Plain Mister Smith’s “Andy Warhol” is a jangly, bright burst of indie rock exhilaration – a feel-good anthem that turns our messy inner chaos into something colorful, catchy, and utterly invigorating.
Stream: “Andy Warhol” – Plain Mister Smith
A rush of bright guitars, daydream energy, and irrepressible spark, “Andy Warhol” feels like a deep breath that turns into a full-body grin.
Plain Mister Smith’s latest single is jangly and buoyant, powered by crisp, bold guitar lines and an infectious backbeat that practically kicks the song forward. Beneath all that shimmer sits something tender and human – the desire to be calm, cool, unbothered, and totally zen, even when your inner world is a loud, spiraling mess. That tension gives “Andy Warhol” its pulse, its humor, and its earnest heart. It’s a feel-good anthem about trying and failing to be unfazed, and the beauty in that failure.
Andy Warhol said “So What”
“So what this and so what that”
I wish I could feel so chill
Soto zen, the essence of still
But when life’s awry
And days run amok
I’m just a mess a royal mess
When my mind’s fried
I can barely talk
Epicentre of distress
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Andy Warhol,” the dynamic, dreamy, and spirited new single from Mark Jowett’s alter-ego Plain Mister Smith, a quietly enigmatic project the Nettwerk co-founder first introduced to the world in 2021. Releasing via Amelia Records/Symphonic, “Andy Warhol” arrives as the third preview from his forthcoming album, due Spring 2026, and finds the Vancouver-and-London-based artist leaning into rockier territory without losing the idiosyncratic charm that has earned him praise from NPR Music, Clash, Notion, Under the Radar, EARMILK, and more. Featuring the rollicking vocals of Leeroy Stagger and the soulful lift of Krystle Dos Santos, the song explodes with jangling guitars, driving bass and drums, and the introspective wit that defined Plain Mister Smith’s musical world since his debut.
“I met Andy Warhol many years ago at the New Music Seminar in New York,” Jowett tells Atwood Magazine. “He was pretty chill and serene or seemed that way. He was quoted to have said ‘So What this, So What that’? – which is about the most Zen thing you could ever say. ‘Andy Warhol’ the song is about trying to be super Soto Zen, trying to be cool and so nothing phases you but really, you’re just a chaotic mess of a human, no matter what you do…”
I wish I was a blithe spirit
A pillar of calm, a sunny balm
But when life’s bonkers
And Days run astray
I’m just a mess and can’t destress
When my week’s wonkers
And nothing’s okay
Epicentre of distress
From the first line – “Andy Warhol said ‘So What’ / ‘So what this and so what that’” – Plain Mister Smith drops us straight into the song’s emotional thesis, pulling that famously aloof Warhol ethos into a present-day spiral of overstimulation. The lyrics unravel with candid humor and self-awareness: “I’m just a mess, a royal mess… epicentre of distress.” Beneath the track’s vibrant, shimmering exterior is a story about overwhelm, self-doubt, and the wish to rise above it – and yet “Andy Warhol” refuses to wallow. It keeps pushing upward, jangling, melodic, alive.
Can I see my way out of this
Maze-like jungle
This web of mirrors
Can I escape can we escape this
Paranoid jumble
Of half baked fears
The guitars chime, the rhythm section surges, and the vocals lean into that sweet spot between wry and wide-eyed. It’s indie-folk-psych-rock as cathartic motion: moving through the maze, laughing at your own chaos, and dancing your way out of the “maze-like jungle / this web of mirrors,” if only for three and a half minutes.
In the end, “Andy Warhol” is less about being unbothered and more about embracing the beautifully human mess of it all.
Plain Mister Smith turns anxiety into something colorful, propulsive, and strangely comforting – a jangly little lifeline for anyone trying (and failing) to keep it cool. This song matters because it captures a truth most of us spend our lives trying to outrun: That beneath every effort to seem collected or serene, there’s a trembling, overthinking human doing their best to hold it together. Plain Mister Smith doesn’t just acknowledge that contradiction – he celebrates it, wrapping all our restless, anxious, self-sabotaging tendencies in radiant guitars and a beat that refuses to stand still. The song hits that rare sweet spot where vulnerability feels electric, where humor softens the blow, and where the chaos inside us becomes something we can actually sing along to. It’s music that doesn’t deny the mess; it lifts it, lights it up, and makes it feel strangely, beautifully survivable.
And in that way, “Andy Warhol” becomes something more than a song – a reminder that even our most frantic moments can carry their own kind of light, rhythm, and relief when we let ourselves feel them fully. Stream Plain Mister Smith’s “Andy Warhol” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and let its restless, radiant charm carry you forward.
Andy Warhol said “So what
So what this and so what that”
But when life’s absurd
And truth runs away
I’m a mess a royal mess
When life so blurred
And I can’t see straight
Epicentre of distress
Can I see my way out of this
Maze-like jungle
This web of mirrors
Can I escape can we escape this
Paranoid jumble
Of half baked fears
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Stream: “Andy Warhol” – Plain Mister Smith
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© Sandra Lockwood
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