Already making waves across Europe, Karin Ann made a big introduction to UK audiences when Jack Saunders premiered her current single ‘looking at porn’ on Radio 1’s Future Sounds and further support followed from Kerrang! and Wonderland. Now embarking upon a new chapter in her career having recently relocated to London, the 19-year-oldSlovakian artist adds to her escalating momentum by today sharing her new EP ‘side effects of being human’, which is out now via 3am Records. The EP is released alongside the new focus track ‘almost 20’ as well as an official video for ‘winter song’.
If ‘looking at porn’ piqued your curiosity, there’s much more to explore within the ‘side effects…’ EP. Whereas that single, co-written with producer Matt Schwartz (YUNGBLUD, Halsey), mixed a 2022 attitude with emo energy and a touch of ’80s pop, the rest of the EP twists genres at will. Opening song ‘almost 20’ shows her bold defiance to genre stereotypes by presenting an attention-grabbing merger of alt-pop, trap and alt-rock. Elsewhere it ventures into hyperpop and bold balladeering, demonstrating how a blossoming Gen Z following is connecting with Karin Ann’s empowering, LGBTQ+-championing attitude.
Thematically she’s drawn to topics such as discrimination, sexism and racism as well as issues of identity. Having grown up in a conservative country, Karin Ann’s music provides both a safe space to share her opinions, as well as a creative outlet that can also provide support to people going through similar experiences.
Karin Ann says, “All of the songs on this EP talk about issues that I think everyone goes through, especially when becoming an adult and figuring themselves out. I thought that these things people go through are like the side effects of being human, and that’s how the whole concept was born. I discuss things such as relationships, friendships, how toxic relationships and friendships can get, mental health, growing up and much more.”
The EP closes with a soothing, spectral farewell to the current season with ‘winter song’. Its intimate accompanying video is a beautiful depiction of mid-winter melancholy, which focuses solely on Karin Ann. Lost in her thoughts, she finds solace in the warmth of a mountainside cabin as the wintry chill bites outside. Karinn Ann wrote the concept for the video, which was directed by Michal Kunes Kováč.
Karin Ann adds, “‘winter song’ is about feeling sad and numb, but you don’t know why. I hope people who are also going through things like this will think I did this justice with the video’s representation of those emotions. I love the winter and the snow; I think it makes everything seem very beautiful and you can almost romanticize your life.”
In spite of her outward confidence, Karin Ann actually confesses to being a real introvert. Inspired by eclectic artists united by their force-of-personality – from Billie Eilish and girlinred to Queen – she initially put a few Slovakian-language tracks out entirely independently just for her own self-fulfilment. They sparked enough interest to snowball into a career in music.
Released last year, Karin Ann’s debut EP ‘lonely together‘ started to win admirers in all of the right places. She was featured in Spotify’s EQUAL initiative, a program designed to foster equity for rising female artists across the world. It resulted in her becoming the first Slovak artist to feature on the giant billboards in Times Square, New York. 2021 also saw Karin Ann win Best Music Video for ‘babyboy‘ at the Munich Music Video Awards.
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