“Headset Go,” the latest single from recent Fader Label signee James Ivy, has him asking if longing for the past is the baseline of growing up. Ivy’s voice is slick as he sings, “All I’m thinking of is the last time that you said that you wanted me that bad.” The magnetic track is his latest take on modern pop with hints of nostalgia, both lyrically and instrumentally—it’s not only his memories that have him batting his eyes at the past.
Although Ivy was initially inspired to make music from hyperpop forebears like A. G. Cook and the late SOPHIE, “Headset Go” is a shining fusion of elements that recall icons like Joni Mitchell, with it’s tinny guitars, and The Cure, with the blood-pumping drums and brooding bass. This new single from the Korean-American producer and singer—who’s recently dropped a handful of singles that embrace the soft-then-hard, punk-pop music of artists like The 1975—comes with the announcement of his debut EP GOOD GRIEF!. The six-track project is out October 22.
“GOOD GRIEF! is my attempt at, or my best interpretation of, pop music,” Ivy says of his forthcoming debut. “I began writing ‘Headset Go’ as a song to tie the EP together. I wanted to have fun and make it as much of an earworm as possible, so it started as somewhat of an exercise, but became the epitome of what I was trying to do with GOOD GRIEF! It’s crazy how much this song grew on me, something about it is kind of infectious.”
Watch the glitchy video for “Headset Go” below.
