SOAK Revels in Heartbreak on Her New Single “Valentine Shmalentine”

Valentine’s Day is exactly a week away, so Bridie Monds-Watson, better known as SOAK, has released the appropriately named “Valentine Shmalentine” for all the heartbroken suckers out there. The track is from the artist’s forthcoming album Grim Town (one of Paste’s most anticipated albums of 2019), out on April 26 via Rough Trade Records.

“Valentine Shmalentine” returns to SOAK’s gentler, more lovelorn indie sound after the toe-tapping recently released single “Knock Me Off My Feet.” The lyrics range from the poetic—“What purpose was I, if not the apple of your eye?”—to the desperately simple—“I need you.” It captures the feeling of wanting to give Valentine’s Day the middle finger, but realizing that, deep down, you’re just a big sap.

The 22-year-old says this latest song is “the result of both giving into Hallmark and being a dramatic bitch.” The Derry, Ireland, native also recently opened up about the idea underpinning Grim Town, describing its central premise as follows in a statement:

[It’s] a dystopia that I’ve created in my brain: me on the inside, processed into a pretend location. The way I could wrap my head around a lot of what I was going through was to make it feel like something quite physical and real. Once I had the idea of the album being an actual location, exploring the dynamics of this town and what it would look or sound like felt like the right way to give my mental state a personality.

Explore the details of SOAK’s sophomore album and tour here. Listen to “Valentine Shmalentine” and check out SOAK’s recently announced European tour dates below.

SOAK Tour Dates:

May
06 — Kendal, U.K. @ Kendal Library
10 — Manchester, U.K. @ Band on the Wall
11 — Leeds, U.K. @ The Wardrobe
12 — Glasgow, U.K. @ King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
14 — Birmingham, U.K. @ Hare & Hounds
15 — Oxford, U.K. @ O2 Academy Oxford
16 — Bristol, U.K. @ Thekla
17 — London, U.K. @ Islington Assembly Hall
19 — Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique – Rotonde
20 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
22 — Hamburg, Germany @ Prinzebar
23 — Berlin, Germany @ Privatclub
24 — Cologne, Germany @ Artheater
28 — Cork, Ireland @ Live at St Lukes
29 — Limerick, Ireland @ Dolans
30 — Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory
31 — Derry, U.K. @ The Glassworks