22-Year-old FAANGS unveils new brilliant single “DON’T BLAME ME” from new project “TEETH OUT”
FAANGS embodies and embraces conflicts and contradictions – a stance that made its previously revealed tracks “RELAPSE”, “I DON’T CARE”, “I’M A LITTLE” and “HUH” essential listening. Her strikingly futuristic music is a blend of influences that find the common ground between trap, pop and rock star attitude, while her high/low fashion sense reinforces her neon-and-dirt sensibility; slicked-back hair and an Yves Saint Laurent suit, standing in front of a car on fire, or in a marble mansion with her go-go boots parked on the table.
An array of big names have also engaged with her talent, having co-written the Ashnikko / Grimes collab “Cry”, delivered debauched rhymes to Felix Jaehn’s “SICKO”, and hit it off with Rico Nasty during sessions for “Own It”.
FAANGS keeps up that unpredictable streak on “DON’T BLAME ME”, spitting her furious flow throughout much of the track but also keeping everyone guessing by adding some seriously sleek vocals. It’s almost an alternative to alt-pop, as the track sets pounding trap beats to the sweeter harmonic tone of the piano – a world away from the usual shimmering synths and quirky drum patterns.
FAANGS says, “This project is a combination of two things. I’m saying ‘Don’t fuck with me,’ and at the same time, I’m telling you ‘I’m fucked up in a broken way.’ Those are the two walls I had to put up, and take down, to create the world I wanted to make. There are so many days when you doubt yourself, you want to give up – but then you strut into a club and get your shit going. We all have both of those things in us, and I’m all about that juxtaposition.”
The new single “DON’T BLAME ME” feels like a continuation of “I DON’T CARE”. Whereas that track revelled in still suffering from the night before, “DON’T BLAME ME” suggests that someone wants her to make amends for the previous evening’s craziness. But FAANGS being FAANGS, that’s just not going to happen.
FAANGS says, “”DON’T BLAME ME” is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made. It’s got this cheeky energy, it’s definitely THAT song to turn up and feel like a bad bitch to!’
The sole writer of the “DON’T BLAME ME” lyrics, FAANGS co-wrote its music with the track’s producers Digital Farm Animals (Anne-Marie, Louis Tomlinson) and the Grammy-nominated The Invisible Men (Charli XCX, Madison Beer).
Putting the most confrontational elements of hip-hop, alt-pop and rock into one snarling package, FAANGS makes tracks which feel like a soundtrack for the dreamers, outsiders and misfits who populate Los Angeles’ dark undercurrent. The dominant theme is party excess, but it’s the result of dedicated hard work: a long journey of endless sessions, songwriting experimentation and constantly hustling to find that big break.
