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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Following the extra-curricular electronica of her Projections EP for Technicolour released earlier this year, Polish techno misfit VTSS takes another sharp turn as an artist in ascendance with the vocal-led mutant pop of her long awaited and highly speculated debut for Ninja Tune, Circulus Vitiosus. Across four tracks, her musical character steps further into the light, backed up by razor-sharp production. VTSS (real name Martyna Maja) shares hypnotic new single ‘Incredibly Annoying’ alongside a striking video directed by Furmaan Ahmed and Vasso Vujovic (who have previously shot Willow Smith, SOPHIE and Dorian Electra).

Los Angeles punk-leaning four-piece Reckling (led by Kelsey Reckling) is back with the announcement of their forthcoming EP, Human Nature. The new project is introduced with the release of its first single, ‘In My Hair,’ released alongside an accompanying music video directed by Ambar Navarro. Following their raw and scuzzy self-titled debut release in 2018, Reckling went into an actual recording studio this time around to record their still raw, but louder and more energetic EP Human Nature. The goal was to showcase how the band’s sound has evolved since their 2018 release, and to more accurately reflect how they sound during their live shows.

Claude—the Chicago based existential dream pop solo project of Claudia Ferme—has shared ‘roses’, their second and final single off their upcoming debut full-length, a lot’s gonna change, produced with Michael Mac (Tenci, Tasha, Devin Shaffer, Mia Joy) and out August 12 via American Dreams Records. The single ‘roses’ arrives alongside a Reilly Drew-directed music video. On the track, Claude issued the following statement: “‘roses’ was inspired by a line in Love in the Time of Cholera where the protagonist starts eating flowers and roses because of how obsessed with someone he is. I think in the novel it’s supposed to symbolize how his obsession became all-consuming but I thought about a rose and the thorns on its stem and how someone eating a rose was a perfect metaphor for how as humans we’re so self-torturous, mentally and emotionally, and very unforgiving of ourselves. In the video, we wanted to show this imagery in a more abstract way while still including actual roses – I made the purple top and gray dress and am wearing other pieces that have peaks and spikes and that play with the making and release of tension to show the back and forth we have with ourselves in certain situations.”

New York City-based indie-pop singer-songwriter, Aubrey Haddard shares an electrifying fourth single, ‘Future Boxes,’ along with its stunning black-and-white, Jean Cocteau-inspired video. Haddard’s second full-length album, Awake And Talking, will be out August 19 via Beverly Martel Records. On dense, electric ‘Future Boxes,’ Aubrey Haddard peers into her future, attempting to imagine what lies ahead. She ponders the idea of going through life the way others expect one to, and aims to avoid making life all about checking boxes rather than living in the present. Haddard sings, “Future boxes Make you feel good / Doing things everyone says you should / My four sides are more like suggestions / Maybe I’ve got too many questions.” The track begs the question, though it feels good to do things in a conventional way, might there be more fulfilling alternative paths? “We all have, at some point, an idea of what our lives could look like. We take the steps we can to get there, checking some boxes, with or without that bigger picture in mind,” says Haddard about ‘Future Boxes.’ “At the end of the day, none of us are uniquely ambitious but some will find more fulfillment in carving out their own paths.” The Josh Rob Thomas-directed black-and-white video, between quick shots and an array of angles, zooms and kaleidoscopic effects, shows Haddard alone inside a house, often breaking the fourth wall and examining her own reflection, and conceptually lends itself to the primary themes of her forthcoming LP. “I had a lot of fun making this video because we got to take every tiny detail of my Jean Cocteau obsession and see if we could pull it off. It’s a total testament to the concept of the record as a whole,” shares Haddard.

Clocking in right under the two-minute mark, morgen’s new single ‘Mom Jeans’ is straight to the point fun. As a first taste of her upcoming second EP, ‘Mom Jeans’ arrives alongside an official video that feels like a page ripped from a Lisa Frank coloring book. A lighthearted jab at anyone who has ever told her how to dress, morgen unleashes all the creativity that has been bubbling up in her as she, like many others, had to watch her adolescence speed by while trapped at home. morgen’s second EP is slated to arrive this Fall via Avoca Drive and Sony Music Australia. “’Mom Jeans’ is the first time I’ve truly spoken out in a song,” says morgen. “It’s about body image and how people’s opinions shouldn’t affect the way you present yourself, because you deserve to wear whatever makes YOU feel good.”

The video for November Ultra‘s ‘Come Into My Arms’ encapsulates the song’s themes in a story that’s as touching as it is tender. A young girl is woken by falling rain, which prompts her to head out on an adventure. She leaves home, catches a train, and then glances upwards as she reaches her destination. At this point, the rain stops and a twist emerges: the girl is a drawing by her creator, another young girl, and their reunion stops her tears – the rain – from falling. Visually, it was inspired by animations which blend big emotions with a palpable sense of nostalgia, such as Bambi or the work of Studio Ghibli. The video was produced by the renowned French creative team Remembers. Headed by Felix de Givry and Ugo Bienvenu, Remembers’ previous work includes striking animated visuals for CHANEL’s Métiers d’art show, the Opéra national de Paris, and the music video for ‘At The Door’ by The Strokes. Tamerlan Bekmurzayev says, “When I draw, I am to go in search of what is magical and beautiful in our world. To be a child again; to find magic in every moment and to be amazed by everyday life, by the sight of a tree or a cat. November Ultra sent me some photos of her as a child and I was able to imagine a character who looked a bit like her, so that her voice could blend into my universe and this visual could be ours. I wanted to create a dream-like memory which might seem ordinary for an adult, but which is new, adventurous and therefore significant for a child. My goal for this video was to create a light, poetic comfort – one that helps us find and console ourselves, just like the little girl does.”

Philly-based punk rockers Vixen77 return with their newest single and video ‘Record Store,’ distributed via Megaforce Record. This rowdy jammer is about discovering that your seemingly well-cultured ex is now dating someone with terrible taste in music. What conversations could they possibly be having? The accompanying colorful video sets the scene, complete with an unexpected outcome at the end. Guitarist Elizabeth, who initially came up with the concept of the song, expands, “It’s about when you first start dating in high school, making mix tapes for each other, and you find someone who loves music as much as you do. If you break up with someone, at the very least, I hope you got a couple of new bands to listen to. That’s what ‘Record Store’ always comes back to — loving music.”

La Shana Latrice has dropped visuals for her latest song, ‘Say No More’. Throughout ‘Say No More’, La Shana focuses on self-love, mentioning that if she had a choice to be anything she wants La Shana would be herself. With the assistance of Regina ‘Regg’ Smith, La Shana packages a great song with her euphonious vocals working well alongside the beat. The visuals come in the form of a colourful public service announcement which La Shana uses to speak to the ladies and fellas to hammer in her important message on loving yourself. [via GRM Daily]

LA indie pop act Jazzie Young drops ethereal track ‘wonderland is wonderless’, capturing the sweet, honeymoon stages of a relationship. With a slow-burn piano-led soundscape built around Young’s sultry yet bold vocals, the soaring track is all about the initial sparks we feel in a relationship before the fairy tale romance crumbles and falls away into gritty reality. Taken from her forthcoming sophomore EP, ‘wonderland is wonderless,’ is infused with vibrance and vulnerability equally, accompanied by a lush, rose-tinged music video paying ode to the Alice In Wonderland references in the song writing. Shot and directed by an all-female team, helmed by Jazzie herself as executive producer, creative director, and stylist, the music video has empowerment at its base despite themes of heartbreak and pain framing it. [via Earmilk]

Confronting dark themes sparked by a turbulent past two years on new album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong (released in its entirety in May with no advance singles), Sharon Van Etten has unveiled suitably unsettling visuals for standout industrial-pop anthem ‘Headspace’. Directed by Ashley Connor, the leather-clad US songwriter is joined in her stylishly minimal video by dancers Coco Karol and Miguel Angel Guzmán — writhing around on a bed as Van Etten is consumed by the omnipresent white glow of a monitor screen. “When I was writing this song, I wanted to talk about domesticity and intimacy frustrations under the tensions of working at home and seeking connection while being tied to our devices and still trying to reach each other as lovers, parents, humans… Reminding each other that there is still a primal attraction even in the midst of the mundane and repetition of everyday life,” she says. [via Under The Radar]

Willow Kayne has dropped a video for her new track, ‘White City’. “White City is an interesting place to live,” she explains. “Everyone’s experiences are completely different to one another, like many places in London it seems. Gigantic new buildings appear constantly, old buildings are being destroyed everywhere I look. When I walk down the street here, it is a complete mixture of people. I don’t know any of them and I like it here because they certainly don’t know me. We are simply all out here for ourselves.” Of the video, she adds: “Since moving to London, a lot of my music revolves around this idea of my inner child’s perspective. Finally I got to bring this idea to the table for White City, bringing out the mini Willow. The video is taking the lyrics in another direction, creating a surreal version of London. We covered the city in weird monsters and gave the buildings eyes in the process. I found Hati (@hatti.hatti.mas) on tiktok a while ago and just knew he was the perfect guy to bring that to life for us. I love nothing more than juxtaposition so that’s exactly what we went for with this video; a child’s perspective on a scary scary world. Like my other videos, we always crank up the saturation to add to the child’s perspective. When I was a kid, the world was a lot more colourful… I still chase that in a way. I love working on videos with my friends and Tommy Davis is one of my favourite people to do that with!!” [via Dork]

After years and years of sharing protest bangers, Pussy Riot’s first full-length project is finally on the horizon. The Russian pop group/art collective have announced that their debut mixtape MATRIARCHY NOW will be released on August 5 on Neon Gold Records, and as a preview, they’ve shared its lead single ‘PLASTIC’ featuring ILOVEMAKONNEN. MATRIARCHY NOW includes a handful of collaborators, including Slayyyter, Big Freedia, and Tove Lo, the latter of whom also executive produced the project. Its release date comes just ahead of the 10-year “anniversary” of when three Pussy Riot members were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” and spent two years in jail for protesting Russian president Vladimir Putin. On ‘PLASTIC,’ Pussy Riot parody society’s unrealistic expectations for women to be demure, reticent, and submissive at all times: “I don’t shit, I don’t eat/ I don’t even fucking breathe/ If you cut me, I don’t bleed/ You’re the only thing I need,” the band’s ringleader Nadya Tolokonnikova raps over a bouncy pop beat. In the surreal, Haley Bowman-directed music video for ‘PLASTIC,’ Pussy Riot are miniature versions of themselves dressed in frilly lingerie, waiting to be deformed and dismembered by a young boy — think an R-rated version of Sid’s bedroom in Toy Story. [via Consequence]

Twenty-year-old Zoe Wees returns with her new single, ‘Third Wheel.’ While upbeat and infectious, the highly relatable song explores the heartbreak of loving someone who’s still obsessed with their ex. The track was produced by Patrick Pyke Salmy and Ricardo Muñoz, who helmed Wees’ debut EP, Golden Wings. The official video for ‘Third Wheel,’ which was directed by Gabriella Kingsley (Fireboy DML x Ed Sheeran, ArrDee x Aitch), scales the song’s musical highs and plumbs its emotional depths as the singer is taken from a sunflower-packed room to a darkened bedroom to an exuberant performance with vibrantly-clad dancers. Speaking about the song, Zoe Wees said, “It’s so awkwardly heartbreaking to be the third wheel in any relationship. Although this song’s meaning comes from a really tough moment in my own life, I hope this song will make some people reminisce about their own similar experiences as times when they learned to grow.”

OAKMAN have released a new music video. The new music video, for the track ‘Murder’, is the brand new single from the French pop-rock trio and follows on from their last single, ‘Fantasy,’ which was released back in May. The new music video was directed by Aurélien Mariat. Speaking about the new song and its accompanying music video, the band says, “this song pictures sexual harassment and abuse. It tells how it can affect a person’s life and continue for the rest of their life and grow into pure hate. So in the music video, the victim, represented by Marine, finally becomes the murderer and the murderer becomes the victim. We are inside Marine’s head, in her revenge. But at the end we realize that she is still imprisoned and stuck in it and that she can’t escape this trauma.” [via Distorted Sound]

Award-winning French pop trio Hyphen Hyphen share the official music video for their new song ‘Too Young’. The video, directed by Daniel Zak and Hyphen Hyphen with styling by Pierre Cardin, is taken from the band’s forthcoming new album C’est la Vie due this fall. The video was shot at the Observatory of Nice, their hometown. “There is a light. You are not alone,” says Hyphen Hyphen. “When we crafted this song, we dreamt of an anthem that could combine all our energy and hope. For the music video, we pushed our imagination up to the stars!” [via Broadway World]

Jack River has returned with her first new music of the year, sharing a sunny new single titled ‘Real Life’. The summery track sees the singer-songwriter pivot to a dance-oriented sound, with hints of disco, funk and soul. Its upbeat production comes courtesy of Xavier Dunn and The Belligerents‘ Lewis Stephenson, who helped River create the song. An accompanying music video also arrived with the cut, as vibrant as the single itself. Directed by W.A.M. Bleakley, its use of bright, neon colours radiates ’90s energy, featuring clips of River, butterflies and some old men sunbaking in their budgie smugglers. “One sunny afternoon in the depths of lockdown I was over feeling feelings,” River explained in an Instagram post. “I just wanted to swim with strangers in some sparkly foreign sea, see a mariachi band walking by on the sand, and maybe have a conversation with a friendly dolphin underwater. Anything to get me away from death scrolling and endless headlines about how awful the world is. I wanted to get back to Real Life. Whatever that was.” [via NME]

Doll Spirit Vessel’s second single ‘Something Small,’ taken from the band’s forthcoming debut album What Stays, is out now. The Philadelphia-based trio of Kati Malison, Max Holbrook, and Lewis Brown debuted just last month with ‘Train Brain Rot,’ a captivating indie rock song full of rollicking grooves, angular guitar licks, stirring, emotive vocals. ‘Something Small’ is decidedly dreamier in nature, with its slower beat and hypnotic, reverb-laden guitar creating a summery sun-drenched beach vibe. A welcome haze, the song invites us all to take a step back from our bustling lives and find our inner peace: A state of balance and bliss. “I think it’s pretty common for songwriters to want to express something specific or profound through a particular song, and that does happen, but you often can’t decide what’s there at the surface and ready to come out,” Doll Spirit Vessel’s songwriter and lead vocalist Kati Malison explains. “‘Something Small’ came about a couple of summers ago when I was doing a song-a-day project with some friends – the day before I wrote it I had really toiled over an old song shard, trying to make it something it wasn’t ever going to be. It felt similar to how trying to remember my past sometimes can feel, like I’m grasping for something I both know is there and know I won’t find. ‘Something Small’ is the answer and antidote to that frustration.” Doll Spirit Vessel’s accompanying music video invariably captures the spirit of ‘Something Small.’ Made by Malison along with Jon Cox, Veronica Magner, Priyanka Padidam, and Mark Morley, the visual stars Malison’s dog, while also creating a sensation of space, ease, and circular motion. Interspersed about a primary shot of the dog playing with a large ball in an open cemetery, we see Malison spinning on a playground merry-go-round, a light bulb being screwed in, a hamster in a ball, globe spinning ’round, a basketball twirling on a finger, and so on… It’s a lightly dizzying experience, and one that simultaneously captures the weight of needing things to be perfect and just as you want them to be, and the act of relinquishing said weight and letting things be. “My dog’s favorite activity is herding playballs, and I thought it would be fitting to capture the simultaneous playfulness and intensity of her playing with them for the ‘Something Small’ video. After spending so much time and energy on the video for the first DSV single, I kept insisting this one would be simpler. But when we all got together to plan for the shoot, a whole world organically emerged for the song. We started by brainstorming cyclical things and then thought of all the ways we could have them invade each other’s space.” [via Atwood Magazine]

Nashville power-trio The Foxies recently announced the September 23 release of their debut LP, Who Are You Now, Who Were You Then?. Now, the band is thrilled to share their cinematic new single and accompanying Ryan Sheehy-directed video for ‘If Life Were A Movie,’ which follows on the heels of the euphoric ‘Headsweat.’ Their full-length debut is the sound of a band boldly embracing their wildest and most unpredictable impulses. Speaking on ‘If Life Were A Movie,’ vocalist Julia Bullock reflected on the song’s themes: “When I listen to this song, I see a horror rom com. It’s built around the cynicism I have from giving so much love and somehow never being able to have it reciprocated. So, In a movie… all my exs would be killed off first, and nobody wants to be that guy.” [via Music Existence]

Alt-pop artist Madeline The Person has released her new single, ‘Why I Broke Up With You,’ an endearingly honest peek at a relationship going down in flames. The song arrives alongside a video, which finds Madeline reflecting on her past relationship through a doll-like lens, frustratingly watching as the zombified version of her ex-partner tears down the house they built together. The track is taken from her upcoming EP, CHAPTER 3: The Burning, out July 15. On the song, Madeline focuses on the liberation that can come from a particularly painful breakup. “Growing up, I dealt with my father’s addiction, so I have known from a really young age what an absent mind looks like. I knew how it felt to be talking to a completely different person, who you knew wouldn’t even remember what you were saying. My ex’s dependence on a substance uprooted the trauma of having to take care of an addicted adult as a little girl. I just couldn’t be that little girl again, so I left. That was what was healthy for me.” [via Prelude Press]

Isabella Manfredi has announced the release of her debut solo album, izzi, alongside the release of a sizzling new single titled ‘Naive’. Teaming up with rapper PRICIE, who delivers a fierce and commanding guest verse, the sultry track sees Manfredi take command of two equally important aspects of her life – motherhood and music. Throughout ‘Naive’, Manfredi shares a sparkling tale of colliding worlds with a solid confidence and smooth melody. izzi is set for release on Friday September 2 via Island. In a statement, Manfredi said of her debut solo album: “[It’s] unique in that it felt like an exploration and development of a new artist and also the culmination of a decade’s vision. It is like a beginning and an ending in that sense. That’s why I called it izzi. “I wanted to capture her essence but also create space for my true adult self to have longevity and move beyond her if I needed to. I am ‘izzi’ but she is not me.” [via NME]

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New single ‘Blue’ now sees her moving away from space collaborations and onto collaborating with one of her songwriting idols – Sharon Van Etten. After touring Australia together in 2019 and creating a beautiful bond, it led to them wanting to create something together.

BATTS says, “It’s a huge honour to write and create with Sharon – someone who has carved such a powerful path in this industry and remains so kind and humble, a truly special human. I started writing Blue when I was staying with my Mother-in-Law and watching a lot of Antiques Roadshow.

“I picked up my guitar to try and write a song that would feel like if Shaz or I played it solo it would feel authentically either of ours – I was in the depths of grief at the time and when Blue started to write itself, it clearly reflected how I was feeling. Sharon sent her verse over and the first time I listened to it was such a moment. She just got it, her lyrics were perfectly in keeping with it all. She absolutely completed it. It holds a very special place in my heart.”

Sharon comments: “I got to meet Tanya before I ever got to see her perform live, and she was a bright huge light who wanted to let everyone in and it only let her light shine even more. When I actually got to hear her sing, I was taken to another time, another place that she coloured for me. Helping me step out of myself and feel another soul’s journey. I felt quite grounded and comforted in her essence and all who surrounded her. So it felt quite natural to want to feel included in this group hug that I could tell she was nurturing with everyone around her.

“She asked me to be a part of this beautiful song and there was no way I was going to say no. To be able to write in real time a response to what she was feeling from the other side of the world felt important and her delivery made it even more so. The blue isn’t so blue when her blue runs into your own.”

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