Soothing, smoldering, and utterly seductive, Glassio and Beauty Queen’s “A Friend Like You” is an intoxicating indie pop fever dream ready to be blasted on late night drives.
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“A Friend Like You” – Glassio ft. Beauty Queen
There’s a lesson to be learned from Glassio and Beauty Queen’s new single, but tonight we’re getting lost in the sound of glistening guitars and hypnotic vocals; of radiant rhythms and warm melodies coalescing into one. Soothing, smoldering, and utterly seductive, “A Friend Like You” is an intoxicating indie pop fever dream: A catchy and cathartic soundtrack to cutting ties, ready to be blasted on late night drives with the car top down.
Tom, tom, now what do you want?
Let’s meet up at your favorite spot
Cut the punchline
I never had a friend like you
Stand by to watch you breathe
Hide the fire on a two-way street
The joke is up now
I never had a friend like you
Never had a friend like you
This is what Friday nights were meant to feel like: Free-spirited and full of possibility. Released September 20, “A Friend Like You” is Glassio’s first single since his sophomore album See You Shine came out last May – and what a way to come back strong: A collaboration with fellow LA-based indie pop artist Beauty Queen (the moniker for Katie Iannitello), “A Friend Like You” is dreamy, brooding bliss.
Glassio – née Sam Rad – describes it as “a love song to a best friend who ends up destroying your life.”
“I wanted to write a song inspired by the line from the Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ – ‘So, honey, last night i met this guy and i’m gonna do a little favor for him,’” Glassio tells Atwood Magazine. “That line always felt so mysterious to me. What was that relationship like, who was this guy? We know it wasn’t something good, whatever the relationship was. I’ve met people that I thought were friends who brought me to some pretty dark places, and I wanted this song to loosely be a bit of an ode to that naivety of falling into something or someone’s life that you know will eventually be bad for you.”
Can’t stand what you hide
But I could trust you until I die
The joke is up now
I never had a friend come true
Never had a friend like
Stop, cold, when we got high
Crashed the car on the 409
Before the world burns
I gotta find the words you use
Why you gotta be so blue?
While we’ve never heard a bad song inspired by The Boss, “A Friend Like You” is (candidly) one of the catchiest tunes we’ve ever heard. Its gentle beat and psych-pop sonics, combined with Glassio and Beauty Queen’s lush, layered voices, create an immersive, full-bodied listening experience.
“I caught Beauty Queen’s live show in L.A. in 2021 at The Echo and was blown away by her music,” Glassio says of the collaboration. “I felt compelled to reach out about having her featured on some new songs of mine, and I was very much thrilled and honored to have her on the song. Our voices clicked in a way that felt perfect for the mood of the song. We met up in LA over the summer and worked out some pretty cool vocal arrangements. I then took it to co-produce with Shuta Shinoda (Hot Chip, Daughter) in London at Hackney Road Studios.”
Beauty Queen echoes Glassio’s enthusiasm.
“‘A Friend Like You’ was such a fun song to sing on, and the whole experience working with Sam was so wonderful!” she beams. “From drawing with pastels at a cafe to sitting on rocks in the desert, I witnessed one of the most creative people I’ve met and loved every second of it. I’m very pleased with how the song turned out – by the end of every listen it gets you so hyped that you just want to play it again. Very grateful for the experience and can’t wait to collaborate again!”
When love burns
Everything turns up my way
I know that I misunderstood
When life grows
Everything blows up my way
I’ve never been that understood
I’m in your neighborhood
Tom, tom, do what you want
Let’s meet up at your favorite spot
Fuck the punchline
I never had a friend like you
Never had a friend like you…
Foreboding and ominous though its message of funny friends with sketchy asks may be, “A Friend Like You” is a musical happy pill: Its relaxed groove settles and stirs the soul as we sing along to Glassio and Beauty Queen’s radiant reverie.
Sure, there’s a darkness on the edge of town, but with this song on our speakers, we’ll be just fine.
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“A Friend Like You” – Glassio ft. Beauty Queen
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