K-pop singer Chuu has returned with her second mini-album and its title track ‘Strawberry Rush’. In the new visual, Chuu enters the world of a video game, where she runs on walls and shoots her way through hordes of colourful enemies as she chases down a golden trophy. Her pursuit takes her into space, where she races along a rainbow road and eventually back to earth to claim her prize. “Can’t get enough, that strawberry rush / I’ll rush over to you and keep you safe / In lightning speed, crushin’ ya, crushin’ ya, crushin’ ya / Find your bravery, woo,” she sings in the upbeat chorus. During a recent interview with Korea JoongAng Daily, the singer shared that she hopes the song will bring support and comfort to her listeners. “Someone might laugh at the lyrics and go, ‘What’s up with her?’ But I’m serious. And while the lyrics might feel odd when you first listen to them, they flow with the melody and make the song memorable after all,” said Chuu. [via NME]
Georgia Gets By, the project of New Zealand’s Georgia Nott (BROODS), shares ‘Madeline,’ her alluring and captivating new single for Luminelle Recordings. The song’s soulful yearning builds to a flooding of outsized emotion, expressing the inescapable feeling when you meet someone who transforms your life. “’Madeline’ is about the moment you meet someone that you know will change you. You feel it in the deepest place inside your stomach and become completely choice-less in your feelings for them,” Nott explains. The song is brought to life via its cinematic video directed by Silken Weinberg. “I made the video for ‘Madeline’ with Silken Weinberg; my favourite person to create visual worlds with, for her ability to capture drama in a way that is equally playful and devastating. We were watching a bunch of Hitchcock movies and became especially obsessed with Spellbound. Inspired by the trailers for his films, and the way they are a window into a much bigger story, we wanted to make ‘Madeline’ into that window. Just a glimpse of a world where ‘Madeline’ could be anything from a ghost, an idea or a hallucination. It’s really up to the viewer,” Nott adds.
After a few years’ worth of some nice EPs and singles, Los Angeles-via-Richmond musician Kate Bollinger is finally sharing her debut LP Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind in September. She released the lead single ‘Any Day Now’ last month, and she’s back now with another one called ‘To Your Own Devices.’ ‘To Your Own Devices’ is a dreamy slow-burner that feels like basking in the sun. It’s got a ’60s singer-songwriter sound to it, too, which compliments the accompanying vintage-looking music video. Here’s what Bollinger said about it: “When I first moved to Los Angeles, I came across a book of old Japanese designs called MOGA, a catchword meaning “modern girls” that was used to describe fashionable city women who embraced westernized modes and manners in the 1920s. In the book I found a surrealist design that depicted a woman, underwater with fish swimming around her, wearing a beautiful costume, and stirring a giant fish bowl like a pot of soup, and I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate the scene for the album cover. I wrote a script for the music video and brought in filmmaker Nikki Milan Houston as my co-director and set designer. We brought in Odie Summers as set fabricator and in a friend’s studio downtown, a kitchen set was built over several days and came to life because of the distinctive skills and devotion of everyone involved.” [via Stereogum]
Macedo —the BIPOC and LGBTQ songwriting duo composed of twin sisters Melissa and Michelle Macedo — return using their natural sibling connection and otherworldly creative bond to create a fun new single ‘Optimistic’ equally steeped in 80’s pop and synth-wave mystique. For the Macedo sisters, music started at the beginning. ‘Optimistic’ takes on a modern spin of 80s synth-pop that garners instant earworm status. After all, sisters just want to have fun. The simple, yet effective lyrics impress feelings of hope and positivity. “I don’t have to be afraid of anything in this life,” sings Macedo. “‘Optimistic’ is about making the most out of the one life we’ve got to live!”
Peggy Gou has released a new video for ‘Lobster Telephone’. It’s a cut from her just-released debut album I Hear You, out now via XL Recordings, which also features previous cuts ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’, Lenny Kravitz collaboration ‘I Believe in Love Again’ and ‘1+1=11’. A press release explains: “Starring Peggy herself and directed by Japanese filmmaker Alice Kunisue, it’s the perfect visual to accompany the Salvadore Dali-inspired song; a playful video sees the viewer transported into a surreal parallel realm via textured cinematography, costumes and a unique environment as a troupe of mesmerised, infatuated dancers vie for the attention of a lobster goddess.” [via Dork]
Los Angeles-via-Paris pop voyagers Pearl & The Oysters – the duo of Juliette Pearl Davis (Juju) and Joachim Polack (Jojo) – return with a new song ‘Side Quest’ via Stones Throw. The song marks a cathartic release for Polack. In an attempt to counter his worry about processing a family illness, together he and Davis channel his feelings into pure jazz-pop joy resulting in some of the happiest chord progressions and melodies the duo has yet to conjure. In Polack’s words, he says, “I thought, this has to be the poppiest thing I’ll ever do. I wanted to do that purely as a therapeutic outlet. As it evolved, the lyrics came to embody the expression of estrangement “as we navigate a world that can often feelalien and demented.” ‘Side Quest’ is also accompanied by a music video today directed by Ginger Root-collaborator David M. Gutel and Tayler Nicholson, inspired by the surrealism of Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. The psychedelic video is in turn an exploration of the subconscious mind where reality and fantasy collide in a kaleidoscope of vivid imagery. [via ShoreFire]
Grammy-winning artist, DAYA released her new single titled ‘Don’t Fall’ this week. The track is an emotional pop ballad that allows the young superstar to experiment with the various genres of electronic production elements. The song ‘Don’t Call’ is about trying to get over someone you love. The lyrics of the song are quite relatable and her soulful and ethereal voice does total justice to the melody. The instrumental elements are also nicely adjusted in the song. The song begins with soft and natural chords and moves into a light drum and bass at the peak of most parts of the track. DAYA says the following about her track “‘Don’t Call’ has had this magical pull ever since we created it and I’m so excited for it to be out. It feels like a song I’ve always wanted to put into the world and a big emotional release for me; I hope people will feel that in the music.” [via Music Feeds]
