Singer-songwriter Dreamer Boy (born Zach Taylor) has released his lovelorn new single, “Suckerpunch” today. Written with Aidan Spiro, Christian Taylor and Aaron Wing – members of his band, The Lone Stars – and Lecx Stacy, the track is accompanied by a black and white visualizer that finds Dreamer Boy giving an emotional performance in the corral of a Valentine, Texas, ranch. Watch the video now below.
“‘Suckerpunch’ is about repeatedly getting stomped on by yearning for love – that repeated action of reaching out and putting your heart on the line and then it getting stomped on – how that cycle wears down the psyche,” says Dreamer Boy. “Looking the other way for someone means ‘Hey, I know you’ve hurt me time and time again, but I’ll just look the other way one more time.’ Just the insanity of going back through that willingly. To follow up ‘Heartbreaker,’ I wanted to get deeper into the heartbreak emotion, and the pattern of that.”
The enigmatic figure that appeared on the cover of his previous single “Heartbreaker” begins to come into focus on “Suckerpunch” as Dreamer Boy sings, “I’m just like the shoe untied that you wear around / I paint the tears on my face and the mud on my lace like a rodeo clown.” With the Rodeo Clown, Dreamer Boy takes inspiration from David Bowie and Tyler, the Creator – artists who embody something bigger than themselves for sake of making the music feel bigger.
Dreamer Boy explains, “This song is the first time I reference the Rodeo Clown directly. As I was writing the second verse, it felt like it would be good to just include exactly why I am the Rodeo Clown. This song perfectly sums up where this character comes from – that beaten down, stomped on feeling. The song has a chanty, energetic feeling to it – it’s almost a little manic and chaotic.”
“Suckerpunch” is the first song Dreamer Boy wrote with The Lone Stars, that truly tapped into the spirit of how they wanted to record. He recalls, “It unlocked our production philosophy and began this process of trust with my new collaborators. It started out with all of us stomping around in the room. That was an important moment for the whole process – it brought everything back to just trying to capture performances and moments that felt very candid and natural and expressive.”