Driven by a powerful motorik-beat, ‘Hot Match’ exudes an intimidating aura reminiscent of Kennedy’s “Orange Tic Tac” persona. In the current video, we get a glimpse through the keyhole of Kennedy’s workshop, where the smoke is already beginning to rise. A threatening scenario is not only in the offing, we are probably already in the middle of it.

Sophia says of new single, “‘Hot Match’ is my first rock’n’roll song. But instead of guitars, I used squealing car tyres, all carried by a stoic motorik beat. It shifts between an underlying sense of paranoia and absurd slapstick. You don’t have to understand it, you just have to feel it.“

The post Sophia Kennedy shares new single ‘Hot Match’ with video appeared first on She Makes Music.

Stripped down compared to her previous works, Sophia embraces her talent for catchy melodies with pop appeal and psychedelic flourishes on Squeeze Me. Here, she examines the question are you embracing me or crushing me? With commanding determination, she explores this central theme across its ten tracks.

Sophia also shares new single ‘Rodeo’ which is her first new music since acclaimed record Monsters (2021) and the collaboration with DJ Koze on track ‘Wespennest’. Once again, Sophia manages to captivate and surprise with repetitive piano chords, shimmering synth basslines, strangely luminous choirs, and even a scream – no one else can turn such unusual elements into a pop song as grand as this.

Sophia says of new single, “There’s a saying, “Don’t call us, we call you.“ That’s what Rodeo did. We didn’t call Rodeo, it called us. It wrote itself, immediate and direct. We’ve only ever played it live, with just piano and bass. Back in the studio, we gave it a groove and a psychedelic guitar. Rodeo is a journey into a dream-like state, perhaps a nightmarish one. It looks into a future with a lot of question marks. Rodeo doesn’t know where it’s headed, but I’m pretty sure it knows where it took off.”

Strength and vulnerability, humor and melancholy, fatalism and resilience, Squeeze Me upends everything we thought we knew about Sophia Kennedy. The album’s cover captures this perfectly – depending on your perspective, either Kennedy or the world is upside down. With a more focused and “pop-leaning” sound, Squeeze Me is her most cohesive album yet, perhaps even a kind of artistic manifesto.

It’s a multilayered, confident statement, created in the midst of external and internal crises. Rather than ignoring the world outside, Squeeze Me creates its own – a world that feels both familiar and like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

Squeeze Me:

1. Nose For A Mountain
2. Imaginary Friend
3. Drive The Lorry
4. Runner
5. Rodeo
6. Feed Me
7. Oakwood 21
8. Upstairs Cabaret
9. Closing Time
10. Hot Match

The post Sophia Kennedy announces new album Squeeze Me and shares new single ‘Rodeo’ appeared first on She Makes Music.