BAUM
Photo by Grace Perry
"Hot Water," the new single from the L.A.-based pop artist BAUM, is a song fuelled by the agony of reality and the ecstasy of how much better things could be. It's an '80s revival akin to early Haim and more recent Carly Rae Jepsen, but rejects nostalgia with craft: BAUM's vocals command attention while steeped in vulnerability, and her ear for melody (and talent for navigating it) puts her ahead of the pack.
"'Hot Water' is about a phase that I went through when I was entering college that I feel like many girls' experience," BAUM told The FADER over email. "I wanted to be perceived as a woman, but I didn't necessarily understand that that came with expectations. I was quickly in over my head - so to speak. The chorus of the song says 'you think of sex when I, spin in this dress...but I've never done much at all.' For me, the song is very much about being stuck between innocence and experience and how it feels to be in that position."
BAUM will celebrate the release of "Hot Water" with a show at Rockwood Music Hall on Friday, August 18.