Ethereal songstress Empress Of has been gearing up to release her debut album Me. Following her five-day residency at New York City’s Elvis Guesthouse venue, opening sets at Florence and The Machine and Kimbra shows, and the bilingual lead single “Water Water,” she has now shared a new song, titled “Kitty Kat.”
Lorely Rodríguez recorded, produced, and engineered the song, as well as the entire album. The new track features Rodríguez’s most aggressive self to date, sonically speaking. Fat bass lines, thumping kick drums, and razor-sharp synth arpeggios envelop our ears, while her airy voice balances it all, especially when she reaches those falsetto notes.
The song is accompanied by a lyric video, in which the words appear as messages on postcards and a notebook with a Terrible Records sticker. That’s when we figure out that Rodríguez’s pretty melodies are actually about her experience with street harassment. She protests defiantly, “If I was a man would you still do the same?,” right before dropping into the “let me walk away” chorus.
Me is out September 11th on Terrible/XL.