Following the release of her striking 2020 album Something To Say To You, Jordana Nye drops a new single in collaboration with LA-based duo Magdalena Bay. “Push Me Away” was produced by her regular collaborator MELVV as well as Jai Wolf. Fed with frustration and unrequited love, the throbbing and dreamy pop track builds up until its grunge-y cathartic finale. Directed by Mag Bae, the accompanying lo-fi slash retro visuals are just as fun and addictive as the track.

The first single from multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter Jordana’s upcoming EP To You has been revealed in the form of the tinkling track “Divine”.

This EP follows her self released debut album Classical Notions Of Happiness, which she penned when she was 18, and follow up EP Something to Say which was released back in late July. These two EPs put together – along with some fresh material – will culminate to form the Something To Say To You LP.

With producer MELVV back once again on board, “Divine” is both expansive and personal, with a pulsating electronic vibe beneath the organic sounding chimes. The track has the vulnerability that is a staple of Jordana’s work, with the focus of the track being on her struggles with her mental health.

When talking about the song, she explained that “‘Divine’ is a song I wrote that speaks on the exhausting cycle of emotional battles and mental recovery that I’ve endured from past relationships”.

Lyrically, “Divine” encapsulates this feeling of hope and dogged determination to find somewhere peaceful. With one verse stating “Gotta find your ways that you can be happy/Whether it be singing this or therapy/I just know this life can be a blessing” we hear Jordana having a conversation with her own psyche, trying to convince herself to stay positive and to find the will to overcome her mental struggles.

This builds up to a cathartic chorus that repeats the sentiment “Some day I’ll find / Somewhere divine”. It’s both hopeful and wistful, a true yearning for the day when her battles with illness are fewer and farther between.

Her vocals entwine with the stoic chimes and electronic drums, crooning in a way that’s heartbreaking in its hopefulness and positivity. With “Divine”, Jordana delivers a message to all the people struggling with internal battles. Tomorrow will be better. Watch the Nick D’Agostino-directed visuals below and pre-order the To You EP via Bandcamp.

Earlier this year, Kansas singer-songwriter Jordana Nye, better known as Jordana, re-released her debut album Classical Notions of Happiness (with a few new tracks) on Grand Jury Music. This extended version was notably coming with “Crunch,” a MELVV-produced track that is already featured in our Best Tracks of 2020. For her upcoming new EP, the 19-year-old artist has decided to leave her bedroom studio, opting instead for fleshed out and full instrumentations. The first single, “I’ll Take It Boring,” was also produced by NYC-based MELVV.

“‘I’ll Take It Boring’ is a song about my experience at a Halloween party which I regretted attending,” she explained. “It’s a song for all the introverts out there, for all the people who feel like blowing off their weekend plans and staying home.”

There is an aesthetic doctrine among many pop purists that encourages musical artists to “get in, get to the good, and get out.” This ideology promotes tight, efficient songwriting that doesn’t make the listener wait for the hook or work hard to enjoy the tune. Rather than wade through searching melodies, amorphous instrumentation, or expansive arrangements, musicians of such a philosophy start their songs with a blast of euphoria that almost immediately captures the attention of its audience. Apologists of Weezer‘s giddy and ultra-catchy Green Album might cite the above approach in their defence of the band’s 28-minute comeback. And in this sense, Wichita-based bedroom-pop artist Jordana wastes no time getting to the good in her punchy new single, “Crunch.”

19-year-old Jordana Nye — recording simply as Jordana — opens the proceedings with a big, overdriven bass-and-drums groove, sounding even more like Danger Mouse producing The Black Keys than the actual Black Keys album that Danger Mouse produced did. Her breathy, youthful-but-practiced voice provides sweet background harmonies, and as we immediately nod our head along to the groove, we soon notice that something feels slightly off — the time signature of this pop song is in 7/4, constantly alternating between a standard 4/4 measure and a truncated 3/4 measure. Smartly, aside from a couple distorted lead guitar solos in the back half of the track, Jordana doesn’t mess too much with the arrangement, allowing us to instead focus on her memorable melodies as they descend (“Now you see me”) and then ascend (“Is it true?”).

According to Ms. Nye, “‘Crunch’ is a feeling of an overbearing want for validation from someone and getting the cold shoulder from them. The song starts out with the confidence in knowing this person could possibly notice you, and ends in anger and frustration seeing that they ignored you.”

Along with a couple other new songs, like her previous single (and ode to/criticism of astrology) “Signs,” Jordana will thankfully include “Crunch” on the upcoming remastered and expanded re-release of her self-produced 2019 debut album, Classical Notions of Happiness, hitting streets March 27 on Grand Jury Music. And with a tour lined up this spring, opening for fellow bedroom-pop cohorts TV Girl, 2020 promises to be a big year for this talented young woman. Watch the POND-directed visuals of “Crunch” and pre-order Classical Notions of Happiness via Bandcamp below.

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Following up on “21”, New York native Samia is back with a video for her new track “Milk”. Turning personal details from daily life into striking songs, the artist’s sensitive songwriting is reminescent of Julien Baker and Tobias Jesso Jr. In her latest offering, which was produced by Jesse Harris, she manages to interweave the loss of a loved one and eating disorder with a genuine emotion and a poetic modesty.

About “Milk” and the Tess Lafia-directed video that goes with it, Samia explained:

[su_quote]I was dealing with an eating disorder while my grandmother/family’s matriarch was dying. I was so mad at myself; it felt hypocritical to be encouraging someone else to fight for her life while i was willfully taking years off of my own. A lot of people have eating disorders and everybody’s grandparents die so i didn’t feel entitled to the deep sadness i felt. I do now! In the video, I’m really attached to these balloons which sort of represent the part of my identity that was emaciated and dealing with loss. The simplicity of the video reflects my grief; there was something comfortably uncomplicated about being totally sad.[/su_quote]

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After the release of “They Came Along“, “Settle” and “Work For Us“, the forth single comes as the last piece to convince us that 2018 is their year. The new single also comes with great news: after making their live debut in Brooklyn, they are ready to perform at SXSW and you can check the dates below.

Haulm’s “Stay For Me” is out on March 30 via Grand Jury Music.

03/13 Austin, TX – Day Party @ Swan Dive

03/13 Austin, TX – Rosquatch Official Showcase @ The Blackheart

03/16 Austin, TX – Future Music @ Shiner Saloon

03/17 Austin, TX – Rosquatch Day Party @ Swan Dive