Been Stellar mix “sadness, anger, regret and optimism” on dreamy new single ‘Breakaway’

Been Stellar have combined feelings of “sadness, anger, regret and optimism” on their new single ‘Breakaway’ – check it out below.

• READ MORE: Been Stellar: indie heroes cutting through New York’s deafening din

The new track marks the first material from the New York band in 2025, and follows on from a huge 2024 that saw them share their debut album ‘Scream from New York, NY‘ and embark on a tour with The 1975.

The new single sees Sam Slocum and co. kickstart their first new music of the year with a gritty, classic indie guitar riff, before the frontman adds his signature vocal melody over the top.

“When we were under the sun / Thoughts race how they did / When you were young / When we were one in the same /Now when I want you I call a different name,” sings Slocum, as the song begins to grow. “And if you still know my name / It was only yesterday / Oh just give me yesterday / And the sun will meet the moon / But the marker’s always you”.

Of the new release, the band said: “We needed to capture a few feelings with this song. Some mixture of sadness, anger, regret— and ultimately optimism.

“When Sky [Skyler Knapp, guitarist] first showed me the initial idea it struck me how punchy yet melodic it was. There were already a few emotions in the guitar part alone, so the words followed naturally and the song came to life. We quickly brought it into the studio with Aron (Kobayashi-Ritch) and recorded it together live.”

Check it out below.

The new single comes as the band are set to make their Primavera Sound debut this week – joining a stacked line-up that includes Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.

It also arrives ahead of a run of UK and European tour dates, which include three shows where they will open for Fontaines D.C. in London, Lyon and Arles. Visit here for tickets and find a list of shows below.

Been Stellar 2025 tour dates are:

JUNE
4 – Sala Nazca – Madrid, ES
5 – Primavera Sound – Barcelona, ES
9 – Nuits De Fourviere – Lyon, FR*
10 – Theatre Antique – Arles, FR*
12 – Radar Estudios – Vigo, ES
13 – Primavera Sound – Porto, ES

JULY
5 – Finsbury Park – London, UK*
8 – Blind – Istanbul, TR

AUGUST
7-9 – Haldern Pop – Rees, NRW
15 – Pukkelpop – Hasselt, BE
22 – Reading Festival – Reading, UK
23 – Leeds Festival – Leeds, UK

*supporting Fontaines D.C.

Last summer, the band shared their debut album ‘Scream from New York, NY’ via Dirty Hit, which was given a four-star review from NME.

“With all of the big names that have come out of NYC – The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeah, Blondie, Television – it can sometimes feel like everything in the city’s storied guitar rock scene has already been done. But sometimes, you find little pockets of magic in unexpected places,” it read. “With ‘Scream From New York, NY’, Been Stellar trade in their title as one of the city’s brightest new hopes and emerge as a NYC staple.”

Before then, the band spoke to NME as part of their time featuring on The Cover. During the discussion, they shared the meanings behind their debut, as well as the artists that influenced them.

“Your influences are in your DNA. You shouldn’t be thinking about it, it’s going to be there regardless,” said Slocum while bassist Nico Brunstein added: “The main thing for us is to write stuff that we would genuinely want to listen to.

“It is very easy to fall into those influences, which is not necessarily a bad thing but we just try to block all of that noise out and ask ourselves ‘What would we want to be listening to?’”

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