Abby Nissenbaum Releases New Single "GENTLEMAN"
The new track arrives alongside her sophomore full-length album, WANT TO BE WRONG.
Abby Nissenbaum has released a new single, 'Gentleman,' taking aim at what the song's promotional materials describe as country music's most persistent myth: the dream cowboy. The track arrives alongside her sophomore full-length album, 'Want To Be Wrong,' and is described as a cheeky, big-hearted rebuttal to every love song written about a man who talks a big game and delivers the bare minimum.
Nissenbaum wrote 'Gentleman' the way she'd talk to a friend whose boyfriend simply isn't showing up for her, and then, with characteristic nerve, offered herself as the alternative. 'All these boys they talk too much, act like they're superior,' she sings, before landing the song's central proposition with disarming warmth: 'And I know you don't need a hand, but if you'd like a soft place to land, then I can be your gentleman.'
The Brooklyn-born, Connecticut-raised, Nashville-based artist has spent the past five years building a catalogue that includes over a dozen singles and three EPs, earning acclaim from GLAAD, Atwood Magazine, Notion, Clash, Wonderland, and Nashville Scene, along with playlist support from Country Music Television, LGBTQ Music Chart, and The AU Review. A classically trained soprano with a lifelong relationship to music, Nissenbaum arrived in Nashville in 2021 after a previous career as a data analyst and sexual violence prevention researcher, a background that continues to inform the empathy and sharp social observation running through her songwriting.
For 'Gentleman,' Nissenbaum turned to producer Martin Trevox, with additional production from Fede Catenaro, asking them to blend the sound of 80s and 90s country pop icons The Chicks, Reba McEntire, and Melissa Etheridge with a modern indie singer-songwriter sensibility. The result is a track that feels both nostalgic and entirely of the moment, honouring the genre's melodic instincts while dismantling its more tired conventions from the inside.
Nissenbaum extended the song's thesis into its visual companion, directed by Oceanna Colgan. Rather than lean into the tractor driving, beer drinking, football playing archetype the song is needling, the video finds Nissenbaum, barely five feet tall and unmistakably femme, on the tennis court instead, trading the expected country imagery for what she calls the most New England sport there is.
As an out lesbian artist, Nissenbaum uses her platform to champion LGBTQ rights and acceptance, and she remains an active advocate for sexual violence prevention, partnering with organisations including the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence and Anthems Against Abuse on benefit programming. She has also lent her voice to video games, most recently voicing Quin Hawthorn in 'Benevolent.'
Upcoming Tour Dates
August 31 — Hotel Zags
