Bonnie Kemplay has shared new single ‘Dandelions’ via Dirty Hit, the second release of her return following ‘Big Machine’ earlier this year.
The track is built around her signature finger-picked guitar and close-mic vocal delivery, and deals in the specific texture of childhood memory: the lightness of it, and the quiet disorientation of realising it has receded.
“Dandelions is an escape into happy childhood memories, when life felt lighter,” she has said. “It captures the feeling of being lost in adulthood and the quiet acceptance that some of that magic has faded.”
The release continues a creative return that has been notably more considered than her initial emergence. Kemplay first broke through in 2022 when she won a BBC Radio 1 and BBC Music Introducing talent search out of more than 10,000 entries, performing an original song and a cover of The 1975’s ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’ in the Live Lounge.
A debut EP followed, but so did a three-year step back. Now 24, she has described that period as transformative, a chance to separate her artistic identity from her personal one. “Since then, I’ve discovered who I am beyond music,” she has said of the time away.
The new material reflects that shift. Where her earlier work was tightly focused on romantic relationships, ‘Dandelions’ moves towards friendship, family and emotional transition. Influences cited include Allegra Krieger, Wilco, Big Thief and German Error Message, a wider range than her debut work suggested. An accompanying live performance video, shot on a dreamlike set of clouds, grass and dandelions, is out alongside the single.
