SPIDER has dropped a new track, ‘America’s Next Top Model’. Following her debut mixtape C.O.A, she explains: “I started ‘America’s Next Top Model’ after a conversation with my friend Earl Saga about how safe music can feel right now. We found it really interesting that in a time where artists have the most freedom to make the most opinionated art, it sometimes feels as a collective like we are shying away from it. The video is about my own experiences online, and accepting the fact that if people already feel the need to get rid of me, that means that I’m doing something right. I’m asking the people who target the content of minority creators, “why the fuck are you so scared?” People don’t feel the need to silence something that’s not making an impact. So while it hurts and it’s confusing and it’s scary and slightly scarring, it’s only an indication that the message is being received. I hope ‘America’s Next Top Model’ stirs that revolutionary spirit, and is a big hit of confidence for those who need it.” [via Dork]

Back in December, Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV, both estimable artists on their own, announced that they’d gotten together to form a new duo called Decisive Pink, and they also shared their hugely promising debut track ‘Haffmilch Holiday.’ Kate NV has her own solo album WOW out, and now Decisive Pink have also announced their own debut LP. The Decisive Pink album comes with the presumably-ironic title Ticket To Fame, and it’s coming out later this year. New single ‘Destiny’ is a woozy, pretty art-pop track that builds a serious feeling and uses Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV’s overlapping voices in cool ways. In director Sasha Kulak‘s ‘Destiny’ video, the two artists appear as moving paintings. [via Stereogum]

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has shared the official video for her recent single ‘Breaking The Circle’, which is taken from her seventh studio album HANA released on June 2 via Cooking Vinyl. She has also announced an intimate London album launch show on June 30 at Lafayette. Filmed in London by Remi Laudat, the video flits between reality and fantasy and sees Sophie both awake and in a lucid dream performing in different rooms within a house, ending in an angular dance routine finale.

LA-via-Gainesville-via-Paris duo Pearl & the Oysters revealed last fall that they were signing with Stones Throw Records, and now Juliette Pearl Davis and Joachim Polack are revealing their plans for their first release through the label: Coast 2 Coast will arrive April 21, followed by a headlining tour of the US the following month. The space-age pop duo’s third album notably features contributions from Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Riley Geare, and Mild High Club’s Alex Brettin, as well as Neon Indian and Dent May. Following the release of ‘Pacific Ave’ in November and ‘Konami’ in January, their latest single ‘Paraiso’ is the third we’ve heard from the upcoming project, this one seeing Davis addressing our surroundings in relation to how advertisers see them. “[It’s] a song pondering on our own eco-anxiety by skeptically conjuring paradisiacal images as presented in classic California tourism ads of the last century, when the idea of the Endless Summer felt more like a luxury commodity and less like a looming menace,” the band shares. “We had a lot of fun stepping out of our maximalist comfort zone and experimenting with a more sparse and intimate (for us, that is) arrangement approach on this track.” The song also arrives with a grainy video directed by Nikki Milan Houston which depicts more edenic images of paradise than those often sold to us, with the duo spending a day in unpopulated spots across the West Coast, from beaches to deserts—all embellished with a bit of animation and stop-motion imagery. [via Flood]

After a year of touring and hobnobbing with NYC’s cool kids, lighting up the underground circuits in Brooklyn and Manhattan, May Rio is releasing the single ‘Need You Like.’ The fairy-synthed, indie-pop single and troll-filled video is Rio’s first release after a banner year of features (The Dare’s ‘Girls’ and Blaketheman1000’s ‘Blake 2,’ to name a few). The whimsical video, co-directed by Arjun Ram Srivatsa and Lena Greene and choreographed by Sharleen Cidiac, features a handful of buzzy NYC musicians and artists including Marcus Maddox, Owen Drum, Lulu Frost of the Frost Children, and EJ O’Hara. While May Rio’s dreamworld guest list might be less fantasy and more… exactly who you would expect to attend this kind of artsy outing, the offbeat humor and oddball love story are sure to pull you in. In the fairytale book of ‘Need You Like,’ romance is as ghastly as braced teeth and prosthetic noses, and social media influencers touting make-up are instead witches crafting love potions. May Rio, the pop project of May Sembera, has an ever-growing music catalog of quirky and lovable head-boppers. Learning from the streets of Ableton and time spent in her bedroom during quarantine, her off-kilter pop songs about ’20s hedonism are only getting weirder and better. [via PAPER]

piri & Tommy Villiers have shared a new video for ‘updown’. The first new track to come from the pair in 2023, it follows up on last year’s mixtape froge.mp3. Both piri and Tommy are said to be currently working on solo, collaborative and brand new piri & Tommy Villiers music, following on from recent MJ Cole collab ‘Feel It’. [via Dork]

News of ALMA‘s new album Time Machine arrives alongside a Miikka Lommi-directed video for her January single ‘Hey Mom Hey Dad’, which will appear on ALMA’s new album with last year’s ‘Everything Beautiful’, ‘I Forgive Me’ and ‘Summer Really Hurt Us’. [via Line Of Best Fit]

LA-based dark pop duo Boy Deluxe (Hope and True Murra) return with a brand new music video for last year’s single ‘Left Behind.’ The track is a moody, mid-tempo electronic ballad that examines the complex emotions of feeling special yet overlooked. Originally written on a Fender Rhodes, it came to life with True’s signature production and Hope’s brooding vocals. Of ‘Left Behind,’ Hope wrote: “The song’s haunting synths, shimmering soundscapes, and introspective lyrics paint a vivid picture of the struggle to find one’s place in a world that often overlooks what makes us special. ‘Left Behind’ conveys a sense of hope and resilience, reminding listeners to never give up on the pursuit of their true selves. ‘Left Behind’ is a powerful meditation on the beauty of individuality and the strength it takes to shine in a world that often fails to see our true worth.”

Vosh is here to darken your day up big time with their latest single ‘Bleed As One.’ The single draws from early Ministry and Depeche Mode as much as it does Sisters Of Mercy and Killing Joke, drawing an overall blood-soaked and monochrome picture. “‘Bleed As One’ changed its shape many times,” said Vosh frontwoman Josephine Olivia. “For a while we weren’t sure if it would make the cut of the album, but it ultimately became one of our favorites. Carson Cox worked with us on this one, so it’s obviously a winner. It’s a ballad, a love song, but it’s up to the listener to decide how it speaks to them. Instrumentally, we wanted it to rise and fall. It feels more epic than the other songs, a real storyline that the listener can follow sonically.” [via Metal Injection]

Hailing from Tallinn, Estonia, Alexandra Elizabeth Ljadov has been in fierce pursuit of her creative dreams since she moved to New York at age 16 to work as a model. A year later, her stunning looks and poise landed her over 80 fashion shows and the title of “Victoria Beckham’s Muse”. Shortly after this ordeal, and not content with just dominating the world of fashion via the runways, Alexandra created the Pop Diva persona Majorlilkween to give her an outlet for all of her talent and creativity not limited to fashion and modeling. The thing nobody tells you about following your wild dreams, is that reality and the past don’t stop hurting, and Alexandra’s pain turned into a fire that both kept her motivated and tempered her character into the badass chica that is now Majorlilkween. While she readies for her upcoming EP, ‘kween has released a brand new single with an awesome music video to boot. ‘Karma’ is the name and it is an honest-to-God pop-punk anthem like those of its early 2000s heyday. Filled with spunky riffs, the vigorous and upbeat track is about finding the inner strength to move away from past toxic relationships and becoming your own person. The music video draws heavy inspiration from the beloved 90s Spooktacular Halloween film Hocus Pocus. With a direct hand in its creation and look, Majorlilkween stylized the visuals by drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarantino and the many early 2000s pop videos that no doubt were a huge part of her formation into the powerhouse pop star she’s shaping up to be nowadays. [via Flaunt]

The multi-media project of Nashville-based Aotearoa artist Kelly Sherrod, Proteins Of Magic has returned to her homeland for a release tour this month, celebrating immaculate new single / video ‘Divine Physics’. Sherrod handed the reins for the song’s video component over to filmmaker / director Rory White — who also directed the clip for P.O.M.’s ’22 single ‘Lethal’ — complementing the ballad with fog-enshrined, monochromatic imagery, evocative outfit details and a powerful expressive performance by Sherrod. The singer / producer’s astounding vocals achieve an almost religious fervour, while delicate piano arrangements and pounding percussion keep the song semi-grounded on earthly soil. The first official release from P.O.M.’s forthcoming Angel Hieroglyphics EP via Particle Recordings, Sherrod explained how the creation of ‘Divine Physics’ felt like a personal breakthrough… “I started peeling away under the moss in my brain pieces of where I wanted to be. Through that struggle it felt like a divine moment when I wrote the first section of the song. It was like something telling me what to do to have access to my new world. It’s the first song where I felt like this was really me.” [via Under The Radar]

Bristol-based trio Grandmas House have dropped a new video. ‘Who Am I’ is a cut from their EP of the same name, with both out now via Brace Yourself Records. The EP also features the singles ‘How Does It Feel?’, ‘Body’, which the three-piece describe as “an anthem for anyone that’s ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin”, and ‘Desire’. Discussing the title-track, the group comment: “‘Who Am I’ is about being judged by someone without them really knowing you. Written from the point of view of someone being judged for the negative stereotypes of their zodiac sign, it’s an anthem by gemini’s, for all the other gemini’s out there.” [via Dork]

Critically acclaimed alt pop phenomenon Skott has released Roses N Guns via Cosmos Music, her anticipated sophomore album featuring her new single ‘Roses N Guns.’ Skott has also unveiled the mesmerizing, self-directed video for ‘Roses N Guns,’ an emotionally charged synth-pop ballad that explores destructive, all-consuming love that is as incredible as it is intense through shimmering synths and breathy hooks.

Finding humour in self-loathing, award-winning Vera Ellen is back with the second guitar driven single, ‘Lenny Says’ from her upcoming album, Ideal Home Noise, which is out digitally and on both red or black vinyl and CD on Friday March 31 via Flying Nun Records. “I wrote ‘Lenny Says’ to make fun of myself at rock bottom. It was actually initially for my album Beat Yr Name (2018) but I felt it was too cheesy at the time. Now, I can see the humour in it. The two verses were genuinely written three years apart — though clearly the angst did not dwindle. It’s a track for us whining broke losers with unattainable dreams; having a laugh and a moan at the same time.” The video for ‘Lenny Says’ is the second instalment in the three-part series was directed and produced by Sports Team, and made with the support of NZ on Air. About the video, Vera Ellen says “If you cried in Carpenter, you will scream in Lenny Says. My band joins me for some diabolical plotting and scheming… but what exactly are we planning?? What we do best of course. And, listen, I won’t have any of your judgement. We all do crazy things to maintain our youth and glory!” [via Flying Nun]

If you’re in the mood for some heart-racing, soul-stirring beats, then look no further than Salt Ashes’ latest single, ‘Heart Attack.’ This London-based singer-songwriter has returned with an intoxicating track that showcases her expert ability to blend dream-like vocal melodies with electronic dance rhythms that are sure to leave you wanting more. Salt Ashes has always been one to fuse together a variety of influences to create something unique, and ‘Heart Attack’ is no different. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Bjork, Depeche Mode, and Change, she has honed her craft to produce introspective electronic music that boasts a dark, disco-esque flair. [via Wonderland]

Breakout singer-songwriter Mimi Webb has released her debut album Amelia via RCA Records UK. The release is accompanied by the music video for ‘Freezing,’ one of the new tracks off the record. Directed by Drew Kirsch, the stunning visual brings the lyrics to life as Mimi journeys through the process of leaving her past relationship, rediscovering her happiness, and moving forward with confidence.

Birdy returns with new single ‘Raincatchers’. Incoming LP Portraits shakes it up once more, transforming her music into something more theatrical, more pop, but no less communicative. New single ‘Raincatchers’ is out now, reminiscent of Kate Bush in her Imperial phase – profoundly English, but also timeless, continually reaching outwards. A sign of what lies ahead, there’s a gothic streak to ‘Raincatchers’, a darkness coupled with enigmatic appeal. As ever, her bold, vivacious delivery takes the song to the next level, something she’ll echo onstage at an upcoming European tour. [via Clash]

Loren Gray has released her dance-pop single ‘Told You So’ — and revealed that she’ll be dropping her debut album Guilty on April 21. “This is my first album, and there isn’t a single song on it that I’m not incredibly proud of. It’s a reflection of my journey coming into my own, and learning how to be my truest self through music,” she tells Rolling Stone. “It’s been such a long process, but a very therapeutic and healing one. I hope it gives people the opportunity to connect with me, and I’m beyond excited to share it with the world.” The new album is named after the single Gray released last year, which she says “changed the course” of the debut project. “I felt my most open, and that was my goal from the beginning of the writing process,” she says of the track which touched on her struggles with depression. [via Rolling Stone]

Mckenna Grace has just debuted her very first EP Bittersweet 16. The 16-year-old actress and budding singer released her first body of work on Friday, which features eight songs, including five brand new tracks. In addition, Mckenna dropped the music video for her new single ‘Buzzkill Baby.’ “I’m so happy to finally be releasing this ep! I’m excited for everyone to finally hear them. Getting into music has really been a dream. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot about myself,” Mckenna shared in a statement. “Music has been a different type of creative outlet for me. It’s way more personal. Writing has been therapy, it’s been really heart breaking and I’ve cried writing and listening to songs, but it has also been fun and has brought me so much joy. I hope ya’ll love this project as much as I do and dance around your house. ’Buzzkill Baby’ is definitely one of my favorite songs on here, and I’m really excited for people to be able to jam out to it,” she adds of her latest single. “I hope anyone who listens to my music and can relate to the darker feelings will know that eventually it passes and it’s normal and okay to feel things- happy, sad, angry, lonely, frustrated…just don’t give up.” [via Just Jared Jr]

Giving in to demands of fans across social media, London-via-Türkiye pop force Selin comes through with the theatrical ‘sad girl’ anthem ‘LOVERS HURRICANE’ – her second official English single under Warner Music Türkiye. With highly personal yet relatable lyrics written by Selin with Gil Lewis (Blithe, BEKA, Aleyna Tilki) and acclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Close, ‘LOVERS HURRICANE’ takes shape as a powerfully emotive, sweeping ballad about a lost love affair which didn’t get the fairy-tale ending it perhaps deserved, as well as the maturity of having to learn from the past and move on – further realized in the music video’s stormy, dramatic visuals. Artistically off-setting with the pop-rock vibrancy of last August’s ‘cool’, the cinematic production on ‘LOVERS HURRICANE’ is the perfect backdrop for Selin’s rich and full-bodied powerhouse vocals to take centre stage in a truly spectacular vocal performance – delivering the poignant, heartfelt lyrics with candour, which have already begun resonating with fans on TikTok, who have organically started creating POV videos using the track. Speaking about ‘LOVERS HURRICANE’, Selin said the following: “I had been wanting to write about a specific situation playing on my mind; as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that I needed to come face-to-face with what those feelings were. The song talks about that feeling of ‘what could have been’ with somebody; on the day I wrote about it with Sarah and Gil, it all just sort of came out. I didn’t want to fully forget about it, so I think writing this was almost like finishing a book, and now it’s ready to be shelved – but who knows, maybe one day this book will be revisited… I hope you can sing, scream, cry, and laugh to this song.”

Purple is the color of imagination and creativity and is associated with the transformation of the soul. Purple is bold, unique, independent, and introspective. Purple is a way of life. Embodying these qualities, purple- haired rock goddess Anastasia Elliot is a trailblazer in the Indie Art Rock world as she debuts the latest single ‘Bones’ and accompanying video from her highly anticipated full length visual album La Petite Mort. On the inspiration behind ‘Bones’ and the debut album, Nashville-based artist states, “La Petite Mort (‘The Little Death’) explores my relationship with the phases of trauma and rebirth following my plane crash in 2013. I wrote ‘Bones’ as a snapshot into the bandaid trauma bonding type of relationship that we often seek after going through something cataclysmic. The kind of childish love that makes us chase the red flags while also becoming the red flags. ‘Bones’ is the ultimate distraction of fun, the comic relief of La Petite Mort if you will. The part of the story where I started seeking to control others since I couldn’t control my insides or my situation. It can be easier that way sometimes, but it never ends well. This song came from my first misguided attempts to take back my personal power, looking for it in the wrong places that came easy to me and devouring many innocent hearts in the process. With the violence that is weaved into the more carefree and playful soundscape of this song, it shows the internal knowledge that at this time, there was no happy ending in a relationship with me. When you are searching for a partner from a broken place, it will always end in another little death.”

The post appeared first on She Makes Music.

In the aftermath of Roe v. Wade’s overturning, Dove Cameron wants to make an impact with her new music video. The singer and Emmy-award-winning actress reverses gender roles in the powerful visual for her song ‘Breakfast.’ Following up on her queer anthem ‘Boyfriend’ from earlier this year, Cameron builds an alternate universe in the ‘Breakfast’ video. Opening with a TV reporter declaring Roe v. Wade’s impact on men, the Lauren Dunn-directed video liberates women at their expense. “With this video, I want to show the disturbing contrast between stylized femininity and masculine power and the gender stereotypes that plague our social commentary,” Cameron says. “I want the audience to notice how strange it is to watch the roles be reversed and it was important to highlight how ingrained these roles really are in our nervous systems.” The video’s ’70s-inspired costume and set design call back to the early movement for abortion rights, which culminated in the Roe v. Wade decision. However, Cameron acts out a thought-provoking twist, where men are the ones stripped of autonomy and forced to fight for their reproductive rights. Wearing an oversized suit, she leaves her husband at home before heading to an office full of female executives and male assistants, turning gender roles on its head. In the spirit of the chorus, “I eat boys like you for breakfast,” Cameron proceeds to be brazenly abusive of the men around her. She inappropriately kisses, touches and feeds alcohol to an underling, who then has to run out for an abortion (which the doctor shames him for as he lies vulnerable in stirrups). However, Cameron’s fantasy of female domination eventually comes to an end. In the final few seconds, news commentators describe the present reality of abortion rights being rolled back, and Cameron is left to settle with the true state of the world. “This is a video to remind us that ‘how it’s always been’ should never be a reason for desensitization or upholding broken systems,” Cameron says. “Hopefully by re-contextualizing these familiar scenes, this video will encourage people to vote for a world where we leave gender discrimination as a thing of the past and stop bringing the past into the present.” Cameron concludes the video with the words, “This is not the end,” before offering four “direct ways to get involved” through abortion funds, voter registration efforts and other organizations working towards gender equality. These include Supermajority, EMILY’s List, Headcount and National Network of Abortion Funds. [via PAPER]

Fauness has put out a new EP every year for the last four years, and now she’s finally ready to put out her debut album. Cora Gilroy-Ware, the art historian and musician behind the project, will release Fauness’ first LP, The Golden Ass, in October. Now, she’s sharing the sparkling pop song ‘Mystery’ as the album’s lead single. “For a while I’ve been thinking about how the concept of ‘Mystery’ is obsolete,” Fauness said in a statement. “Transparency and complete exposure seem to possess the beguiling, coveted allure that mystery once had.” She continued: “The song is an elegy to the idea of mystery, and for the video I wanted to create an embodiment of the concept, a masked character who makes her way into the sea and disappears. I thought that there’s no one better to narrate Mystery’s passing than the maenad, a type of nymph from Greek mythology. Holding her tambourine and sacred staff, a thyrsus, the maenad describes Mystery’s departure from this world.” [via Stereogum]

‘Better’ is a nostalgia-soaked piece of indie-pop/rock from the delightful Yugambeh/Gold Coast duo GENIIE BOY released alongside the accompanying music video. Hot on the heels of the groovy ‘Shaky Ground’, this new single ‘Better’ marks their third release for the year – a cruisy tune packed with warmth and effortless feel-good guitar-driven rhythm. Its magic is punctuated by clever drum fill motifs, polished production and Alisha’s distinctively silky voice that shines in the foreground, as well as in the catchy accents of backing vocals that are bound to have listeners smiling along. Listening once is good, but twice is definitely better. The song was written about the lifelong pursuit of ‘betterness’, and the many ways we duck and weave the obstacles of modern life to find it. Alisha elaborates: “The old saying – ‘if you love something, you’ve gotta let it go’ is almost the entire moral of this story, and that perhaps if we ‘let go of our hold’ on things, we can see the bigger picture more clearly.” In pure GENIIE BOY fashion, they bring all their creative joy and larger-than-life humour in the accompanying music video as they explore a day in their life when performing on breakfast TV – giving the producers a heart attack. Always going the extra mile in their extravagant music videos, all hands were on deck to prep each of their giant paper mache heads before diving head first into this self-produced clip.

Polish techno misfit VTSS (real name Martyna Maja) shares ‘Body Mind Hell’, taken from her vocal-led mutant pop forthcoming EP, Circulus Vitiosus out September 16 on Ninja Tune. Across four tracks, her musical character steps further into the light, backed up by razor-sharp production. From recently released ‘Make You Scream’s deadeye hooks and devastating seduction to the self-reflexive, low-slung ‘Incredibly Annoying’, ‘Body Mind Hell’ is a fever-dream of physical intimacy that teases with a confidence all too often denied to women in the hypocrisy of male-defined societal values. The meaning is many-layered as a sample repeats, “out with the old, in with the new,” with VTSS embracing the liberation of this new self-defined sphere she moves in. It’s the perfect summation of Maja’s intentions with this release, to not hold back on what she wants to explore about herself and the identity she is shaping. It gives away something of herself, but only she knows for sure how much. For the rest of us, we’re learning as we go, and every cryptic line feeds our curiosity.

ALASKALASKA have shared new single ‘TV Dinners’ in full. The group remain impossible to pin down, sitting somewhere between gilded synth pop and free improvisation, nestling up against South London’s much-vaunted jazz and post-punk scenes while retaining a curiously original identity. New album Still Life – out on October 14 – spins the creative dials once more, with Simian Mobile Disco’s Jas Shaw helping to align their flood-tide of ideas into something approaching coherency. ‘TV Dinners’ was constructed during one of our many lockdowns, and it’s a stream-of-consciousness ode to the pleasures of time alone. Left-field moves that still feel resolutely ‘pop’ in its loosest sense, ‘TV Dinners’ is neatly melodic while also billowing past any boundaries, or preconceived rule set in its path. Lucinda Duarte-Holman comments… “‘TV Dinners’ was the only song on the album written during lockdown (the rest were written previous to Covid). I wrote it in about 20 minutes as a stream of consciousness kind of poem. Very literal. Even though, like a lot of people, I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself under the circumstances, I was still really quite happy to have some time doing nothing – noticing the way the light changed in my flat and the sound of the birds and trees outside. I felt a real sense of privilege that I was able to enjoy a space in time that for a lot of people was incredibly testing on so many levels. And with that privilege, a sense of guilt: “What once was bliss, becomes a certain kind of ignorance.” We all take part in it in some way – you can change the channel if the news becomes too much, or steer away from doom-scrolling, and I think you should as a way of protecting yourself, but I also think it’s important to recognize that its a privilege to be able to do so.” [via Clash]

Margo Price is starting to roll out a new set of songs. We don’t have any news on a new album yet, but she’s billing her new single ‘Been To The Mountain’ as the start of a new era. She wrote the song with husband Jeremy Ivey, and Jonathan Wilson produced it during a weeklong stint at Fivestar Studios in Topanga Canyon. The song’s punchy strut is matched by the music video, directed by Courtney Hoffman in Los Angeles. A quote from Price: “’Been To The Mountain’ is part one of an introspective trip into our subconscious. It is the perfect continuation of my search for freedom in my art and freedom in the modern age. I have a lot of high hopes for this next chapter and truly believe this is the most exciting music I’ve ever made in the studio with my band. We have all grown so much, we operate like one single organism – it’s telepathic. Courtney Hoffman brought my wild visions to life with the help of an incredible cast and crew in the music video. I wanted the story’s hypothetical 8 to 12 hour window to feel like a mini-lifetime. We also wanted to portray how an intense psychedelic experience has the potential to become a spiritual experience, and how that can change your perception of the world around you.” [via Stereogum]

Rising LA-based pop trailblazer Grace Gaustad has shared their new single and music video for ‘Old Ways’ – taken from their upcoming multimedia concept album PILLBX: whts ur fantasy?. Each track from the album will be released like an episodic mini-series, culminating in Summer 2023. ‘Old Way’s is a stunning piano led pop ballad, that showcases Grace’s cathartic and triumphantly considered songwriting at its most raw. The music video sensitively and artistically captures Grace interacting with past versions of themself – resembling self-growth, new mindsets, and evolution of identity. Speaking about the track they say: “’Old Ways’ is one of the more personal records on the album. For me, it represents the desire to revisit the past with all of the knowledge I know now. Old habits and old people hold value because there is safety in the devil we know as opposed to the devil we don’t. I think everyone has wished to revisit old versions of themselves in hopes that maybe by redoing the past, they could rewrite the future.”

London pop figure Liz Cass is an over-sharer. Someone who pours every ounce of her soul into her music, incoming debut album The Words finally affords Liz Cass a broader landscape to work with. Out on October 21, it’s led by new piledriver ‘Near Miss’, an alt-pop statement that delves into her thoughts on relationship. Refined, finessed electronic pop, ‘Near Miss’ is “about not wanting to give up on someone when they can’t figure out what they really want. When you’re not ready to let go but have that need to be able to look back and say you gave it everything you had.” Brisk of vocal and buoyant of chorus, ‘Near Miss’ is a deliberate attempt to re-shape the narrative around Liz Cass’ work As she puts it: “The song shows a different side to me and comes from a less melancholic place. I was in a better headspace when I wrote ‘Near Miss’ and wanted to reflect that with some really uplifting pop. There’s no more wallowing from me… At least for a while!” A jewel of a single, we’re able to share the Conrad Gamble directed video, which takes you around the singer’s favourite East London haunts. [via Clash]

On new track ‘End Of My Life’, Kailee Morgue unpacks the pressures of young adulthood. Anyone who’s reached a certain point in their 20s will know that life looks very different depending on who you are. One of your friends might be getting married, while the other solo travels the world, the other lives solely to party, and the other’s on a career drive just two steps away from being CEO. This tapestry of circumstances is one of the beautiful things about our younger years – there are so many options, but equally, look around and you may well think: “What the hell am I supposed to be doing?” ‘End of My Life’ sees the Arizonan alt-pop artist platform this pressure of feeling time’s scarcity despite being merely at the beginning of adulthood. Inspired by the Bridget Jones Diary book series, Morgue’s fears of getting older are brought to life by a light-horror-esque music video, both symbols of her long-standing love of light entertainment forms like ‘90s movies and soap operas. She channels this into her own brand of “coming-of-age” art which she uses to empower her inner teenage self and likely many young listeners of today. The good news is that ‘End of My Life’ is taken from Morgue’s newly announced debut album Girl Next Door – due on October 28. [via Wonderland]

Scene Queen and Set It Off have collaborated on new single ‘Barbie & Ken’. Scene Queen says of the new track: “This song is the perfect combination of the crazy chaotic hyper feminine “Bimbocore” sound my music has combined with the high energy and theatrical sound of cinematics era Set It Off. I was so excited to get in a session with Cody in general but the collab that it morphed into was honestly more fun than I could’ve even hoped for.” Set It Off’s Cody Carson adds: “We knew as the song was coming together that this was something fun and truly special. I even got to tap into a little bit of the neurosis I let out on our previous album Cinematics. So I feel like Set It Off fans will really appreciate that.” [via Upset]

Greentea Peng has shared details of a new mixtape, Greenzone 108, which is set to be released next month. The news comes a week after the artist returned with a spiritual new song called ‘Look To Him’, which has now been given an official video alongside the mixtape’s announcement. Discussing the new mixtape, which will be released on September 9, in a statement, Greentea Peng said: “GREENZONE 108 is a free flowing, open field of expression. A collection of works accumulated over a transitional period of my life. An elevation of sorts from MAN MADE, in the sense that so much has changed and formed in the 2 years since that conception. GREENZONE108 is freer, less formed and more of an open dialogue/ space exploring all different types of topics from spirituality, and originality to mental health and politricks hence why this is a mixtape and not an album.” Talking about the meaning behind ‘Look To Him’, the artist added: “‘Look To Him’ explores the idea of originality and the notion of tapping into source energy for creativity and inspiration rather than just searching for it amongst your peers and surroundings,” Greentea Peng said of the new song in a statement. “At the same time, it challenges the idea that anything is truly original as nothing is truly our own rather seeped into us from a Higher Power and thus channelled from God him/herself.” [via NME]

No one really knows why love begins or ends, but just that it does. The LA-based artist, Arima Ederra, poses the question we all know too well—the one we might to scared to ask or hear the answer to—with her new deeply-felt single ‘Portals.’ The second offering from her long-awaited fall project is sewn with the tenderness of falling and the truthfulness of doubt when yearning for something that as already come and gone. Gently serene vocals carry her sincere confession that all rests on a blanket of sweet guitar strummings and lightly layered vocal riffs. Following her first single,’Free Again,’ Ederra expands on her intent to follow the tendrils of her psyche through reflection and revisiting the people, moments, and dreams that inevitably lead us to who we are. “’Portals’ is a message about longing to be longed for. How humility guided me through a portal back to myself after heartache. It’s about confronting why the absence of love seems to be the only time we realize we’re out of time to say how we earnestly feel,” the artist shares. The accompanying video follows the artist into a manifestation of her into the unconscious as she slowly untangles the mystery of love, heartbreak, and what comes after. “I’ve always been a fan of surrealism, magic realism, and the beauty of the subconscious mind. The video was a way for me to express what sort of dialogue occurs during the meeting of the selves, both literally and figuratively. When do we allow ourselves to reach that stage of vulnerability? If the sun took us all tomorrow, would we then be able to say how we really feel? It’s hard to know where I end and you begin and for that reason I think it’s important to hold space and compassion with myself and others during the journey.” [via Flaunt]

Effortlessly witty and seductively playful, ‘Taste of V’ is the ultimate read-it-and-weep anthem for industry moguls who have tried and failed to stunt Rromarin’s creative expression. With her ever-joyful vocals out to play, Rromarin delves straight into a sexy narrative that celebrates lust and desire from a female perspective — a concept that is all-too-often shunned from charts even within the modern day. In keeping with her daring approach to storytelling, the single also comes hand-in-hand with a mesmerising visual, showing the Melbourne vocalist and producer in a state of freedom, where inhibitions are left at the door. In her own words, Rromarin explains, “While playful, flirty and tongue-in-cheek, ‘Taste of V’ is also a deeper commentary on my experiences as a female artist navigating a largely conservative music industry. Over the years there have been countless moments in which I’ve been pressured by those in power to dilute my creative vision, to write music that is ‘safe’ and ‘accessible’ – in other words, ‘vanilla’. This pressure to conform and fit in the box also extended to my identity as Rromarin, and is an issue that I felt deeply when making the decision to step into motherhood. ‘Taste of V’ is my response and retaliation to this; it is a celebration of taking creative risks, a challenge to those who don’t, and my attempt to break the stereotype of what a female artist should be.” Ensuring her addictive pop hooks and pulsing production remain prominent throughout, ‘Taste of V’ has given us all of the energy and angst necessary to combat an otherwise conservative society — with no apologies necessary. [via Wonderland]

London based alt-pop force Selin returns with ‘cool’. The Istanbul-born artist is fast becoming a key player within the UK pop scene, with her lyrical over-sharing and superb vocals standing out from the chasing pack. New single ‘cool’ comes at the tail end of summer, but it taps into those party energies. A bolshy, exuberant return, Selin comes bursting out the speakers, with perhaps her most on-point vocal performance yet. ‘cool’ has another side to it, however, with Selin depicting the fissures within a post break up relationship. As she puts it… “It’s a song about the realisation of how it is genuinely hard to stay friends with an ex-partner due to current relationships and the fact that you’re no longer with them anymore. Although there are moments in the song where I am being slightly petty, it was primarily a fun way to let go, move forward and highlight that sometimes it’s hard for people to accept change. It’s a weird feeling of detachment that you have to accept. Memories fade. Your worlds are different now. The act of letting go and moving on from the past can be challenging and this song is kind of a bittersweet anthem highlighting those situations.” The video leans on the sheer colour and vitality of her performance, depicting a pop star in bloom. [via Clash]

Rising So Cal rock trio The Aquadolls have released their new single, titled ‘Beachy’, out now. The song, produced by Chris Szcezech (Goo Goo Dolls), finds The Aquadolls dipping into their nostalgic roots, for a 60s meets 90s dream pop self-love song. ‘Beachy’ tackles the hardships of coming out of a global pandemic and quarantine. Front woman Melissa Brooks says the song, “takes the listener on a trip to the California sunshine with reverb-y guitar and saccharine vocals. While alone at home, we are left with the thoughts of missing those we are far apart from, but realize that self-love is key to making it through these hard times.” ‘Beachy’ serves as the lead single to the band’s upcoming Charmed LP. [via TotalNtertainment]

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