Left out in the cold

AMERICAN singer Maggie Lindemann’s latest single Friends Go throws shade at friends who forget you exist once they get into a relationship.

The song spins a story from the ‘third wheel concept’, something the 20-year-old says is an all-too-familiar situation that happens to practically everyone.

“As a result, you kind of lose your friends and people just get distant,” said the Los Angeles-based singer during an interview before she was due to take the stage at The Bee, Publika, on June 21.

Speaking under the glow of purple neon lights, Lindemann said: “I feel like I know so many people who, when they get into a relationship, they kind of box themselves off from everyone else. They’re just so occupied all the time with that (new) person.”

Still, when the tables are turned, the singer admitted that it’s the same thing for her. “Sometimes, when I get into relationships, I tend to just want to hang out with [the persons involved] and only them, so that was the meaning behind [the song].

“It was just because I know I’ve been in that situation, so why not make a song about it?”

Lindemann plays the scorned friend in the Friends Go official music video called Death by Third Wheel, directed by Van Alpert, where there are dramatic scenes involving a fiery car meant to symbolise the singer’s heart.

Views for the music video, released on May 29, have already exceeded the two-million mark and critics say it gives “more of an artistic feel, rather than storytelling”.

A more punkish, grungy remix version of Friends Go was released on June 20, and has Lindemann teaming up with American musician Travis Barker (drummer of rock band Blink 182).

“It’s a lot simple. There’s no burning cars or anything like that,” said the petite singer with a laugh about the remix version. “But it’s really vintage and cool.”

According to Lindemann, there were multiple versions playing in her head when she first recorded Friends Go, adding that the version with Barker feels more like herself.

“I’m very versatile when it comes to music,” said the Dallas-born singer.

“I didn’t want to just stick to one, so [the newer version] kind of has a little bit more of a punk feel, which I feel is a little bit more like me, just like how I am.”

Barker wanted to lend his distinctive drumming to the version of the track after he heard and fell in love with the original version of song while Facetiming someone from Lindemann’s label during one of her shows.

Lindemann, who is a “big Blink 182 fan”, said: “We went to the studio in LA, and he laid it down immediately, just like the first take – he nailed it perfectly.

“Seeing him live in the studio drumming was insane, so yeah, it turned out really sick, and I’m glad we got to make it happen.”

The two versions of Friends Go, while different, also share similarities in terms of comprising an upbeat tempo accompanied by more sombre words.

For Lindemann, no matter how it sounds, the song is about being honest about her feelings.

She explained: “Sometimes it can be hard to do [the song] live because I want to be fun and upbeat. I was like, okay, how can I tell this kind of sad story but make it sound fun and exciting, and make people kind of forget it’s sad.

“That was Friends Go – bringing like an upbeat tempo to kind of sad-ish lyrics, into something that people forget is sad in the moment and [to] just have fun and dance.”

The singer is currently in the midst of working on an EP, due out by year-end. This will also be Lindemann’s first EP since Knocking on Your Heart in 2015 and her 2016 breakthrough single Pretty Girl.

Currently going through songs that will reflect reality, Lindemann wants to make sure the music still feels relatable and raw.

She said: “I’m just super picky when it comes to my music because, first of all, people are evolving all the time, and what’s going on in my life right now may not be going on in my life in six months.

“If I don’t feel like I’m being honest in a song and I don’t feel like it has a real connection with me, I’ll just like disconnect from it.”

So for her upcoming EP, the singer said: “I just have to love it, and I have to want to listen to it myself, basically.”

from Entertainment & Lifestyle https://ift.tt/2XaywsZ