Fickle Friends are still 'Pretty Great' with their brand new single
Natti tells us about that, and their new album...
Dork faves Fickle Friends know their way around a dancefloor-ready banger. Back with new music after a year of writing and reflection following a debut album that saw them secure a spot in the Top 10, the Brighton bunch have today dropped new single, 'Pretty Great'.
"'Pretty Great' came about after a long day of writing, starting ideas and not really loving anything we came up with," Natti Shiner explains. "We called it quits around nine and opened some wine and listened to a couple Sheryl Crow songs. Jack just kinda started jamming on the guitar, and the words and melody literally fell out of my mouth. We wrote the song in like an hour and didn't know if it was a joke or actually the best thing ever... in the morning we decided it was the latter."
Steeped in addictive synth-pop and packed full of charming, relatable lyrics worthy of their own teen coming-of-age flick, it's an assured statement of intent for the upcoming year. Natti tells us more.
Hey Natti! How's it going? Having a good 2020 so far?
Helloooo, my 2020 is off to a hectic start. I'm excited!
Tell us about your new song, 'Pretty Great' - what's it about?
Ah, sometimes when I'm feeling a bit heavy, I need to write a narrative song. Something I can dream up and imagine fully and isn't really based on me but maybe something that happened to someone else, you know? So this one is about getting wasted at a party and waking up the next day with a faint glimmer of a memory. And that memory is of falling in love with the coolest person you can imagine. And you just hate yourself for getting so out of control because now you have no idea if it even happened, if they're even real... or if you'll ever see them again.
Do you often write songs in only an hour, or is this one an exception to the norm?
Haha. Usually, we have spent an entire day writing with nothing to show for it. It's normally after that when we open the bottle of whiskey, and we take the pressure off that we write something fun and in under an hour. I don't even have any voice memos from that night (I voice memo EVERYTHING), so we must have literally just rolled with the first thing we came up with.
Hey Natti! How's it going? Having a good 2020 so far?
Helloooo, my 2020 is off to a hectic start. I'm excited!
Tell us about your new song, 'Pretty Great' - what's it about?
Ah, sometimes when I'm feeling a bit heavy, I need to write a narrative song. Something I can dream up and imagine fully and isn't really based on me but maybe something that happened to someone else, you know? So this one is about getting wasted at a party and waking up the next day with a faint glimmer of a memory. And that memory is of falling in love with the coolest person you can imagine. And you just hate yourself for getting so out of control because now you have no idea if it even happened, if they're even real... or if you'll ever see them again.
Do you often write songs in only an hour, or is this one an exception to the norm?
Haha. Usually, we have spent an entire day writing with nothing to show for it. It's normally after that when we open the bottle of whiskey, and we take the pressure off that we write something fun and in under an hour. I don't even have any voice memos from that night (I voice memo EVERYTHING), so we must have literally just rolled with the first thing we came up with.
"There are a lot of sexy moments on this record"
Natti Shiner
How's the album coming along? Are you making good progress?
Yeh. It's kinda such a massive job that we are just tackling it small job at a time. It's pretty chill since we are doing it ourselves at our studio in Brighton. I am literally so excited for you to hear it / worried everyone is gonna think we've lost our minds.
How would you describe the album's vibe?
Hm…. It's sexy. There are a lot of sexy moments on this record. Like we've grown up and really began to feel ourselves, ha. Does that make sense?
It feels like with the label switch you guys are able to take the reigns more with what you're doing now, are you enjoying having more freedom?
It's really lovely tbh. We are just free to do things our way again. It's also kinda weird to get used to because we are like….what song shall we put out next etc… and we are the ones who decide. People chip in don't get me wrong but the decision is very much in our hands. It's nice to have that trust.
What's band life like at the mo, day to day?
It's a whole lot of being up in the loft. We do that through the week. Finishing songs. Tracking vocals. Doing Acoustic versions. Writing new songs. Then the weekend is kinda a free for all at the moment which is fun. I've actually just started my yoga teacher training. I'm clearly allergic to days off.
Are we going to see you at many festivals this year?
I bloody hope so.
Anything else we should know?
There are some proper bangers on the way. We are PSYCHED.
Yeh. It's kinda such a massive job that we are just tackling it small job at a time. It's pretty chill since we are doing it ourselves at our studio in Brighton. I am literally so excited for you to hear it / worried everyone is gonna think we've lost our minds.
How would you describe the album's vibe?
Hm…. It's sexy. There are a lot of sexy moments on this record. Like we've grown up and really began to feel ourselves, ha. Does that make sense?
It feels like with the label switch you guys are able to take the reigns more with what you're doing now, are you enjoying having more freedom?
It's really lovely tbh. We are just free to do things our way again. It's also kinda weird to get used to because we are like….what song shall we put out next etc… and we are the ones who decide. People chip in don't get me wrong but the decision is very much in our hands. It's nice to have that trust.
What's band life like at the mo, day to day?
It's a whole lot of being up in the loft. We do that through the week. Finishing songs. Tracking vocals. Doing Acoustic versions. Writing new songs. Then the weekend is kinda a free for all at the moment which is fun. I've actually just started my yoga teacher training. I'm clearly allergic to days off.
Are we going to see you at many festivals this year?
I bloody hope so.
Anything else we should know?
There are some proper bangers on the way. We are PSYCHED.
Fickle Friends' single 'Pretty Great' is out now.
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