Happy Wednesday, pals. If you missed it on Twitter and Instagram, the blog hit 400,000 page views last week... yikes! I celebrated by vanishing from the blog a little (life!!!!) but I'm dipping my toes back in the water / procrastinating looking at my inbox with this brilliant new video from LA's Wallice. Funeral is taken from her recent 90s American Superstar EP and the video is maybe her best yet...
Wallice shares: "The video for 'Funeral' was really important to me. It's my favourite song that I've made so far. I pictured a concert-like celebration instead of a traditional solemn funeral, sort of taking the heaviness of a funeral and treating it lightly. In my videos I like to incorporate my lyrics in a literal way, but I also try to capture the tone of them as well. This video walks the line between melodramatic and sarcastic in a way that really captures my sense of humor. The video is also more broadly a symbol for how I'm evolving as an artist - the "death" of cowgirl Wallice is meant to mark the end of that era and the beginning of the next."
New Wallice!! Yessssss. Fresh from touring the US with Still Woozy, she's back with new single 90s American Superstar, the title track from her forthcoming second EP, releasing via Dirty Hit on 6th May. Written and recorded with friends at Wallice's grandparents house in Southern Utah, the EP is "a hypothetical look into the celebrity life that lots of musicians and the LA entertainment industry crowd seeks. It's fun to think about, "what if I was famous?" and how fame can change people. Especially since I grew up in LA - I love it here, but it's a strange place and it can feel like everyone is just looking for their big break. To me, the EP plays with that perspective and the way people think about that dream."
The title track (which is brill) introduces us to the protagonist of the EP at the height of their fame... Wallice explains that it "is about a fictional relationship in which my partner is showing very LA 'dating a musician' type behaviour. It's kind of a part two to the saga from a track on my last EP called 'Hey Michael'. The chorus makes it sort of a breakup song, and the verses make it a diss track. The first verse has six 90s movie references, and looks inwards at a breakup and what I did wrong. The second verse is blaming the other person - so it's kind of a rollercoaster of emotions."
Wallice is playing at Brighton's The Great Escape, with showcases at Glasgow and Dublin, and her first London headline show at The Lexington on May 17th.
All sorts of excited to see this in my inbox this week... new Wallice!!!! The LA-based musician is one of my favourite discoveries of recent years - a little bit in love with last year's Off The Rails EP. Brilliant news, then, that she's signed to Dirty Hit and is releasing her second EP this Spring. As a taster of the EP, Little League hits the spot perfectly. In fact, Wallice never misses.
On the track, Wallice shares: "Little League is about my love of games (board and video) and my competitiveness. I also think people can relate to the fear of not being liked. I can hang out with a single friend for 5 days straight, and still each time they leave I feel like - "oh no, they probably hate me because of something silly like being too competitive during a video game. This song was influenced by "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" by Radiohead, a band I grew up listening to."
The video sees Wallice and her producer marinelli starring alongside fellow LA musicians spill tab, Mykey and mazie, as they play Mario Party esque mini-games within a board game. Wallice explains: "I immediately reached out to director Philip Stilwell when I came up with a concept for this video. He did such an amazing job when we had previously worked on my 'Hey Michael' video last year. I knew he could execute the right balance of serious and funny within a short video."
Wallice just announced her first London headline show at The Lexington on May 17th - tickets available here.
Alright, not to alarm anybody... but I'm going to an actual gig today. Ahhh!! Rescheduled three times thank to *everything* - White Tail Falls' gig at St Pancras Old Church is finally happening and I am very excited. So I'm writing this... yesterday? Time travel, obviously. Trying to keep up the momentum I'm feeling with a string of beautiful tracks shared this week from Prima Queen, Baby Queen and Sunflower Thieves. Another brilliant one today, Wisdom Tooth from Wallice.
It's been a pretty solid year for the 23 year-old, and she's heading into the new year (can we talk about that yet? too soon?) having just signed to Dirty Hit. The new track is her first release on the label, following the recent Off the Rails EP - superb if you haven't heard it yet!
On the new track, she shares: “I wrote this song in a session with my long-time collaborator and best friend marinelli the day before I got my wisdom teeth out. The doctor had just called to say that I’d also need a bone graft to fill in the space in my jaw where the tooth used to be. It really shook me up and there was no way we could write a different song after that. Getting your wisdom teeth out is an event that many people have to go through, it's a physical sign of growing up. In the song ‘Wisdom Tooth’, I conflate this experience to getting rid of a person in your life as a milestone of growing up too. It shows that sometimes people can grow apart and though it can be hard, it might be better to leave a relationship or friendship rather than keep on trying to make it work. It also talks about how there are little reminders in your life that can bring you back to that person mentally, even though you have moved on.”
"I'm doing fine, stop asking me what's wrong. I live my life like I'm the only one going off the rails."
It feels like mere days since Hey Michael and 23 (both absolute tunes) were released into the world but Wallice is back with a new tune which is guaranteed to brighten up your Thursday. Off the Rails is the title track taken from her forthcoming debut EP, due to be released independently on 4th June. Lyrically, this one looks at the choices we make and their consequences, which we might try to blame on external forces. The music video, directed by L.A. photographer and creative Jerry Maestas, reflects the lyrics, and sees Wallice in a Sims-esque game being placed in situations that she can't control.
"Off the Rails is about feeling like you don't have any control over your life and that the world is against you - and that you're the only one that feels that way. Sometimes there are periods in your life when it's easy to think your life is falling apart, and there's nothing you can do to stop it or fix it. I think sometimes it's okay to sit in that self pity, but also at the same time you have the power to control it and take responsibility for your actions, at least to an extent. Sometimes there are just rough patches, and you have to do your best to get out of them, roll with the punches, and try not to be a shitty person."
In my *other life* I work in a bookstore, and as the UK starts to open up again, I've been back at the shop setting up the store with all of the shiny new books and welcoming aaaaaall the customers back. It's strange after so much time spent at home watching birds and pottering around in the garden, and I miss being able to spend so much time on the blog when I'm there. Luckily, there is almost always a recent discovery stuck in my head - this one has been there a lot over the past few days. New from 23 y/o US artist Wallice, the track is Hey Michael. It arrives with news of her debut EP Off the Rails this Summer, and features her close friend and producer marinelli, assuming the role of 'Michael' for a verse.
On the track, Wallice shares: “Hey Michael’ is a revenge anthem for anyone who has encountered a gaslighting, manipulative person. It’s what I wish I would have said to all the ‘Michael’s’ I have met in my life. It can be substituted by many names, we all know or have met a ‘Michael’ though. Somehow the world revolves around them and they just can’t catch a break, because they never do anything wrong and it’s usually your fault. You should have listened to your gut instinct and swiped left on this Michael. This isn’t a man-hating song, it’s just something many people can relate to. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to admit just how bad a friend, date, or romantic partner was and a lot of the time, I would just smile and laugh off stupid remarks but when I think back, I wish I had told them off. But at the same time, my persona in the song is not the best person either. I literally say “I think I want to start a fight, which one is your girlfriend?” The whole song is funny because I am so focused on how shitty Michael is that I don’t even think about how shitty I might be as well."
I love the video - directed by Phil Stillwell, it shows Wallice stuck at a houseparty, encountering various 'Michaels'. Playing on the lyric "hey Michael, you American Psycho" Wallice herself is dressed in a Patrick Batemen-esque business suit, channeling his comically dark (oh, very dark) energy. Watch for yourself above.
