Tackling identity, intuition, and naivety in her new song, German-Irish singer-songwriter Sinead Ann releases her Alternative Folk debut, ‘Lemonzest.’ Through juxtaposing grim lyrics and uplifting instrumentals, Sinéad captures the initial sting of biting into a lemon and the bitter sweetness of seeing true colours. Sinéad blends harmony and dissonance to illustrate her frustration with superciality and its dark consequences. ‘Lemonzest’ takes listeners on a journey through Sinéad’s development as a musician and artist, learning to trust her intuition and break the cycle of self-sabotage. The musical accompaniment inspires imagery of Irish landscapes and creates a mystical hypnotic effect, almost making the acidic lyrics sound sweet. ‘Lemonzest’ exudes that tart feeling you get when you realise someone’s true thoughts and intentions about you. This profoundly emotional song is about refusing to entertain what does not serve you and embracing the freedom of trusting your instinct. The word ‘gorgeous’ has lost value, and the backhanded flattery no longer holds its charm.
SRSQ has shared a trippy new video for ‘Used to Love’ off this year’s very good Ever Crashing. “Cinematographer Leigh Violet and I drew on visual references from many artists, people, and real-life locations including ‘Blue Velvet’, John Waters, the Madonna Inn, Creepy Gals, Busby Berkeley, the Cramps, Jayne Mansfield, and uncanny animatronics of yesteryear,’ says SRSQ (Kennedy Ashlyn). “The video cheekily plays at the fact that through it all, in this fantasy world as in real life, I will always have my music and my cats.” [via Brooklyn Vegan]
Suki Waterhouse has shared a new video for her current single, ‘Nostalgia’. The picturesque short film takes Waterhouse through floral fields, daunting cliffsides, and broad oceans – it was filmed in Ireland and focuses primarily on natural beauty. “I’m so happy to share the ‘Nostalgia’ video directed by Émilie Richard-Froozan,” Waterhouse says. “It’s the fifth video we’ve collaborated on together. We spoke a lot about how nostalgia is a place you go, a destination. Living there is a choice one makes unapologetically. To live in nostalgia is to dig your own grave, and that’s exactly what I did. The silver lining is that only you can dig yourself out again.” Richard-Froozan himself adds: “This is the story of a woman writing a letter to her childhood love telling him that she’s getting married. She hasn’t heard from him in years and often wonders what might’ve been. I wanted something sweeping and epic and unapologetic. When Suki sent me the song, I was driving through Doolough Valley and the landscape here fit the mood of the music so well,” he continues. “The lake in Doolough had my mind gravitate toward the story of Orpheus & Eurydice and crossing the river Styx. We were also highly influenced by Wuthering Heights and the cliff scene between Heathcliff & Cathy. The whole experience was pretty magical, like the last week of summer camp with a group of old friends.” [via Dork]
Last spring, Maryland indie-pop singer-songwriter Jordana released her debut album, Face The Wall, via Grand Jury. Since that time, she’s been on the road for her own headline dates, plus dates supporting Local Natives and Wallows, and released a one-off single ‘Is It Worth It Now?’ Soon, Jordana will head back out opening for Remi Wolf, and now she’s announcing a new EP, I’m Doing Well, Thanks For Asking; it’ll be out November 11 and also features ‘Is It Worth It Now?’ The EP’s lead single is a gauzy, cathartic jam called ‘SYT,’ which has a video directed by Graham Epstein. Opening up about ‘SYT,’ Jordana says: “It channels the feelings of empowerment and emotional awareness after a tough breakup.” [via Stereogum]
Priya Ragu has released a new single, ‘Adalam Va!’, which arrived alongside a combative and energetic music video. It is her second single of the year, with ‘Illuminous’ dropping back in March, and follow’s her 2021 debut mixtape. The new track’s title roughly translates to ‘Let’s Dance!’, which explains its electrifying core of South Indian sonics fused with rattling rhythms and pop production. It was co-written and produced by her brother, Japhna Gold, and Priya recalls: “I was outside the studio one day and Japhna was working on this new beat. I stormed straight in to find out what he was working on – I was convinced it was a banga. We immediately started to write out the lyrics and before we knew it we had the track completed that day.” Elaborating on the track, she explains: “‘Adalam Va!’ is about hope in the darkest of days. It’s about the fresh energy that emerges out of these times. We wanted to express that feeling through this song and to get everyone on the dancefloor!” The vigorously choreographed music video displays a flurry of dance routines and martial arts moves brought together under the influence of international cinema. “I’ve always wanted to shoot a video where dance moves and fighting combine together, which is well out of my comfort zone,” Priya details. “It was a huge challenge for me to do these movements, with no prior experience, but we did it!” [via Dork]
Dylan experienced a much-too-keen dinner date for the new music video of her latest single, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. The track is the latest cut from Dylan’s recently announced mixtape, The Greatest Thing I’ll Never Learn, which is slated for release on October 28. She teased the video’s arrival via social media, asking her audience: “ARE YOU READY FOR MORE CHAOS??” [via Dork]
With upcoming shows across Europe next month, Desire are back with their new video ‘The Young & The Restless’ – the eighth visual from their Escape album, which came out earlier this year via Italians Do It Better. In a foreshadowing glimpse into her crystal ball, Megan Louise simply says “Gone…” in the opening lyric. What more is there to really say sometimes? Drenched in the gauze of reverb, the track feels like disintegrated memories from a hazy dream. Originally composed by Barry De Vorzon & Perry Botkin Jr. for a film in 1971, it’s best known as the instrumental theme song to the American soap opera of the same name; soundtracking the day time drama since 1973. Desire’s vocal version is bookended by the somber flutes of a Mellotron & the eerie warp of a String Machine on magnetic tape. As an out of tune player piano plays alone in the vacant lobby of a hotel, we see the blur of the afterlife flickering in a single candle. Theatrical melodrama, plot twists, and character themes unravel in the vanity of youth in ‘The Young & The Restless’. Climaxing with a growling ensemble of synthesis, the instruments claw their way out of the grave.
Having left her hometown in Romania to pursue her lifelong goal of making it big in the music industry, rising pop talent Sorana is living the dream. Having already penned chart-topping multi-platinum hits for the likes of The Chainsmokers, David Guetta and Charli XCX, Sorana is stepping into the spotlight with a string of solo singles. Now, Sorana returns with her latest single ‘Happy Birthday Sadness.’ Building off the dance-pop sound she’s perfected alongside producers like David Guetta and Alan Walker, ‘Happy Birthday Sadness’ serves up a glowing house beat with a bouncy bassline and cheery guitars, all topped off with a catchy vocal hook. Offering a new spin on the “crying on the dancefloor” trope, Sorana finds melancholy in what would otherwise be a traditionally happy occasion, fending off feelings of loneliness and yearning as she blows out her birthday candles. “Birthday songs are always happy but I’ve always felt kinda melancholic on my birthday especially at my party when my friends bring out the cake and say ‘make a wish’ because in that moment I think of everything that is missing,” Sorana explains. “I moved from country to country so many times that no matter what, I always end up missing someone on my birthday. Songwriting is my therapy and with my birthday coming up, I wanted to write a dramatic birthday song to express a feeling I’m sure a lot of people have felt. It’s not always popping champagne, eating cake and laughing with your friends. Sometimes you’re alone or surrounded by the wrong people, away from your family, or lover or maybe you just want to cry at midnight. ‘Happy Birthday Sadness’ is a song for anyone who has ever felt the loneliest on what’s supposed to be our happiest day.” [via PAPER]
Berlin based Mulay has shared her new IVORY EP in full. An artist with an awareness of classical music, Mulay studied in the Netherlands before immersing herself in Berlin’s creative communities. Drawn to electronic production, her artful touch lit up debut EP ANTRACYTE before Mulay secluded herself back in the studio to focus on a follow up. Out now, IVORY finds the Berlin artist moving up a level, with the enticing introductory passage leading into four assured, emotive tracks. The sound of an artist moving with incredible confidence, IVORY blends the digital with the organic, with her beautiful voice acting as a guide through this ethereal realm. Watch the video for the title track above. [via Clash]
Willow’s follow-up to last year’s Lately I Feel Everything is here. COPINGMECHANISM is her newest LP, whose anticipation was built through tons of great singles like ‘Hover Like A Goddess’ and ‘Curious/Furious.’ To accompany the release of this new record, Willow unveiled a music video for the track ‘Ur A Stranger.’ It’s a metallic, bitter heartbreak anthem that’s propelled forward with caustic riffs and Willow’s pained vocals. The video finds her expressing that frustration as fully as possible, having something of an exorcism. There’s also lots of alcohol. After the flash of chaos, the video ends with Willow getting kicked out of a bar. [via UPROXX]
chloe moriondo is sick of indie boys, and now she’s experimenting on them in her new music video, ‘Plastic Purse.’ The high-energy single comes off of moriondo’s album Suckerpunch, which is out now. From the inside of a vibrant science lab, the 20-year-old pop singer towers over the shrunken, beanie-wearing boys before dropping them in her bright plastic purse. Moriondo’s playful persona in the song, written for “girls who want to feel better about themselves, and maybe go key somebody’s car,” captures the unpredictability of the uninhibited 13-track album. Suckerpunch is moriondo’s third full-length album following 2021’s Blood Bunny and 2018’s Rabbit Hearted. Though she rose to fame with understated indie-pop and pop-punk hits, she is taking her new album in a completely different direction, drawing inspiration from the early 2000s pop stars she grew up on. Exploring self-image, obsession, and power, moriondo is trying out a new sound as she expresses her experience as a young woman in the music industry. Ahead of her tour that begins October 12, moriondo implores fans, when listening to the silly yet sincere album, to “take it and love it and dance with it, or sit with it and chew on it and spit it out. ” [via PAPER]
Even R&B Ari Lennox isn’t immune to the tomfoolery of the dating scene, as displayed in the new visual for her single ‘POF,’ from her latest album, age/sex/location. Since ‘POF’ is all about plenty of fish in the sea, the video sees Lennox go on a number of nightmare dates, from an overly zealous mini golf player (played by special guest Smino) to a Netflix N Chill hangout with a man who still lives with his mom. But there’s a glint of light on the horizon for the singer. Without revealing too much, let’s just say that things may turn around for her by the end of the video, in an unexpected way. [via udiscover]
corook has shared her sneakily catchy and heartfelt new single, ‘your mom,’ alongside a bittersweet yet heartwarming music video, starring corook and her actual girlfriend. “I wrote this song when I was dating a girl in the closet,” shared corook. “I was really fortunate to have already come out so I wanted to extend support if she wanted it, as well as the time and space to make her own decisions about it. I think the line ‘You don’t have to tell your mom about me’ can relate to so many couples in that giddy beginning, living in their little love bubble not wanting to pop it too soon. I hope this song gives people the patience, love and compassion that they truly deserve during the coming out process.” [via Prelude Press]
Singaporean indie band Sobs have released their first new material in three years with the bubble-grunge meets skater-punk title track of their upcoming album ‘Air Guitar’. Released on Friday alongside a music video, the single sees Sobs draw inspiration from Weezer, Demi Lovato and Liz Phair with a single that blends alt-pop melodies with a distinctly disenfranchised tone in lyrics like “Rewind the tape and show me all your scars / I liked you better being silly with your air guitar” and “Your lips don’t taste the same you’re no longer mine / You’re not worthy of a fight / Like the sweetness of my cherry pie / I can’t stop but I’ll try”. The music video, which was directed by Edward Khoo, sees Sobs’ frontwoman Celine Autumn dragged into a contract agreement and transformed into a model. She seems to revel in the glamour at first, before discovering that she signed over the rights to her soul. [via NME]
