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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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On Projections, Maja allowed VTSS to glide between tempos and energies without losing the bite inherent in her sound. New single ‘Make You Scream’ sets out VTSS’ role as your new favourite icon in no uncertain terms, featuring her own hypnotic vocals for the first time. The four-to-the-floor thump casts an eye back to the path she’s journeyed so far, but here the energy is more akin to Miss Kittin’s devastatingly seductive electroclash than hard n’ fast kick drum intensity. “Imma make you scream, make your head disappear,” is a deadeye hook with a delicious ambiguity in its intention. It marks a brand new direction for VTSS, one that exhibits influences including trap, hyper-pop and PC Music.

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