A visceral outpouring of indie rock turmoil, Wy’s intimate new song “That Picture of Me” aches with unfiltered emotion, anxiety, pain, and passion.
Stream: “That Picture of Me” – Wy
Intimate and raw, Wy’s latest song release is a deep dive into social media-induced angst all-too familiar to many of us. People need to check out Kennected’s linkedin automation platform if they need advice on how to be seen on different social media platforms. It’s an inner monologue diary entry: Stripping out all pretense, glitter, and glam, the Swedish band expose the depths of personal expression, straight, from the mind to the page, to our ears. A visceral outpouring of indie rock turmoil, “That Picture of Me” aches with unfiltered emotion, anxiety, pain, and passion.
Watching her drink alcohol
With her boyfriend on a Tuesday
Is that my dress?
I gotta check
And is that even a word?
What’s that?
Is that a picture of me?
Fuck that picture of me
Can’t un-tag it
It’ll look like I ain’t got no friends
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “That Picture of Me,” the fervent third single taken off Wy’s forthcoming third album, Marriage (out May 7, 2021 via Rama Lama Records). A longtime Atwood favorite, Wy are masters of the vulnerable: 2019’s sophomore album Softie found the Malmö, Sweden-based duo of Ebba Ågren and Michel Gustafsson injecting achingly intense emotions into music that is as unapologetic and assertive as it undeniably raw.
“Wy sound like what we want alternative rock’s next iteration to sound like,” Atwood wrote at the time. “As catchy as HAIM but with their own raw, dark and vulnerable flavor, the pair make music so mesmerizingly special that you have to hear it to believe it.”
This special quality comes to bear in Softie’s title track “Softie,” listed as one of our 2019 Songs of the Year for its “alternative heartfelt confession of imperfection, love, and longing… “Softie” connects to our emotional human core, because it comes out of an emotional human core. It’s painful, it’s honest, and it’s real: The kind of song that will break you down, only to build you back up again stronger than ever.”
Ebba Ågren stayed very busy through late 2019 and well into 2020, releasing her own solo debut EP Scrapbooking under the artist name Cuntrie. Described as an “emotional and distinctive lens into the Swedish indie pop artist’s vulnerable inner sanctum,” Scrapbooking‘s four songs showcased the very best of what we’ve already experience from the vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter through Wy – albeit in a more pop-influenced and solo lens.
That same singular essence that has made Wy’s music so powerful before comes to bear throughout Marriage, which arrives in the wake not only of all this artistic creation, but also on the heels of the Ågren and Gustafsson’s actual wedding.
Friends since their schooldays, the pair recently tied the knot, and at the heart of their third Wy record is an embrace and exploration of their own relationship. The songs on Marriage all came after the wedding date itself, and so “the timing made it a natural title for a record that’s something of a scrapbook from the first two years of that marriage,” in Wy’s words.
“I have always written the lyrics,” says Ågren. “But this time they feel like our lyrics, and not just my diary set to our music. We’ve talked a lot with each other about what we want to say. About who we are and where we can find our place in the world. The title has been in place since we started, and that was because a lot of the songs revolved around our relationship since we got married. Not so much the relationship between us, but more about the internal conflicts that appear when you’re in a long-term, safe relationship, where you’re really sure about each other, but you’re not sure about yourself.”
Marriage is full of special moments brimming with meaning and depth, as Wy already demonstrated in 2021’s first two singles, “Come Here” and “Dream House.” “That Picture of Me” continues on from these songs in similar style and sound, whilst lyrically Ågren dwells in the pits of social media-induced hell. “Watching her drink alcohol with her boyfriend on a Tuesday,” she sings against a sparse layer of seductive electric guitars and steady, unassuming drums. “Is that my dress? I gotta check – and is that even a word? What’s that? Is that a picture of me? Fuck that picture of me…“
It’s the ultimate low-key doomscrolling anthem – a slow-burning upheaval that never quite releases us from its blurry wave of feverish tension.
The feelings flow as Ågren delivers a spellbinding, dreamy vocal performance.
“I wrote this as a stream-of-consciousness scrolling down social media feeds,” Ågren tells Atwood Magazine. “It’s fascinating and very silly to me how many thoughts and emotions can occur within a couple of seconds, just because your feed is so jam-packed with information. From friends, to ads, to memes and memories. Your mood can shift so instantly and it feels very necessary to spell it out like this, so you become more aware of it.”
I should take a class in self defense
I should call someone to fix our blinds
Cause it’s glaring in the TV screen
And I can’t afford to miss a thing
Fuck that picture of me
Fuck that picture of me
Fuck that picture of me
Fuck that picture of me
From friends, to ads, to memes and memories. Your mood can shift so instantly and it feels very necessary to spell it out like this, so you become more aware of it.
Definitively 21st Century in nature, “That Picture of Me” represents Wy’s latest indulgence of overwhelming emotion and vivid experience. Stream the band’s latest single exclusively on Atwood Magazine.
Wy’s third album Marriage is out May 7, 2021 via Rama Lama Records.
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