Illuminati Hotties vocalist Sarah Tudzin was already well-versed in the music industry before breaking ground on her self-described “tender punk” sound. Tudzin, a Berklee College graduate who studied audio engineering, further proved her talents through the group’s 2018 noisy debut record Kiss Yr Frenemies.
The group was slated to begin their sophomore record when their label, Tiny Engines, became embroiled in controversy. Rather than break their contract, Illuminati Hotties came up with a solution. Instead of releasing a full album, they would see their contract through with the tongue-in-cheek mixtape Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For.
On Friday, Illuminati Hotties gave fans the first taste of the mixtape, which overtly slights Tiny Engines, with the cleverly-titled track “Will I Get Cancelled If I Write A Song Called, ‘If You Were A Man You’d Be So Cancelled.” Unlike the title, the song itself is rather abbreviated and clocks in at just over a minute. Even still, the single is jam-packed with cunning quips and thrashing guitars that initially drew fans to Illuminati Hotties’ sound.
Tudzin said in an interview with Stereogum that the single’s title was born out of a text conversation with Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis: “She was like, ‘You should make this whole text the title of the song, not just the part in quotes.’ It mostly felt pretty fun to me, but the whole record revolves around feeling trapped by the forces surrounding me and the emotions I was feeling and it metaphorically adds up to the same sort of things that the rest of the songs are about.”
Watch “Will I Get Cancelled If I Write A Song Called, ‘If You Were A Man You’d Be So Cancelled” above.
Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For is out 7/17. Pre-order it here.