Fans of Nilüfer Yanya will most certainly enjoy French-Korean singer Claire Chicha’s latest offering. Better known as spill tab, Chicha just released a new track, “PISTOLWHIP,” and it’s the perfect combo of dreamy and gritty pop at the same time.
The track starts off very soft, reminiscent of beabadoobee and Powfu’s “death bed,” with the same crackling, distorted vocals. But very quickly, PISTOLWHIP picks up speed as her dreamy vocals get paired up with a dirty bassline and a lo-fi alt feel.
spill tab said in a press release that she “wanted to imagine what it’d be like in the head of someone who’s just finding out they’re being cheated on. They’re vacillating between pure rage and just wanting to hold on ’cause they love that person so deeply, and then the underlying issues of that relationship sort of start to show in the second verse. It’s just a descent into madness I guess.”
That descent is clear as day in the track, due to the unconventional build-up of the song. After just one verse and chorus, there’s the instrumental break, followed by a bridge, a chorus, and another instrumental break. As a result, the song centers the distorted dichotomy in sounds — perhaps echoing the chaos and distress that the track was meant to convey. Binding those elements together, there’s a distinctly catchy underlying hook that’s omnipresent in “PISTOLWHIP” and will leave you wanting more.
Aside from delivering the vocals and playing the bass, spill tab also shows off her dirt bike skills in the accompanying music video. It perfectly captures the desolate feeling that comes with an impending breakup — as you are both desperate to deny reality and move on at the same time. As the song picks up speed, so does spill tab on her little motor bike, driving off by herself. Most of all, the video captures the spirit of bouncing back, of not letting hurt distract you from living life and having fun. It’s very light-hearted in its approach, thanks in part to director Jade Sadler.
“It was SO fucking cold the day we shot ‘PISTOLWHIP.’ It was like 22 degrees and I’m ripping around on a tiny dirt bike with only a scarf holding my titties together. Jade was such a trooper and was just getting it done and we had so many laughs. She also managed to make me look so badass on this little machine that was maxing out at like 20 mph. It was awesome,” spill tab confirmed in a press release.
It’s always nice when a video is also able to capture the genuine joy and love that someone has for making music. It’s even nicer when that artist is well equipped to actually piece stories together in an intricate art form of sounds and feelings. “PISTOLWHIP” is a little resentful, but a lot playful — and that’s what makes it work so well. Knowing that spill tab wants her songs to be like “running into a wall, you can’t not listen to it,” it’s easy to say that she has succeeded – this is a track you’ll keep on repeat.
