Rita Mae Delivers Gritty and Direct New Single ‘My Bad’
Rita Mae Delivers Gritty and Direct New Single ‘My Bad’
June 21st, 2024
Aotearoa’s Rita Mae has hit the ground running, following up her massive track ‘Kiss The Sky’ with today’s grungy new single ‘My Bad’.
Gritty drums and a distorted bass work together to create a laid-back, rock-infused bed of music, setting the track up for a poignant juxtaposition with the lyrics. Rita intentionally left sonic space for the lyrics to be the focus point, reflecting a “new era of my artistry, where I’m being a bit more honest and direct.”
“I used to think feeling a lot was something I needed to hide. In the past I’ve tried to hide my emotion, making endless (usually failed) attempts to play it cool instead of wearing my heart on my sleeve. And then I realised – why do I think loving and feeling deeply is something to be embarrassed of?”
“This song is kind of a tongue-in-cheek exploration of that tug-of-war in my mind, like: I love you! Is that too much? Oops my bad! I just loved playing with being completely confident and shameless in feeling whatever I feel and saying it out loud.”
Co-written and recorded in LA alongside regular collaborator Kyle Berzle, ‘My Bad’ was then mixed by Aaron Short (LA), and mastered by Andrew Downtown in Vancouver. “I’ve worked with Kyle a lot before,” says Rita. “I feel like from the very first session I felt completely comfortable with him and was just writing from the heart.”
“There’s something magical about working with someone you feel so at home with. ‘My Bad’ felt intense and crazy to me, and I actually thought it was too much as I was writing it. But Kyle was so into it and gave me the confidence to finish writing it, and then it just felt like this sonically relaxed and lyrically insane song that felt so incredible to us. We knew it had to come out.”
Today’s release is the second single to come from Rita Mae this year, following the hook-laden song ‘Kiss The Sky’. The single was met with overwhelming local support; featured on Rolling Stone AU/NZ, Sniffers, RNZ, Radio Hauraki, Tearaway and more. It reached #14 on the Hot 20 NZ Singles Chart. The music video had over 23k views in just three weeks; Spotify streams also at 30k.
Rita Mae has been making waves in Aotearoa’s alt-indie scene since she started releasing songs like the stirring ‘The Secret’s Out’ in 2021 and then the effortlessly cool ‘Candy’s House’ in 2021. In 2023 she unveiled her EP SUPERFEELING DELUXE, which featured ‘Candy’s House (Comedown Song)’. In 2023, Rolling Stone AU/NZ magazine tipped her as “one of eight Kiwis artists tipped to take over”, saying “Music is in her DNA, and Mae’s future as an artist in her own right looks very bright indeed…”