Slayyyter is enjoying one of the sweetest periods of her career: she’s currently touring North America before heading to Europe, with almost every show sold out; she has just performed at the Grammy Museum; and, to top it all off, she has announced a new album: Worst Man in America, the counterpart to her hugely successful third LP, Worst Girl in America. The first taste of this new project is brand new chanel$, suggesting that her new music will, in a way, function as a mirror image.
It’s clear Slayyyter grew up spending hours scrolling through Tumblr. In her new self-directed video, the references to emblematic music videos by Rihanna, Lana Del Rey and Grimes are impossible to miss. It’s no coincidence that she has become a worthy heir to them through her reinvention of pop with touches of electroclash. In brand new chanel$—the counterpart to beat up chanel$, one of the biggest hits from her previous album—we see her as a showgirl in the middle of a trailer park, perhaps alluding to the feeling of being a pop star out of place in her native Missouri, as well as in other settings where she similarly stands out in a fabulous way.
The lyrics revolve around a betrayal that leaves her defenceless and unsure of what to do, as she confronts the fact that her lover has cheated on her with someone else. “Send another weak ‘i'm sorry’ / unforgivable as always / i knew you had seen somebody / was it worth causing all my darkest days?”, the track opens. Slayyyter, however, is not one to put up with it: “i, i bet she rock, brand new chanel$ / what a chop, i cut ya off, and get away yea, i, i'm better off, i always knew you'd do it, why'd you have to lie, made me feel crazy.” What a way to leave July behind!