Squirrel Flower, the soaring indie project of Artist To Watch Ella Williams, has announced her sophomore effort Planet (i), coming this summer. She released the lead single "Hurt A Fly," a gorgeous indie rock ballad that's heartbreaking from the beginning. Against slow, deep guitars she croons, “Took it too far again/ Thought that you were my friend?"
The story behind the song is, unfortunately, a familiar one, reckoning with a manipulative person who would not hurt a fly but will definitely gaslight you. Read Williams’ statement about it below:
"Hurt A Fly" is me embodying a persona of gaslighting, narcissistic soft-boy type shit. The classic "sorry I acted violently, I’m not mad that you got upset at me, wanna hang out next week?". I wanted to see what it was like to be a character trying to skirt around accountability. It's an angry and unhinged song, and for the video I wanted to be inside a bubble writhing around and trying to get out. A stranger filmed me practicing choreography at a public park, submitted it to a meme page making fun of "influencers," and the video got 1,000,000 views, which in my mind is perfect thematically.
Watch director Ryan Schnackenberg's "Hurt A Fly" video below.
Planet (i) is out 6/25 via Polyvinyl.
