Mallrat aka 22-year-old, Brisbane-native Grace Shaw, returns today with new single “Rockstar” (out now via Nettwerk Records). Written and recorded in her part-time home of Los Angeles, “Rockstar” is a collaboration with songwriter/producer Tommy English (Kacey Musgraves, Carly Rae Jepsen). Inspiration can clearly be heard from ’90s dream folk icons Mazzy Star, the hazy indie rock that populated the legendary soundtrack to The OC, and Shaw’s teenage idols Violent Soho. Sludgy, lethargic guitars and muffled, low-fi drums underpin the steady softness of her vocals as she sings some of the most spectacular lyrics of her career — aspirational, boastful, humble, and heartbreaking all at once:
Maybe I’ll fall in love with a rockstar,
We’ll be married forever,
I’ll forget all about ya, one day.
Maybe when I’ve won all the Grammys,
and I’ve got my own family,
I’ll forget all about ya, one day
Of the release, she shares: “I feel like ‘Rockstar’ reminds me of a mix between Lana Del Rey, Kacey Musgraves and Violent Soho. All through my teens (and obviously still) I loved the early Violent Soho albums self-titled and Hungry Ghost – those two albums I’ve listened to a lot and I think that’s seeped its way into the track. A lot of the songs I’ve been writing lately have been me realizing my power. I wrote the chorus first, it has a completely different attitude on its own, but when you listen in the context of the verses and the really aggressive guitar outro it completely flips the perspective of everything. When I wrote the rest of the song a year later, I was feeling a lot more sure of myself. It’s interesting how time can reframe things that you still think and are still true but just give them a whole new house to sit in. I’ve always thought of myself as a whisper singer and not even a very good singer, but when I listen to the chorus of ‘Rockstar’ it reminds me that I have more range than I probably even give myself credit for.”
