An emotionally charged eruption from a weary, beaten-down soul, the exhilarating and exhausted “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” sees PRONOUN reckoning with an ugly and unapologetic world that always seems to get the better of us.
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Stream: “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” – PRONOUN
Slap me in the face and tell me I’m lucky. I wanna play nice, but the future is bare…
We can always count on Alyse Vellturo to tell it like it is.
Unfiltered in her writing and uncompromising in her delivery (both in music, and in everyday life), the mastermind behind indie rock artist PRONOUN and indie label Sleep Well Records has a knack for embracing her truths – even when they’re ugly, and even when they hurt.
And while there’s something deeply nostalgic (and relatable) about watching Vellturo getting pelted with red dodgeballs – who among us didn’t take a hit to the face from one of those big, red rubber bullets, back in the day? – her latest PRONOUN release has little to do with the past, and everything to do with the present. The artist who last shouted “I wanna die but I can’t, ’cause I gotta keep living” at the top of her lungs returns with a song about life literally pounding us into the ground and hitting us where it hurts the most: “I wanna feel nice and I wanna feel dead,” she sings, echoing a sentiment far too many people feel every day. “The world is so big, but I fear I’ve outgrown it, so laugh a little harder and tie me to the bed.” An emotionally charged eruption from a weary, beaten-down soul, the exhilarating and exhausted “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” sees PRONOUN reckoning with an ugly and unapologetic world that always seems to get the better of us.
Slap me in the face and tell me I’m lucky
I wanna play nice but the future is bare
This room is so big and the world is so ugly
I wanna play nice but also pull at your hair
Released August 24, 2023 via Sleep Well Records, “SLAP IN THE FACE” stings – and rightfully so. PRONOUN’s first release since 2022’s angry and impassioned Supreme Court-directed f*ck you anthem single “roe vs gofvckurself” and before that, her achingly raw OMG I MADE IT EP finds Vellturo poetically reminding us that this world can and will crush you, and more often than not, there’s nothing you can do to stop it; you just need to take the hits and pray it’s over quickly:
Sucker punch my stomach and tell me you love me
I wanna play nice but I’m swimming in doubt
This room is so big and the world is so ugly
As it keeps on spinning I’m still sorting it out
Like many of her best songs, “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” was a one-nighter: Written, recorded, and produced in a day.
“I found a session in November called fanhats, [and] when I opened and listened to it, I realized I named it this to reflect the influences of Bad Bad Hats and fanclubwallet,” Vellturo shares with Atwood Magazine. “I had taken a week off work to finish some of the new album I have been working on, and in true PRONOUN fashion ended up starting and finishing ‘SLAP ME IN THE FACE’ in one sitting (the songs I feel the most about, always seem to come this way). Ironic it is the first track I am releasing in two years, as it is the song I have written the most recently from my next collection.”
“[It’s] about a crazy night in with someone that turned into an internal joke of what if the world was literally fucking you,” she adds. “It’s about wanting a better situation, but giving in and getting stuck in a moment where everything doesn’t feel horrible.”
Slap me in the face and tell me I’m perfect
I wanna feel nice instead of just feeling sad
The world is so big and its future is yucky
I wanna play nice but you should treat me real bad
The world is so big and its future is yucky, I wanna play nice but you should treat me real bad…
To complement her song’s vivid lyrics and visceral emotions, Vellturo teamed up with director and producer Joseph Robert Redl to craft a slo-mo dodgeball sequence. The catch? Vellturo is on permanent defense, with little more than her red Squire guitar for protection as family and friends (all credited in the video) hurl big, red rubber balls her way.
Give it to me sucker c’mon make me go loco
Laugh a little harder let’s throw rocks in the house
The world is so big and its future is yucky
As it keeps on spinning I’m still sorting it out
“Given the title, I always imagined getting somehow slapped in the face in slow motion,” she says. “When putting a mood board together for the new PRONOUN era I was reminded of one of my favorite scenes in a movie. I Heart Huckabees is a film I could watch everyday until the end of time and discover a new easter egg. At one point Mark Wahlberg and Jason Schwartzmen end up on a log in the park together taking turns thwacking each other in the face with a red rubber ball until they feel a moment of nothingness. They call it ‘the ball thing.’ It fit how I was feeling perfectly when making this song. From that moment I knew it needed to be me standing in a studio getting absolutely destroyed with red dodgeballs.”
And of course, this visual proves an all-too perfect metaphor for life itself and the overall mentality espoused in “SLAP ME IN THE FACE.” This cruel, callous world has a tendency to keep us on the defensive, and to punish us when we do let our guards down; the moment we try to look up and let a little light shine in, another red rubber ball comes flying in from the shadows to slap us in the face. It’s not a good feeling, and to her credit, PRONOUN doesn’t necessarily offer much upside; “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” is a pretty pessimistic song, and it’s written that way on purpose.
But maybe what we needed most at this time was a pessimistic anthem to help us feel a little less alone in our distress. As has often been the case with Vellturo’s music, “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” is a stinging reminder that life hits everybody hard. We’re all just running around the court, trying to stay in the game for as long as we can.
Slap me in the face get me stuck in this moment
I wanna feel nice and I wanna feel dead
The world is so big but I fear I’ve outgrown it
So laugh a little harder and tie me to the bed
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Stream: “SLAP ME IN THE FACE” – PRONOUN
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© Merissa Blitz
© Merissa Blitz
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