via Blabbermouth]

Birmingham UK based noisemongers Vanitas release ‘Wait And See’, their last single from a very impressive 2024. They pronounced earlier this year that “Vanitas return matured and dangerous, promising to deliver their heaviest release yet”. Said release was their musclebound Chaos Theory EP. Vanitas proclaim that “’Wait And See’ is an epic anthem, exploring the duality of excitement and anxiety of trusting an unknown future, out now.” [via Planet Mosh]

VUKOVI have released a new music video. The new music video, for the track ‘Misty Ecstasy’, is taken from the Scottish alternative band’s upcoming new album, My God Has Got A Gun, which is scheduled to be released in January next year, via SharpTone Records. Speaking about the new song, vocalist Janine Shilstone shares, “the most fun/tongue-in-cheek song we’ve created. We wanted to put out something that could cut through a very dark and uncertain time for this day and age. Sex should be fun and safe without judgement. OUR BODY OUR CHOICE.” [via Distorted Sound]

Poppy’s new album, Negative Spaces, is finally here, and it comes with the post-genre auteur’s most extreme and crushing song yet: ‘the center’s falling out.’ The album’s pre-release singles have showcased the record’s range — from the neon-soaked synth-pop of ‘crystallized’ to the dynamic metalcore of ‘they’re all around us.’ But ‘the center’s falling out’ is a different and more dangerous beast entirely. Raging from start to finish, it puts even Poppy’s Grammy-nominated turn with Knocked Loose, ‘Suffocate,’ to the heaviness test. The song — which was co-written by House of Protection’s Stephen Harrison (formerly of Fever 333 and the Chariot) — arrived accompanied with a sick performance video in which Poppy throws down in Argento-esque red fog while being surreally filmed by herself. [via Revolver]

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Creative powerhouse and genre-collision experimenteer BEX is back with a new single ‘Fight’. ‘Fight’ is a rallying cry in the wake of a relationship breakdown with BEX’ signature scuzzed-up, grumbling basslines propelling a proper punchy chant. The combative track arrives as she looks towards a number of festival performances this summer, as well as a newly-announced headline date at London’s Omeara on 1st November. As BEX says, “’Fight’ is not a love song, it’s the opposite. It’s an acceptance of embarrassment. Loving someone to then have it thrown in your face is embarrassing, when you try your hardest, never fight, and you’re getting along so well, it can be so confusing to find out they were never loyal. Fight is about how blind sighted I was, for so long and the way the whole situation made me feel in the end. Truth is, you never know another person, and trust should never come easy, that’s what I have learnt – you have to let people EARN your trust. Don’t just give it away.”

Heriot have announced their debut album, Devoured by the Mouth of Hell, due September 27 via Century Media. It was recorded with Will Putney (of END, Fit For An Autopsy, Better Lovers) and Josh Middleton (Sylosis, ex-Architects), and it features recent single ‘Siege Lord’ as well as the just-released ‘Foul Void,’ which opens the album. Like the last single, it offers up a futuristic blend of metalcore, death metal, industrial, and more, and the band says it “delves into the inner struggle of an individual facing uncertainties about their faith.” [via Brooklyn Vegan]

Poppy has released an absolutely banging new single, ‘New Way Out’. The musician has followed up last year’s 4/5-rated Zig album – plus mind-blowing 2024 collabs with Bad Omens and Knocked Loose – with a brilliant new tune that leans towards the heavier end of what she’s done across her genre-defying career so far. Bonus: it also features the production work of Jordan Fish, who, since departing Bring Me The Horizon in December, has been busy in the studio with everyone from Architects to Spiritbox – and now Poppy! [via Kerrang!]

EPICA singer Simone Simons has released the official music video for her second solo single, ‘In Love We Rust’. The track is taken from her debut solo album, Vermillion, which will be made available on August 23 via Nuclear Blast Records. Simone, who has been a pioneering force within the world of metal for over two decades as part of EPICA, worked on Vermillion with her musical partner and longtime collaborator Arjen Lucassen (AYREON). Arjen is no stranger to Simone’s soaring operatic voice, one that can stir even a gargoyle’s stone heart to tears. Together they have crafted a sonic universe that befits the influential figure she is. Vermillion emerges as a gargantuan goose-bump generator, a universally touching, stellar tour de force. Simone and Arjen state about ‘In Love We Rust’: “The video was filmed in just one take to keep it as pure and raw as possible. We opted to keep it in black and white so as not to distract from the song or the performance. ‘In Love We Rust’ is quite different from our first single ‘Aeterna’, which shows how diverse this album is. This is one of our favorite songs. We hope you love this as much as we do.” [via Blabbermouth]

European quintet ANKOR have signed to UNFD, and released their first single for the independent heavy label. The band – fronted by Bristol vocalist Jessie Williams, and completed by guitarists David Romeu and Fito Martinez, and bassist Julio López, all from Spain, and drummer Eleni Nota from Athens – have joined forces with UNFD to help propel their next era, having already been building up a dedicated fanbase for the past 20 years. And that’s helped further with the release of new single and video ‘Embers’, which Jessie explains is “a song that mixes EDM with classical ANKOR melodies. A song about dealing with loss and grief. We recorded the music video in a beautiful church in London, and we believe it sends the exact message of the track. “’Embers’ is a journey through the mind of someone living an alternate reality,” she continues, going into detail about the accompanying music video. “Dreaming of what could have been… but the truth is much darker, that’s why we represented it with both dresses. It’s a ceremony of what could have been a wedding and ends up being a funeral, in which she dances alone, knowing none of it will ever happen. It can hit as a negative song, but in her sadness there is hope, as she’ll always be connected to her loss.” [via Kerrang!]

Titled Silhouettes, the sophomore album from the Newcastle-based heavy progressive band Giant Walker follows 2022’s All In Good Time and is scheduled to be released in September this year via Church Road Records. The album will feature the previously released single ‘Make Me’, as well as the newly released ‘Halcion’. Speaking about the creative process behind the new track, guitarist Jamie Southern comments, “The initial idea for the song emerged from a drum groove, although it evolved through several different iterations before culminating into its final form. Sonically, it’s quite dark and angular, and so, when it came to crafting the lyrics, the aim was to encapsulate that feeling of uneasiness that came from the music and weave it into a story. It just so happened that amidst writing the song, I ended up watching a documentary about a serial killer, which felt very fitting to the music, and so, this ultimately shaped the lyrical direction Halcion took.” [via Distorted Sound]

Sydney rebellious rockers Wicked Envy have premiered their formidable new single called ‘Final Descent’. The dominating new track commands attention, taking you on a gut-wrenching final journey through flight. “’Final Descent’ is about the fear of flying and dying in a plane crash,” explains vocalist Desiree Hancock. “I decided to write this song, cause It’s a very relatable topic, as many of my family and friends struggle with this fear of Aerophobia, especially when travelling overseas. The eerie whispering voices and haunting vocals are evident throughout the song to create a sombre feel, as if these voices are from the dead.”The thumping guitars in the main riff/ chorus and pounding drums bring out the emotional, gut-wrenching feelings like turbulence on a flight we have all been taken on. You never know when your number is up. This song is based on the movie Final Destination! As I’m a massive fan of the movie and horror films in general, I thought it would be thrilling to write about a plane crash and the audience left with one question. Will this be the end?“ [via Heavy Mag]

Hard rock band Beautiful Skeletons unveils their new music video, ‘Only Zuul.’ The track, featured on their recently released EP Temperance (Wormholedeath Records), is accompanied by a visually unsettling video experience. Produced by the one and only Hotkarlproductions Karl Whinnery and Amanda McGahey, this video will grip you with its eerie atmosphere and special effects.

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Gia Ford has released a new single. ‘Poolside’ follows on from her recent track drops ‘Alligator’ and ‘Falling in Love Again’, as well as her support slot with Self Esteem at her huge Sheffield Don Valley show. “’Poolside’ was first inspired by an image from a coffee table book, depicting affluent 60s Los Angeles,” she explains. “A birds-eye shot of houses with pools in the hills. I imagined a poolboy, disillusioned and angry at the world, and began describing what he felt and saw, working in a well-to-do LA neighbourhood. There’s this separation between him and the people he’s working for. He’s invisible to them.” [via Dork]

Longevity is a hard quality to achieve in this ever-churning music industry. So is reinvention. Somehow, though, Chloe Saavedra has achieved both, sustaining a career in music that’s spanned projects, sounds and roles. Now, she’s announcing the next chapter in that ever-changing journey, her first solo album under the moniker WTRGRL: Drïpsody, a darkly moving collection of dance-inflected pop songs that fuse the spirit of the club with the torn pages of a poet’s notebook. Premiering her new single, ‘are u up’, along with a seductive new video, Saavedra has provided listeners a glimpse into Drïpsody’s chaotically expanding universe. She says of the video, “I’ve always been interested in body architecture in paintings and photos. I wanted to portray the movements of bodies with a minimalist black backdrop like a baroque painting and to juxtapose the bouncy, sexy demeanor of the song with the seriousness of a high-quality medium. The director, Natasha Wilson, did an amazing job straddling the concept of overt sexuality and the sterile backdrop of fine art. My incredibly talented friends really made the video what it is. Natasha, Stephanie Dobash (DP), Angel Tailan (stylist), Elise Gehrke (MUA), Alec Nicholas (editor), Maia Saavedra Weisenhaus (pyro technician), the dancers, models and my friends who came through to help with the production, were the best team to create with. I felt like we built this super-family on set and had a blast making it, which is why it’s so close to my heart.” [via PAPER]

Discovery Zone shares another enchanting track and video from her forthcoming LP Quantum Web, coming in March on limited hologram edition LP via RVNG Intl. Video directed by Janosch Pugnaghi. [via Gorilla vs Bear]

Anglo-American duo Still Corners kick off the new year with a brand new single, ‘The Dream’. ‘The Dream’ is the second single announced off the eagerly awaited sixth album Dream Talk, available on April 5 via their own record label, Wrecking Light Records. ‘The Dream’ is Still Corners at their most seductive and romantic. This mysterious tale centres around a quote from Shakespeare’s illustrious A Midsummer’s Night Dream: “Are you sure that we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream”. Shakers and a lone rhythm guitar drop into a fast-paced beat of bass and drums, reminiscent of a train travelling at speed through a desert night – “we are on a night train, heading to the east end”. Tessa Murray’s melodic vocals are revealed gradually as the instrumental moves towards its climax. Shifting synths combine with crescendoing congas, gradually revealing the complete picture of this epic adventure – “dream within a dream”. Speaking of the accompanying music video, Tessa Murray added: “The video is based on our deep love of mystery novels and cosy crime fiction. I play a new character called Penelope Braithwaite as she investigates the “Mystery of the Repeating Dream”. Folks from the fictitious town of Reverwood, Sussex have been falling into a repeating dream trap; when they wake up, they realise they are, in fact, in the same dream. Penelope arrives at a mysterious house to investigate. Does she solve the mystery, or is she also stuck in a looping dream? That’s for you to find out.” Beautifully filmed in the English countryside by the band, featuring steam trains and a dilapidated mansion set in vast gardens, this detective story is not to be missed!

In 2021, the eclectic group Shannon And The Clams shared the album Year Of The Spider. Now, they’re announcing its follow-up, The Moon Is In The Wrong Place, produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. The title track is out now with a music video directed by Bobbi Rich. In August of 2022, bandleader Shannon Shaw was weeks away from her wedding when her fiancé, Joe Haener, died in a tragic car accident. “We all felt the urgency of making something that reckoned with this meteor that smashed into our planet,” keyboard player Will Sprott said in a statement. “This is the most focused record we’ve ever done, as far as everything coming from a singular traumatic event.” [via Stereogum]

Bad Omens and Poppy have teamed up for a new single, ‘V.A.N’. Out now via Sumerian Records and written and produced by Bad Omens frontman Noah Sebastian, the song is the first glimpse of what the band will be offering on their upcoming album. Their ‘CONCRETE FOREVER’ project is the soundtrack to their ‘Concrete Jungle’ comic book universe, which they’re also touring Europe in support of from January 27. Noah explains: “That’s a song that started just with the hook ‘Violence against nature’, and then after saving the project with the acronym and seeing it we realized it could be fun to think of ‘VAN’ as a name. Thus the rabbit hole of ideas began that led us to decide to write lyrics from the perspective of an artificial intelligence gone rogue.” [via Dork]

Tierra Whack broke out with her brilliantly weird visual album Whack World almost six years ago. In the time since, she’s released a lot of one-off tracks and a series of genre-themed EPs, Rap?, Pop?, and R&B? Since the last of those came out in late 2021, she’s been keeping a low profile, but she’s finally ready to release a full-length album. Out in March, WORLD WIDE WHACK is being billed as Whack’s official full-length debut. “I really took my time with this,” she wrote on IG, “so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.” [via Stereogum]

Jewelia wants to uplift you. A pop songwriter who uses music to inject optimism into our lives, she takes from different eras – 80s synth pop, 00s indie – to build her own elixir. New album Little Wins is out on April 19 and it parallels synth auteurs like Goldfrapp, or cutting edge pop savants like Caroline Polachek. Amid her disparate influences, though, lies a tender heart. She comments: “The binding concept behind ‘Little Wins’ is that we all do the best we can at a particular moment in time, with the resources we have at that moment. Those resources can mean anything: time, energy, knowledge, confidence, money, love, other people, self-belief, self-love. So really, there’s no point in beating ourselves up, and instead of constantly focusing on the climb ahead, we should take some time to look back and see how far we’ve come, and learn to celebrate the little wins.” New single ‘Invisible Wall’ leads the way. A delicious pop moment, it wears its retro aspects on its sleeve – all knowing glances and a cute chorus, Jewelia really displays her finesse. Of the single and it’s neat new video, she says… “I’ve always wanted to dig deeper into a retro pop sound and imagery. I actually wrote ‘Invisible Wall’ back in 2017, and it stayed in the vault up until last year, when I realised that it fitted perfectly within the concept of my new album. In video games, an invisible wall is a boundary that limits where the player can go, even though there’s nothing physically there to stop them. It seems like the perfect analogy for the pre-guided life pathways that society tends to force us into, but also for self-limiting thought patterns, both of which are driving ideas behind the concept of ‘Little Wins’.” [via Clash]

Here’s a great song title: ‘All My Exes Live In Vortexes.’ Here’s an opening lyric that will grab you: “I hope no one had to piss in a bottle at work to get me the thing I ordered on the internet.” Both belong to the new single from Rosie Tucker’s upcoming album UTOPIA NOW! The pop-punk-ish indie-rocker’s latest will drop in March. It’ll be their first since getting dropped by Epitaph Records, and it includes last fall’s single ‘Unending Bliss.’ [via Stereogum]

Grammy award-winning DJ and producer Purple Disco Machine has shared his latest single ‘Beat of Your Heart’ in collaboration with Icelandic artist ÁSDÍS. Combining Purple Disco Machine’s trademark disco infused sound with ÁSDÍS’s magnetic vocals, the high-energy track is laden with danceable grooves, big synths and catchy melodies. The accompanying music video, directed by NDVD, brings all of the joy of the dancefloor to life intertwining love, freedom and fantasy. Speaking about the track, Purple Disco Machine says: “I was sent the vocals by ÁSDÍS and I immediately fell in love with her voice. I wanted to release the track as a single and we later re-recorded it together in my studio in Dresden, which was really great.” ]via Fab UK Mag]

Paris Paloma has shared her first new music of 2024 with the reflective yet triumphant single ‘My Mind (now)’ out now via Nettwerk. Following on from her 2023 singles ‘notre dame’, ‘labour’, ‘yeti’ ‘as good a reason’ and ‘drywall’, Paris continues to evolve the magical, yet real world created within her music, with a new chapter within the narrative with ‘My Mind (now)’. A melodic folk-pop track underpinned by dark and despondent journal-like lyrics about the chaos and emotions of the mind, “what did I do wrong, will you tell me what I did wrong”, the song builds introspectively to a jubilant release. The track is accompanied by a compelling video directed by Matt Grass, which perfectly conveys the atmosphere of the song. Paris says: “’My Mind (now)’ is about the BC and the AD of trauma, and what it did to my mental state, the feeling that an event was so cataclysmic that it rearranged the chemical makeup of my mind. The song is a reflection of my struggle with OCD and anxiety as a response to traumatic events, and the electrical storm of emotions that exists inside my head, filling it with noise that never seems to leave, as I search for a few seconds of respite and quiet from it. It is also about the power other people hold to set that trauma into motion, and both the fragility and strength of the human mind. my mind (now) is an embodiment of the the act of creation in the form of art and writing as a coping mechanism that comes out of the overwhelming noise and chaos of the mind.”

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Poppy wants that real shit. She makes it abundantly clear on her new single, ‘Knockoff.’ A pulsing, sultry, industrial-tinged dancefloor killer, the song arrived accompanied by a surreal music video filled with tarot card imagery and Suspiria-esque choreography. ‘Knockoff’ is the lead single off Poppy’s forthcoming new album, Zig, the full-length follow-up to 2022’s Stagger EP, which was recorded with producer Ali Payami, as well as her long term collaborative partner Simon Wilcox. [via Revolver]

Step into the neon-lit arena of avant-garde pop, where the ultimate provocateur, Dorian Electra, reigns supreme. Brace yourselves, dear happy readers, for the eagerly awaited opus, Fanfare, slated to hit the airwaves on October 6 via via MTheory/Virgin Music Australia. A declaration of unyielding creativity, this audacious artist has already set ablaze the ether with their latest single and video, ‘anon’, igniting a firestorm of anticipation that surges through the ether. In this enigmatic odyssey, Dorian Electra embarks on an exploration of parasocial relationships, as they fearlessly navigate the terrain of claims we stake on the lives of figureheads, embracing the fervor of obsession, idolatry, and pop culture as a living mythology. With a dexterity that defies categorization, the line between love and loathing, fandom and control, blurs like watercolor dissolving in the rain. Fanfare represents an unapologetic rewriting of narratives thrust upon us by a conformist society, as Dorian dismantles the shackles of heteronormativity with unwavering conviction. Collaborative synergy pervades every beat of this magnum opus, with a talented cadre of creatives in tow, including the venerable Clarence Clarity and the visionary Weston Allen, alongside the likes of Casey MQ, Count Baldor, and Klaxons’ Jamie Reynolds. Together, they pose a rhetorical query that hangs tantalizingly in the ether: what, dear voyagers of sound, do we truly expect—or dare I say, demand—from our public icons? Directed with artful prowess, Dorian Electra and their creative partner, Weston Allen, present the music video for ‘anon’, laying bare the multifaceted nature of stan culture that, like a capricious gale, propels one to soaring heights or plummets them to the abyss of anonymity. [via Happy Mag]

LØLØ has returned with the fiery new single ‘hot girls in hell.’ The scathing track is an instant breakup anthem as LØLØ belts: “You’re fucking disgusting/You’re good for nothing/You think you’re special/I think you’re mental/I hope there’s no hot girls in hell.” The song begins with a gentle, acoustic verse before exploding into thrashing guitars and combusting percussion, neatly demonstrating the Toronto-based artist’s talent for blending vulnerability and unapologetic authority within the same track. “I wrote the first half when I was really sad and the second half when I was really mad,” LØLØ says of the track. “The person I wrote this about is definitely going to hell, so here’s hoping there’s no hot girls there for him to f**k.” [via Alt Press]

Baby Queen has shared a brand new song and video – watch ‘We Can Be Anything’ below. The video was premiered on the Instagram page for Netflix show Heartstopper, which Baby Queen contributed the song ‘Colours Of You’ to in 2022. Discussing the idea behind the new song, Baby Queen said in a statement: “I’ve been having a prolonged existential crisis for the better part of the past 5 years and would consider myself to be a nihilist in many ways, which has made being alive quite bleak at times. I think human beings really crave purpose but there is ultimately no clear-cut reason we’re here and if there is one, we’re just not intelligent enough to figure it out. “Despite it all, life is beautiful and i think our lack of purpose and our insignificance gives us the greatest level of freedom. Society, culture, rules, laws – these are all constructs. I like to believe that as long as you’re not hurting people, you do have the freedom and the prerogative to do with your life what you will.” She added: That’s what this song is about: non-confinement and non-conformity in the face of what is essentially absurdity. I just want people to listen to it and feel free – because they are free.” [via NME]

Kenzie Ziegler has just released an intimate and personal new track ‘anatomy’. The 19-year-old entertainer addresses the absence of her father during her childhood years and navigating through life without him. She also debuted a new music video, with choreography by her older sister Maddie. Kendall Ryan Krajewski portrays a younger version of Kenzie. “’anatomy’ is a very personal record to me, because it’s the first time I’ve publicly opened up about the absence of my dad while growing up,” Kenzie shared in a statement about the song. “The team I wrote it with gave me the safe space to finally share my story, and that was a really empowering moment for me. When I listen back to it now, I’m just proud of what we made because I think a lot of people can relate. If you grew up without a parent, I hope you know that you are not alone, and I hope this record can provide some type of peace and safe space for you all.” Kenzie penned the track alongside Ellen Murphy, Elizabeth Jane Murphy and Bill Maybury, and it was produced by Lenii. Henry DaCosta directed the music video. [via Just Jared Jr]

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Cyn releases new video for her new single ‘Losing Sleep’ via Unsub Records. “I wanted to bring mine and Lissyelle Laricchia’s art direction to life!” Cyn says about the video, “I let the lyric ‘it’s a dreamlike reality cuz of you’ inform every artful decision. I wanted to create a dream world, liberated from the logical or familiar. I’m so grateful to the entire team for helping me bring this vision to life.” Maintaining a reputation for show-stopping visuals, the songstress pulled out all the stops like she always does. Once again, she teamed up with filmmaker and New York Times Bestseller, Kyle Newman [Fanboys, Barely Lethal, 1Up] behind the camera for the video. Newman says, “Cyn’s clever lyrics and unique sound elicit strong visuals. The song’s overall playfulness inspired our exploration of the surreal. The collage stylings were a creative and effective way to play with scale akin to Alice In Wonderland and setting by placing her in a multitude of unconventional locations.” The clip co-mingles live action, collage animation, and immersive backdrops to create a gorgeous aesthetic of its own. As she tries and fails to catch some shuteye, it finds Cyn on the moon sipping a cocktail, towering over the pyramids as a UFO circles, overlooking Los Angeles Godzilla-style, and dancing in a cowboy hat on a pasture. It evokes the deliriously catchy melodies of the track with commensurate cleverness.

Poppy has released her new single ‘Church Outfit’. It comes on the back of her newly inked record deal with Sumerian Records. Poppy performed a sold-out show in London last November, and dropped her last EP Stagger in October. Poppy adds: “It’s an artist’s responsibility to always change. I don’t think I’d want to be in my body if I was repeating the same thing over and over again. I’m only competing with myself. I will continue to write the story until I get tired of the book. Then, I’ll write another one.” [via Dork]

This week, the producer Yaeji released her her debut album, With A Hammer. Before that. Yaeji returned with one more album preview: ‘Passed Me By,’ which comes with by a video directed by Enayet and Zanzie. In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Yaeji describes how ‘Passed Me By’ is directed toward her younger self, in particular the Korean-sung lyric “I almost didn’t recognize you”). “She’s always been looking at me, but I was always averting my gaze and rejecting her existence,” Yaeji explains. “And this is the moment I lock eyes with her, and I’m like, You’re there. I see you.” [via Stereogum]

Iraina Mancini has shared her wonderful new single ‘Cannonball’. A retro-pop amalgam, Iraina seizes on the best aspects of the past, blurring those impeccable 60s and 70s influences with a touch of modernity. A full album is incoming, with new single ‘Cannonball’ online now. It feels like the lost theme to a 60s spy film, a kind of Modesty Blaize character updated for the modern era. A female-forward slice of action-packed pop, it was co-written alongside Simon Dine, and produced by Sunglasses for Jaws (with the redoubtable Erol Alkan on additional production). The neat keyboard arpeggios in the background recall the Killing Eve soundtrack work constructed by Unloved, while the loping bassline is sheer McCartney. A psych-pop whirlwind, ‘Cannonball’ finds Iraina yearning for freedom. She comments… “I wrote ‘Cannonball’ about taking a chance in life and following your heart. It’s that moment where you meet someone or something and it knocks you for six! Your intuition kicks in and you’ve got to go with what it’s telling you. I really wanted to write something that grabbed people’s attention, I got lost in my head in an action packed, 60s stylish thriller film.” Equipped with some lovingly kitsch visuals, you can check out ‘Cannonball’ below. [via Clash]

It’s been about two years since the Japanese band CHAI released their last album, 2021’s Wink, and since then they’ve dropped a series of singles. Now, they’re back with a fresh song for us, the energetic and bright ‘We The Female!’ “We are human and were born as female, but we have both female and male aspects in each of our souls, each with our own sense of balance,” CHAI said in a statement. “We can’t just label ourselves into clear-cut, simple categories anymore! I’m not anyone else but just ‘me,’ and you are no one else but just ‘you’. This song celebrates that with a roar! Yooooooooo!!” [via Stereogum]

Indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze (aka Amsterdam based musician Nadine Appeldoorn) releases her new EP Back to the Start and shares the video for its title track. The EP’s titular, opening track perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the project. Announcing itself like a Californian daydream, awash with synths, heavenly vocal harmonies and jangling guitars, the song’s accompanying video was directed by Pasqual Amade. The EP’s title track captures a certain struggle Appeldoorn has untethering herself from the umpteenth setback. “I’m just being very honest and very real, being like, ‘I went through all this shit for a reason, but now I’m clueless again,’” she explains. “But I think that’s basically what life is: you constantly get over these really hard, big things.”

Garage rocker Olivia Jean has shared ‘Raving Ghost,’ the title track of her third solo album arriving via Third Man Records on Friday, May 5. The track is accompanied by an official music video directed by Olivia Jean herself alongside Erica Salazar, a perfect complement to the slinking, noirish quality of the music.

Breaking up with a friend is a tricky scenario to navigate, not least because the moment of realization that the relationship isn’t working can take so much longer to come into focus. That is the central tension at the heart of ‘Aspartame,’ the latest single from New York-based May Rio. Named after the artificial sweetener that can cause digestive issues and increased blood sugar in some people, ‘Aspartame’ compares a friend whose company slowly reveals itself to be a similarly toxic influence on her life. Themes of co-dependence and low self-esteem are laced through the song’s lyrics as Rio sings “You’ve got a lil problem, It’s not my job to fix it” and “Maybe the problem, Was I just felt so lucky, Just to have anything.” The words are the main focus here, with a minimal percussive backdrop putting thoughts of how voids get filled front and center. Speaking via email, Rio says: “I wrote ‘Aspartame’ in one day. It was born out of an important but complicated friendship that I needed to exit. The song has a melancholy, but it’s also angry. In the midst of that crossover, I found empowerment. Like I said I wasn’t going to take this shit anymore, and here I am, not taking it anymore.” [via The FADER]

After teasing fans over the past week, via their social media pages, Dorian Electra has officially made their comeback. When an artist wipes their socials and updates their profile picture, it’s safe to assume that they’re about to enter a new era. Singer-songwriter Dorian Electra did just that, at the end of the March, leaving fans speculating as to what may be happening behind the scenes by asking them to “pledge to Freak Mode” via a link to their website. Now, Electra debuts their first release of the year with ‘Freak Mode’. Co-produced by Clarence Clarity (Rina Sawayama), the single comes with a music video which was co-directed by Electra and Weston Allen. [via Line Of Best Fit]

Nikki Lane has released the video for her single ‘Denim & Diamonds,’ the title track of her latest album, directed by Desert 5 Spot’s Wade Crescent and Chase Manhattan. Filmed in Los Angeles, the video is the result of a crafty production, emphasizing the underlying theme of women’s empowerment that the song conveys. The video has a vintage feel, with scenes of casual glamour following several women’s unique yet unifying experiences. The set design and styling consist of custom Western apparel with one-of-a-kind pieces from Nikki Lane’s new Nashville vintage shop, High Class Hillbilly. Amongst Black Leaf Flower floral arrangements, the singer-songwriter wears a Catherine D’Lish gown, a custom hat from Ben Kennimer, with diamonds and jewelry by Esteembale Objects. [via Flaunt]

Caroline Polachek has unveiled a new live performance music video for ‘Smoke.’ In the clip for her Desire, I Want to Turn Into You song, Polachek performs with her band amid volcano sculptures, smoke, and glowing red scenery. Polachek’s band comprises Maya Laner, Matthew Horton, and Russell Holzman. Watch the Matt Copson–directed visual below. [via Pitchfork]

American singer-songwriter Eva Grace has dropped a new music video for ‘always be a fan’ directed by B. It was written by Eva Grace and produced by Josh Nabors. Eva Grace shared on social media, “this song always hits harder in the car”. She planned to release one new song and corresponding music video every month for a year, starting in August. Eva Grace told Tucson Weekly about her music, “I love the idea of creating visual art that represents all of my auditory art. I’m extremely excited to have music videos to go with everything. I think that it brings new life to the songs and really illustrates the kind of feeling that I want people to get from the songs.” She continued, “I’m always writing songs and trying to beat myself and make better songs than I did previously. It’s really just picking my favorite ones that I’ve done. I only want to put out my best work.” [via pmstudio]

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