The past year has seen Blondshell’s star continue to rise, propelled by Sabrina Teitelbaum’s breakthrough 2023 debut self-titled album, which garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted fan base. She’s toured relentlessly, with Rolling Stone remarking that her “shows reliably give a sense of catharsis to attendees, and to Teitelbaum herself.” This summer alone she made appearances at high profile festivals like Gov Ball, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and more.
To cap off this incredible run while looking ahead to her close-to-completed second album, Blondshell has shared a new song today titled “What’s Fair,” with an accompanying music video with creative direction by Julian Klincewicz. Already a live favorite in her recent festival sets, the song features jangly, sunny alt-rock that winks to SoCal pop-punk, with harmony-laden earworm melodies, jagged guitars and clever lyrics. Classic Blondshell, the cheerful melody belies the heavy lyrics, grappling with complex mother/daughter relationships.
You’d want me to be famous
So you could live by proxy
You always had a reason to comment on my body
You’re not a perfect person
Something’s always wrong
But I know there’s nothing less perfect to a girl than a mom
Says Teitelbaum, “I think that any relationship between a mother and a daughter is inherently complicated. Maybe it’s because of my own relationship, which was grounded in a lot of trauma and loss, but I think it’s always confusing. What are you allowed to expect, what is normal, what behavior from a parent is okay or not okay etc? And to what extent does ‘normal’ even matter when your experience is all you have. I was just trying to sift through the past when I wrote this song and I mostly had a lot of questions.”
“What’s Fair” premiered on Sirius XMU with host Josiah and is the third Blondshell release of 2024, following her Talking Heads cover of “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” off of A24’s Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense compilation, as well as her own instant-classic “Docket” (feat. Bully). “Docket” has already landed on “Best Songs of 2024 So Far” lists from the likes of Rolling Stone, Esquire, NME and Paste. She was recently announced as part of the forthcoming American Football (Covers) album, covering “The Summer Ends” for the compilation coming out October 18 on Polyvinyl.
