Daily Dose: Stella Donnelly, “Old Man”

Beware of the Dogs is out March 8

Music Features Stella Donnelly
Daily Dose: Stella Donnelly, “Old Man”

Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.

Australian singer/songwriter Stella Donnelly has announced her debut album, Beware of the Dogs, out on March 8 via Secretly Canadian. The news arrives with a new single, “Old Man,” and its accompanying ‘90s-inspired music video, which you can watch below.

Donnelly first caught our attention with her stunning #MeToo anthem “Boys Will Be Boys,” a song that puts victim-blamers in their place, from her 2018 EP Thrush Metal, which we named one of the year’s best. On “Old Man,” the album opener off Beware of the Dogs, Donnelly serves up more of that biting critique with extra helpings of humor and ballsiness. “Oh are you scared of me old man, or are you scared of what I’ll do?,” she sings, almost teasing, but meaning business. Another timely lyric follows: “You grabbed me with an open hand. The world is grabbing back at you.” Donnelly sings sweetly, but the men in her songs—ranging from a mean boss in “Mechanical Bull” to the powerful desk-dwellers in “Old Man”—are anything but. Donnelly sticks up for herself with grace and wit, and if this first single is any indication, Beware of the Dogs will be a smart, satirical introduction to what’s sure to be an exciting career in music.

In the video, Donnelly and her two co-conspirators hang out, eating sad-looking sandwiches and performing a goofy choreographed dance. Here’s what Donnelly said about the song:

I came up with the chords and chorus to this song in 2017 around the time when Woody Allen called the #metoo movement a witch hunt. It was a very strange feeling for me watching the world change right before my eyes and to see that these men who had exploited their power for so long were actually being held accountable for their actions. It made me look back on my experiences as a young woman doing music and certain powerful men who tried to manipulate me and exploit other young women. I needed to write this song for myself because if I hadn’t I would still feel quite angry about things that I probably let slide in my younger, more naive days. I have no intentions of publicly calling out these people but it’s a nice feeling to me knowing that they may hear this song one day and feel perhaps an inch of the humiliation and powerlessness that they inflicted on me back then.

Again, you can watch the video for Donnelly’s new single, “Old Man,” below. Keep scrolling for the Beware of the Dogs album art, tracklist and Donnelly’s tour dates.

Beware of the Dogs Album Art:

stelladonnelly_albumart.jpg

Beware of the Dogs Tracklist:
01. Old Man
02. Mosquito
03. Season’s Greetings
04. Allergies
05. Tricks
06. Boys Will Be Boys
07. Lunch
08. Bistro
09. Die
10. Beware of the Dogs
11. U Owe Me
12. Watching Telly
13. Face It

Stella Donnelly Tour Dates:

March
15 – Washington, D.C. @ U Street Music Hall #
16 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Johnny Brenda’s #
18 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Rough Trade #
20 – Hamden, Conn. @ Space Ballroom #
22 – Somerville, Mass. @ ONCE Ballroom #
23 – Montreal, Québec @ Casa Del Popolo #
24 – Toronto, Ontario @ The Drake Hotel #
25 – Detroit, Mich. @ Deluxx Fluxx #
27 – Columbus, Ohio @ Ace of Cups #
28 – Bloomington, Ind. @ The Bishop #
29 – Chicago, Ill. @ Schuba’s #
30 – St. Paul, Minn. @ Turf Club #

April
02 – Seattle, Wash. @ Barboza #
03 – Portland, Ore. @ Polaris Hall #
05 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Cafe Du Nord #
06 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Bootleg Theater #
11 – Berlin, Germany @ Badehaus
12 – Hamburg, Germany @ Skybar
13 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Rotown
15 – Cologne, Germany @ Yuca
16 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
17 – Amiens, France @ La Lune Des Pirates *
18 – Paris, France @ Le Pop Up Du Label
23 – Cardiff, U,K. @ Clwb Ifor Bach
24 – Bristol, U,K. @ Thekla
25 – Southampton, U.K. @ Joiners
27 – Brighton, U.K. @ Haunt
28 – Manchester, U.K. @ Yes
29 – Dublin, Ireland @ Grand Social

May
01 – Glasgow, U.K. @ The Blue Arrow
02 – Leeds, U.K. @ Brudenell Community Room
04 – Liverpool, U.K. @ Liverpool Sound City
05 – Nottingham, U.K. @ Bodega
07 – London, U.K. @ Scala

(# = with Faye Webster)
(* = supporting Yak)

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