Before Hamburg-based songwriter Brockhoff drops her debut album Easy Peeler tomorrow, we’re getting one final pre-release single today with “Blue Star,” a track that balances a debilitating sense of personal uncertainty against the artist’s infectious comfort within the lane of breezy pop-rock. Finding inspiration in Patti Smith’s 2010 memoir Just Kids and its chronicling of her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe beyond their romantic relationship, the track explores ideas of romance that are fairly unconventional—within pop music and beyond.
“This song is about wallowing in the thoughts of ‘what if,’” she shares, “like, ‘What if we’d worked out? What if I’d give it another try? What if I’d kissed you at the front door?’ I wanted to write a positive song about a past relationship, but it immediately felt a bit shaky and risky at the same time as it felt comforting, in a way.” Brockhoff continues, noting how the song aims to express the “sunny days of a past relationship. I was figuring out a state of mind where you can accept that the past still has an effect on you, making peace with the fact that it somehow belongs to you now. I think the song makes it clear I wasn’t ‘fully there yet,’ but it’s fun to have that feeling of a journey captured in a song.”
The track’s video reflects its central duality, opening with Brockhoff alone singing with earbuds in before connecting with friends later on to belt out choruses while driving through the night. Check that out below, and pre-order Easy Peeler here before its release tomorrow via PIAS.
