Blondshell has unveiled one last single before the release of her second album If You Asked For A Picture, out tomorrow (2nd May) via Partisan Records.
The new track, ‘Event of a Fire’, is a slow-building, cinemative piece inspired by a late-night hotel evacuation during tour – one that evolves from delicate guitar arpeggios to a full-throttle, distortion-laden finale.
Sabrina Teitelbaum, the artist behind Blondshell, describes the track as a reflection on more than just burnout from the road: “It’s not really what if I’m burnt out from touring,'” she says. “It’s like, ‘what if I’m burnt out from just existing?'” That broader existential weight gives the track its urgency, with lyrics that move between themes of identity, body image, and emotional collapse.
The song arrives with a new video directed by Emilé Moutaud, starring French actress Ghjuvanna Benedetti, which captures the quiet crisis of a diver reconciling external performance with internal struggle.
If You Asked For A Picture follows Blondshell’s acclaimed 2023 self-titled debut and once again features production from Yves Rothman. Early singles from the album include ’23’s A Baby’, ‘T&A’, ‘Two Times’, and ‘What’s Fair’, each revealing a more nuanced and textured evolution of her sound.
In her own words, the new record draws sonic inspiration from albums like Rated R by Queens of the Stone Age and Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers, subverting their masculine energy with Teitelbaum’s incisive take on womanhood.
The album takes its name from a 1986 Mary Oliver poem, and much like the poet’s work, it balances storytelling with restraint. “There’s a part of the poem that says: ‘I don’t need to tell you everything I’ve been through. It’s just another story of somebody trying to survive’,” Teitelbaum says. “Showing a glimpse into a story can be just as important as trying to capture the entire thing.”
Blondshell will mark the album’s release with a sold-out show in LA and an extensive world tour, including a newly added second night at London’s Electric Brixton in September, plus a summer appearance at Finsbury Park supporting Fontaines D.C.
