Ari Lee – Knife Cuts Both Ways

Following a standout debut EP Trophy Wife In Training in September 2025, Hong-Kong born Ari Lee returns with another emotionally rich offering in “Knife Cuts Both Ways” which is out today.

A striking voice in the pop landscape, the latest release from the London-based songstress is a bittersweet offering expressing the inner conflict between wanting to be loved, yet wishing to be free from something that no longer serves you. Although melancholic in its subject matter with deeply powerful lyrics and Ari Lee’s emotional delivery, “Knife Cuts Both Ways” remains a hypnotisingly addictive pop track.

Co-written and produced with seegz and mixed by Gustav Brunn (Yung Lean, Olga Myko), “Knife Cuts Both Ways” begins with a retro-sounding bass and shimmering synth layers that create an air of bittersweet nostalgia that lend themselves to Ari Lee’s reflective lyrics: “don’t think I want it, not another empty promise”. But paired with a minimalist drum beat that snaps with quiet confidence throughout, it gains a subtle edge that gives the track a clear emotional duality, simultaneously evoking feelings of sadness but also of empowerment.

Speaking on the track, Ari states: “it’s the come-to-Jesus moment in a toxic cycle when you realise that you need to get out now and get out fast. Because the love that morphs you into someone that you hate, the person who over-promises and under-delivers, is a knife that cuts both ways. I wrote the song at a time when I realised I had entangled myself in an unhealthy situation and was on the brink of self-abandonment again. Old habits die hard but I finally set myself free.”

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