‘You Shaped Hole’, the new single from Baby Queen – the moniker of Bella Latham – is a fabulous sparkling piece of pure unadulterated pop that shimmers and shakes with a melodic shine and yet deals with the most painful effects of heartbreak. This creates a dynamic tension between the delivery and the message – the raw and visceral emotions from a breakup imbued in the vocals and lyrics contrasted with the bright bounce of the piano and hyperactive rhythms.
Latham’s voice is a smooth delight – melancholic and wry – with eloquent lyricism and a self-deprecatory spoken interlude:
I tried to change your mind but changed myself instead
I tried to find a god in books I read philosophies and poetries could never fill the void inside of me
I stayed alive only to prove to me that I could live without you I could breathe
The air in places you have never been to shine for people you will never meet but
Every single light inside of me died when you picked somebody prettier than me to fill the hole I left inside of you
The chorus on repeat – There’s a hole inside of me and it’s shaped like you – is indelible, heartbreaking and yet euphoric. At the heart is a song that is so catchy you’ll need dynamite to get it out of your head. The video, directed by Harry Law, is a close and personal performance piece. Latham says of the video:
I really wanted this video to bring the adolescent tumult of the song to life. It’s set in a high school in North East London and follows a solitary journey through heartbreak, pain and the boundless determination to rise above those feelings. I wanted to capture the passion I felt when I wrote it, and there was something about the idea of dancing around empty hallways and yelling the lyrics into the abyss that felt intimate and strangely familiar.
‘You Shaped Hole’ is available to download and stream here and is on Baby Queen’s release of ‘The Yearbook’, a new 10 track mixtape set for release on 3 September via Universal Music Australia and available to pre-order here.
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