Irish indie rock band Pillow Queens dive into intoxicating feelings with punchy, cathartic track and official video ‘Heavy Pour’. ‘Heavy Pour’ is a track that lays the foundation for a story of unshakable conviction in the face of doubt and feeling inadequate. Sonically, lead guitarist and vocalist Cathy McGuinness shares, “It feels like a bit of a bizarre journey or a fever dream.” Opening with a 90s grunge vibe, twangy distorted guitars and open strings, it gets progressively heavier before a cathartic release. McGuinness says, “The guitar becomes more palatable in the middle eight, totally contradicting the previous section of discordant chaos. It then falls into a glorious half time with ‘oohs’ to support the instruments, giving a feeling of clarity and resolve before snapping back to the chorus.” Lyrically, lead vocalist, guitarist and bassist Pamela Connelly adds, “A lot of the lines in this song could convey the typical sweetness of a love song, but it has brief moments of outside perspectives that cast doubt over the conviction represented. The song tries to show the “heavy pour” as a compulsion that while having moments of joy, ultimately heightens personal insecurities.” The band also touches on gender and common misconceptions with the line, “I want more, but I’m not man enough.” Vocalist, guitarist and bassist Sarah Corcoran says talk regarding that line has sparked conversations about gender, particularly the tendency to equate masculinity with bravery. “Intrigued by this dynamic, we wanted to delve into and dissect the idea that one’s gender expression is impacted by their perceived level of courage. Spoiler: it’s not. All genders can be courageous and/or scared.” The track’s accompanying video, directed by Kate Dolan, is inspired by old silent films like The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, Faust and Nosferatu. The idea for the video came immediately to Dolan upon hearing the track. Dolan says, “The song felt like a haunting and I felt the video needed to be something quite stylistic. I came up with the idea of the music video being a long lost silent film that has never been seen, a haunted piece of art buried in an attic somewhere. Then, as the band performs the cursed film is purged, burning up. The band are always up for having some fun so the shoot was a lot of fun and we played a lot on set.” The spooky video was aptly shot at Glenmaroon House in Dublin. The Tudor-style Edwardian mansion, dating back to the 1850s and once owned by a member of the Guinness family, exuded an eerie charm perfectly suited for the video’s aesthetic.

Babe Club says they were inspired by Mark Ronson and Lykke Li’s song ‘Late Night Feelings’ to make a new dance groove beat. While ‘Late Night Feelings’ is about heartbreak, Babe Club’s new single, ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,’ is about uncovering your deep dark secrets. Here’s what the band had to say about their new song: “We wanted to make a dance song that inspired people to get weird and mischievous. We abandoned the idea for a year, picking it back up while being inspired by how interactive and hype Chappell Roan’s songs get with the audience. Singer Jenna Desmond recalls channeling her inner weird Barbie-the damaged one- for the lines, ‘let’s just have fun, kill the lights now turn it up,’ in hopes people will be sweating out their demons with strangers on the dance floor. It’s murder on the dance floor.” [via Holy City Sinner]

Australian trio Telenova returns with their latest elegant, disco track ‘Power.’ The song comes with an official video directed by frontwoman Angeline Armstong that is brimming with vibrant colour and otherworldly imagination. In a day of big announcements, the band has also shared news of their debut album Time Is A Flower (to be released on August 16 via Fiction) which will be played live across their forthcoming European tour which will see them touch base in London on October 1st at The Outernet’s The Lower Third. The track was co-produced by the band and Styalz Fuego who has also produced tracks for Troye Sivan, Tate McCrae, Odesza, Imagine Dragons. Speaking about the song’s creation Angeline explains “The song is a fable-like story of a flower in love with the sun, but the sun is setting. And the flower is afraid of being left alone in the darkness without the very thing that gives it power and strength. Of course, the flower unaware that the sun inevitably always rises again. The more we kept building out the lyrics the more Josh and I realized its a fairly multi-layered metaphor for love. Inevitably (and beautifully) people will hear different things in the meaning of ‘Power’, it resonates on a romantic-love kind of micro level, but can really extend out to a divine kind of love and existential longing – whatever your idea of ‘God’ or the universe or something ‘bigger’ it’s the cry of a human being out to whatever is out there, to like, not be abandoned basically, not be left to our own devices all on our own. And then we shroud that all in a big fun dancey disco tune – because why not.”

On her brand new single ‘Comic Trip’, Sylvie Kreusch nosedives into a fantasy world where anything is possible. It is a song that buzzes with colors, sensations and Big Emotions – with a stylistic nod to bands like The B-52’s and Stereolab. “On ‘Comic Trip’, I wanted to create a world where everything is possible, where reality and fantasy intertwine.” Kreusch says about her latest song. “The inspiration came from the nostalgia for my childhood, when I could lose myself for hours and hours, reading vintage comic strips in my grandmother’s attic. I was immediately reminded of those Roy Lichtenstein-sounds, which I added in both the arrangements and the lyrics.” With its bright, sparkling arrangements, ‘Comic Trip”’resonates like the pop music version of a retro sixties comic that’s brimming with spectacle, intrigue and suspense. Kreusch turns into a superheroine protagonist who jumps kinetically from panel to panel. “’Comic Trip’ harkens back to childhood, the days when you still looked at the world with wonder. I think we as adults can learn a lot from that.” Kreusch adds. “I am now in my thirties and everything is becoming slightly predictable. I now have a little more control over my life, so it is sometimes shocking when you lose that spontaneity. Being a bit more naive in the world, especially as a creative person, is a very important thing to keep doing. So that’s what I’m looking for now.” ‘Comic Trip’ is a very visual song, so there really had to be a video. The things I wanted to do weren’t that easily executed either. It is about children who completely lose themselves in comic books and look in amazement at a world in which everything is possible. I tried to put that world visually in a video. It turned out really cool, and it required a lot of preparation. It’s very conceptual, even though I don’t normally write like that. You constantly bump into things that are not feasible. There is certainly something of a Western influence in it: comics and Westerns are two worlds that often go well together. There was a lot of shooting in terms of choreography on a treadmill. The world I am in is a kind of desert landscape, in which things travel my way. And the children act as a shadow of me. Sometimes they follow me around and then they disappear again. That was maybe the hardest part: finding children in which gender and age looked fluid. That there is something very playful and young about them, but they are also very mature in how they move, in their way they imitate me a little bit. Part of the video for ‘Comic Trip’ was actually filmed on location, and partly animated. The idea behind it is that you’re not supposed to be able to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s fantasy.”

Kate Nash has shared ‘Space Odyssey 2001’, as the latest single from her forthcoming album, 9 Sad Symphonies. The track sees Kate nash recount a first date with her now-partner and pokes fun at her own movie choice. “It’s the wrong film for a date, but I love the film. I like making jokes in songs. I like that there’s this beautiful love song but it’s also complaining about this critically acclaimed film being too long. I don’t recommend it for a first date,” she explains. “‘Space Odyssey’ is a love song about my partner who I was friends with for many years, but we met up at just the right time in the summer of 2017, both single and very unexpectedly fell in love,” Nash continues. “Romance came back into my life in this effervescent, joyful and healing way. I’d been through so much pain and toxicity. In the video, I arrive at this homestead having been through hell, exhausted and at the point of no return. I am rescued by a half man/half donkey. It’s inspired by Shakespeare and the way his plays use surrealism, fairy tale and classic love stories, but also the genuine complexities of human relationships. I’m taken into this homestead as I’m ready to give up and am healed by sunshine, friendship, food, joy, animals, nature and falling in love with someone you really don’t expect, which transforms me from a broken, bloody mess to a higher level self (in this case, a fairy).” [via Line Of Best Fit]

MOTHICA has shared another new single and video from her upcoming album Kissing Death. Following last month’s first single ‘Doomed,’ the artist unveils a song attached to her name, ‘Curiosity Killed The Moth’ – and as such, she says that it felt like an especially “daunting” one to write. “I thought of the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ on the way to a session with David Burris and Alexandra Veltri, and we twisted it to be about a moth,” MOTHICA explains. “Like a moth to a flame. Icarus flying too close to the sun. “I’ve always wanted to write a song about moths, but of course, it being my namesake that felt like a daunting task. I wanted every song to feel like it was from a soundtrack since I knew I was going to do a music video for every song, and so it turned into this dark cinematic feeling that I really love.” [via Kerrang!]

Calva Louise has revealed the extraordinary cinematic Sci-Fi video for their new song, ‘Under the Skin’, and the news they have also signed to Mascot Records—home to P.O.D., VOLA, Defects, Conquer Divide, Dragged Under, and Oxymorrons,. ‘Under the Skin’ was co-written by Allanic and Pendulum’s Gareth McGrillen and is a mesmerising blend of raging metal riffs, swirling electronica, and Allanic’s extraordinary ability to flit between ethereal vocals and demonic howls. It swoons in and out of a stunning narrative, with melodic twists along the way that are penetrated by an attack of hypnotic aggression. ‘Under The Skin’ follows a complex Sci-Fi narrative and is the introduction of a conceptual storyline about the characters and their counterparts called the Doubles. Talking about the song, Allanic says, “The lyrics deal with the obstacles that arise between them as one is looking for freedom and the other is looking to perpetuate their consciousness, but the expectations are not the same for both sides.” The video is a feast for the eye and was directed and edited with VFX by Jess Allanic. This first single release is accompanied by Calva Louise’s most ambitious music video production, including a Sci-Fi movie-style short film telling a story about parallel dimensions where the characters are looking to perpetuate their consciousness beyond the real world.

Shannon & The Clams release their latest single ‘Big Wheel’ and its accompanying music video. The song will be featured on their upcoming album The Moon Is In The Wrong Place out May 10 via Easy Eye Sound. Kicking off with resounding Moog synthesizer instrumentals and vocals from guitarist Cody Blanchard, ‘Big Wheel’ chronicles the unavoidable passage of time and life’s impermanence. On the track, Shannon & The Clams showcase their remarkable knack for making big, devastating feelings more tangible through upbeat melodies and creating a place for listeners to celebrate life. In August 2022, singer and frontwoman Shannon Shaw’s world was turned inside out: with mere weeks to go until their wedding, the singer’s fiancé, Joe Haener, died in a horrific car accident. It was a devastating loss that hit Shannon & The Clams — who were all incredibly close with Haener — with cataclysmic force. Cue ‘Big Wheel,’ guitarist Cody Blanchard’s response to Joe’s death — a meditation on how time and reality become distorted in the face of sudden loss. The lyrics ruminate on the feeling of helplessness as time marches on after someone dies, like the feeling of being strapped into a ferris wheel seat that you don’t want to be on — as if you have accidentally gotten on the wrong ride and everything has “gone off the track” and you desperately want to pull the stop lever. The song also explores the impotent desire to rewind time and to keep the gap between “now” and “before” as small as possible, like the urge to keep a child at a certain innocent age before the harshness of the world turns them cynical. “See the boy waiting in line, weep for him on the other side.” The accompanying music video, directed by Vanessa Pla, is an eerie exploration of time visually reminiscent of silent era films. [via Concord]

Following last month’s single ‘Maverick’, self-styled brat punk Delilah Bon has unleashed another ferocious single in the form of ‘Finally See Me’. Taking inspiration from her school days, it’s a raw and riotous exploration of Delilah’s teenage school experience, and the mental health struggles she faced, feeling lost and alone as a free-thinker in a system that didn’t understand her. “This song is about craving recognition and validation,” says Delilah. “I receive messages from so many young people who feel just like I did back in school. They tell me they use my music to get through the day, which hits close to home for me. I remember spending lunch breaks hiding in the school toilets, listening to P!nk, just trying to escape the world.” [via Kerrang!]

Cross Dog is a noisy, experimental, bass-driven hardcore punk band from Peterborough, Ontario. Their music is played at ear-splitting volumes, but the band’s socially conscious messaging cuts through the noise loud and clear. Formed in 2013, the intentional omission of a guitarist from the lineup leaves Cross Dog lacking absolutely nothing. Affirming the power in the rule of three, Tracy A (vocals), Mark Rand (bass), and Mikey Reid (drums) explode with a multiplicative force that betrays the finite bounds of their instrumental limitations. Cross Dog’s newest album (and first for Stomp Records), All Hard Feelings (out June 7), sees the band maintain the sonic onslaught they’ve become known for, but with a few tweaks. ‘Hard Feelings,’ the first single to be shared ahead of the LP’s launch, is a pseudo-diss track that stemmed from Tracy feeling blindsided and betrayed. It encapsulates the moment when you are all pure and reactive emotion before you calm down and view your current situation through a healthier, more balanced lens. It’s the perfect “scream-it-in-your-car” song, so you don’t end up screaming it in someone else’s face.

Taylor Swift has released her first Tortured Poets Department music video. The visual is for the album’s opener, ‘Fortnight,’ featuring Post Malone. Watch the new video, written and directed by Swift and co-starring the musicians with Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, below. [via Pitchfork]

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Last year, the Nashville snot-rockers Be Your Own Pet reunited for the first time in over a decade, and they spent this past March darting around SXSW with all the pent-up energy of an upstart band. And that was all in service to a good cause: Be Your Own Pet’s first new album in 15 years. The just-announced Mommy lands in August, and it reunites the band’s founding members Jemina Pearl Abegg, Jonas Stein, and Nathan Vasquez on record, alongside longtime drummer John Eatherly. “For better or worse, we all were slapped in the face that it wasn’t as easy on our own,” Stein said of BYOP’s time away. “We were all moderately successful, but nobody found that Be Your Own Pet chemistry.” They already teased the album with single ‘Hand Grenade‘ back in March, and now they’re sharing another new song, ‘Worship The Whip,’ a giddily amped-up one with a sadomasochistic bent. “‘Worship The Whip’ is about the right wing authoritarian personality,” Pearl said. “Aggressive and domineering to people who don’t think like them, while at heart being a submissive to the authority figures who use and abuse them.” Watch a video for the track below. [via Stereogum]

Delilah Holliday has released a brand new track, ‘Silent Streets’. It’s taken from her forthcoming EP Invaluable Vol. 1, which is set to arrive July 7 via One Little Independent Records. “People were too scared to go out. And the streets were kind of silent still,” she says. “Nobody was really interacting. And I just thought that was a really abstract, interesting concept to put in the song and sort of make it dancey, of being too scared to mingle, but it’s a clubby track. I like the juxtaposition. This whole project really is about juxtaposition and mixing things together that don’t really go because that’s how started. It’s the spark that inspired all the other songs. Genre blending and putting pieces together that don’t quite fit.” This informed the creepy accompanying music video for the track: “For the ‘Silent Streets’ music video, me and Swarmm wanted to create an apocalyptic metaverse inspired by London, reimagined if the pandemic lasted for 20 years and how that would effect the natural phenomena around us. Which the song also touches on. We achieved this by 3D Scanning my body and inserting into the environment Swarmm created. The whole aesthetic of the video is inspired by the dawn of artificial intelligence.” [via DIY]

Taylor Swift has shared a new official video for the new version of ‘Karma’ featuring Ice Spice. Swift recently dropped a new deluxe version of her 10th album Midnights, titled Midnights (Til Dawn Edition), featuring the Ice Spice remix of ‘Karma’ among other tracks. That same night, the rapper joined Swift to close out the first of multiple nights at East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium for her ‘Eras’ tour. In the official video for ‘Karma’, which dropped after the performance and was directed by Swift, she appears in a host of different locations including on a yellow brick road, trapped in an hourglass and inside a lightbulb. Once Ice Spice joins the party, the pair row a boat across the sea. [via NME]

Dorian Electra has disclosed their new single ‘Sodom & Gomorrah’. Watch the video, directed by Electra and Weston Allen, below. It follows on from Electra’s recent release, the ‘Freak Mode’ single, in April. Speaking about the song, Electra has said, “Sodom & Gomorrah is the biblical story of two cities that were so sinful that God destroyed them. The word Sodomy – derived from this story – has often been used to oppress queer people, so I wanted to reclaim it in a bratty, slutty, sexy song. Musically, I was inspired by the pop I grew up on (Britney Spears, Missy Elliot), but with a modern twist, and heavy guitars.” Electra has recently embarked on a viral marketing campaign that involved spreading posters featuring the phrase ‘I <3 SODOMY’. [via DIY]

The name on everyone’s lips, BIG WETT, returns with another banger in ‘GSPOT’ accompanied by the new video. The track is taken from her debut 6-track EP P*$$Y set for release September 22 via Play It Again Sam. Sirens, fat bass, skittering hi-hats, a deep, booming vocal driving it forward, ‘GSPOT’ is another electronic-laden track with BIG WETT’S unmistakably catchy, filthy and fun lyrics. “This track has it all. If you didn’t know where your G-spot was before, you do now,” proclaims the artist. Taking the global dance music scene by storm, her songs are tinged with undertones of queer pride, femme power and sexual empowerment, making her one of the moment’s most intriguing new artists with an overwhelming stage presence and personality to match.

K.ZIA is an artist engrossed in culture. Brussels-born, now Berlin & Dakar-based, the singer-songwriter is experienced in the modern world and its intricacies, and you can hear that in her sound. Amalgamating elements of R&B, soul, pop, Afrobeats and more, the songstress holds the unique collection of stylistic characteristics together with her endearingly soulful vocals. Moving to the German capital back in 2017, she began pursuing a career in music ad released her debut EP the following year. January 2022 saw her release her impressive debut album, Genesis. A year a half or so later, K.ZIA has returned with her latest body of work, this time in the shape of vibrant EP Kintsugi Heart. The EP portrays a journey through difficult times, with the artist open about her struggles with depression across the tape. Eclectic, groove-laden instrumentals provide a serene and sultry backdrop for K.ZIA to immerse listeners in her stunning vocals and personal, thoughtful lyrics. Speaking on the EP, the singer comments, “After struggling with depression for the first time in 2020, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery and spiritual reconnection. I traveled, practiced sports, and wrote extensively to understand my life’s purpose and spiritual state. Through these experiences, I was able to heal myself and create a potion that I hope will help others heal too. “Kintsugi Heart” – from the Japanese pottery practice Kintsugi where they mend broken pieces with golden glue is a metaphor for embracing our flaws and imperfections and emerging from difficult times more beautiful with our scars. This EP is the acknowledgement of a time of deep sadness, accepting it, expressing it and healing from it. It is a journey through love, struggle, darkness, introspection, growth and light. It is the final burial of my depression and the Panacea to hopefully prevent another.” [via Wonderland]

Pop veteran NJOMZA plays Doctor in her new music video for production led, R&B earworm, ‘Love Again’, the lead track from recently released EP, STAGES. The creator of ‘The Love Again Method’, Dr. NJOMZA works with a group of volunteers to be part of her groundbreaking new treatment to return the spark in their relationships – Phase 1: therapy, phase 2: a questionable physical treatment, and phase 3: reintegration; which appears to go wrong as the couples pair up with the wrong partners. Directed by Mac Grant, NJOMZA stars in this fun, comical short film. A collection of late-night R&B, atmospheric dance sonics and synth-pop sensibilities backing NJOMZA’s sultry vocal, STAGES sees the singer-songwriter at her most authentic, having created a signature style formed from an impressive melting pot of influences. [via Broadway World]

Madison Beer isn’t silent anymore! After a million years (not really, but it feels like it) we’re finally getting a new Madison Beer album! ‘Home To Another One’ is the latest release from her upcoming new project. In this alien-themed video, Madison craftily blends both vintage and futuristic vibes to create a mystical, magical intergalactic fantasy. A posh take on classic tv shows of decades past, Madison plays a housewife who knows she isn’t the only one in her lover’s life. Beautifully crooning the woeful phrase, “Call me baby, I know you go home to another one,” it’s clear that although this isn’t a healthy love it’s impossible to let go. [via The Honey POP]

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This week, Samia released her sophomore album, Honey. Title track “Honey’ is about always being drunk enough that you don’t have to look around,” she says. “To me it’s the saddest song I’ve ever written, because it’s mocking my attempt to convince people I was good. Caleb Wright turned it into a campfire song, though, and I love that it can be interpreted as fun too.” [via Stereogum]

Last October, Fever Ray (Karin Dreijer) returned to us with their first new single in five years. Co-produced by their brother Olof (of the Knife), ‘What They Call Us’ was the siblings’ first new studio recording since the Knife’s 2014 Europa Europa collab ‘För Alla Namn Vi Inte Får Använda.’ Happily, the Dreijers didn’t stop there. Now, they’re releasing ‘Kandy,’ which also has a video and is co-produced and performed by both Fever Ray and the Knife’s Olof Dreijer. Over looping vocal whoops, “Down Under”-sounding percussion, synths, and flute, Karin Dreijer sings in a deep register: “She laid me down and whispered/ All girls want kandy/ Can you bring me back/ Sll girls want kandy.” [via Stereogum]

Biig Piig has dropped a video for ‘In The Dark’. It’s a track from the star’s debut mixtape, Bubblegum, in addition to recent drops ‘Picking Up’ (with Deb Never), ‘This Is What They Meant’ and ‘Kerosene’. “Bubblegum is sweet and nice to look at, but it’s sticky,” she says of the release. “I like the innocence, but was drawn to the texture — balloony, elastic, stretchy. And it bursts, too. That’s what the tape felt like.” [via Dork]

Combining classic pop punk and modern chart sensibilities, FLØRE is sure to provide all the energy you need with this new cut ‘ZOMBIE’ out via Valeria Music. In a story many can relate to, it was written about those old flames that long died that keep resurfacing, bring back all the wrong energy that saw it all go wrong in the first place. Speaking about the song, FLØRE explained “The song is about the on-off relationships you have with past lovers. They keep crawling back to you like mindless Zombies, bringing back to life what was already dead. I think breaking free from those toxic on-and-off relationships is so hard, because somewhere there’s a part of you that still gets excited when someone’s name pops up on your screen months or even years later. Which makes you fall in these memory holes again and you catch yourself wishing one day it would be different and it would work out. But some relationships can’t be killed and instead remain undead forever.”

Tchotchke arrived on the scene last summer with a self-titled debut record collecting upbeat pop-rock anthems packaged with a vintage ’70s sheen. Considering the album’s sound ranging from twee to jangle-pop—all while maintaining its period-piece aesthetic—it’s no surprise that The Lemon Twigs were behind the boards producing the project, as both groups scratch a unique itch the indie rock scene’s ignored since bands like Foxygen and Girls were on the come-up. Tchotchke have released their first single since that album with ‘Come on, Sean,’ a campy story about a rendezvous between a gardener and a housewife littered with double entendres and soundtracked by the band’s unique sonic palette, this time embellished with chintzy orchestration to match the vocals’ Joanna Newson–esque acrobatics. Additionally, the track’s Ambar Navarro–directed visual helps to flesh out the narrative, confirming its setting in 1970s suburban America. [via Flood]

From quantum physics to the worlds of high fashion and fine art, Brooklyn-based Sandflower is an artist with interests as varied as her sound. Drawing on the contrast of the buttoned-up academia of her private school upbringing against New York’s vibrant music scene, the artist cites everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Cindy Sherman, Salvador Dalí to Allen Ginsberg as inspirations for her own blend of rap-infused pop. Sandflower returns with a rowdy dancefloor-ready self-empowerment anthem, ‘Shake That Boom (Cargo Room).’ Giving off a Paula Abdul-meets-Lizzo type of vibe, the catchy single features an interesting blend of retro and newer sounds that includes “an Atlanta snare drum line, Caribbean dancing 808’s, sound design from a vintage Buchla modular synthesizer and stadium-pulsing organs,” according to producer David Sisko. The single arrives alongside an equally if not more energetic music video that sees Sandflower taking us to the streets of Tokyo. Serving up tightly choreographed numbers and bright comic interjections, the visual is just as youthful and bright as the single, with Sandflower fully feeling herself every step of the way. “’Shake That Boom (Cargo Room)’ is the energy of undeniable self-love — no — obsessive self-confidence,” Sandflower says of the track. “This song is a sonic Ted Talk about revering the wonder that is you — and the wonder that is your body. This is the song that plays in my head when I look at myself first thing in the morning. This song is the aura that wraps around me when I saunter down Lafayette Street in SoHo and when I literally ran through the streets of Tokyo while filming the video. This song should come with a warning: If you listen to this while walking down the street, this song will induce massive amounts of compliments, new friends and possible new opportunities.” [via Paper]

Refusing to stagnate in the electronic scene, Alexis positions herself as enigmatic and ever-resilient. It’s a difficult task having grown up in Texas and moved to London, yet, the now UK-based producer, vocalist and DJ has come to the forefront of her genre – an already exciting addition to the genre via her sets at Boiler Room and podcast on Resident Audio. Now, this attention is taking her forward as she becomes the second artist launched on the newly launched London label Remedy!, and kicks her musical aspirations off with the release of ‘angelcore’. Carried by a bedding of hypnotic industrial rhythms, Alexis delivers a bewitching whispering of vocal lines. A gradual build of anticipation is felt throughout the track by a slow knotting of pulsing beats and low-end noise. You are constantly in the balance between paranoia and jubilation. With an almost unsettling other-worldly quality, you get the feeling that Alexis has built a world of her own that is channelled through her music. As she walks you through the song you feel simultaneously laid back and at knife-edge. In an air of confusion, you can’t help but fall deep into the sound. Alexis’ true talent shines in crafting a song which has an elegantly simple feel but is no doubt complicated and intricate in composition. It is often underestimated how much care and attention to detail must go into making a sound that you can call your own, but it’s in moments like this where it should be commended. [via Line Of Best Fit]

Taylor Swift has shared the music video for ‘Lavender Haze,’ a cut from her latest album Midnights. Taking its title from a Mad Men episode, ‘Lavender Haze’ sees Swift singing about antiquated gender roles. It was also partially inspired by Swift having to dodge “weird rumors” and “tabloid stuff” over the course of her career. Laith Ashley De La Cruz, a transgender actor and activist, plays Swift’s love interest in the video. “There is lots of lavender. There is lots of haze. There is my incredible costar @laith_ashley who I absolutely adored working with,” Swift wrote in a tweet upon the video’s release. “This was the first video I wrote out of the 3 that have been released, and this one really helped me conceptualize the world and mood of Midnights, like a sultry sleepless 70’s fever dream. Hope you like it.” Swift has been a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. During a 2020 speech commemorating the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Swift called out the erasure of transgender and nonbinary people from the US census. “When you don’t collect information on a group of people, that means you have every excuse in the world not to support them. When you don’t collect data on a community, that’s a really, really brutal way of dismissing them,” she said at the time. [via Consequence]

LVRA has shared new single ‘anxiety’. The Chinese-Scottish multi-hyphenate has a true gift for sound design, interpolating electronic tropes into her singular realm. A flurry of singles have seen LVRA sketch out a unique identity, with seven-track project Soft Like Steel landing on March 22. News of the announce coincides with something fresh from LVRA, who has just shared the startling, multi-faceted digi-jewel ‘anxiety’. A real message from the heart, the lyrics deal with mental health issues, while the electronic production hurls her vocal far off into the future. A song that truly stands apart from its peers, ‘anxiety’ pivots between over-thinking and the urge for self-acceptance. She comments… “I’ve lived my life as an overthinker, my mental balance completely tipped over by even the most minuscule of events. Music allows my brain to focus on something else, and creating gives me something to channel the energy into. Often I’m trying to turn negative emotions into a source of strength and I feel like Anxiety was borne out of my desire to live and accept this part of me. It’s kind of ambiguous whether or not it’s the voice inside my head that’s taunting me or some kind of f u to the voice inside my head.” [via Clash]

Cementing herself in the upper echelons of Australian singer-songwriters, Gena Rose Bruce navigates emotional turmoil, fragility, death and honesty on Deep Is The Way, her second record, out now via Dot Dash / Remote Control Records. To coincide with the release, Gena Rose Bruce shared a video for the doom-laden ‘Destroy Myself’, directed by Ryan Downey. With its buzzing synths and chugging guitars, the track sees Bruce reflects on her own dark compulsions.

Kimbra releases her single and accompanying music video for ‘Foolish Thinking,’ the third single off of her upcoming album A Reckoning. Directed by Alex Cook, the music video is an intimate vignette into the experience of being a mother. The subject of the song is Kimbra’s future daughter, who is shown confronting the struggles of growing up and eventually has to face young motherhood herself. Kimbra has to accept that she cannot always protect her child, reflecting, “It’s not my place and no matter what I say, you’re gonna do what you want anyway.” Of the release, Kimbra says, “I wrote this song at the piano in a matter of hours. It started as a letter to my future daughter but quickly partnered with melody. It felt as though I were channeling my future self; a Mother trying to protect her child from pain while understanding that they must experience adversity to grow. I was imagining the loss of control when you realize the most loving thing is to let go. Having Ryan sing the second verse added a beautiful dimension because he has the actual lived experience of being a father so could perform my words from a very personal place. I feel there’s a lot of expectation on mothers to have it all figured out before they pass on their blueprint to the next generation. I wanted to make a song that would ease that external pressure a little, because we will always be learning right alongside them.” Director Alex Cook adds, “Hearing the track for the first time, there was such a rare sincerity and emotional depth in the song and lyrics. There is often an almost inseparable sense of wonder and pain in the experience of growing up. Sometimes it isn’t until years later that we begin to understand the full emotional complexity of a life event. We hoped to carry those feelings into the video as we follow a mother watching her young girl grow up through life stages until she has a child of her own. The mother’s light, her warmth, follows her daughter through scenes of her life, until she enters into her own phase of motherhood.” [via Broadway World]

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Singer-songwriter OLI is back with lush soundscapes and feel-good pop songwriting on the new single, ‘Float’. The London based artist’s powerful vocals pierce through the melancholic piano backing, forming a dancing melody that puts the layers of OLI’s incredible voice front and centre. ‘Float’ is the first new music to arrive from OLI since her acclaimed duet with Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan ‘Does That Hurt’, which was released earlier this year. The song begins with intensity, the keys echoing as it progresses, swelling to an outburst of falsetto backing and peaceful rhythmic textures on the chorus. Lyrics filled with emotion and longing on “If I could float up I would see it all how I know I should” tackle the dreamlike aspect of the song as OLI incorporates themes of satisfaction, positivity, space, and wonder on the downbeat pop track. “My dad actually came up with the lead melody, he was playing around on guitar and sent me the idea.” Says OLI, who started her alt-pop songwriting journey as a child growing up in a musical family. “It made me think of all those feel-good Disney songs that leave you really happy and satisfied at the end. The idea of Floating up above everything and everyone fit so perfectly with it too. I think it’s something many people imagine. We are pretty small in the grand scheme of things so it’s easy to feel existential from time to time. I just wanted the song to paint that emotion in a more positive way. I personally take a lot of comfort in knowing how much there is out there.” The new single is also released alongside a visually remarkable Heini Susanne directed music video, which sees the contrast of childlike wonder and summer days with pensive nights by the water in the stunning wilderness settings: “I am extremely proud of the video. It was filmed in Finland by the production company Cocoa. We wanted it to seem slightly dreamy but also darker. Heini and I took inspiration from ‘where the wild things are’ which I think really shows in the end product.”

Taylor Swift has released a new video for ‘Bejeweled’. It follows the video for ‘Anti-Hero’ which dropped last week. Swift shared her 10th studio album Midnights last Friday, October 21. In usual form, the Cinderella-style visual has Taylor joined by famous friends including Danielle, Alana and Este Haim, Laura Dern, Jack Antonoff, Pat McGrath and Dita Von Teese. Eagle eyed fans have spotted that in a previous trailer for the Midnights visuals, imagery appears that we have not yet seen in the videos released so far, so it’s likely that at least one more will be on the way. In a still from the video, where differently coloured buttons in a lift reflect her discography, fans have also noted that the 13th button shares the colour with ‘Speak Now’, increasing speculation that Taylor’s Version of her 2010 album will be next re-record to arrive. [via Dork]

New York-based trio, Tchotchke releases the ‘50s-inspired music video for their single ‘Wish You Were a Girl,’ following the release of their self-titled debut album. The video, which stars band members Anastasia, Eva, and Emily as distraught runaway-brides and housewives, is a statement on rejecting traditional feminine ideologies. “The entire video plays with this fictitious smokey dollhouse world where the band runs away from all feminine responsibilities and forced ideologies,” director Ambar Navarro shares. Throughout ‘Wish You Were a Girl,’ we see the trio trapped within the confines of heteronormativity, and as it progresses, we see them grow increasingly frustrated, leading to their eventual escape from these age-old ideologies. [via FLOOD]

ella jane has spent the last few months teasing her sophomore EP Marginalia with a string of sugary, heart-pounding pop songs about chasing love and trying to hold onto it. But on ‘Warhol,’ the LA-based singer isn’t searching for a partner—she’s searching for herself. “I’ve been waiting forever to be noticed,” jane sings on the track, “I’ll keep twisting the image ’til I’m not myself at all.” The final cut on the EP is a tender but confident piano number about shapeshifting into someone new and then trying to figure out which version of yourself fits best. “I originally planned for it to be a song about this guy who told me I reminded him of his girlfriend—something kind of fun and stupid,” she shares. “But soon the line ‘’Cause lately I don’t have a shape / I’m blurry lines without a face’ spilled out, and it quickly became obvious that I was writing about myself. I’ve always been a big believer in ‘fake it ’til’ you make it, but the acceptance of my public persona—a much more confident, self-assured girl—as me has made me question who the real ‘me’ actually is. So in short, this song is an exploration of that.” [via FLOOD]

Last fall, Adele returned with 30. The formidable piece of work revealed the singer at her most vulnerable and human, sharing intimate recordings about regrets, panic, and familial love. Now, she’s reminded us that it’s nearly been a year since the release of her most personal album by dropping a video for the Eltonian ballad ‘I Drink Wine’ that was directed by Joe Talbot. Here, in a fairytale forest, Adele lives out one of my dreams: Floating down a lazy river in a couture gown with bottomless rosé at the snap of a finger. And even though it sounds perfect, there’s a sense that this fantasy is too good to be true. “They say to play hard, you work hard / Find balance in the sacrifice / Yet I don’t know anybody / Who’s truly satisfied,” she sings as she passes a charming fisherman who catches her eye. Later, he swims to her and is pushed away by the synchronized swimmers guarding Adele with libations in hand. By the end, Adele wants out of this adult version of the boozy It’s a Small World ride, rejecting the delusion of ego. Heavy stuff. [via FLOOD]

Seattle-based songwriter Puck is among a unique category of artists whose musical career has unfolded in a particularly non-linear fashion. Their debut record Best Friend is set to arrive next month, yet they’ve already performed on SNL and toured the country performing massive headlining gigs playing keyboard and contributing backing vocals to an impressive list of artists most notably including SZA and Maggie Rogers. Yet with Best Friend, Puck is free to follow their own path, with new single ‘Trapped’ demonstrating just how raw and out-there their songwriting instincts can be. The opening track and second single from the collection sets the scene for the record both by spotlighting Puck’s vocal talents and intriguing synth palette while introducing a lyrical “Shakespearean chorus” narrating the full lifespan of a doomed toxic relationship. “I wrote chords that are reminiscent of Michael McDonald,” Puck shares, citing influences on the new single. “Thundercat’s first record, The Golden Age of the Apocalypse, is one of my favorites of all time and was a huge influence for me. The drums are sampled from drum machines lent to Lily Wen and I by Gotye, whose studio was upstairs from Figure 8 where we were recording.” Watch the Devin Gant–directed video for the track, which weaves together reality, fantasy, and horror elements over the course of the track’s five minutes as Puck is seen getting lost in thought as the ice cream slowly drips off their cone and down their hand. [via FLOOD]

Electro-pop powerhouse artist Dragonette, aka songwriter/producer Martina Sorbara, returns with the final focus track ‘T-Shirt’, lifted from the new full-length album Twennies out now through BMG. Regarding ‘T-Shirt’ she added, “This song came together so fast that I can barely remember the process of writing it. Every songwriter has had the experience of leaving the studio to get a drink or take a pee and inadvertently coming back with one of the missing keys to the song. I have a strong memory of that with the chorus of this song. But I literally have no memory of writing the verses. It’s like they pre-existed the session. Every song writer has that experience as well. The result is feeling like you just got given a present, out of nowhere, and it’s not even your birthday. I love this song for its lush cuddle of warmness while lyrically it most definitely does not want to cuddle.”

London indie pop songwriter Eaves Wilder returns with new melter ‘I Stole Your Jumper’. 2022 ends with a bang for the London artist, who has just inked a deal with independent powerhouse Secretly Canadian. It follows a string of impeccable singles, fusing indie rock tropes with pop to create a raucous yet melodic sound. A full EP is slated to land in January, with Eaves opting to kick off her new era with ‘I Stole Your Jumper’. A rabid, three-minute cruncher, it’s a song about the pettiness of a break-up, and learning to re-assert yourself in fresh ways. Thirsting for revenge, ‘I Stole Your Jumper’ amplifies her early charms, laying down a marker for what could follow. As she puts it, “it’s a very British and passive aggressive revenge fantasy.” [via Clash]

A couple years back, the Los Angeles band Suzie True released their charming debut album, Saddest Girl At The Party. Now, they’re back with their first new track since then, the fuzzy and bright ‘Backburner.’ “I wanna get drunk on the metro/ Yeah, I wanna cause a scene/ Want you to kiss me in the rain/ Like some romantic comedy,” goes one of its punchy, ramshackle verses. “I wanted ‘Backburner’ to feel really sentimental both lyrically and musically,” the band’s Lexi McCoy said in a statement. “The song is about being in love with someone who keeps you on the ‘backburner’ instead of prioritizing you. You would do anything for them, but they don’t really care about you, they’re just having fun and toying with your emotions in the process.” McCoy continued: “Once all the instruments come in, the song feels like it takes off running, like how your imagination might run wild with dreams of being with this person in the song. The choruses slow down to feel sad and melancholy, coming to terms with the fact that you’re being used by this person. We wanted the instrumentation to sound angsty but wistful—wistfully angsty!! The way it ends feels unsure and sad because that’s how the situation has led you to feel.” [via Stereogum]

SZA has finally released ‘Shirt,’ a single that she first teased on Instagram in early 2021; that snippet ended up going viral with an accompanying dance on TikTok, and SZA preformed the track for the first time in a livestream later that year. The track was also teased in the music video for SZA’s last proper single, ‘Good Days,’ a song that came out nearly two years ago. ‘Shirt’ is the latest (maybe) dispatch from SZA’s sophomore album, the long-awaited followup to 2017’s CTRL, which marked its 5th anniversary earlier this year with some bonus tracks. The song’s Dave Meyers-directed video, co-starring LaKeith Stanfield, ends with a lengthy tease of another new song called ‘Blind.’ There’s also a license plate with a “DEC” sticker in the corner, which has some fans speculating that a new SZA album called NO CTRL could be dropping in December. [via Stereogum]

After dates in New York, Boston, and Atlanta, Automatic have shared a new video for ‘Teen Beat’, taken from their new album Excess (out now via Stones Throw), On the song, the band explain “The title was taken from a preset on a dinky drum machine, and the song is about the chaos of climate change descending upon Gen Z.” [via Northern Transmissions]

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul are closing out the year with a gauzy video for Topical Dancer track ‘Mantra.’ In a press release about the song, Adigéry and Pupul said, “’Mantra’ is a reworked version of our Yin Yang Self-Meditation, the audiovisual meditation tape which we released back in 2019. We used elements from this original recording in ‘Mantra’ such as the stream of consciousness and the the heartbeat which we sped up to use as one of the bass drums in ‘Mantra.’ Whereas Yin Yang Self-Meditation invites you to look inward, we invite you to express yourselves with ‘Mantra.’” [via Pitchfork]

There’s something breezy and refreshingly uncomplicated about the indie-pop sounds of Daisy the Great—even when the subject matter of their music delves into the complex realms of causality and relativity raised by the hypothetical existence of time travel. With their sophomore record All You Need Is Time out now, the pair are sharing one last single with the swooning sci-fi anthem ‘Time Machine,’ which Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker wrote alongside Coyle Girelli and Carter Matschullat—and which they call their favorite song they’ve ever written. “As we were all talking at the beginning of the session, Coyle brought up an article that he’d read that morning about a group of physicists who were researching the potential for electrons to move backwards into the recent past, which was being billed as evidence that time travel might be possible,” they recall. “We got so locked on that idea and we all kept talking for a really long time about time travel, fate, regret, second chances, loss, love… “Eventually,” they continue, “we started to imagine writing this giant song, set at the end of the world. Kel sat down at the piano and started playing these really epic, crunchy chords and Min started yelling ‘Are you listening to the clocks in this house / They are growling at me saying, how can it be that the whole world is falling apart.’ That became the intro, and then the rest quickly spilled out of us. After that day, the song became an immediate favorite in our tour set and we could not be more excited to be releasing it.” [via FLOOD]

Bad Waitress have released a video for their new song ‘Racket Stimulator’. The video was directed by Danny Alexander. The song appears to be a standalone single and is out now via Royal Mountain Records. Bad Waitress released No Taste in 2021. [via Punk News]

Dropping a string of singles throughout the year, Derbyshire-born but London-based singer and songwriter Sophie Kilburn releases her new EP Not Bitter, Just Bored via Luna Sky Recordings. A five-track collection detailing her journey through the stages of overcoming heartache, from the initial pain to rebuilding her self-worth and confidence, it’s a body of work that showcases Sophie’s best work to date. Listing influences through the decades including 70s rock icons Fleetwood Mac, 80s pop frontrunners Blondie and Kate Bush, and modern songwriters Haim and Lucy Dacus, Sophie’s stellar alt-pop-slash-rock makes for a thrilling listen – and this EP is solid proof of that. Rife with addictive pop melodies, the EP explores heartache in all its forms. Touching on heavy themes by diving into gender conditioning and internalising pressures that transform into harmful behaviours during adulthood, Not Bitter, Just Bored investigates unlearning these early behaviours to enable us to have healthy relationships in the future. The EP’s lead single, ‘Love Condition’ [produced by Lloyd Hinhelswood (Mabel, Liz Dawson, San Soucis)], takes the form of a raucous blend of guitars and hearty bass patterns that showcases the light-hearted side to Sophie’s songwriting. Wrapped in warm synths and punchy percussion, the single aims to empower those who are finding themselves. Watch the Blind Date-inspired video above. “I wanted to find the funny side of frustration of heartache because it gets to a point particularly with selfish or toxic behaviour that it is just so predictable,” Sophie explains. “We all want to be loved but all have habits that suggest otherwise.”

NYC-based singer, poet, and musician Stella Rose is making her official debut with an electrifying, yet haunting single entitled ‘Muddled Man,’ released alongside a theatrical accompanying video. Wrote Stella Rose of her debut single: “With anger as it’s mother and disorder begging on its knees, Muddled man, Is grease in a comb, Cowboy killers in the left jacket pocket, A murder of your most precious possession.” ‘Muddled Man’ was produced by Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Girlpool, Blondshell). Stay tuned for more music from Stella Rose, out via KRO Records.

Hamburg based artist and producer Deniz Çiçek aka Kraków Loves Adana and former Chromatics members Ruth Radelet & Adam Miller have shared their collaborative track ‘When The Storm Comes’. The song is the first single off Kraków Loves Adana’s upcoming 7th album Oceanflower, out February 14, which Çiçek wrote between the winter of 2020 and 2021 in her home studio. The announcement comes with a Wesley Doloris directed music video for ‘When The Storm Comes’, where the musicians filmed contributing scenes in Los Angeles and Hamburg. While exchanging several song ideas for the new record with Adam Miller the demo for ‘When The Storm Comes’ especially stood out. “I came up with the title and the chorus almost 10 years ago but never managed to build a proper song around it. When I showed the demo to Adam it immediately struck a chord with the both of us”, Çiçek remembers. Both melancholic and anthemic, the song is about overcoming hardships and looking optimistic into the future. Ruth Radelet shares on the collaboration: “I became friends with Krakow Loves Adana after playing some shows with them in 2019. I am a big fan of their music and they are fantastic people as well, so I was excited when Deniz asked me to contribute guest vocals on ‘When The Storm Comes’. Filming the video was a fun project too – Adam and I had a great time running around LA together, and I love how Wesley Doloris’ shots of us work so well with Deniz’s footage from Germany.”

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Remaining prolific this year, multi-platinum singer-songwriter Bishop Briggs unveils an empowering and engaging new single and music video entitled ‘superhuman’ via Arista Records. Regarding the single, Bishop commented, “I wrote ‘superhuman’ when I was 8 months pregnant. I really felt like I was in a space where I was seeking positivity and light for my little one who was about to arrive. This song quickly became a poem about encouragement and knowing you have the strength to continue on no matter what comes your way.” Once again, Bishop delivers an uplifting anthem highlighted by her dynamic vocals and a powerful affirmation on the hook where she assures, “You’re superhuman. Bulletproof as can be. I know the truth is you can do anything.” She encodes a thoughtful message within the music and lyrics. Fittingly, the song soundtracks the ‘Rise To’ campaign by Rise – an initiative of Schmidt Futures and The Rhodes Trust that finds brilliant young people who need opportunity and supports them for life as they work to serve others. The integrated campaign invites global talent to apply to Rise as they continue to turn opportunities into action and ‘Rise To’ solve the world’s most pressing issues. Meanwhile, the track’s accompanying visual illuminates true superheroes in everyday life on-screen. Bishop adds, “Hearing each others stories is the human experience that I have valued so much in my hardest days. I wanted people to leave the music video knowing they are not alone and that they are capable beyond belief. I’m really grateful for Hunter Moreno (and Jake McKenna) who created something I will be proud to share so many years from now.”

Meghan Trainor has released her anxiously awaited fourth full-length album, Takin’ It Back. This time around, she made a conscious decision to hark back to the signature sound she introduced on her 2015 full-length debut, TITLE, and bring it forward to today. About the album, Meghan said, “I tried to do the doo-wop feel I had at the beginning of my career, but the 2022 version of it. This is from the new Meghan who is a wife and mom with a baby. This is from me right now. I decided to give the people what they want, but with my spices added to it. I wanted to make my Title 2.0.” Accompanying the album’s release is a video for Meghan’s new single, ‘Made You Look.’ The spunky track has horns that pipe up as her doo-wop harmonies double up the attitude on the chorus, “I could have my Gucci on. I could wear my Louis Vuitton, but even with nothing on, bet I made you look.” The vibrant and stylized music video sees Meghan moving between different colorful worlds – from Hollywood set ups to a big finale dance performance. By Meghan’s side are TikTok personalities Chris Olsen, Remi Bader, Becca Means, Drew Afualo, along with JoJo Siwa, Scott Hoying, and husband Daryl Sabara. Regarding ‘Made You Look,’ Meghan said, ““After having a baby, I struggled really hard to feel sexy. I actually wrote this song when I was ass-naked singing the chorus in the shower,” she admits. “I can wear all of these gorgeous things, but I look better without all of that shit on. I wrote a self-love anthem for myself. Even though you had a baby, went through it, and your body shows it, you’re still sexy.”

Returning with two new tracks and a stunning short film, PVRIS has shared ‘Anywhere But Here’ and ‘Animal’. “At its core, ‘ANYWHERE BUT HERE’ is about wanting to escape your surroundings,” Lyndsey Gunnulfsen explains. “My whole life I’ve always found myself restless and eager to be somewhere else. I always imagine existing in different times and different places; everywhere and anywhere but where I am in the moment, even the good moments. I think a lot of us experience that to some degree, a longing to be somewhere or with someone you can’t necessarily identify.” “‘Animal’ is all about defiance, breaking free of control whether it’s from other people, or from ourselves,” she adds. “It can even be looked at through a wider lens and interpreted as defiance towards ‘the man’, government, or the algorithms that run our lives, that ‘know us’. It’s about challenging the identity the outside world chooses to give you. It’s also a comment on fame and spectacle. I feel like we as a society are quick to dehumanize each other and hold people in fixed forms denying one another the opportunities to grow and evolve. I think this holds true especially those in any scale of a spotlight; artists, actors, influencers, models, athletes, politicians, etc… this can be true for personal relationships as well. We do each other a disservice by restricting one another to these metaphorical cages. ‘ANIMAL’ is about challenging that.” [via DIY]

Lowertown have just dropped their debut album, I Love To Lie. Their new single, ‘My Friends’, has also been shared with a music video accompaniment. The new arrival follows the release of recent singles ‘Bucktooth’, ‘Antibiotics’, and ‘No Way’. Lowertown’s Olivia Osby says: “I wrote ‘My Friends’ when I was 19 in the summer of 2021 about the first group of people I fell into when I first moved to New York. Their way of life was incredibly fast-paced, volatile, and dramatic. It felt so enticing because I had never experienced anything like it before. They were all larger than life people, always so spontaneous and ‘cool’. There was always a plan, always a story, always something to do or talk about.” “They felt like caricatures of the ‘cool’ people I’d seen in movies,” she continues. “We’d drive around the city and bar hop, and walk around until the sun came up. It felt great. I felt like I was finally living the adult life that was taken from me with the pandemic, but slowly I began to realise it was all wearing on me, on all of us. The fantasy I had built in my head was not the reality I was living. I was sick all the time and kept losing my voice. I was always in pain and my stomach was always upset. I started losing sight of anything that seemed important to me before I’d moved to New York. I saw my friends dissolve; their behaviour was erratic, spiteful, and illogical. They wouldn’t sleep or eat for days then they’d have outbursts of anger and paranoia towards me and each other.” “This kind of life had consequences, and I realised everyone around me was just as lost as I was,” Osby admits. “We were swimming in quicksand, trying to get out and trying to make ourselves feel better, but just getting sucked further in.” [via Dork]

Just before the release of her new album Midnights, Taylor Swift promised “a special very chaotic surprise” at 3AM. True to her word, three hours after the album itself was out in the world, Swift released Midnights (3am Edition), a version of the album with seven extra tracks. On Instagram, Swift writes, “Lately I’ve been loving the feeling of sharing more of our creative process with you, like we do with From The Vault tracks. So it’s 3am and I’m giving them to you now.” This morning, Swift also released her video for ‘Anti-Hero,’ which is apparently serving as the single from Midnights. (That’s the “everyone’s a sexy baby” song. Bold choice!) Swift wrote and directed the video, which is a lot of fun. Much of the clip is Swift hanging out and getting drunk with her own wilder doppelgänger. The video also has some visual quotes from Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman and a mid-song comedy sketch where Swift imagines her own funeral. The great stand-up comic Mike Birbiglia and John Early from Search Party play her adult sons, while Mary Elizabeth Ellis from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia plays her daughter-in-law. [via Stereogum]

Japanese-Australian brother-sister electronic duo Lastlings has just unveiled its latest musical outing with the release of ‘Get What You Want’. Produced by Lastlings with help from UK dance heavyweight Alex Metric, ‘Get What You Want’ presents lush chords and ethereal, textured vocals over a solid low end as artists showcase their musical maturity and evolution. “We spent a week writing in 2021 and this was one of the first songs that came from the session. We had two rooms. One writing room for Amy with a piano and one for me where I made the instrumental.” says Josh. “It explores mental health and the relationship that I have with myself. It’s about putting myself out there and not letting doubt get in the way of what I truly want. ‘I’ve got a lot of enemies that live inside my head’. This song isn’t about love for another person, it’s about my relationship with myself. ‘You’ refers to a darker version of myself that I am trying to fight and overcome.” further explains Amy. In line with the drop, Lastlings also shared the official music video for ‘Get What You Want’, which “explores an abstract interpretation of spaces inside the mind”. [via Electronic Groove]

Before she releases her new album next month, Anna of the North shared another preview in the form of her song ‘I Do You.’ It’s the latest from the full album Crazy Life, which is out November 4. The new song finds the singer taking her power back from past experiences and past relationships, turning it into a delightfully reassuring new single. “Too many times have I been in the situation where I put other people before myself,” says Anna. “I imagine everyone around me being so happy and successful. Like other people are so in control of themselves and their feelings. It’s like I give other people superpowers. We say that we’re our own worst enemy. And I’m definitely mine. I wish sometimes that I could see myself from another perspective. I wish that I could look at myself, like I look at others…If I did me, like I do you.” [via Variance]

Scottish singer-songwriter Katie Gregson-MacLeod has dropped a new music video for ‘complex’ directed by Sam Bailey. Back in August, she released ‘complex (demo)’ along with the music video. Prior to the release of the song, a minute-long chorus of the track quickly became a viral TikTok phenomenon and racked up over 7.2 million views. Earlier this month, she released the new version of the song. This time, she crafted the video for the new version. The track was written by Katie and produced by Greg Kurstin. The video is inspired by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton’s 2002 debut song ‘A Thousand Miles’ video. Katie Gregson-MacLeod said of the video, “The video for ‘complex’ definitely shows a different side to the song and to me. I don’t think the song is entirely earnest, and I wanted the video to reflect that. We were discussing concepts for a wee while but when the idea came up of recreating an iconic music video in a totally different setting, the Vanessa Carlton video was a given. We were definitely keen to see how ridiculous we could get with the Scottish parallels but all the while not having it look like too much of a piss-take or too much like a Visit Scotland ad. After a short couple weeks of planning and the odd ‘I can’t believe we’re actually doing this’, we shot the video in and around Edinburgh. We started off in Holyrood, going around Arthur’s Seat. In fitting form, it was the rainiest and windiest it could have possibly been in the first few hours of the shoot. Nonetheless, strapped into the back of a van and sitting at a grand piano singing my piano ballad, we zoomed around.” She continued, “My favourite part was for sure getting my pals along as extras. We had some of my childhood best friends pull out their acting chops as ‘people on table at pub’ numbers 1-7 and got Hamish Hawk along to perform his supporting role as ‘beer-drinking man engrossed in conversation’. It was my first proper video shoot and although a really crazy day, it was a lot of fun. The team nailed it. I hope Vanessa Carlton enjoys our homage, that’s the main thing. It’s an iconic video and we wanted to honour that.” The song will appear on her upcoming EP, which is expected to be released in 2023. [via pmstudio]

Kimbra announces her upcoming studio album A Reckoning. To coincide with the announcement, she has debuted new single ‘Save Me’ alongside a music video directed by Yvan Fabing. Set for release in 2023, A Reckoning is primed to be a reflective record capturing the macro reckonings that impact our world around environment, race, feminism health and patriarchy through the eyes of the archteypal Mother. But at the heart of her record is the war with the micro reckonings that Kimbra faces internally. It’s the most sonically autonomous and confessionally raw she has ever been, finding influence in everything from modern movie soundtracks to electronic and industrial worlds. The album was first imagined in 2018, during Kimbra’s tour with co-producer Ryan Lott of the band Son Lux, who recently scored A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once. On ‘Save Me,’ Kimbra shares a moment of deep yearning set on a bed of unsettling warped pianos. She explores how two internal realities can be present at once : chaos and contemplation, rage and still life-force. Inspired by a singular moment, she searches her insecurities with hopes that someone will save her from herself. The track is brought to new light in the music video that shows the pop singer in Iceland, traversing dangerous, surreal terrains as she seeks to heal her relationship to self, to other women, and finally to our Mother Earth. [via 360 Mag]

Elle King is offering fans a taste of her upcoming full-length country album, Come Get Your Wife, with the release of a new song, ‘Try Jesus.’ In the tune — which King co-wrote with Geoffrey Warburton, Casey Cathleen Smith, Ashley Gorley and Ben Johnson — the singer decries a struggling love life full of less-than-worthy men. After listing some of the dead-end partners she has encountered, she concludes that it may be time to try a different route: one with a little more faith. “I should try Jesus / See what all the fuss is about / Thinkin’ I should try Jesus / ‘Cause every other man let me down / Got me singin’ ‘Hey Hallelujah, A-freakin’-men’ / Baby, I don’t need me anybody but him,” she sings in the chorus. The song is full of amusing lyrics as King makes her decision to ‘Try Jesus’ instead of the current dating scene, and the video offers more of King’s signature humor. Directed by Edi Patterson, the music video finds King entering a dollar store where the main characters of all her worst dating stories come to life, with King playing all the parts herself. After being handed a shopping cart by Jesus, himself, King comes face-to-face with her past. A supermarket dance party then breaks out, and King finds herself in an unfortunate predicament involving baked beans. Luckily, the store employee named Jesus is there to clean up her mess, and she finds happiness. In a social media post she shared prior to the release, King says she pulled from her background in religion to write the tune. “I grew up with a very religious grandmother,” she writes. “Pentecostal, speaking in tongues. I know a thing or two about the Bible. At least enough to know that I do lots of stuff my sweet Mawmaw is up there cringing in Heaven, I can hear her now ‘No no no no no!’ All she ever wanted for me, for anybody, was to have a little faith. I always say, I’ll try anything twice! And even though as a little kid I got poison ivy up my ass at church camp, I stay true to my word. So cheers to round two!” [via Taste of Country]

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