Berlin-based international pop purveyor Alice Merton has started 2024 with purpose, releasing the new single “run away girl”. She explains:
‘”run away girl’ comes from an introspective look at oneself and feeling lost in the outside world but especially feeling lost on the inside. Where do I fit in, in all this craziness? Who do I actually want to be in life? We are constantly surrounded by the opinions of others, who show us what their version of happiness is, so we automatically assume ours must be the same. It often isn’t.
“We try to break free from past lives and past memories, pretending they no longer exist. I have found it’s much easier to accept the past, rather than forget it, and occasionally letting myself dwell in those memories. Moving homes regularly has taught me many life lessons, but it has also contributed to feeling unsettled in life, restless for what else is out there, and adventurous for the unknown.”
“run away girl” is full of questions about identity, purpose and place in the world – the big doubts that we all harbour – but finds Merton growling them out with a determination to push them down and focus on the future. The song possesses a propulsive rhythm that animates Merton’s headlong dive into whatever is ahead, underscored by the shout-along chorus “I cut the shackles and change my name / and I shed my past like skin on a snake.” Where those doubts once swirled in Merton’s mind there is now a muscular, intoxicating need to move on to bigger and better things, and “run away girl” is the anthemic soundtrack to this new phase of self-actualisation.
Watch the visualizer for “run away girl” below or find the song on streamers.
“run away girl” is out on Merton’s own Paper Plane Records International.
You can find Alice Merton on Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, TikTok and Instagram.
