When we last caught up with Rowena Wise nearly a year and a half ago, the Australian songwriter was releasing a single that was disarmingly frank about the difficulties that begin to arise nearly a decade or so into a relationship. It’s evident that the artist is still finding her way forward on her new album Bad Things Feel Good*, which drops this Friday via Beloved Records and 22Twenty. The final pre-album single she’s sharing, “Unlearning of Love,” explores non-monogamy with a sense of guarded curiosity one might expect from someone suddenly expanding their horizons this deep into a partnership.
“I was experiencing the confusion of loving multiple people at once, but more than that, I was wondering what a new connection could become when there were fewer assumptions or expectations around it,” Wise shares of the gently searching new tune, which tellingly erupts into a groove of self-confidence in its back half. “There was a real tension in not knowing where friendship ended and romance began, or whether it needed to become either. That openness could feel scary and obscure, but it was also exciting, meaningful, and incredibly expansive. Getting to know people in that more open way taught me as much about myself as it did about others—how differently people love, communicate, attach, and move through the world.”
As for the abstract video directed by said long-term partner Didirri, she adds: “I wanted it to mirror the song’s quiet, restrained power while holding onto a sense of tenderness. Rather than tell a linear story, we created a series of visual moments that explore the tension between uncertainty and intimacy, capturing the strange beauty of letting old parts of yourself fall away to make room for growth.”
Check that out below, and pre-order Bad Things Feel Good* here.
