Alt-Pop Duo poptropicaslutz! Share New Single “Upside Down” Feat. PmBata
Last month NY-based poptropicaslutz! announced their debut album Face For The Radio (out October 13) with the neon pop-punk influenced lead single “What Would You Do To Get Ahead(line)”, praised by Ones To Watch for its “intensifying pre-chorus and high-octane hook.” Today, they share another preview of the record with the energetic single titled “Upside Down”.
Seamlessly pairing pulsating electronic synths with classic pop-punk guitar riffs, the track boasts a featured verse from new age hip-hop artist PmBata and production from Courtney Ballard (5SOS, Jessie J) and Kodeblooded (Sueco, Connor Kaufman). The band explains,
"Upside Down is a song about escapism and getting a new lease on life. It’s about coming to realize that the people around you are just prolonging the inevitable….so instead of running away, you run straight in." Check out the accompanying music visual below:
“Upside Down”
Imbuing their auto-tuned melodies with traces of Fall Out Boy, Hellogoodbye, Juice WRLD, Kelly Clarkson, and ‘10s SoundCloud rap, 21-year-old Christian Cicilia and 22-year-old Nick Crawford’s debut EP Just In Case The World Ends (2022) showcased their penchant for blending maximalist production with pop-punk for a highly danceable fusion of “hyper-punk”. In Face For The Radio, they up the distortion levels, leading with fuzzed out guitars and a sprinkling of alt-pop synths, with sugary melodies and emphatic rhythms that get you on your feet.
Face For The Radio is sonically and thematically their most cohesive collection of songs, crafted over the course of a year. Production flourishes from kodeblooded (Connor Kaufmann, Sueco) add glitchcore elements to form eleven sonically rich, textured tracks. By giving themselves the time to think out every aspect of the album ahead of time, the band was able to conceptualize the project before ever hitting the recording studio. Exploring themes of love and loss, the dark side or “underbelly” of success and what/who you’ll sacrifice to get there, the duo utilizes their confessional style of storytelling for effective songwriting.
Since signing to Epitaph, poptropicaslutz! have been on an upward trajectory that has propelled them from releasing a handful of standalone singles, to their breakout debut EP ‘just in case the world ends’, and most recently a split EP ‘Gossip Team’ with their friend, labelmate, and producer aldrch. As their infectious tracks garner over 1.3 million monthly streams, the band grows more confident in their status as a burgeoning alt-pop force with each release. Now entering the next stage in their careers with their first full-length, they’re ready for their time to shine. The band muses, “Having a 'face for the radio' has historically described those better fit for something else…. those set up for success, but not in their own lane. At times, that’s been us, but not anymore.”