Annie was on a hiatus since the release of her amazing Endless Vacation EP back in 2015, but the Norwegian pop star recently came back to the centre of the stage with a new track, “American Cars,” and the promise of a new album. Titled Dark Hearts, the project was made in collaboration with The Sound of Arrows’ Stefan Storm and is described as “the soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist.”

Like the lead single, “The Bomb” is dreamy and cinematic. “We wanted to do a song that was not a straight-up pop song but had a bit of melodrama,” she explained to The Line Of Best Fit. “I guess it’s a combination of the world we live in at the moment. You read the news … and it’s all a bit too much. It makes you wonder if you’ll wake up and realize if it was all a dream!”. Peppered with ‘SOS’ and driven by an urgent beat, the apocalyptic track also features some dialogues from the 1988 nuclear war thriller Miracle Mile.

After a week of exciting teasing on her socials, Norwegian pop powerhouse Annie (real name Anne Lilia Berge-Strand) has finally shared her comeback single “American Cars”. It was a long-awaited return for the Berlin-based artist who did not release anything since her 2015 EP Endless Vacation (her last album, Don’t Stop, was released back in 2009). Produced by The Sound of Arrows‘s Stefan Storm, her forthcoming full-length project Dark Hearts is described as “the soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist.”

Partly inspired by David Cronenberg’s movie Crash, the first signle, “American Cars,” is a dreamy synthwave offering reminiscent of her excellent track “Anthonio (Berlin Breakdown Version)”. “I did a lot of recording while I was pregnant, puking while I was singing,” she explained about the creative process. “Stefan had to go out to buy me liquorice, but I still managed to do some quite good vocals.” The single evokes Stranger Things soundtrack and a road trip by night. Fasten your seatbelt, break free and then never look back.

Annie doesn’t release a lot of new music lately, and when she does, she seems to favour short formats and singles to full-length albums (read ‘quality over quantity’). Her last EP, the excellent The A&R, is already two years old and she only unveiled a series of remixes and a protest song named “Russian Kiss” since then.

But be reassured, the wait is now almost over. Today, the Norwegian dance-pop artist has announced a brand new EP, Endless Vacation, that she produced alongside frequent collaborator Richard X (“Chewing Gum”, “Invisible”…). The 4-track project will feature contributions from Jim Eliot (Kylie, Foxes), Stefan Storm (The Sound Of Arrows), and Hannah Robinson (Ladyhawke, Say Lou Lou).

She has also shared the first single and opening track. Co-written and produced by Richard X and Stefan Storm, “Cara Mia” is a breezy and summery pop song which conjugates romance with dolce vita. Listen below.