Photos: Singer-Songwriter Stacey Releases Psych-Pop Single UPSIDE DOWN MERRY GO ROUND

Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Stacey has released her lush psych-pop offering 'Upside Down Merry Go Round,' her first original release in five years.

Stacey is also set to perform single release shows in Toronto, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles.

'Upside Down Merry Go Round' lands somewhere between Carole King and Tame Impala, the song captures the kaleidoscopic anxieties and emotional whiplash that come with existing in a modern timeline: paying bills, joining Zoom calls, chasing dreams, and carrying on while the world seems to unravel around us. We all want off the Upside Down Merry Go Round.

'I wanted to encapsulate the disorienting juxtaposition of day-to-day existence against the backdrop of worldly chaos, not only through the lyrics but also through the songwriting and production,' explains Stacey. 'The drop to half-time in the choruses mirrors the relentless highs and lows of doom-scrolling. The song also has this feel-good quality that sits in contrast with the lyrics — like a rainbow-coloured panic attack.'

Co-written by Stacey and Suzanne May (aka Fonteyn) and produced by Stacey and Dillon Casey (Weyes Blood, Orville Peck, Ethel Cain), the track also features Loren Humphrey (Cameron Winter, Geese) on drums and Tim McNalley (Dominic Fike, Baby Rose) on bass.

The accompanying video, filmed on 16mm by DP Gus Bendinelli (Lana Del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter), was directed and produced by Stacey and extends the song into a meticulously handmade surrealist dreamscape.

'Aesthetically, I was loosely going for a 1970s Jodorowsky meets The Love Witch vibe with a sprinkle of Cher, but always myself — mostly letting my Facebook Marketplace prop finds and fashion choices guide the way.'

To create the edible horses in the video, Stacey 3D-scanned the merry-go-round (a Facebook Marketplace find) and 3D-printed a miniature replica of one of its horses. Longtime collaborator and makeup artist Christina Spina then created a mold, which Stacey used to pour and hand-paint the coloured chocolate horses. A limited batch of the chocolates will be available for purchase, exclusively at the Toronto and LA release shows.

ABOUT STACEY

Stacey's not like the other time travelers. A homebody, a yearner's yearner at a windowpane with a Wurlitzer, a silk caftan, and a doomed dream, Stacey one-womans a retro-celestial holiday agency for lonesome escapists, crystallizing the nostalgic longing of golden age pop records into lyrical refractions for the twenty-first century.

Cruising from 60s psychedelic day-trips to glossy 70s daydreams, Stacey's velvet textures have received glowing press from the likes of SPIN, LadyGunn, American Songwriter, Clash Magazine, WONDERLAND, Refinery29, and more, while her luxurious, lucid voice has found support from industry tastemakers including Matt Wilkinson (Apple Music), Chris Douridas (KCRW, School Night), Errol Nazareth (CBC), Lauren Laverne (BBC6 Music), and more.

Logging the aftermath of the great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn, Stacey's 2021 debut LP Saturn Return sits at the heart of a catalogue that has amassed over 8 million streams on Spotify, alongside singles 'These Days' (2026) and 'Christmas in California' (2023), and EPs First Move (2017), Reconstruction (STACEY Remixes), and STACEY (2013).

From the baroque to the bohemian, Stacey's compositions have soundtracked more than 15 television series and films, including Spinning Out (Netflix), Hollywood Stargirl (Disney+), Lucifer, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Orphan Black, and Degrassi.

A devout world-builder, Stacey directed and produced the Barbarella-in-a-Futuro-spaceship fantasy of Strange But I Like It, which beamed its way to the #1 spot on Zelects — Mark Ronson's Zelig Records' weekly top-five music video list (2021). Elsewhere in the Stacey dimension: a six-hour, out-of-this-world 60s body-paint metamorphosis for Saturn Return, and a paper collage and animated colour explosion for D.M.T.

Stacey's kaleidoscopic, empyreal live presence has led her to share stages with Charlotte Day Wilson, Tamino, Vinyl Williams, and Cameron Avery (Tame Impala), and seen her appear at high profile showcases on Canadian national television (CTV's Your Morning and Global Morning) and for the Royal Ontario Museum's 75th Anniversary of Christian Dior Exhibit.

Stacey Single Release Show Dates

Sep 25 - Osler Records - Toronto, Canada

Oct 15 - The Factory - Santa Barbara, CA

Oct 17 - Lago Argento - Los Angeles, CA

Photo Credit: Andrea Calvetti | Download Hi-Res Here | View ALL photos here