Wallice shares her new single and video ‘Best Friend’ and announces her forthcoming EP Mr Big Shot, set for release on Friday June 23 via Dirty Hit. The music video arrives as a striking piece directed by Anthony Pham and John Merizalde, known for their work with the likes of Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, and Depeche Mode. ‘Best Friend’ is Wallice’s first new music of 2023, a year already shaping up to be a big one for her having just wrapped up a US tour with JAWNY and now currently on a tour of Asia and Australia as direct support for The 1975. Carrying on from where she left off with her previous single ‘Japan’, ‘Best Friend’ sees Wallice continue to showcase her more reflective and sentimental side touching on the sometimes nostalgic, sometimes frustrating memories of lost relationships. Wallice comments; “A recurrent theme in my music has been friendship. I think this song can easily relate to both friendship and the friendship within a romantic relationship. I’ve had a couple falling outs with various friends throughout my life, I think it’s just part of life and growing up. Even though that friendship might not serve you anymore it’s still so easy to reminisce on it and miss it.”
Cyn releases new video for her new single ‘Losing Sleep’ via Unsub Records. “I wanted to bring mine and Lissyelle Laricchia’s art direction to life!” Cyn says about the video, “I let the lyric ‘it’s a dreamlike reality cuz of you’ inform every artful decision. I wanted to create a dream world, liberated from the logical or familiar. I’m so grateful to the entire team for helping me bring this vision to life.” Maintaining a reputation for show-stopping visuals, the songstress pulled out all the stops like she always does. Once again, she teamed up with filmmaker and New York Times Bestseller, Kyle Newman [Fanboys, Barely Lethal, 1Up] behind the camera for the video. Newman says, “Cyn’s clever lyrics and unique sound elicit strong visuals. The song’s overall playfulness inspired our exploration of the surreal. The collage stylings were a creative and effective way to play with scale akin to Alice In Wonderland and setting by placing her in a multitude of unconventional locations.” The clip co-mingles live action, collage animation, and immersive backdrops to create a gorgeous aesthetic of its own. As she tries and fails to catch some shuteye, it finds Cyn on the moon sipping a cocktail, towering over the pyramids as a UFO circles, overlooking Los Angeles Godzilla-style, and dancing in a cowboy hat on a pasture. It evokes the deliriously catchy melodies of the track with commensurate cleverness.
Poppy has released her new single ‘Church Outfit’. It comes on the back of her newly inked record deal with Sumerian Records. Poppy performed a sold-out show in London last November, and dropped her last EP Stagger in October. Poppy adds: “It’s an artist’s responsibility to always change. I don’t think I’d want to be in my body if I was repeating the same thing over and over again. I’m only competing with myself. I will continue to write the story until I get tired of the book. Then, I’ll write another one.” [via Dork]
This week, the producer Yaeji released her her debut album, With A Hammer. Before that. Yaeji returned with one more album preview: ‘Passed Me By,’ which comes with by a video directed by Enayet and Zanzie. In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Yaeji describes how ‘Passed Me By’ is directed toward her younger self, in particular the Korean-sung lyric “I almost didn’t recognize you”). “She’s always been looking at me, but I was always averting my gaze and rejecting her existence,” Yaeji explains. “And this is the moment I lock eyes with her, and I’m like, You’re there. I see you.” [via Stereogum]
Iraina Mancini has shared her wonderful new single ‘Cannonball’. A retro-pop amalgam, Iraina seizes on the best aspects of the past, blurring those impeccable 60s and 70s influences with a touch of modernity. A full album is incoming, with new single ‘Cannonball’ online now. It feels like the lost theme to a 60s spy film, a kind of Modesty Blaize character updated for the modern era. A female-forward slice of action-packed pop, it was co-written alongside Simon Dine, and produced by Sunglasses for Jaws (with the redoubtable Erol Alkan on additional production). The neat keyboard arpeggios in the background recall the Killing Eve soundtrack work constructed by Unloved, while the loping bassline is sheer McCartney. A psych-pop whirlwind, ‘Cannonball’ finds Iraina yearning for freedom. She comments… “I wrote ‘Cannonball’ about taking a chance in life and following your heart. It’s that moment where you meet someone or something and it knocks you for six! Your intuition kicks in and you’ve got to go with what it’s telling you. I really wanted to write something that grabbed people’s attention, I got lost in my head in an action packed, 60s stylish thriller film.” Equipped with some lovingly kitsch visuals, you can check out ‘Cannonball’ below. [via Clash]
It’s been about two years since the Japanese band CHAI released their last album, 2021’s Wink, and since then they’ve dropped a series of singles. Now, they’re back with a fresh song for us, the energetic and bright ‘We The Female!’ “We are human and were born as female, but we have both female and male aspects in each of our souls, each with our own sense of balance,” CHAI said in a statement. “We can’t just label ourselves into clear-cut, simple categories anymore! I’m not anyone else but just ‘me,’ and you are no one else but just ‘you’. This song celebrates that with a roar! Yooooooooo!!” [via Stereogum]
Indie-rock rising talent Mazey Haze (aka Amsterdam based musician Nadine Appeldoorn) releases her new EP Back to the Start and shares the video for its title track. The EP’s titular, opening track perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the project. Announcing itself like a Californian daydream, awash with synths, heavenly vocal harmonies and jangling guitars, the song’s accompanying video was directed by Pasqual Amade. The EP’s title track captures a certain struggle Appeldoorn has untethering herself from the umpteenth setback. “I’m just being very honest and very real, being like, ‘I went through all this shit for a reason, but now I’m clueless again,’” she explains. “But I think that’s basically what life is: you constantly get over these really hard, big things.”
Garage rocker Olivia Jean has shared ‘Raving Ghost,’ the title track of her third solo album arriving via Third Man Records on Friday, May 5. The track is accompanied by an official music video directed by Olivia Jean herself alongside Erica Salazar, a perfect complement to the slinking, noirish quality of the music.
Breaking up with a friend is a tricky scenario to navigate, not least because the moment of realization that the relationship isn’t working can take so much longer to come into focus. That is the central tension at the heart of ‘Aspartame,’ the latest single from New York-based May Rio. Named after the artificial sweetener that can cause digestive issues and increased blood sugar in some people, ‘Aspartame’ compares a friend whose company slowly reveals itself to be a similarly toxic influence on her life. Themes of co-dependence and low self-esteem are laced through the song’s lyrics as Rio sings “You’ve got a lil problem, It’s not my job to fix it” and “Maybe the problem, Was I just felt so lucky, Just to have anything.” The words are the main focus here, with a minimal percussive backdrop putting thoughts of how voids get filled front and center. Speaking via email, Rio says: “I wrote ‘Aspartame’ in one day. It was born out of an important but complicated friendship that I needed to exit. The song has a melancholy, but it’s also angry. In the midst of that crossover, I found empowerment. Like I said I wasn’t going to take this shit anymore, and here I am, not taking it anymore.” [via The FADER]
After teasing fans over the past week, via their social media pages, Dorian Electra has officially made their comeback. When an artist wipes their socials and updates their profile picture, it’s safe to assume that they’re about to enter a new era. Singer-songwriter Dorian Electra did just that, at the end of the March, leaving fans speculating as to what may be happening behind the scenes by asking them to “pledge to Freak Mode” via a link to their website. Now, Electra debuts their first release of the year with ‘Freak Mode’. Co-produced by Clarence Clarity (Rina Sawayama), the single comes with a music video which was co-directed by Electra and Weston Allen. [via Line Of Best Fit]
Nikki Lane has released the video for her single ‘Denim & Diamonds,’ the title track of her latest album, directed by Desert 5 Spot’s Wade Crescent and Chase Manhattan. Filmed in Los Angeles, the video is the result of a crafty production, emphasizing the underlying theme of women’s empowerment that the song conveys. The video has a vintage feel, with scenes of casual glamour following several women’s unique yet unifying experiences. The set design and styling consist of custom Western apparel with one-of-a-kind pieces from Nikki Lane’s new Nashville vintage shop, High Class Hillbilly. Amongst Black Leaf Flower floral arrangements, the singer-songwriter wears a Catherine D’Lish gown, a custom hat from Ben Kennimer, with diamonds and jewelry by Esteembale Objects. [via Flaunt]
Caroline Polachek has unveiled a new live performance music video for ‘Smoke.’ In the clip for her Desire, I Want to Turn Into You song, Polachek performs with her band amid volcano sculptures, smoke, and glowing red scenery. Polachek’s band comprises Maya Laner, Matthew Horton, and Russell Holzman. Watch the Matt Copson–directed visual below. [via Pitchfork]
American singer-songwriter Eva Grace has dropped a new music video for ‘always be a fan’ directed by B. It was written by Eva Grace and produced by Josh Nabors. Eva Grace shared on social media, “this song always hits harder in the car”. She planned to release one new song and corresponding music video every month for a year, starting in August. Eva Grace told Tucson Weekly about her music, “I love the idea of creating visual art that represents all of my auditory art. I’m extremely excited to have music videos to go with everything. I think that it brings new life to the songs and really illustrates the kind of feeling that I want people to get from the songs.” She continued, “I’m always writing songs and trying to beat myself and make better songs than I did previously. It’s really just picking my favorite ones that I’ve done. I only want to put out my best work.” [via pmstudio]
