Sophia Kennedy's new album "Squeeze Me" is out May 23rd.
“Squeeze Me” – a request in the colourful world of toy shops. In the warm glow of department store lights, it comes across as a delicious temptation, but behind the charming invitation of lifeless plush and plastic faces, something else might lie hidden. On Squeeze Me, the third album by Baltimore-born and Hamburg/Berlin-based Sophia Kennedy, the seemingly innocent is turned mischievously askew: Are you holding me close or squeezing me too tight, embracing or crushing me? This is the central question Kennedy pursues across ten songs with sublime and unwavering determination.
Following her self-titled debut (2017, Pampa Records), a radiant dance between the glamour of the Great American Songbook, electronic textures, and clubland influences, earning her international acclaim, Kennedy released her second album, Monsters (2021, City Slang), and delved deeper into surrealism and transcendence. Now, on Squeeze Me, Kennedy and her long-time musical collaborator and co-writer Mense Reents (Egoexpress, Die Vögel, Die Goldenen Zitronen) sketch a more disillusioned commentary on the status quo of the world at large. The complexity of interpersonal relationships, questions of power dynamics, and the quest for self-determination—longstanding themes for Kennedy—run as a cohesive narrative throughout the album.
