It’s fair to say that MAY-A has had a massive last few months. She opened for 5 Seconds of Summer on their Australian headline tour in November / December and performed at the Falls Festivals and Lost Paradise. She has just returned from Europe where she opened for Wallows on their UK and European tour. And who can forget her vocals which featured on Flume’s “Say Nothing” that took out the #1 spot in triple j’s Hottest 100.
Amongst all these achievements, MAY-A has also found time to release new music. Last month she released “Sweat You Out My System”, a track that spans genres. It has some rapping style moments, sultry vocals and the ripping guitars that she is so well known for. I caught her set at Lost Paradise over the new year, and her performance was amongst the highlights.
About the track, MAY-A writes: “‘Sweat You Out My System’ is pretty up-front lyrically, it plays on the idea of being completely addicted to someone; ‘Missing you like a little kid/ waiting for you to get back/I wish for you in my veins/so addicted it’s insane’. The whole song stays on theme of the feeling of trying to ‘quit’ someone (hence – sweating them out like drugs), because f**k going back!”
To celebrate the release of “Sweat You Out My System”, MAY-A has put together a playlist of bangers that she believes we all need to hear.
It’s an eclectic mix – crank up the volume and give it a spin. I’m stoked that PLANET has made the cut….
1. “The Great Gig in the Sky” – Pink Floyd
This is the last song I cried to. I am someone who tends to pay more attention to the lyrical aspect of a song rather than the instrumentation. This felt like a massive reminder of the power of emotion in music outside of the poetic aspect. This song could be interpreted in millions of different ways because it’s not tied to any specific written meaning.
2. “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” – Car Seat Headrest
I love the way this song builds, I love the awkwardly beautiful vocals, the feel of the guitars. The way the story twists and changes. His lyrics feel so simple yet they have so much weight, listening to the way the song is sung and structured it’s like I can picture all the words just falling out of his mouth without a second thought.
3. “Take Me Where Your Heart is” – Q
To me this song feels like falling in love, again. I feel like melting away into the music.
4. “Split” – WILLOW
This song rips my f*cking heart out of my chest and slams it onto the floor. WILLOW’S vocal delivery is so beautiful and twisted. she seems to be both whisper-serenading and yelling at the same time.
5. “Not There” – KUČKA
I often put this song on whenever we’re driving back from a gig. This song makes me feel so comforted, It feels like thunderstorm sounds when you’re trying to sleep or warm heavy blankets. Every element in the song compliments KUČKA’s voice perfectly.
6. “Crush” – Ethel Caine
I get completely lost in this song every single time. I’ll often put this on when I feel like I want to leave my reality for a moment.
7. “Aching Dream” – PLANET
PLANET is an Aussie band I’ve been a fan of for quite a while, I love the feel of their music.
8. “Heat Above” – Greta Van Fleet
When I first stumbled across ‘Heat Above’ I thought “How on earth have I only just heard this? Surely it’s twice as old as I am?”.
This track feels like an iconic, timeless, beautiful piece of music, it’s almost hard to comprehend that it’s been made within this generation of music. I feel super inspired whenever this comes on.
9. “Take Me As You Please” – The Story So Far
This song feels extremely nostalgic for me. The car that I drive doesn’t have Bluetooth or anything so I usually just play random shit on the radio or put in one of the few CDs I own, after I heard this song I went out and bought the CD for this album immediately and I’d say that I’ve listened to this song once a day for the past year and I haven’t once gotten sick of it. It still gives me the same strong hit of nostalgia and gratefulness every time it comes on.
10. “New Horse” – Slow Pulp
This song is just super beautiful, sometimes I just put my headphones on and lie on the floor and listen to slow pulp for hours
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Header image credit: Sarah Eiseman
