Middle Kids Explode Through the Negativity with "Terrible News"

“Terrible News,” the latest release from Middle Kids’ upcoming third album, is a playful urge to escape the overwhelming opinions of the people around us.

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Stream: “Terrible News” – Middle Kids

Horrible news, it’s everywhere. What’s really new?

Whether it’s on a societal level or purely personal, we can feel ourselves being engulfed by the negativity. Sometimes this can lead to us feeling lost and trapped, as though needing to formulate our own perceptions but overwhelmed by the conflicting information that surrounds us. This is exemplified in “Terrible News,” the latest single by Australian trio Middle Kids (released January 10), which questions identity and encourages us to release our frustration.

Terrible News - Middle Kids — Terrible News – Middle Kids

And I can’t take it
Sitting in this noisy room
With all these wound up people
Giving terrible news
Yeah it’s plastic
Bend it to my point of view
I don’t know who I am or what I’m supposed to prove
And I can’t take it
Tell me is it over soon?
Even your best ideas sound like terrible news

The song was born during the pandemic, a period when insecurity and confusion pervaded us all. “There was a lot of confusion and information and rules and anger and people judging people and loss and distrust. I eventually felt so overwhelmed by all the noise, I couldn’t take it anymore,” states the group’s Hannah Joy.

“The guitars are kinda shouty too or maybe just urgent. I wanted to stack a lot of guitar layers to create almost a guitar choir. We got a friend Brendan Champion to play some brass on it which really elevates the song as it marches along.”

“Terrible News” starts with a dreamy urgency and a running pace, something which is intensified in the chorus. During the verses, the lyrics are yelled with a staccato high-pitched rhythm, as though really letting out the build-up of frustration. In the music video released alongside the single, a guy (Harry the drummer) with their satchel bag loaded with newspapers sprints down the street while the neighbourhood goes about their everyday life.

Although stemming from the pandemic, the song could easily be applied to any situation. Lyrics such as ‘Puff up my chest/ Put on a dress/ Convince myself it’s good enough’ as well as ‘And I can’t take it / Sitting in this noisy room/ With all these wound up people/ Giving terrible news’ are delivered with the overall playful that feels more like being surrounded by petty gossip and melodrama than the devastating crises that also fill daily news reports. It’s for this reason that there’s the urge to escape and to not feel beaten down by other people’s opinions.

Middle Kids is formed of Hannah Joy, Tim Fitz, and Harry Day. “Terrible News” is the latest to be taken from their upcoming album, Faith Crisis Pt1, which is to be released February 16. As their third album, it’s also the most explosive, consisting of 13 tracks that explore Joy’s search for meaning and identity. 2023 saw the the release of the likes of “Bootleg Firecracker,” melancholic and calm, and “Highlands,” an energized yearning for adventure, all of which will feature on the album. Sydney-based, the band recorded the album in Eastbourne, UK, in late 2022.

“Terrible News” is catchy, staying in the head like the intentions of a news article’s title or a friend or family member’s exaggeration when recounting a negative anecdote. It’s lightheartedness encourages us to reflect on the situation and determine whether it’s really something terrible or not worth the effects on our sense of identity.

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