LA by-way-of Sydney, Australia based artist, tastemaker, and recent Fueled by Ramen signee THE BLSSM has unveiled their new single “DIZZY.” Co-written by THE BLSSM and produced by Suzy Shinn (Dua Lipa, Panic! At the Disco), Nick Long (Machine Gun Kelly, LILHUDDY), and James Ivy, “DIZZY” is a fiery, dynamic track that seamlessly blends elements of grunge and pop with kinetic beats and high-impact, unabashedly honest lyricism. The captivating song underscores why THE BLSSM is a promising young artist and curator, fully at the helm of their creative vision, to watch in 2022.
“I wrote ‘DIZZY’ about the relationship I have with my inner anxiety,” THE BLSSM explains. “The lyrics on a surface level allude to being about a significant other, but really they are inner-conversational and inspired by the weight of ‘dragging around’ emotional baggage that encompasses my life. The production is an intentional hybrid of all of my different sonic influences, re-imagined into my own rendition of what pop feels and sounds like for me,” they elaborate.
The accompanying “DIZZY” music video is also available to watch now below. Directed by visual artist and fashion photographer Sophie Hur (Louis Vuitton, Adidas), the visual follows THE BLSSM in a trip around New York City where they encounter their clone, resulting in a chaotic point of view chase. The video also showcases THE BLSSM’s signature fashion and aesthetic – which they self-style and curate – that fuses textures of grunge from the 90s with the futurism of Y2K. On the new release, THE BLSSM also collaborated with esteemed creative director Elliot Shields (Heaven by Marc Jacobs), who designed the single artwork and illustrated their digital companion character on the cover.
Of the visual, THE BLSSM comments, “The video, directed by my friend and collaborator Sophie Hur, is a window into a surrealist world where two alternate BLSSMs are chasing each other around in a devious but playful dance together. It was inspired by a dream I had once where there were two versions of myself seeking the other out; I feel like that’s exactly what personifies my dynamic with my anxiety. A constant chase and revelation: A narrative I feel and know all too well day to day.”
Although THE BLSSM (Lily Lizotte) began refining their craft as a songwriter during their pre-teen years (the artist is gender non-binary and uses they/them pronouns), it was as recent as 2020 that they took on their current moniker. THE BLSSM wanted something that incorporated their favorite word ‘bliss’ and evoked a certain sense of expansiveness rather than anything that felt pointedly gendered, settling on a name that brings to mind natural growth, evolution, and the slow process of opening up and self-actualizing.
It’s an all-embracing moniker that reflects the patchwork spirit of their music, a quality that THE BLSSM masterfully crystallized on their 2021 debut EP, 97 BLOSSOM, which received critical acclaim in the press, with Flaunt Magazine calling the effort “undeniably unique” and Ones To Watch lauding it “wholly timeless, perfectly unstuck from one singular period in time.” Furthermore, UPROXX applauded the EP’s standout track “Hardcore Happy” for being “introspective and unsettled in a way that feels very current,” while THE FADER praised that the song as an “alluringly grungy take on indie pop.”
Born to a family of artists, THE BLSSM spent their childhood between New York City and Sydney. They moved to Brooklyn as a young adult, kicking off their fashion tenure as a designer in the Lower East Side, however songwriting was always the creative undercurrent that grounded them. It was this gravitational pull towards music that inspired THE BLSSM to move to Los Angeles in 2020, and the community of like-minded artists they have met there have set their wide-ranging references and innovative songwriting into greater focus.
Though THE BLSSM had been writing and recording consistently in Los Angeles, it wasn’t until they had met the boys from Brockhampton (Kevin Abstract, Romil Hemnani, Jabari Manwa, and Matt Champion) that the songs on 97 BLOSSOM started to fully take shape. In addition to the Brockhampton crew, they collaborated extensively with their father Mark Lizotte on the debut, with Lizotte recording and sending in his guitar parts from Australia and THE BLSSM working from Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Los Angeles.
With an arena-sized song and two notable U.S. tours supporting Wolf Alice and Remi Wolf already under their belt, 2022 is undoubtedly shaping up to be a landmark year for THE BLSSM. New music is on the way, along with a forthcoming slew of live dates. Stay tuned for more soon.