underscores Says Farewell to an Era With "'Count of three (You can eat $#@!)"
Photo: Ayodeji
Hyperpop artist underscores ushers in her new era with the release "Count of three (You can eat $#@!)." Dubbed "the last piece of the fishmonger era" on the artist's Spotify, the track is a brilliant send-off that blends the past and future of underscores with its bright vocals, warm and dynamic instrumentation, and emotionally deep lyrics.
The volatile single, produced alongside Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, and 100 gecs' Dylan Brady, opens with underscores revisiting the themes of fishmonger, touching on the artist's struggles and emotional conflicts while steady, catchy guitar riffs back her shimmering vocals. The track builds as underscores gets increasingly honest about her experience, singing, "You needed someone to punish, and you did it for fun / Yeah, you were my number one / Guess that's the end of it." When the chorus bursts through the intensifying sonics, the rising artist rejects mistreatment and tells the other person to "eat shit."
"'Count of three (You can eat $#@!)" is my never-meet-your-heroes song," says underscores, "not pertaining to Dylan Brady or Cashmere Cat or Benny Blanco though, they're all great. On a deeper level, it’s a song about my fear of parasocial betrayal — a celebrity’s wrongdoings affecting a fan in an emotional way, despite them never interacting with each other.”
The single follows the artist's recent feature in Discord's mini-documentary, Discord Scenes: Underground Pop Music. underscores is marking the arrival of "Count of three (You can eat $#@!)" with a new line of equally inventive merch, available now exclusively on her website. underscores is currently hidden away, working on new music, which is sure to surprise as it appears throughout 2023 and beyond. "When people listen to underscores, I want their initial reaction to be, 'This is ridiculous,'" says underscores. "But the more they listen to it, they should hear the nuance in it, the heaviness in it, and I hope they connect with it on some kind of emotional level. The ultimate goal is to turn people off, then win them back."
Watch the "'Count of three (You can eat $#@!)" visualizer below:
