If ‘looking at porn’ piqued your curiosity, there’s much more to explore within the ‘side effects…’ EP. Whereas that single, co-written with producer Matt Schwartz (YUNGBLUD, Halsey), mixed a 2022 attitude with emo energy and a touch of ‘80s pop, the rest of the EP twists genres at will. Opening song and new single ‘almost 20’ shows her bold defiance to genre stereotypes by presenting an attention-grabbing merger of alt-pop, trap and alt-rock. Elsewhere it ventures into hyperpop and bold balladeering, demonstrating how a blossoming Gen Z following is connecting with Karin Ann’s empowering, LGBTQ+-championing attitude. Watch the lyric video HERE.
Thematically she’s drawn to topics such as discrimination, sexism and racism as well as issues of identity. Having grown up in a conservative country, Karin Ann’s music provides both a safe space to share her opinions, as well as a creative outlet that can also provide support to people going through similar experiences.
Karin Ann says, “All of the songs on this EP talk about issues that I think everyone goes through, especially when becoming an adult and figuring themselves out. I thought that these things people go through are like the side effects of being human, and that’s how the whole concept was born. I discuss things such as relationships, friendships, how toxic relationships and friendships can get, mental health, growing up and much more.”
The EP closes with a soothing, spectral farewell to the current season with ‘winter song’. Its intimate accompanying video is a beautiful depiction of mid-winter melancholy, which focuses solely on Karin Ann. Lost in her thoughts, she finds solace in the warmth of a mountainside cabin as the wintry chill bites outside. Karinn Ann wrote the concept for the video, which was directed by Michal Kunes Kováč. Watch the official video for ‘winter song’ HERE.
In spite of her outward confidence, Karin Ann actually confesses to being a real introvert. Inspired by eclectic artists united by their force-of-personality – from Billie Eilish and girlinred to Queen – she initially put a few Slovakian-language tracks out entirely independently just for her own self-fulfilment. They sparked enough interest to snowball into a career in music.
Released last year, Karin Ann’s debut EP ‘lonely together’ started to win admirers in all of the right places. She was featured in Spotify’s EQUAL initiative, a program designed to foster equity for rising female artists across the world. It resulted in her becoming the first Slovak artist to feature on the giant billboards in Times Square, New York. 2021 also saw Karin Ann win Best Music Video for ‘babyboy’ at the Munich Music Video Awards.
Having recently toured Europe with Alfie Templeman, Karin Ann will perform at The Great Escape Festival next month. She hits the Three Wise Cats on May 12th (a CEEntral Party show) and the Queen’s Hotel on May 13th. She will then play three huge shows as guest to Imagine Dragons in Riga (June 1st) and Prague (June 5th and 6th).
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