Allison Ponthier‘s new EP, Shaking Hands with Elvis, will be released on June 10 via Interscope Records. The EP includes “Hardcore,” a brand-new song which Ponthier shared today.
The song, which was produced by GRAMMY® winner Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend). In the animated video, a puppet resembling Ponthier performs “Hardcore,” accompanying herself on acoustic guitar as she sits at home alone – with a birthday banner overhead and a piñata hanging from the ceiling. The video was animated by Mero Estudio.
“The idea for ‘Hardcore’ came from the sentiment that while being tough can be admirable, there is a ruthlessness to letting yourself be emotional and vulnerable, too,” says Allison Ponthier. “The line ‘it’s hard being hardcore’ floated around in my head for months, so when Ariel, Nick Long, and I got together to write, the idea of having that lyric against Ariel’s ability to create the most warm and sentimental sounds was super exciting. Working with Ariel was amazing, especially since around that time I was constantly listening to Vampire Weekend’s Father of the Bride. And Nick has written some of my favorite songs of all time.”
Allison Ponthier – Tour Dates
5/17 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues Orlando*
5/18 St. Petersburg, FL Jannus Live*
5/20 New Orleans, LA Fillmore New Orleans*
5/21 Austin, TX Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater* SOLD OUT
5/22 Austin, TX Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater*
5/24 Houston, TX House of Blues Houston*
5/25 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom*
5/29 Napa, CA BottleRock Napa Valley 2022*
6/11 Los Angeles, CA P LA PRIDE IN THE PARK
6/14 Brooklyn, NY Baby’s All Right
6/16 Los Angeles, CA Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
Motordrome, the long awaited third album from Danish superstar MØ, is out January 28 via Columbia.
“‘Goosebumps’ was the first song I intentionally wrote for Motordrome,” says MØ. “Both the song and the video are about remembering who you are, who you were, and who you aspire to be. I wanted the video to tell the story of pulling yourself out of the mind’s prison and back into life.”
Directed by longtime collaborator Rob Sinclair (a recent Emmy winner for David Byrne’s American Utopia) and Lewis Knaggs, the video was shot in the aftermath of MØ’s hometown show at Copenhagen’s Den Grå Hal last month.
Motordrome is MØ’s first body of work since 2018’s much lauded Forever Neverland, which saw her touring the world over off the back of its success. MØ’s career was almost instantly launched into the stratosphere from the very start with her monumental 2014 debut album No Mythologies To Follow and a very prominent feature on Major Lazer’s “Lean On”—one of the most successful singles of all time—soon after. When touring behind Forever Neverland came to a halt in 2019, MØ found herself completely burned out after five years on the road.
She returned to Denmark to recalibrate and recover from the physical and mental exhaustion she was experiencing as a result, but had trouble checking out. A vocal injury requiring months of rehabilitation exacerbated her bouts of anxiety and a sense that things were slipping out of her control.
MØ, born Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen, hunkered down and did what she knew best—wrote songs. The music that began to emerge bridged the gap between her years as a teen punk touring anarchist squats across Europe and the bright scandipop she’d come to be known for, a darker and more personal take on her sound.
She enlisted friends and longtime collaborators Caroline Ailin (Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding) and Noonie Bao (Halsey, Charli XCX, Carly Rae Jepsen) to help flesh out the songs, with further songwriting and production from a close circle including Ariel Rechtshaid (Haim, Vampire Weekend, Adele), Jam City (Olivia Rodrigo, Troye Sivan), S.G. Lewis (Dua Lipa), Linus Wiklund and Yangze.
Motordrome’s title came from a conversation MØ had with her mother about her battles with anxiety—the panic and intrusive thoughts called to mind the dødstrome, an old carnival trick in which a stuntperson rides a motorcycle around the vertical walls of a motordrome at death-defying speeds.
The making of the album proved to be MØ’s escape from this deepening spiral, although the album is very much a document of a person-in-progress. While there is a strong sense of empowerment and of brighter days ahead, it also serves as a reminder that everyone has to deal with their own dødstrome—that there is no perfect remedy for life’s struggles, and that’s OK.
“I hope that people will feel that it’s genuine and that there are stories there that they can connect with,” MØ says. “For me this album represents a huge change in my life. Even though I’m still doing what I love doing, it does feel like a new chapter. An era of my life is over and I’m entering a new one. That is scary, but it’s freeing.”
MØ LIVE 2022
February 4 Parkteatret Oslo, Norway
February 5 Debaser Stockholm, Sweden
February 8 NIEBO Warsaw, Poland
February 9 Kesselhaus Berlin, Germany
February 11 Le Trabendo Paris, France
February 13 Orangerie – Botanique Brussels, Belgium
Today I, the iconic global pop star Charli XCX, am announcing CRASH, my highly-anticipated forthcoming album, releasing March 18th 2022. This is the fifth and final album in my record deal…
I have also released ‘New Shapes’ featuring Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens, and am announcing my European and North American tour, with tickets available for presale from November 10th. If you don’t stream New Shapes or purchase tickets to the tour you will most definitely burn in hell.
The announcement of CRASH follows my latest single, ‘Good Ones’, a track signaling a new chapter for me in which I embraced all that the life of a pop figurehead has to offer in today’s world – celebrity, obsession and global hits.
I was able to possess and persuade an incredible group of producers and collaborators to contribute to CRASH by using my femme fatale powers and a multitude of dark spells and curses. Some of these include A. G. Cook, George Daniel, Deaton Chris Anthony, Lotus IV, Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens, Oscar Holter, Digital Farm Animals, Rina Sawayama, Ian Kirkpatrik, Jason Evigan, Justin Raisen, Ariel Rechtshaid, Ilya, Oneohtrix Point Never, Jon Shave and Mike Wise. They will all remain locked in my basement forever.
In addition, I have also revealed a European and North American tour, with shows in Los Angeles, London, Paris and more. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday November 12th, with ticket presales beginning Wednesday November 10th.
North American live dates:
March 26 – Fox Theatre – Oakland, CA
March 29 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
April 1 – The Observatory North Park – San Diego, CA
April 3 – The Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
April 6 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
April 8 – ACL Live at The Moody Theater – Austin, TX
April 9 – House of Blues Houston – Houston, TX
April 10 – House of Blues Dallas – Dallas, TX
April 12 – Orpheum Theater – New Orleans, LA
April 13 – The Eastern – Atlanta, GA
April 15 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
April 16 – The NorVa – Norfolk, VA
April 18 – The Fillmore Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA
April 20 – House of Blues Boston – Boston, MA
April 22 – Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY
April 23 – Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY
April 25 – Massey Hall – Toronto, ON
April 26 – Royal Oak Music Theatre – Royal Oak, MI
April 28 – Palace Theatre – Saint Paul, MN
April 29 – Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL
European live dates:
May 13 – Olympia Theatre – Dublin, Ireland
May 15 – O2 Academy – Glasgow, UK
May 17 – Victoria Warehouse – Manchester, UK
May 18 – O2 Academy – Birmingham, UK
May 19 – Alexandra Palace – London, UK
May 21 – UEA – Norwich, UK
May 22 – O2 Academy – Sheffield, UK
May 23 – Rock City – Nottingham, UK
May 25 – Trianon – Paris, France*
May 27 – La Madeleine – Brussels, Belgium*
May 28 – TivoliVredenburg (Ronda Hall) – Utrecht, Netherlands
May 30 – Astra – Berlin, Germany
May 31 – Carlswerk Victoria – Cologne, Germany
June 2 – Primavera – Barcelona, Spain
June 4 – Fabrique – Milan, Italy
June 7 – La Riviera – Madrid, Spain
June 9 – Primavera – Barcelona, Spain
*Tickets for these shows go onsale to the general public on November 10th.
Kacy Hill is beginning her first headlining tour on November 2. This LA artist, formerly of Phoenix has released multiple albums including Like A Woman, Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again and Simple, Sweet and Smiling.
KACY HILL—SIMPLE, SWEET, AND SELFISH TOUR
November 2 Constellation Room Santa Ana, CA
November 3 Brick + Mortar San Francisco, California
November 5 Holocene Portland, OR
November 6 Vera Project Seattle, Washington
November 9 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT
November 11 Lost Lake Denver, Colorado
November 12 Slowdown Omaha, NE
November 16 A&R Bar Columbus, OH
November 18 Schubas Chicago, Illinois
November 19 El Club Detroit, MI
November 21 Mercury Lounge New York, New York
November 23 Metro Gallery Baltimore, Maryland
November 27 The End Nashville, TN
November 28 The Masquerade—Purgatory Atlanta, Georgia
November 30 Ruins Dallas, Texas
December 1 The Secret Group Houston, TX
December 4 Rebel Lounge Phoenix, Arizona
December 5 Moroccan Lounge Los Angeles, California
Simple, Sweet, and Smiling is a document of Hill working through hardship—her dad suffered a heart attack right as she was beginning the album, and her own latent anxiety disorder began to surface. She confronts these feelings of powerlessness in the face of her own mind and mortality, while giving thanks to the partners, friends and family who have helped her through. Simple, Sweet, and Smiling, has many meanings—it’s genuinely aspirational; an acknowledgement of gratefulness for those moments in which clarity briefly breaks through mental anguish; and a tongue-in-cheek admission of something which for many of us never quite feels possible.
Simple, Sweet, and Smiling, which Hill made largely with collaborators John Carroll Kirby (Frank Ocean, Solange), Ariel Rechtshaid (Adele, Vampire Weekend, Charli XCX) and Jim-E Stack (Caroline Polachek, HAIM, Dominic Fike).
Today she releases the latest single from the album, “Easy Going”
Catch Hill in an intimate show at Lost Lake on Veteran’s Day.
Spin Magazine