Banks announces fifth album ‘Off With Her Head’ with impassioned new single ‘Best Friends’

Banks has announced details of a new album called ‘Off With Her Head’. Check out the latest single ‘Best Friends’ below.

• READ MORE: Banks – ‘Serpentina’: an innovative and resilient reintroduction, with bold new sounds
  

The new record is set for release on February 28 and marks the fifth studio album from the singer-songwriter – following on from 2022’s ‘Serpentina’, which NME described as an “innovative and resilient reintroduction, with bold new sounds.”

To celebrate the announcement of the new project, Banks has today dropped a brand new single called ‘Best Friends’ via ADA Worldwide, the independent label and artist services arm of Warner Music Group.

Tackling the heartache that follows on from losing a best friend, the song takes on an introspective, melodic feel, and is rife with themes of heartbreak and acceptance.

“Tell me to mean what I say/ You’re not my friend anymore/ Don’t even mean what you say/ While you’re standing there begging me for more,” she sings in the heartfelt pre-chorus. “There were exceptions within/ You told me you did it just to fit in, yeah/ But you never fit in anyway”.

Tune in to the track below:

“It is about someone who was my sister for many years, someone I still dream about and wake up missing. Someone who I grew apart from. I think we broke each other’s hearts,” Banks said of the inspiration behind the track.

“This song is about the grief of that loss and honouring our love. I think it’s important to write about because although universal, friendship loss can be more difficult to process. We are never taught we can lose a friend in the same way we are taught we can lose a romantic partner. I’m happy to release a song that honours the deep beauty and romance of friendship.”

The release of ‘Best Friends’ follows on from Banks’ last single, ‘I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend’, which she recorded alongside Doechii and will also feature on ‘Off With Her Head’.

Describing what fans can expect from the record, she said: “In many ways, it’s a big sister album to ‘Goddess’ [2014]. After a decade apart, I’ve reunited with the core musicians and producers who helped shape my debut. At the same time, it’s something entirely different— I’ve grown so much as an artist and a person, and the journey is documented in all these sounds.”

Find the cover of the album and the full tracklist below.

The ‘Off With Her Head’ tracklist is:

‘Guillotine’
‘I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend ft. Doechii’
‘Love Is Unkind’
‘Delulu’
‘Move’
‘Stay’
‘Best Friends’
‘Meddle In The Mold’
‘Direction’
‘Make It Up’
‘River’
‘Off With Her Head’

As well as announcing her fifth album, Banks will also be revisiting ‘Goddess’ as she plans to release an acoustic version of the debut album next month. Titled ‘Goddess Unplugged’, it’ll arrive on December 13 in honour of the 10-year anniversary.

Recently, Banks celebrated the ‘Goddess’ anniversary with special intimate shows in London, New York, and Los Angeles – taking to the same original venues she visited upon the initial release. Additional shows were added in both New York and Los Angeles, as was a show in Melbourne, Australia, all of which sold out.

When ‘Goddess’ first came out in 2014, NME gave it a 3.5-star rating, saying: “Brooding and gloomy, the 25-year-old singer sticks to her formula with mixed results,” and adding: “Her debut LP is good, but not up to the standard its title suggests.”

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