Let’s Eat Grandma are building towards the release of their third album Two Ribbons in April, and last year released the preview singles “Hall of Mirrors” and “Two Ribbons”. This week they’re maintaining the pressure on the accelerator by releasing “Happy New Year”, a new song and video that finds Rosa sending a message to her best friend and bandmate, Jenny. She says:
“Happy New Year is a celebratory song written about my relationship with my best friend. I wrote it after a breakdown between us that lasted for a long period of time, to communicate to her how important she is to me and how our bond and care for each other goes much deeper than this difficult time. I used the setting of New Year as both an opportunity for reflection, looking back nostalgically through childhood memories that we shared, and to represent the beginning of a fresh chapter for us. I’d been struggling to come to terms with the fact that our relationship had changed, but as the song and time progresses I come to accept that it couldn’t stay the way it was when we were kids forever, and start to view it as a positive thing – because now we have been able to grow into our own individual selves.”
Even as the duo approach the facts of their changing relationship head on, admitting that they can never again be as close as they were when they were children, there is a sense of triumph as they come to realise that – no matter how much they both change – that background will always keep them glued together. Shifting from reflective balladry to full-on party anthem, “Happy New Year” captures the strange mixture of nostalgia and euphoria that comes at this time of year, when we’re forced to look both backwards and forwards, all while taking stock of the present. On this track, Let’s Eat Grandma maybe don’t have the weird sororal bond that made their earliest recordings so bewitching, but “Happy New Year” proves – musically as well as lyrically – that they’ll always have undiminishing love and musical chemistry, which will always provide a source of comfort and joy.
The video for “Happy New Year” takes the back-and-forth between the two to a tennis court in a vicious and charming battle. Watch it below or find the song on streaming platforms.
Let’s Eat Grandma’s new album Two Ribbons comes out on April 8 through Transgressive (pre-order/save). Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
