Caroline Kingsbury has been peddling in ’80s-nostalgic synth-pop at least as far back as the release of her debut album under her full name, Heaven’s Just a Flight, in 2021. Yet in the interim, the LA-based artist has evolved beyond the limitations of the underground to produce a maximalist new EP titled I Really Don’t Care!, teaming up with Miniature Tigers’ Charlie Brand for a slate of five new era-defining songs. “I held onto things really tight with my debut album—out of fear, honestly—and with this EP I really let go and let it be a really collaborative process between us two,” she shares. “I found myself listening to Springsteen and Talking Heads and found the percussive and emotive elements of both artists really inspiring for my voice and for this new chapter for me.”
Yet that sense of collaboration truly blossom’s on the EP’s final track “Take My Phone Away,” which was written alongside renowned pop songwriters Justin Tranter and Ryland Blackinton. It’s an explosive bit of synthwave straddling the line between vintage glow and boundary-pushing contemporary songwriting that documents an equally empowering feeling that arrives in the aftermath of a pivotal moment in Kingsbury’s romantic life. “If you’re queer, you know it’s a canonical event to have your first breakup in a queer relationship,” she shares. “You go into the relationship so hopeful and then end up getting your heart broken just like you would if you were straight. It feels like another level of betrayal, because your sweet baby gay brain hopes that gay relationships will be easier.”
Regarding the collaboration on the track, she continues: “I’ve never had the opportunity to write with pop royalty before, and as an artist who’s always been classified as ‘indie’ or ‘underground,’ it was such a mind-blowing experience to write with them. This song marks a period of my life that was insanely hard and confusing…my first queer heartbreak broke me open over and over again. To be able to have put that into an incredible pop song written with pop royalty feels like the biggest F-U to that time of my life that was so hard. A good reminder that you can turn your biggest pain into solid gold if you let go and let the process happen.”
Check out the video for the track below, and pre-save I Really Don’t Care! here.
