#indie-pop

#indie-pop

Royel Otis have announced their sophomore album, hickey, showcasing their atmospheric, guitar-forward sound and exploring themes of love's intensity through music.

Album titles are tricky. I mean, they have been for me. I think a lot of the record felt like it didn't want us to complicate it too much. Better Dreaming is one of my favorite songs we've ever worked on together. And it wasn't going to be a single. It's pretty down-tempo sad. So, (the album title) was a way of getting people to pay attention to that track more.

I'm a real people pleaser-I often prioritize the needs of others over my own and carry a constant concern for their well-being. While that can be a beautiful human superpower, my fixation on pleasing everyone sometimes leads me away from my true self.

"I don't have much balance because I feel like I don't really struggle with really drastic changes of emotion," Chinouriri says.

"Samia crafts an album about coming into your own by tearing yourself apart, exploring buoyant highs and nihilistic lows with evocative storytelling and confronting themes."