Claud Announces New Album ME AND THE MUSIC, Shares New Single
The single She Doesn't Love Me arrives with a video featuring Clairo and Samia.
Claud has announced a third studio album, ME AND THE MUSIC, set for release via Dead Oceans. The announcement arrives alongside a new single and accompanying video, She Doesn't Love Me, which the artist describes as the emotional core of the record. The project marks Claud's first album since 2023's Supermodels.
ME AND THE MUSIC is due out October 23 via Dead Oceans. 'She Doesn't Love Me' is, in many ways, the core of the album. It is a strident, driving anthem that doesn't shy away from the pain – and still makes you want to, as Claud sings on the track, put your 'beers in the air.'
Claud says, 'I love the community I have in America and find so much optimism in people being united in seeking progress. This is a love song for that community.'
Ostensibly an unrequited love song, the track casts America as a toxic girlfriend. That metaphor comes to life in the accompanying music video, which follows Claud through a string of missed dates and unanswered calls before culminating in a sense of comfort and belonging found in community.
Does everything have to feel so heavy all the time? The 10 songs on Claud's rich and resplendent third album ME AND THE MUSIC find the 27-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter-producer grappling with that question and coming up, triumphantly, with something close to an answer: Things can be heavy, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun. Things can be heavy, but that beer in your hand isn't—why not hold it aloft for a moment, sing along with the friends surrounding you, forget your troubles for the length of a perfect indie-pop song?
ME AND THE MUSIC is Claud's first album in three years, since 2023's lauded sophomore album, Supermodels, and although it still fits easily into the established universe of Claud's music, it also represents an emotional 180-turn from what came before.
'I was just sick of taking everything so seriously—Supermodels was such a serious record, and I just sulked in feelings for so long,' says Claud. 'Such terrible things have happened in this country the last few years, but I've only grown closer to the people around me because of that. The world has shown me that the worst can happen, but it might just bring you closer to your community. There's a difference between being sincere with life and taking life too seriously.'
Co-produced by Claud and John Congleton (Alvvays, St. Vincent), the album also marks a milestone in Claud's evolution as a producer. As encouraged by mentor Jack Antonoff, they take on a more hands-on creative role, crafting a sound that is both expansive and unmistakably their own.
Tracklist
Gay Witchcraft
Just Kidding
The Legend
She Doesn't Love Me
The Reach
Spells and Fortune Tellers
I Owe You
I'm too Sensitive
Me and the Music
Let's End on a Good Note
The video for She Doesn't Love Me includes cameo appearances from fellow Shelly members Clairo and Josh Mehling, along with Samia, Annie DiRusso, Hank Heaven, Josie Strick, Sammy Steiner, Harrison Allen, and Camille Johnson.
Photo Credit: Jaxon Whittington
Photo Credit: Jaxon Whittington
